MEDITATIONS: TAO TE CHING CHAPTER SIXTY

it is important that you attend to great matters
as if they were small and delicate ones
or your inner and outer worlds will be uneasy
and confused

hands on
hands off

a nourishing meal requires
just enough presentation
and not
one bit
more

when the influence of the tao source of life
exists itself through many cultivators
across the land
evil has less impact or potential

the ancient child asks
how is this possible

because a sage wise man evenly stretched
between heaven and earth
coaxes his soul from within and
allows it to take the lead
in his life

no ghost
demons or
tormentors
can hurt him
inner or outer

soon his balanced benevolence overflows
to everyone and everything
around him

and the influence of the tao source of life
envelopes and protects the world under heaven
allowing its original nature
to present itself

—Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching; An authentic Taoist translation. translated by John Bright-Fey

One should every day think over and make an effort to implant in his mind the saying, “At that time is right now.” (Yamamoto, Hagakure)

Just as what is to come is, at least in part, determined by the decisions we make beforehand, whether a matter is important or insignificant depends on our attitude established prior to the matter itself. Then and now, great or small—these are illusions projected by the mind onto a reality which acknowledges neither as truth.

That is why we should attend to grave matters as if they were not—because they aren’t. It is we who attribute significance to them, thereby causing our own anxiety about the results and their consequences. But this isn’t necessary if we are willing to let go of that which we’ve had the privilege of holding. After all, whatever is going to happen has been decided before hand by our own words and actions. It does no good to pretend we can change it now.

Instead, we are better off to continue along our Way. If indeed our words and deeds have thus far been genuine, to fuss is like trying to dress up an already finished meal. If it is nourishing and prepared with sufficient care before hand, such dressing—such deception—is unhelpful; it is wasted effort which would be better spent advancing along the Road.

In fact, focusing on the Way is all that is necessary to protect us and others from the Spirit of Revenge. The bitter and vengeful ghosts of ideologues and past, resentful iterations of ourselves can only possess a vessel who dissents against himself and the conditions of his own existence. They are the our capacity for self-deception and arrogance which appeals to our sense of justice and our desire for power. But the vessel who assents, the man who accepts himself already sees the world as fair, loving, and just. His authentic self, acknowledged and affirmed, is nourished and develops. His soul reaches toward its highest potential, and from that position leads him to become a leader by example. Thus does his benevolence overflow as others see his inner peace and his outer successes, and so they follow him and become leaders themselves.

And this is all accomplished here and now. The past is past, and the future is a guess. In truth there is only each and every moment. Each and every step is one on or away from the Path.

Lao-tzu. “Chapter Sixty”. Tao Te Ching; An Authentic Taoist Translation, translated by John Bright-Fey, Sweetwater Press, 2014. pp.116-17

Yamamoto, Tsunetomo. Hagakure.