Meditation Archives - Page 29 of 29 - Madhu Bazaz Wangu
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Meditation

Twenty-Fourth Chapter

Posted on April 11, 2008
in Meditation, Reading
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Twenty-Fourth Chapter: Tao-te Ching He who stands on tiptoe is not steady He who strides forward does not go far. He who shows off is not enlightened. He who boasts has not accomplished much. He who defines himself can't really know who he is. He who has power over others can't empower himself. He who clings to his work will create nothing that endures. From the point of view of Tao, these are all distasteful like tumor in the body. Those who possess Tao, do their jobs, then let go. # As I Understand it: Our superior qualities are hidden but become more prominent everyday. Boasting is conspicuous but what one boasts about gradually disappears. Instead of showing off seek an attitude of gratitude for the blessings of air, water, sun, health and natural beauty. Those who have tendency to control...

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Twenty-Third Chapter: Tao-te Ching

Posted on April 4, 2008
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Twenty-Third Chapter: Tao-te Ching Nature says few words. For the same reason a whirlwind does not last a whole morning. Nor does a rainstorm last a whole day. What causes them? Heaven and Earth - Nature. Express yourself. Then say little. Exaggerated action cannot be sustained. If Heaven and Earth cannot sustain them, How much less can man. Those who follow the Way become one with the Way. Those who follow goodness become one with goodness. Those who stray from the Way and goodness, become one with failure. If you identify with the Way, its power flows through you. Act naturally Open yourself to the Tao, Then trust your natural responses. And everything will fall into place. # As I understand it: Do your task and let go of desire to push. Observe nature. It doesn't force. It moves through the seasons and, without saying much, produces...

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Tao Te Ching: Sixth Chapter

Posted on November 28, 2007
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Sixth Chapter: Tao Te Ching The spirit that never dies Is subtle and profound-- The source of all things, mysterious feminine -- the Divine Mother. The gateway of the Divine Mother is the root of creation. It is always present and unending. Stay linked to its perfection. Use it and you will never wear it out. # As I understand it: Subtle and profound Feminine creates continuously. This mysterious force of abilities, talents and intelligence is inexhaustible. When we live creatively we become aware of the feminine force. If we yoke to its source with awareness, we are able to radiate outward what we feel deeply within. When we connect to the Divine Feminine, our passions become artworks, accomplishments, ideas and innovative ways of understanding and expressing our universe. {Lao's favorite symbol of Tao was the feminine (also infant, valley and water)....

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Tao Te Ching: Fifth Chapter

Posted on November 20, 2007
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Tao-te Ching Chapter Five Heaven and Earth do not discriminate. They regard all things as straw dogs. The sage is impartial. To him no one is especially dear. He regards all people as straw dogs. Between Heaven and Earth there is a space like a bellows! Vacuous and inexhaustible -- the more it is used, more it creates. Keep to the center. Sit quietly and find the peace within. # As I understand it: The essence of Tao is like Heaven, Earth and the mind of the sage. It has no favorites. It sees everything as straw dogs. (Straw dogs were sacrificial objects in ancient China, discarded after the completion of a sacrifice.) In other words, Tao does not play favorites. It is neither partial nor impartial. Between the celestial and terrestrial regions there is a space that is vacuous and inexhaustible....

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Tao Te Ching: Fourth Chapter

Posted on November 13, 2007
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Tao-te Ching Chapter Four Tao is empty (like a bowl). It may be used but its capacity is never exhausted. It is bottomless, perhaps the ancestor of all things. It blunts its sharpness, It unties its tangles. It softens its light. It becomes one with the dusty world. Deep and still, it appears to exist forever. I do not know whose son it is. It seems to have existed before the Lord. # As I understand it: Tao is invisible. Yet, it is deep within us and around us. It links us to what is "more than" us - infinite awareness. It untangles the knots and smoothens sharp edges of life. And it includes dust as well as diamonds. We must remain aware of Tao and make those we love and those less fortunate aware of it. Tao within us has limitless creative...

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Tao Te Ching: Third Chapter

Posted on November 6, 2007
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Tao Te Ching: Third Chapter  Do not exalt the worthy, so that people shall not compete. Do not value rare treasures, so that the people shall not steal. Do not display the objects of desire, so that the people’s hearts shall not be disturbed. Therefore in the government of the sage, He keeps their hearts vacuous, Fills their bellies, Weakens their ambitions, And strengthens their bones, He always causes his people to be without knowledge (cunning) or desire, And the crafty to be afraid to act. By acting without action, all things will be in order. # As I understand it: In the Tao Te-Ching, the idea of personal achievements such as wealth, possessions, power and status is frowned upon because it promotes competition, jealousy, hate and anger. In an ideal state there is no need to award the worthy because all are award- worthy. But...

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Selective Verses From Dhammapada

Posted on March 1, 2006
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42-43 More than those who hate you, more than all your enemies, an undisciplined mind does greater harm. More than your mother, more than your father, more than all your family, a well-disciplined mind does greater good. 50 Do not give your attention to what others do or fail to do; Give it to what you do or fail to do. 61 If you find no one to support you on the spiritual path, walk alone. There is no companionship with the immature. 62 "These are my sons. This is my wealth." In this way the fool (immature) troubles himself. He is not even the owner of himself, how much less of his sons and of his wealth. 64-65 ...

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Readings for January – February 2006

Posted on January 1, 2006
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Keeping Quiet Pablo Neruda Now we will count to twelve And we will all keep still For once on the face of the earth, let's not speak in any language; let's stop for a second, and not move our arms so much. It would be an exotic moment without rush, without engines; we would all be together In a sudden strangeness. Fisherman in the cold sea would not harm whales and the man gathering salt would not look at his hurt hands. Those who prepare green wars, wars with gas, wars with fire, victories with no survivors, would put on clean clothes and walk about with their brothers In the shade, doing nothing. What I want should not be confused With total inactivity Life is what it is about. If we were not so single-minded about keeping...

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Readings from Tagore and Neruda

Posted on November 1, 2005
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Tagore joyously sings about the inevitable but tender relationship of death with life. God finds himself by creating (46) The infant flower opens its bud and cries, "Dear World, please do not fade." (66) The night kisses the fading day whispering to his ear, "I am death, your mother. I am to give you fresh birth." (119) Death belongs to life as birth does. The walk is in the raising of the foot as in the laying of it down. (268) (Stray Birds by Rabindranath Tagore. Translated from Bengali to English by the author, The Macmillan Company, 1916) Neruda's imagination transports an ordinary bed from a resting place of the newborn, the sick, the dead, to a bed of lovers and dreamers. His vision depicts the surface of a sea -- "the intimidating bed" -- which...

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Common things and awareness

Posted on June 1, 2005
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Depending upon the degree of our awareness common things can be beautiful. What sizzles in boiling oil is the world's pleasure: French fries go into the pan like the morning swan's snowy feathers and emerge half-golden from the olive's crackling amber. Garlic lends them its earthy aroma, its spice, its pollen that braved the reefs. Then, dressed anew in ivory suits, they fill our plates with repeated abundance, and the delicious simplicity of the soil. ("Ode to French Fries" in Odes to Common Things, a collection of poems by Pablo Neruda selected and illustrated by Ferris Cook. Translated by Ken Krabbenhoft. Bulfinch Press, AOL Time Warner Book Group. 2002) Nature inspires in us wise thoughts when observed with awareness: "How far are you from me, O Fruit?" "I am hidden in your heart, O Flower." (82) It is the little things that I leave behind for my loved ...

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