Tao Te Ching – Verse 48 – In pursuit of knowledge, every day something is added. In the practice of the Tao, every day something is dropped.

Tao Te Ching – Verse 48

In pursuit of knowledge,
every day something is added.
In the practice of the Tao,
every day something is dropped.
Less and less do you need to force things,
until finally you arrive at non-action.
When nothing is done,
nothing is left undone.
True mastery can be gained
by letting things go their own way.
It can’t be gained by interfering. Continue reading “Tao Te Ching – Verse 48 – In pursuit of knowledge, every day something is added. In the practice of the Tao, every day something is dropped.”

“If you combine innate modesty with energetic action, great success is assured.  You can be the change.” – Today’s Reading

If you combine innate modesty with energetic action, great success is assured.  You can be the change.

See Yogi Bhajan’s quote for today

Tao Te Ching – Verse 47 – Without opening your door, you can open your heart to the world

Meditation:  LA015 780227 – To Bring Swift and Powerful Change

The Seven Steps to Happiness

Today: I Ching – Previous Reading – “Keep your composure and just wait for the dangers you face to change. Any movement on your part will make things worse.”

Today: I Ching – Previous previous reading – “Remain focused on the tasks at hand without expectations for recognition or fame. Yielding the credit to others keeps the peace, avoiding unnecessary competition and potential conflict for differing views.”

See related posts.

See on healing with Yogi Bhjan

Read the text from Richard Wilhelm's, Thomas Cleary's, Brian Arnold's and other translations of the I Ching
57 – Fifty-Seven.  Sun / The Penetrating Wind

Wind follows upon wind, wandering the earth, penetrating gently but persistently:
The Superior Person expands his influence by reaffirming his decisions and carrying out his promises.

Small, persistent, focused effort brings success.
Seek advice from someone you respect.

SITUATION ANALYSIS:

Gentle persuasion is the key in this instance.
Though the words are soft, their speaker must be firm, calm and confident.
Gentle words are worthless if spoken with trepidation.
Wordless influence by example is also effective in this situation.
All persuasion should be almost unfelt, yet consistent and persistent.
Ask for feedback from someone you know to be an effective persuader.

Six in the fourth place means:

Self-doubt vanishes and determination grows.
Three forms of game will be taken in this hunt.

Remorse vanishes.
During the hunt
Three kinds of game are caught.

Pheasant Shooting

‘Pheasant Shooting’ – Julius Ceasar Ibbetson, 1790

When a responsible position and accumulated experience lead one to combine innate modesty with energetic action, great success is assured. The three kinds of animals referred to served for offerings to the gods, for feasting guests, and for everyday consumption. When the catch answered all three purposes, the hunt was considered especially successful.

43 – Forty-Three.  Kuai / Breakthrough

A Deluge from Heaven:
The Superior Person rains fortune upon those in need, then moves on with no thought of the good he does.

The issue must be raised before an impartial authority.
Be sincere and earnest, despite the danger.
Do not try to force the outcome, but seek support where needed.
Set a clear goal.

SITUATION ANALYSIS:

Your iron will must come to the forefront now.
It will take great personal determination to resolve the situation in question.
Your adversary would love to force you into an angry display.
That would legitimize his opposition to you.
Such a berserker rage would drag you down to his level.
You must resolutely take a public stand against what he represents, but refuse to engage him.
Without compromise, you show others the way to higher ground.

Today: “Those people who are humble, affectionate, serving, and who breathe the Divine Force into themselves…” – Yogi Bhajan

“Those people who are humble, affectionate, serving, and who breathe the Divine Force into themselves, make their mind to concentrate on one breath, and pray to the Universal Spirit by tuning in—not only does their own magnetic field/electric power get charged because of the life force, their circumvent force becomes so strong that it can keep away all the negative forces, and they can change the destiny of others.” Yogi Bhajan

Meditation: LA847-19950816-Unity-Your Magnetic Field of the Total Self Will Become One

See yesterday’s quote

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Tao Te Ching – Verse 47 – Without opening your door, you can open your heart to the world

Tao Te Ching – Verse 47

Without opening your door,
you can open your heart to the world.
Without looking out your window,
you can see the essence of the Tao.
The more you know,
the less you understand.
The Master arrives without leaving,
sees the light without looking,
achieves without doing a thing. Continue reading “Tao Te Ching – Verse 47 – Without opening your door, you can open your heart to the world”

“Keep your composure and just wait for the dangers you face to change.  Any movement on your part will make things worse.” – Today’s Reading

Keep your composure and just wait for the dangers you face to change.  Any movement on your part will make things worse.

See Yogi Bhajan’s quote for today

Tao Te Ching – Verse 46 – When the world has the Tao Fast horses are retired to till the soil. When the world lacks the Tao Warhorses give birth on the battlefield

Meditation: Meditate on Nothing to Find Prosperity – 19930421

The Seven Steps to Happiness

Today: I Ching – Previous Reading – “Remain focused on the tasks at hand without expectations for recognition or fame. Yielding the credit to others keeps the peace, avoiding unnecessary competition and potential conflict for differing views.”

Today: I Ching – Previous previous reading – “Remain focused on the tasks at hand without expectations for recognition or fame. Yielding the credit to others keeps the peace, avoiding unnecessary competition and potential conflict for differing views.”

See related posts.

See on healing with Yogi Bhjan

Read the text from Richard Wilhelm's, Thomas Cleary's, Brian Arnold's and other translations of the I Ching
5 – Five.  Hsü / Calculated Waiting

Deep Waters in the Heavens:
Thunderclouds approaching from the West, but no rain yet.
The Superior Person nourishes himself and remains of good cheer to condition himself for the moment of truth.

Great Success if you sincerely keep to your course.
You may cross to the far shore.

SITUATION ANALYSIS:

You must now endure this Dangling — either a carrot before your nose, or a sword above your head.
This strange mix of apprehension and anticipation is a Purgatory.
There is nothing more you can do to affect the outcome.
You must now submit to the Fates.

Six in the fourth place means:

Waiting in blood.
Get out of the pit.

Deep pit

The situation is extremely dangerous. It is of utmost gravity now – a matter of life and death. Bloodshed seems imminent. There is no going forward or backward; we are cut off as if in a pit. Now we must simply stand fast and let fate take its course. This composure, which keeps us from aggravating the trouble by anything we might do, is the only way of getting out of the dangerous pit.

28 – Twenty-Eight.  Ta Kuo / Critical Mass

The Flood rises above the tallest Tree:
Amidst a rising tide of human folly, the Superior Person retires to higher ground, renouncing his world without looking back.

Any direction is better than where you now stand.

SITUATION ANALYSIS:

Several high-priority concerns demand immediate attention.
All are crucial.
None will be denied.
Yet some demand the denial of others.
Like two atoms seeking to occupy the same space, these irresistible forces and immovable objects threaten to ignite a cataclysm that could irreversibly alter your world.
This is no time for fatal heroics.
You are at Ground Point Zero.
Remove yourself from this situation without delay.
Find sanctuary.
Later you may deal with these concerns on your own terms, from a position of strength.

 

Today: “All the prayers, all the mantras you chant, all the good words you speak, all the good thoughts you have—they build up only one thing around you and that is your circumvent force.” Yogi Bhajan

“All the prayers, all the mantras you chant, all the good words you speak, all the good thoughts you have—they build up only one thing around you and that is your circumvent force.” Yogi Bhajan

Meditation: TCH2012 960727 – Warrior’s Exercise for Opening the Energy into the Shushmana & Balancing the Hemispheres of the Brain

Related Posts

What else Yogi Bhajan said

Tao Te Ching – Verse 46 – When the world has the Tao Fast horses are retired to till the soil. When the world lacks the Tao Warhorses give birth on the battlefield

Tao Te Ching – Verse 46

When the world has the Tao
Fast horses are retired to till the soil
When the world lacks the Tao
Warhorses give birth on the battlefield

There is no crime greater than greed
No disaster greater than discontentment
No fault greater than avarice
Thus the satisfaction of contentment
is the lasting satisfaction

(translation by Derek Lin, 2006)
-+-+-+-

When a country is in harmony with the Tao,
the factories make trucks and tractors.
When a country goes counter to the Tao,
warheads are stockpiled outside the cities.
There is no greater illusion than fear,
no greater wrong than preparing to defend yourself, no greater misfortune than having an enemy.
Whoever can see through all fear
will always be safe.

(translation by Stephen Mitchell, 1995)

-+-+-+-

Continue reading “Tao Te Ching – Verse 46 – When the world has the Tao Fast horses are retired to till the soil. When the world lacks the Tao Warhorses give birth on the battlefield”

“Remain focused on the tasks at hand without expectations for recognition or fame.  Yielding the credit to others keeps the peace, avoiding unnecessary competition and potential conflict for differing views.” – Today’s Reading

Remain focused on the tasks at hand without expectations for recognition or fame.  Yielding the credit to others keeps the peace, avoiding unnecessary competition and potential conflict for differing views.

The wise man gladly leaves fame to others. He does not seek to have credited to himself things that stand accomplished, but hopes to release active forces; that is, he completes his works in such a manner that they may bear fruit for the future.

See Yogi Bhajan’s quote for today

Tao Te Ching – Verse 44 – Fame or integrity: which is more important?

Meditation: NM0405-20010529- Sahaj Naad Kriya

The Seven Steps to Happiness

Today: I Ching – Previous Reading – “Keep serving regardless of whether you are trusted. People can begin to trust once their fear subsides.”

Today: I Ching – Previous previous reading – “If you live your life surrounded by mud, you will lose all significance to yourself and everyone else.”

See related posts.

See on healing with Yogi Bhjan

Read the text from Richard Wilhelm's, Thomas Cleary's, Brian Arnold's and other translations of the I Ching
2 – Two   K’un / Receptive Force

Earth above and Earth below:
The Earth contains and sustains.
In this situation, the Superior Person should not take the initiative; he should follow the initiative of another.
He should seek receptive allies in the southwest; he should break ties with immovable allies in the northeast.

Responsive devotion.
Receptive influence.
Sublime Success if you keep to your course.

SITUATION ANALYSIS:

This is a time for dealing with reality as it is, not as you would have it be.
If you realize that in this situation you are the receptor, not the transmitter of the stimulus, you will find yourself reaching goals that seemed unattainable under your own steam.
If you persist in futile efforts to be the Shaper rather than the Shaped, you will completely miss this unique opportunity.

Six at the top means:

The battling dragons are too evenly matched.
Each spills black and yellow blood to the soil below.

Dragons fight in the meadow.
Their blood is black and yellow.

Green dragonGreen dragon

In the top place the dark element should yield to the light. If it attempts to maintain a position to which it is not entitled and to rule instead of serving, it draws down upon itself the anger of the strong. A struggle ensues in which it is overthrown, with injury, however, to both sides. The dragon, symbol of heaven, comes to fight the false dragon that symbolised the inflation of the earth principle. Midnight blue is the color of heaven; yellow is the color of earth. Therefore, when black and yellow blood flow, it is a sign that in this unnatural contest both primal powers suffer injury.1

Battling dragons


1. While the top line of THE CREATIVE indicates titanic pride and forms a parallel to the Greek legend of Icarus, the top line of THE RECEPTIVE presents a parallel to the myth of Lucifer’s rebellion against God, or to the battle between the powers of darkness and the gods of Valhalla, which ended with the Twilight of the Gods.

Six in the third place means:

Hide your brilliance.
Feeling no threat, they won’t resist the completion of your goal.
All you lose is credit for the accomplishment.

Hidden lines.
One is able to remain persevering.
If by chance you are in the service of a king,
Seek not works, but bring to completion.

Kemsit - Nubian queen

Kemsit, the Nubian queen of the Egyptian King Mentuhotep II (2061-2010 B.C.), and her servants

If a man is free of vanity he is able to conceal his abilities and keep them from attracting attention too soon; thus he can mature undisturbed. If conditions demand it, he can also enter public life, but that too he does with restraint. The wise man gladly leaves fame to others. He does not seek to have credited to himself things that stand accomplished, but hopes to release active forces; that is, he completes his works in such a manner that they may bear fruit for the future.

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.

Today: “If you feel you can’t believe anybody or anything, fine. Don’t. Instead believe in yourself.” – Yogi Bhajan

“If you feel you can’t believe anybody or anything, fine. Don’t. Instead believe in yourself. Wake up and go deeply in your self. Master the mind. Get to the essence and process of your own life. Stop playing games. If you find I am wrong in my statements, then try to be right and exalt, elevate, and take care of yourself.” Yogi Bhajan

Meditation: M136-970930 – Work on Shashara, Balance Earth and Heavens

See yesterday’s post

See related posts

Tao Te Ching – Verse 45 – True perfection seems imperfect, yet it is perfectly itself

Tao Te Ching – Verse 45

True perfection seems imperfect,
yet it is perfectly itself.
True fullness seems empty,
yet it is fully present.

True straightness seems crooked.
True wisdom seems foolish.
True art seems artless.

The Master allows things to happen.
She shapes events as they come.
She steps out of the way
and lets the Tao speak for itself. Continue reading “Tao Te Ching – Verse 45 – True perfection seems imperfect, yet it is perfectly itself”

“Remain focused on the tasks at hand without expectations for recognition or fame.  Yielding the credit to others keeps the peace, avoiding unnecessary competition and potential conflict for differing views.” – Today’s Reading

Remain focused on the tasks at hand without expectations for recognition or fame.  Yielding the credit to others keeps the peace, avoiding unnecessary competition and potential conflict for differing views.

The wise man gladly leaves fame to others. He does not seek to have credited to himself things that stand accomplished, but hopes to release active forces; that is, he completes his works in such a manner that they may bear fruit for the future.

See Yogi Bhajan’s quote for today

Tao Te Ching – Verse 44 – Fame or integrity: which is more important?

Meditation: NM0405-20010529- Sahaj Naad Kriya

The Seven Steps to Happiness

Today: I Ching – Previous Reading – “Keep serving regardless of whether you are trusted. People can begin to trust once their fear subsides.”

Today: I Ching – Previous previous reading – “If you live your life surrounded by mud, you will lose all significance to yourself and everyone else.”

See related posts.

See on healing with Yogi Bhjan

Read the text from Richard Wilhelm's, Thomas Cleary's, Brian Arnold's and other translations of the I Ching
2 – Two   K’un / Receptive Force

Earth above and Earth below:
The Earth contains and sustains.
In this situation, the Superior Person should not take the initiative; he should follow the initiative of another.
He should seek receptive allies in the southwest; he should break ties with immovable allies in the northeast.

Responsive devotion.
Receptive influence.
Sublime Success if you keep to your course.

SITUATION ANALYSIS:

This is a time for dealing with reality as it is, not as you would have it be.
If you realize that in this situation you are the receptor, not the transmitter of the stimulus, you will find yourself reaching goals that seemed unattainable under your own steam.
If you persist in futile efforts to be the Shaper rather than the Shaped, you will completely miss this unique opportunity.

Six at the top means:

The battling dragons are too evenly matched.
Each spills black and yellow blood to the soil below.

Dragons fight in the meadow.
Their blood is black and yellow.

Green dragonGreen dragon

In the top place the dark element should yield to the light. If it attempts to maintain a position to which it is not entitled and to rule instead of serving, it draws down upon itself the anger of the strong. A struggle ensues in which it is overthrown, with injury, however, to both sides. The dragon, symbol of heaven, comes to fight the false dragon that symbolised the inflation of the earth principle. Midnight blue is the color of heaven; yellow is the color of earth. Therefore, when black and yellow blood flow, it is a sign that in this unnatural contest both primal powers suffer injury.1

Battling dragons


1. While the top line of THE CREATIVE indicates titanic pride and forms a parallel to the Greek legend of Icarus, the top line of THE RECEPTIVE presents a parallel to the myth of Lucifer’s rebellion against God, or to the battle between the powers of darkness and the gods of Valhalla, which ended with the Twilight of the Gods.

Six in the third place means:

Hide your brilliance.
Feeling no threat, they won’t resist the completion of your goal.
All you lose is credit for the accomplishment.

Hidden lines.
One is able to remain persevering.
If by chance you are in the service of a king,
Seek not works, but bring to completion.

Kemsit - Nubian queen

Kemsit, the Nubian queen of the Egyptian King Mentuhotep II (2061-2010 B.C.), and her servants

If a man is free of vanity he is able to conceal his abilities and keep them from attracting attention too soon; thus he can mature undisturbed. If conditions demand it, he can also enter public life, but that too he does with restraint. The wise man gladly leaves fame to others. He does not seek to have credited to himself things that stand accomplished, but hopes to release active forces; that is, he completes his works in such a manner that they may bear fruit for the future.

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.

Today: “In meditation you begin to realize that there is a world of you” – Yogi Bhajan

“In meditation you begin to realize that there is a world of you. There is a world of your mind, and a world of you. In the world of you, in your basic elementary situation, in your identity, your mind is your servant not your master. That is why we do Kundalini Yoga. That is why we do sadhana.” Yogi Bhajan

sadhana

See related posts

Tao Te Ching – Verse 44 – Fame or integrity: which is more important?

Tao Te Ching – Verse 44

Fame or integrity: which is more important?
Money or happiness: which is more valuable?
Success or failure: which is more destructive?

If you look to others for fulfillment,
you will never truly be fulfilled.
If your happiness depends on money,
you will never be happy with yourself. Continue reading “Tao Te Ching – Verse 44 – Fame or integrity: which is more important?”

“Keep serving regardless of whether you are trusted.  People can begin to trust once their fear subsides.” – Today’s Reading

Keep serving regardless of whether you are trusted.  People can begin to  trust once their fear subsides.

See Yogi Bhajan’s quote for today

Tao Te Ching – Verse 43 – The gentlest thing in the world overcomes the hardest thing in the world.

Meditation: NM142 19940615 – Bless the Planet Earth and Let the Heavens Descend in You

The Seven Steps to Happiness

Today: I Ching – Previous Reading – “If you live your life surrounded by mud, you will lose all significance to yourself and everyone else.”

Today: I Ching – Previous previous reading – “he forces of the cosmos are cycling in your favor. This is an ideal time for great progress and expansion in every endeavor.”

See related posts.

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

See on healing with Yogi Bhjan

Read the text from Richard Wilhelm's, Thomas Cleary's, Brian Arnold's and other translations of the I Ching
3 – Three.  Chun / Difficulty at the Beginning

Thunder from the Deep:
The Superior Person carefully weaves order out of confusion.

Supreme Success if you keep to your course.
Carefully consider the first move.
Seek help.

SITUATION ANALYSIS:

New ventures always pack along their inherent chaos.
Though this is an annoyance at best, and can even imperil or downright doom an endeavor, it is also the friction needed to polish your project to jewel brilliance.
Learn from these early obstacles.

Nine in the fifth place means:

He could rescue them, if only they would trust.
For now, he must provide protection and small comfort from the shadows.

Difficulties in blessing.
A little perseverance brings good fortune.
Great perseverance brings misfortune.

Persevere

An individual is in a position in which he cannot so express his good intentions that they will actually take shape and be understood. Other people interpose and distort everything he does. He should then be cautious and proceed step by step. He must not try to force the consummation of a great undertaking, because success is possible only when general confidence already prevails. It is only through faithful and conscientious work, unobtrusively carried on, that the situation gradually clears up and the hindrance disappears.
24 – Twenty-Four.  Fu / Return

Thunder regenerates deep within Earth’s womb:
Sage rulers recognized that the end of Earth’s seasonal cycle was also the starting point of a new year and a time for dormancy.
They closed the passes at the Solstice to enforce a rest from commerce and activity.
The ruler himself did not travel.

You have passed this way before but you are not regressing.
This is progress, for the cycle now repeats itself, and this time you are aware that it truly is a cycle.
The return of old familiars is welcome.
You can be as sure of this cycle as you are that seven days bring the start of a new week.
Use this dormancy phase to plan which direction you will grow.

SITUATION ANALYSIS:

You are about to experience a rebirth — about to be given another chance, a new lease on life.
You have persevered, gone the distance through an entire cycle — through the Spring of hope or new passion, through a Summer of growth and building, only to be sacrificed like the archetypal Harvest King at the Autumn reaping.
You lie dormant like seed beneath Winter snows now, healing and absorbing new energies in preparation for the new young Spring coming shortly to your life.

Today: “Excellence, awareness, and caliber come to you when you make your mind play the game you and your soul want.” – Yogi Bhajan

“Excellence, awareness, and caliber come to you when you make your mind play the game you and your soul want.” Yogi Bhajan

Meditation: NM0413 – Intuition and the Strength of Excellence

See related posts

Tao Te Ching – Verse 43 – The gentlest thing in the world overcomes the hardest thing in the world.

Tao Te Ching – Verse 43

The gentlest thing in the world
overcomes the hardest thing in the world.
That which has no substance
enters where there is no space.
This shows the value of non-action.
Teaching without words,
performing without actions:
that is the Master’s way. Continue reading “Tao Te Ching – Verse 43 – The gentlest thing in the world overcomes the hardest thing in the world.”