“Wait to take on a bold venture until you are ready.  Be prepared.” – Today’s Reading

Wait to take on a bold venture until you are ready.  Be prepared.

Tao Te Ching – Verse 9 – Better to stop in time than to fill to the brim

“A Teacher is not judged by his popularity, his richness, his money, his knowledge, his essence. A Teacher is judged by his character.” – Yogi Bhajan

Try these meditations:

Meditation:  TCH36-1-A00713 – Pain and Ecstasy – Triangle of Knowledge

Meditation: M0512-19890312 – For Mastery of Time and Space

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The teacher

Previous Readings:

Today: I Ching – Previous previous reading – “Look closely at the consequences of your actions. That will show you what is to come.”

Today: I Ching – Previous Reading – “Right now it’s better to retreat a little than to move boldly forward. Aggressive behavior will prove more folly than courageous. Gather strength and wait for the right time to act.”

A letter to a friend

Read the texts translated from the I Ching for today's reading

62 – Sixty-Two.  Hsiao Kuo / Lying Low

Thunder high on the Mountain, active passivity:
The Superior Person is unsurpassed in his ability to remain small.
In a time for humility, he is supremely modest.
In a time of mourning, he uplifts with somber reverence.
In a time of want, he is resourcefully frugal.

When a bird flies too high, its song is lost.
Rather than push upward now, it is best to remain below.
This will bring surprising good fortune, if you keep to your course.

SITUATION ANALYSIS:

There is no profit to striving here.
To be content with oneself is the greatest success imaginable.
The enlightened person has nothing to prove to himself or others, and thus may always operate from a position of sincerity, with no pretense or posturing.
His humility is guileless simplicity.
His mourning is selfless compassion.
His frugality is an unshakeable faith that he is but a conduit, letting what is needed flow through him to others, with no loss to himself.

Six at the beginning [yin at bottom] means:
The bird meets with misfortune through flying.

Bird Leaving Nest

Bird Leaving Nest – Larry Moore

A bird ought to remain in the nest till it is fledged. If it tries to fly before this, it invites misfortune. Extraordinary measures should be resorted to only when all else fails. At first we ought to put up with traditional ways as long as possible; otherwise we exhaust ourselves and our energy and still achieve nothing.
55 – Fifty-Five.  Fêng / Abundance

Thunder and Lightning from the dark heart of the storm:
The Superior Person judges fairly, so that consequences are just.

The leader reaches his peak and doesn’t lament the descent before him.
Be like the noonday sun at its zenith.
This is success.

SITUATION ANALYSIS:

You are in a position of authority in this situation.
Archetypally, you are the New King, returned from your quest to claim your throne.
However, you are enlightened enough to realize that you are merely a part of a cycle, and that you must someday yield your throne to the new kid in town, the younger, faster gunslinger, the young turk, the next returning hero, the next New King.
Fretting about the inevitable descent is senseless.
For now you must play your role to the hilt and use this gift of power to govern your world as best you can.
You are the best person for the job.
That’s why you were chosen.
Give it your personal best.

“A Teacher is not judged by his popularity, his richness, his money, his knowledge, his essence. A Teacher is judged by his character.” – Yogi Bhajan

“A Teacher is not judged by his popularity, his richness, his money, his knowledge, his essence. A Teacher is judged by his character. If under all temptations he can fly through, then he knows how to fly.” Yogi Bhajan

Meditation:  LA372 831212 Corruption and character

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Tao Te Ching – Verse 9 – Better to stop in time than to fill to the brim

Tao Te Ching – Verse 9

Better to stop in time than to fill to the brim.
Hone a blade to the sharpest point, and it will soon be blunt.
Fill your house with gold and jade, and no one can protect it.
Be prideful about wealth and position, and you bring disasters upon yourself. Retire when the work is done.
This is the way of heaven.

from the Tao Te Ching

Translation by Tolbert McCarroll Comments and layout by Thomas Knierim

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from I Ching Online