“You have lots of power.  Be careful not to bluster or abuse all that power.” – Today’s Reading

You have lots of power.  Be careful not to bluster or abuse all that power.

Today: “Life is a lie if you do not find the internal truth. Life is a tragedy if you only find the external truth.” Yogi Bhajan

Tao Te Ching – Verse 79 – Failure is an opportunity

Try these meditations:

Meditation: TCH20 02 960722 – Increase the Power of the Infinite Within

Meditation: NM0420-20011015 – The Power of Memories – Remember the Saint Within

Previous Readings:

Today: I Ching – Previous Reading – “Bad actors have been hindering all progress. That will change and your aspirations will bring success.”

Today: I Ching – Previous previous reading – “Be mindful of the current situation. Now. This moment. Free yourself from thoughts arising from the subconscious that conjure scenarios centered on the ego. Be divine, as is your nature.”

See related posts.

A letter to a friend

Read the texts translated from the I Ching for today's reading
34 – Thirty-Four.  Ta Chuang / Awesome Power

Thunder fills the Heavens with its awful roar, not out of pride, but with integrity; if it did less, it would not be Thunder:
Because of his Great Power, the Superior Person takes pains not to overstep his position, so that he will not seem intimidating or threatening to the Established Order.

Opportunity will arise along this course.

SITUATION ANALYSIS:

The Awesome Power available in this hexagram stems from what the Taoists call your Te, a term not perfectly translated into English.
Roughly, it is your Integrity — not in the Western sense of honor — but more in the psychological definition of a full integration of Who You Are.
This Awesome Power is achieved only by fully embracing both the good and the bad, the strong and the weak, the masculine and the feminine — all polarities within you.
Such self-knowledge spawns a Mastery tempered with the humility necessary to rein in and harness this Awesome Power.

Nine at the beginning [yang at bottom] means:

He uses all his remaining strength to stamp his hoof and paw the ground.
If his bluff is called, it will bring misfortune.

Power in the toes.
Continuing brings misfortune.
This is certainly true.

Le Modèle Rouge III - Magritte

‘Le Modèle Rouge III’, 1937 – René Magritte

The toes are in the lowest place and are ready to advance. So likewise great power in lowly station is inclined to effect advance by force. This, if carried further, would certainly lead to misfortune, and therefore by way of advice a warning is added.
32 – Thirty-Two.  Hêng / Durability

Arousing Thunder and penetrating Wind.
Close companions in any storm:
The Superior Person possesses a resiliency and durability that lets him remain firmly and faithfully on course.

Such constancy deserves success.

SITUATION ANALYSIS:

Endurance is the key to success in this situation.
However, durability is not synonymous with stone-like rigidity.
True resilience requires a flexibility that allows adaptation to any adverse condition, while still remaining true to the core.
Can you maintain your integrity under any circumstance?
Can you influence the situation without giving opposing forces anything to resist?
Then you will endure to reach your goal.

Today: “Life is a lie if you do not find the internal truth. Life is a tragedy if you only find the external truth.” Yogi Bhajan

“Life is a lie if you do not find the internal truth. Life is a tragedy if you only find the external truth. Life is an absolute loss if you do not live to your status as a human, or your reality status or your religious status, whatever you want to call it. You can get a status, but you have to live it, and you have to experience it.” Yogi Bhajan

Meditation: LA827-19950307 – Third Eye

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Tao Te Ching – Verse 79 – Failure is an opportunity

Tao Te Ching – Verse 79

Failure is an opportunity.
If you blame someone else,
there is no end to the blame.

Therefore the Master
fulfills her own obligations
and corrects her own mistakes.
She does what she needs to do
and demands nothing of others. Continue reading “Tao Te Ching – Verse 79 – Failure is an opportunity”

“Division and unity both appear.  You must choose.  To regain the connections, return to the traditional forms so they can once again become more than just empty ritual.  ” – Today’s Reading

Division and unity both appear.  You must choose.  To regain the connections, return to the traditional forms so they can once again become more than just empty ritual.

Try these meditations:

Meditation: NM0336 – For Inner Strength

Read the transcript of Yogi Bhajan's lecture on Reflecting Identities.

Lecture: Reflecting Identities

There is a human need to reflect your identity. You will reflect your identity so you can affect the identity. This is how we mutually talk to each other. We are social. Sometimes in this reflection the psyche gets entangled and we are deeply in love. When we cannot follow the rhythm of our own psyche, we deflect ourselves and we lose the relationship.

The relationship between two individual identities has to be decided on values. If a woman wants what she wants but has minus values, she is self-destructive. If a man wants something with no positive values, he is not going to work it out. If commotions could make emotion, and our feelings are all healing, we would be living in the heavens. If you are dealing with somebody who is insane and has emotions and commotion, who is neurotic, useless, hopeless—still that person has an identity. You have to reflect that identity when you make a decision.

Life has a simple challenge. Act, do not react. Calm yourself and claim yourself. When you reflect like a torch, it takes away the darkness for a long distance. When you reflect, your psyche takes away indifference for a long distance. When you speak for yourself, or somebody speaks for you, there is somebody else who speaks for you—your character and projection. That is yourself. Your self is the strongest thing you have. If you doubt within your self, act and react, if you answer the call of dharma and have no heart in it—you will never make sense. You need higher energy, your higher psyche, which should purify you so you can enjoy life.

An unstable man was advised to practice the one minute breath meditation for 31 minutes a day. Today he is grateful to have become successful and compassionate. He has realized himself. Why? You live by breath and die by breath. If you meditate on your breath, then through Pavan Guru, the Pranic Vidya—the knowledge of prana, of creation and creativity and of all incarnations, will dawn on you. You will start winning your self, start valuing your breath, valuing your environments, valuing your projection. And in this way everyone will in turn value you.

In the company of the holy congregation, sharing our psyche, our flow of the identity for each other, our understanding, we go across all difficulties. In doing so, we change our psyche. That enrichment which happens, those 30 trillion cells and a most booming power in the universe, creates a sense of purity and piety. The purpose of this congregation is to elevate ourselves. When you elevate, it is like the person who climbs high up a tree to escape a lion, rather than running from the lion. When calamity hits you—elevate yourself!

We must learn to meditate on our breath. Breath is God in us. Breath is life in us. Breath is us.

Review of Meditation and Sat Nam Rasayan® Healing Workshop with Hari Nam Singh 11/27/2016 – “Division and Unity”

See today’s quote from Yogi Bhajan:

Today: “It’s great to have and not to have—that’s the principle. ” Yogi Bhajan

The Tao Te Ching:

Tao Te Ching – Verse 78 – “Nothing in the world is as soft and yielding as water. Yet for dissolving the hard and inflexible, nothing can surpass it.”

Previous Readings:

Today: I Ching – Previous Reading – “Bad actors have been hindering all progress. That will change and your aspirations will bring success.”

Today: I Ching – Previous previous reading – “Be mindful of the current situation. Now. This moment. Free yourself from thoughts arising from the subconscious that conjure scenarios centered on the ego. Be divine, as is your nature.”

See related posts.

Tao Te Ching – Verse 78 – “Nothing in the world is as soft and yielding as water. Yet for dissolving the hard and inflexible, nothing can surpass it.”

A letter to a friend

Read the texts translated from the I Ching for today's reading
54 – Fifty-Four.  Kuei Mei / A Loveless Marriage

The Thunderstorm inseminates the swelling Lake, then moves on where the Lake cannot follow:
The Superior Person views passing trials in the light of Eternal Truths.
Any action will prove unfortunate.
Nothing furthers.

SITUATION ANALYSIS:

This is at best a Marriage of Convenience.
You have found yourself in desperate straits, a position of weakness, and you are tempted to pay dearly for a remedy.
A drowning man isn’t picky about who throws him a rope.
The rescue offered to you now is undesirable.
It may pull you out of this sticky situation, but it will cause even greater predicaments down the road.
Don’t obligate yourself in this way.

Six at the top means:

he groom draws no blood from the sacrifice.
The bride’s basket remains empty.
A barren marriage.

The woman holds the basket, but there are no fruits in it.
The man stabs the sheep, but no blood flows.
Nothing that acts to further.

Sheep basket

At the sacrifice to the ancestors, the woman had to present harvest offerings in a basket, while the man slaughtered the sacrificial animal with his own hand. Here the ritual is only superficially fulfilled; the woman takes an empty basket and the man stabs a sheep slaughtered beforehand – solely to preserve the forms. This impious, irreverent attitude bodes no good for a marriage.

38 – Thirty-Eight.  K’uei / Estrangement

Fire distances itself from its nemesis, the Lake:
No matter how large or diverse the group, the Superior Person remains uniquely himself.

Small accomplishments are possible.

SITUATION ANALYSIS:

You are working at cross-purposes with another.
The distance between you is very wide.
The gap can be closed, however, with no compromise of your integrity.
You are not adversaries in this case — just two persons addressing individual needs.
Ask yourself: are these needs mutually exclusive?
Is there common ground here?
Must there be one winner and one loser?
Could you become partners in seeking a solution that would allow for two winners?

Today: “It’s great to have and not to have—that’s the principle. ” Yogi Bhajan

“It’s great to have and not to have—that’s the principle. Poverty is a curse. You have to have. But have to have, and then not to have, is tiaagaa, renunciation, abandonment. To have the body and not to have the body, and become humble into shuniaa, zero, to become nobody, is the highest body. You become the highest being. So the rules are very simple.” Yogi Bhajan

Meditation: Contemplate in Shuniya from the Spine

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Tao Te Ching – Verse 78 – “Nothing in the world is as soft and yielding as water. Yet for dissolving the hard and inflexible, nothing can surpass it.”

Tao Te Ching – Verse  78

Nothing in the world
is as soft and yielding as water.
Yet for dissolving the hard and inflexible,
nothing can surpass it.

The soft overcomes the hard;
the gentle overcomes the rigid.
Everyone knows this is true,
but few can put it into practice.

Therefore the Master remains
serene in the midst of sorrow.
Evil cannot enter his heart.
Because he has given up helping,
he is people’s greatest help.

True words seem paradoxical.

(translation by Stephen Mitchell, 1995)
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Nothing in the world is softer or weaker than water
Yet nothing is better at overcoming the hard and strong
This is because nothing can replace it

That the weak overcomes the strong
And the soft overcomes the hard
Everybody in the world knows
But cannot put into practice

Therefore sages say:
The one who accepts the humiliation of the state
Is called its master
The one who accepts the misfortune of the state
Becomes king of the world
The truth seems like the opposite

(translation by Derek Lin, 2006)
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Water, so soft,
Was the beginning.
So powerful,
Will be the end.
Embrace the humble.

(translation by Jeremy M. Miller, 2013)
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“Bad actors have been hindering all progress.  That will change and your aspirations will bring success.” – Today’s Reading

Bad actors have been hindering all progress.  That will change and your aspirations will bring success.

See what Yogi Bhajan says.

Try these meditations:

Meditation: Release obstacles in your path

Meditation: LA101 790419-Faith In Our Self And Our Own Discipline

Read the transcript of Yogi Bhajan's lecture on this.

Yogi Bhajan on this mantra:
One day Yogi Bhajan told his students, “Now suppose something happens (in) your life which you want to move and it’s not moving. There is a block, which you want to move, and it’s not moveable.”then chant ‘Aad Sach, Jugaad Sach, Hai Bhae Sach, Naanak Hosee Bhae Sach.’ It’s a lever. It is the biggest lever available to you among mantras.” (8/14/91)Baba Siri Chand was the eldest son of Guru Nanak (the first Guru of the Sikhs). He was a very detached yogi and lived for 150 years. He did nothing but good; his strength is not only miracles, but spontaneous. We have this mantra of his, and if you do that, anything which is stopped in your life it shall flow. There is no power like it on earth. In some circumstances I have seen it make the impossible to become possible very fast. (7/28/94)Guru Arjun Dev (the fifth Guru of the Sikhs) went to Baba Siri Chand and said, ‘Sahibo, I am writing Sukhmani. I am writing the great situation and combination of words that will give people comfort. I want to produce on this earth everlasting comfort. I have finished the 16th pauri of Sukhmani and now it doesn’t proceed further. I am stuck. Seventeenth (pauri) I am to write, please say something.’ And then Baba Siri Chand said, ‘Well, wait a minute. Guru Nanak gave the Guruship to you folks, and it is your problem to write Gurbani, not mine. I just came to bless you. It doesn’t mean I have to say Gurbani for you. Guru Arjun Dev replied, ‘No, sir, this writing isn’t working for me.’ And there Baba Siri Chand wrote: Aad Sach, Jugaad Sach, Hai Bhae Sach, Naanak Hosee Bhae Sach.” This mantra became the slok of the 17th pauri of Sukhmani Sahib.

 

Today: I Ching – Previous Reading – “Be mindful of the current situation. Now. This moment. Free yourself from thoughts arising from the subconscious that conjure scenarios centered on the ego. Be divine, as is your nature.”

Today: I Ching – Previous previous reading – “Be reserved in your actions, not calling attention to yourself. Enjoy small successes. Do not fly too high.”

See related posts.

Tao Te Ching – Verse 77 – As it acts in the world, the Tao is like the bending of a bow.

A letter to a friend

Read the text from Richard Wilhelm's, Thomas Cleary's, Brian Arnold's and other translations of the I Ching
53 – Fifty-Three.  Chien / Gradual Progress

The gnarled Pine grows tenaciously off the Cliff face:
The Superior Person clings faithfully to dignity and integrity, thus elevating the Collective Spirit of Man in his own small way.
Development.
The maiden is given in marriage.
Good fortune if you stay on course.

SITUATION ANALYSIS:

Adaptability mixed with integrity will bring a calm, steady progress.
Move from your center, always faithful to your principles, yet with the flexibility to weather any tempest.
Yours is not a meteoric rise to the top, but the solid, confident footing of one who has a clear vision of what can be, and who is willing to climb the distance to reach it.
The oracle foresees companionship along the way — a Divine comfort on any journey.

Nine in the fifth place means:

The wild goose gradually draws near the summit.
For three years the woman has no child.
In the end nothing can hinder her.
Good fortune.

Geese

The summit is a high place. In a high position one easily becomes isolated. One is misjudged by the very person on whom one is dependent – the woman by her husband, the official by his superior. This is the work of deceitful persons who have wormed their way in. The result is that relationships remain sterile, and nothing is accomplished. But in the course of further development, such misunderstandings are cleared away, and reconciliation is achieved after all.

17 – Seventeen.  Sui / Following

Thunder beneath the Lake’s surface.
The Superior Person allows himself plenty of sheltered rest and recuperation while awaiting a clear sign to follow.

Supreme success.
No mistakes if you keep to your course.

SITUATION ANALYSIS:

Thunder from the Lake — the lulling, rhythmic roar of the faithful tide, eternally wearing away the stone of the shoreline, forever obedient to the phases of the moon.
The pull of the moon on the tide is the Following called for now.
As mighty as the tide is in its own right, it is ever the puppet of the invisible, irresistible gravity of the moon.
What cyclical forces pull you along?
Are you futilely attempting to resist a natural attraction?

Today: “The idea is to switch it on. You switch it on with Hatha Yoga, so switch it on with any yoga, go ahead. ” Yogi Bhajan

“The idea is not what wiring is and what electricity is running through it, or what the light bulbs are. The idea is to switch it on. You switch it on with Hatha Yoga, so switch it on with any yoga, go ahead. We are not asking you to practice Kundalini Yoga. But Kundalini Yoga is for householders, people who are married, and have a life with family, children. It’s a scientific, time-saving device.
In just a few minutes you can be whatever you want to be.” Yogi Bhajan

Meditation:  M060 901121 Awaken Kundalini

See related posts

Tao Te Ching – Verse 77 – As it acts in the world, the Tao is like the bending of a bow.

Tao Te Ching – Verse 77

As it acts in the world, the Tao
is like the bending of a bow.
The top is bent downward;
the bottom is bent up.
It adjusts excess and deficiency
so that there is perfect balance.
It takes from what is too much
and gives to what isn’t enough.

Those who try to control,
who use force to protect their power,
go against the direction of the Tao.
They take from those who don’t have enough
and give to those who have far too much.

The Master can keep giving
because there is no end to her wealth.
She acts without expectation,
succeeds without taking credit,
and doesn’t think that she is better
than anyone else.

(translation by Stephen Mitchell, 1995)
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The Tao of Heaven
Is like drawing a bow
Lower that which is high
Raise that which is low
Reduce that which has excess
Add to that which is lacking

The Tao of heaven
Reduces the excessive
And adds to the lacking

The Tao of people is not so
It reduces the lacking
In order to offer to the excessive

Who can offer their excess to the world?
Only those who have the Tao
Therefore sages act without conceit
Achieve without claiming credit
They do not wish to display their virtue!

(translation by Derek Lin, 2006)
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Charity you say?
I say greed.
Gifts you say?
I say destruction.
Heaven and the Sage live these truths.

(translation by Jeremy M. Miller, 2013)
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“May not the Tao be compared to bending a bow? The part of the bow which was high is brought low, and what was low is raised up. So Heaven diminishes where there is superabundance, and supplements where there is deficiency.
It is the Way of Heaven to diminish superabundance, and to supplement deficiency. It is not so with the way of man. He takes away from those who have not enough to add to his own superabundance.
Who can take his own superabundance and therewith serve all under heaven? Only he who is in possession of the Tao!
Therefore the sage acts without claiming the results as his; he achieves his merit and does not rest in it: — he does not wish to display his superiority.”

Excerpt From Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu
https://books.apple.com/us/book/tao-te-ching/id1436033825

“Be mindful of the current situation.  Now.  This moment.  Free yourself from thoughts arising from the subconscious that conjure scenarios centered on the ego.  Be divine, as is your nature.” – Today’s Reading

Be mindful of the current situation.  Now.  This moment.  Free yourself from thoughts arising from the subconscious that conjure scenarios centered on the ego.  Be divine, as is your nature.

See what Yogi Bhajan says about this.

Try this meditation:

Meditation: KYB117-19860822 – Achieve an Experience of God

Read the transcript of Yogi Bhajan's lecture on this.

There is no God outside you. Neither was, nor is, nor shall be. It is all in you. The very breath of life is Divine. – YB

LECTURE:
At that moment that person through the crises became Christ because he could forgive unforgivable done to  him  and  that’s  the  reality.    When  you  can  do  which  is  impossible  to  do  you  have made the impossible possible  that is called divine rest is all nonsense. When you can take a cup of poison drink it and make it turn into a nectar what is the medicine, all poisons given to body to kill the disease and bring the health and when you take a social poison and turn into a divine excellence, that is what spirituality is about. Your concept of spirituality may be different than mine and I am not here to impose mine on you, neither I am going to accept yours for me. I am not asking you to follow me, I am not asking you to walk with me, I am
not asking you to respect me, I am not asking you have any reverence you can live in your nuisance rest of your life it will never make a sense. The sense is only in one virtue where impossible hits you with possible
you can deal with it. Am I clear? Then impossible hit you and you turn out with possible of you possible of you  and  deal  with  it  and  don’t  become  a  monkey  all  crack  down  or  fall  apart  then  you  show  the  strength  of
God, the infinity. When the finite gets to you and you show the infinity that is what divinity is. The difference between duality and divinity is very simple in duality when time hits you, you fall apart you split and if you have any divinity I am not talking A divinity B divinity C divinity I am not branding it any divinity then when impossible hits you, time hits you, space hits you, you are just divine, you are not divided.
Duality and divinity are the two sides of the same coin called God and you want to achieve that, take the sun finger take the Surya Mudra and just like this as I am sitting straight and simple calm and quite straight up.
Hey  Rakhe  Rakhan  Har…
Calm down yourself put your eyes close them down and go through your oneness consider you are a figure one.
(The Rakhe Rakhan Har tape is played).
YB (Over the tape): Beauty is to keep those three fingers straight and let the sun energy circulate which will make it little difficult, but if you just consolidate your energy it will work out perfect.
Enough now this exercise which you have done this mudra can make the dead to rise and walk, if you perfect this mudra it is call surya mudra and that is the surya shabad. When that word and the body put it together   that’s   what   power   it   will   give   you   put   your   hand   and   say   rise   the   dead   man   will   rise,   it’s   not impossible,  it’s  conquering  the  life  breath  of  life  the  sun  energy.    And  last  of  all  which  I  like  to  deal  right
now some people have communication problem and many of you do have and we need to deal with it. You see   this   mudra   you   won’t   find   it   in   any   book   that’s   why   I   am   trying   to   relate   to   you.     The   sun   finger   is together  mercury  here  but  they  don’t  meet  normally  they  get  to  like  that  but  this  is  the  right  way  to  do  it, bent them keep them separate two fingers and  the  hand  meet  straight  just  like  that  is  the  mudra  and  that’s how the heart is. Correct?
And put that that peace lagoon of some Kaur.
Student: (—)
YB: No that peace first song of her, first song from Peace lagoon. You have that version?
Student: (—)
Okay  that’s  all  right  they  can  do  that.
Kindly concentrate get into posture calm down yourself let yourself go, neither the sun fingers meet not the index and the Saturn finger meet they are separate only the pinky that meet. is the first tape, first tape is
peace lagoon.
(The tape is played).
YB: It is all right this is to involve in us the mercury power the communication which, which if penetratingly is used and exercised give you lot of headway and that wake up Har Har Mukunde you have that? . Okay now when you are not in a position to work it out and you do not know what to do it is called zero point of self-confidence   to   get   it   back   to   normal   first   don’t   do   this   do   it   as   wide   as   you   can,   it’s   very
comfortable put your head on your hands and just go like this, correct. Close down your eyes concentrate on your navel and go for it.
(The tape is played).
(Over the tape)
YB:    (Over  the  tape)  Pump  the  navel  at  the  sound  of  Har,  when  you  hear  it.    That’s  enough.
(End of the tape)
So we are trying to give you different mudras to let the energy be regenerated in a different state of stress
and strife  in  life,  trial  triumph  to  avoid  the  tragedies,  that’s  the  purpose  of  the  Kundalini  yoga  not  to  live very long, not to live very healthy, not to be very excellent, not to be very down up, just be ready whatever it  takes.    It’s  a  very  great  concept  very  misunderstood  by  students  and  the  practitioners  of  yoga  they  don’t know what a Kundalini is. Kundalini is very simple when the time wants it the energy spins up and make you to face it and you face it good. So that excellence human excellence in performance, in achievement is called Kundalini awareness, consciousness, divinity, Godliness, whatever you want to call it, but that is the basic reality, it cannot be  changed.    And  that’s  what  all  this  about  is,  this is the science  in  which  shortest possible  time  you  can  balance  yourself  to  get  going,  get  going,  keeping  up.    Keeping  up  doesn’t  mean  to  pull yourself up. No, keeping up is absolutely balance in confrontation,  that’s called  keeping  up.    Keeping  up  not, when  you  don’t  give  in.    Now  if  something  is  wrong  and  you  have  to  give  in  you  give  in  but  you  don’t  give  in to   any   stupid   pressure.     You   don’t   give   in   to   wrong,   you don’t give in to betrayal, you   don’t   give in to tragedy.    If  you  don’t  give  in  to  exploitation  don’t  give  into  anything  you  are  you.    You  want  give  you  want to  give.    You  gave  you  gave.    It’s  a  conscious  living.    So  what  I  have  to  tried  to  cover  with  you  these,  these tapes are about thirty-one minutes, twenty-seven to thirty-one minutes something like that and with that music going with that mudra with that stimulation with that balance try it sometime by your own self. If it work for you share with others, it work for others tell them to share for everybody there is no secret there is no possibility of any reaction and then no possibility of any danger or damage, all good will come out of it.
I hope within the shortest possible time I have covered the maximum this are the things which you need in life if God willing and time permitting space granting the humanity to live we will see you again.

The  class  sings:    May  the  long  tine  sunshine  upon  you….

 

Today: I Ching – Previous Reading – “Be reserved in your actions, not calling attention to yourself. Enjoy small successes. Do not fly too high.”

Today: I Ching – Previous previous reading – “Behave as a guest visiting, not knowing, witnessing, acting politely with caution. In experience, all things come together and again separate. Relate appropriately in the moment.”

See related posts.

Tao Te Ching – Verse 76 – Men are born soft and supple; dead, they are stiff and hard. Plants are born tender and pliant; dead, they are brittle and dry.

Share The Magical Story of Mushkil Gusha over a meal with friends today.

A letter to a friend

Read the text from Richard Wilhelm's, Thomas Cleary's, Brian Arnold's and other translations of the I Ching
52 – Fifty-Two.  Kên / The Mountain

Above this Mountain’s summit another more majestic rises:
The Superior Person is mindful to keep his thoughts in the here and now.

Stilling the sensations of the Ego, he roams his courtyard without moving a muscle, unencumbered by the fears and desires of his fellows.
This is no mistake.

SITUATION ANALYSIS:

There is a higher vantage point available to you, but it is obscured by the visible peak of personal ambition.
To climb to this higher plane, you must shake off the desires and fears of the conscious, visible world around you.
To make this journey you must quiet the Ego, empty your mind of past and future, and dwell totally in the moment at hand.
Thorough mindfulness of what is before you is the only tranquility.
Be. Here. Now.

yang
yin above: Kên / Keeping Still, Mountain
yin
yang
yin below: Kên / Keeping Still, Mountain
yin

 

The image of this hexagram is the mountain, the youngest son of heaven and earth. The male principle is at the top, because it strives upward by nature; the female principle is below, since the direction of its movement is downward. Thus there is rest because the movement has come to its normal end.
In its application to man, the hexagram turns upon the problem of achieving a quiet heart. It is very difficult to bring quiet to the heart. While Buddhism strives for rest through an ebbing away of all movement in nirvana, the Yi Jing holds that rest is merely a state of polarity that always posits movement as its complement. Possibly the words of the text embody directions for the practice of yoga.

THE JUDGEMENT

KEEPING STILL. Keeping his back still
So that he no longer feels his body.
He goes into his courtyard
And does not see his people.
No blame.

True quiet means keeping still when the time has come to keep still, and going forward when the time has come to go forward. In this way rest and movement are in agreement with the demands of the time, and thus there is light in life.
The hexagram signifies the end and the beginning of all movement. The back is named because in the back are located all the nerve fibres that mediate movement. If the movement of these spinal nerves is brought to a standstill, the ego, with its restlessness, disappears as it were. When a man has thus become calm, he may turn to the outside world. He no longer sees in it the struggle and tumult of individual beings, and therefore he has that true peace of mind which is needed for understanding the great laws of the universe and for acting in harmony with them. Whoever acts from these deep levels makes no mistakes.

 

Still Life with Chinese Lantern flowers

 

Still Life with Chinese Lantern flowers.
Colored lithograph, H.A. Dievenbach 1

THE IMAGE

Mountains standing close together:
The image of KEEPING STILL.
Thus the superior man
Does not permit his thoughts
To go beyond his situation.

Huang Shan

The heart thinks constantly. This cannot be changed, but the movements of the heart – that is, a man’s thoughts – should restrict themselves to the immediate situation. All thinking that goes beyond this only makes the heart sore.


1. Hendrikus Anthonius Dievenbach (1872 – 1946), was a Dutch artist.
In 1910 he settled in the village of Laren, North-Holland.
Henri Dievenbach was a traditional painter who was particularly inspired by his direct environment.
Apart from farmer’s interiors he made portaits of fellow-villagers. In his later life he painted especially beautiful still lifes and flower pieces, like this colored lithograph with Chinese Lanterns.

Today: “You have come from the Perfect to be perfect. ” Yogi Bhajan

“You have come from the Perfect to be perfect. It is not that you have come from the Perfect and you have been put here as imperfect, and you have to become perfect.” Yogi Bhajan

Meditation: KYB117-19860822 – Achieve an Experience of God

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Tao Te Ching – Verse 76 – Men are born soft and supple; dead, they are stiff and hard. Plants are born tender and pliant; dead, they are brittle and dry.

Tao Te Ching – Verse 76

Men are born soft and supple;
dead, they are stiff and hard.
Plants are born tender and pliant;
dead, they are brittle and dry.

Thus whoever is stiff and inflexible
is a disciple of death.
Whoever is soft and yielding
is a disciple of life.

The hard and stiff will be broken.
The soft and supple will prevail.

(translation by Stephen Mitchell, 1995)
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While alive, the body is soft and pliant
When dead, it is hard and rigid
All living things, grass and trees,
While alive, are soft and supple
When dead, become dry and brittle
Thus that which is hard and stiff
is the follower of death
That which is soft and yielding
is the follower of life
Therefore, an inflexible army will not win
A strong tree will be cut down
The big and forceful occupy a lowly position
While the soft and pliant occupy a higher place

(translation by Derek Lin, 2006)
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Be soft and be immortal.
Be the bully and be destroyed.
How many times must this lesson be taught?

(translation by Jeremy M. Miller, 2013)
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“Be reserved in your actions, not calling attention to yourself.  Enjoy small successes.  Do not fly too high.” – Today’s Reading

Be reserved in your actions, not calling attention to yourself.  Enjoy small successes.  Do not fly too high.

See Yogi Bhajan’s quote for today

Tao Te Ching – Verse 75 – When taxes are too high, people go hungry. When the government is too intrusive, people lose their spirit

Try these meditations:

Meditation: LA046 – 780614 – Hari Shabad Meditation – Use the Wind to Produce Trance and Dissolve Negativity

Meditation:  LA015 780227 – To Bring Swift and Powerful Change

Today: I Ching – Previous Reading – “Behave as a guest visiting, not knowing, witnessing, acting politely with caution. In experience, all things come together and again separate. Relate appropriately in the moment.”

Today: I Ching – Previous previous reading – “Keep the relations that have sustained rather than pursuing new ones that promise favor.”

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Meditation: NM374 – 20001128 – Patience and Intuition

Meditation:  LA588 890411 Silver Grain Meditation 

A letter to a friend

Read the text from Richard Wilhelm's, Thomas Cleary's, Brian Arnold's and other translations of the I Ching
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.

yin
yin above: Chên / The Arousing, Thunder
yang
yang
yin below: Kên / Keeping Still, Mountain
yin

 

While in the hexagram Ta Kuo, PREPONDERANCE OF THE GREAT (28), the strong lines preponderate and are within, inclosed between weak lines at the top and bottom, the present hexagram has weak lines preponderating, though here again they are on the outside, the strong lines being within. This indeed is the basis of the exceptional situation indicated by the hexagram. When strong lines are outside, we have the hexagram I, PROVIDING NOURISHMENT (27), or Chung Fu, INNER TRUTH, (61); neither represents an exceptional state. When strong elements within preponderate, they necessarily enforce their will. This creates struggle and exceptional conditions in general. But in the present hexagram it is the weak element that perforce must mediate with the outside world. If a man occupies a position of authority for which he is by nature really inadequate, extraordinary prudence is necessary.

THE JUDGEMENT

PREPONDERANCE OF THE SMALL. Success.
Perseverance furthers.
Small things may be done; great things should not be done.
The flying bird brings the message:
It is not well to strive upward,
It is well to remain below.
Great good fortune.

Icarus

Exceptional modesty and conscientiousness are sure to be rewarded with success; however, if a man is not to throw himself away, it is important that they should not become empty form and subservience but be combined always with a correct dignity in personal behavior. We must understand the demands of the time in order to find the necessary offset for its deficiencies and damages. In any event we must not count on great success, since the requisite strength is lacking. In this lies the importance of the message that one should not strive after lofty things but hold to lowly things.
The structure of the hexagram gives rise to the idea that this message is brought by a bird. In Ta Kuo, PREPONDERANCE OF THE GREAT (28), the four strong, heavy lines within, supported only by two weak lines without, give the image of a sagging ridgepole. Here the supporting weak lines are both outside and preponderant; this gives the image of a soaring bird. But a bird should not try to surpass itself and fly into the sun; it should descend to the earth, where its nest is. In this way it gives the message conveyed by the hexagram.
 

I Ching Online

Thunder on mountain

THE IMAGE

Thunder on the mountain:
The image of PREPONDERANCE OF THE SMALL.
Thus in his conduct the superior man gives preponderance to reverence.
In bereavement he gives preponderance to grief.
In his expenditures he gives preponderance to thrift.

Thunder on the mountain is different from thunder on the plain. In the mountains, thunder seems much nearer; outside the mountains, it is less audible than the thunder of an ordinary storm. Thus the superior man derives an imperative from this image: he must always fix his eyes more closely and more directly on duty than does the ordinary man, even though this might make his behavior seem petty to the outside world. He is exceptionally conscientious in his actions. In bereavement emotion means more to him than ceremoniousness. In all his personal expenditures he is extremely simple and unpretentious. In comparison with the man of the masses, all this makes him stand out as exceptional. But the essential significance of his attitude lies in the fact that in external matters he is on the side of the lowly.

Today: “Only a good student can become a great master. It’s the goodness of the heart.” Yogi Bhajan

“Only a good student can become a great master. It’s the goodness of the heart.” Yogi Bhajan

Meditation: NM327-990930 Know Your Heart

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Tao Te Ching – Verse 75 – When taxes are too high, people go hungry. When the government is too intrusive, people lose their spirit

Tao Te Ching – Verse 75

When taxes are too high,
people go hungry.
When the government is too intrusive,
people lose their spirit.

Act for the people’s benefit.
Trust them; leave them alone.
Continue reading “Tao Te Ching – Verse 75 – When taxes are too high, people go hungry. When the government is too intrusive, people lose their spirit”

“Behave as a guest visiting, not knowing, witnessing, acting politely with caution.  In experience, all things come together and again separate.  Relate appropriately in the moment.” – Today’s Reading

Behave as a guest visiting, not knowing, witnessing, acting politely with caution.  In experience, all things come together and again separate.  Relate appropriately in the moment.

See Yogi Bhajan’s quote for today

Tao Te Ching – Verse 74 – If you realize that all things change, there is nothing you will try to hold on to.

Try these meditations:

Meditation: LA046 – 780614 – Hari Shabad Meditation – Use the Wind to Produce Trance and Dissolve Negativity

Meditation:  LA015 780227 – To Bring Swift and Powerful Change

Today: I Ching – Previous Reading – “Keep the relations that have sustained rather than pursuing new ones that promise favor.”

Today: I Ching – Previous previous reading – The main thing is to remain safe from the danger around us without panic. Follow the path of least resistance toward safety in your affairs and you will be OK.”

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Meditation: LA088 790222 Egyptian Meditation

M0512-890312-ForMasteryOfTimeAndSpace

A letter to a friend

Read the text from Richard Wilhelm's, Thomas Cleary's, Brian Arnold's and other translations of the I Ching
56 – Fifty-Six.  Lu / The Wanderer

Fire on the Mountain, catastrophic to man, a passing annoyance to the Mountain:
The Superior Person waits for wisdom and clarity before exacting Justice, then lets no protest sway him.

Find satisfaction in small gains.
To move constantly forward is good fortune to a Wanderer.

SITUATION ANALYSIS:

You are a stranger to this situation.
It is your attraction to the exotic that has led you here, but you will move on to a new vista when this one has lost its mystique.
Because much of this environment is foreign to you, you must exercise only the best judgement.
You don’t know the custom here, and it’s too easy to cross a line you don’t know is there.
Because you are the foreigner in this setting, you have no history to acquit you.
Watch, listen, study, contemplate, then step lightly but decisively on.

yang
yin above: Li / The Clinging, Fire
yang
yang
yin below: Kên / Keeping Still, Mountain
yin

 

THE MOUNTAIN, Kên, stands still; above it fire, Li, flames up and does not tarry. Therefore the two trigrams do not stay together. Strange lands and separation are the wanderer’s lot.

THE JUDGEMENT

The Wanderer. Success through smallness.
Perseverance brings good fortune
To the wanderer.

WHEN A man is a wanderer and stranger, he should not be gruff nor overbearing. He has no large circle of acquaintances, therefore he should not give himself airs. He must be cautious and reserved; in this way he protects himself from evil. If he is obliging toward others, he wins success.
A wanderer has no fixed abode; his home is the road. Therefore he must take care to remain upright and steadfast, so that he sojourns only in the proper places, associating only with good people. Then he has good fortune and can go his way unmolested.

I Ching Online

THE IMAGE

Fire on the mountain:
The image of THE WANDERER.
Thus the superior man
Is clear-minded and cautious
In imposing penalties,
And protracts no lawsuits.

 

Fire on Sugarloaf mountain

 

Fire on Sugarloaf mountain, in Chiricahua National Monument, 2011

When grass on a mountain takes fire, there is bright light. However, the fire does not linger in one place, but travels on to new fuel. It is a phenomenon of short duration. This is what penalties and lawsuits should be like. They should be a quickly passing matter, and must not be dragged out indefinitely. Prisons ought to be places where people are lodged only temporarily, as guests are. They must not become dwelling places.