Chapter Ten
Translation by Brian Brownie Walker.
Can you
marry your spirit and
body to the Oneness and
never depart from it?
Can you ride your breath
until your entire being is as supple
as the body of an infant?
Can you cleanse
your inner vision until
you see heaven in
every direction?
Can you love
people and govern them
without conniving and
manipulating?
Can you bear
heaven's children in all
that you do and are?
Can you give the
wisdom of your heart precedence
over the learning of
your head?
Giving birth,
nourishing life,
shaping things
without possessing them,
serving without expectation of
reward, leading without dominating:
These are the profound virtues
of nature, and of nature's
best beings.
Ripples…
Hua Ching-Ni: “From those questions [on chapter 9], one should examine: You have received the gift of birth, but you do not own your life. You are raised by the universe but you do not dominate the universe. You grow together with all people but you are not a lord over them”
Su Ch’e: “The mind is one. If someone knew it, there would be two. Going from one to two is the origin of all delusion.”
Ursula K. Le Guin: “Can you keep the water still and clear, so it reflects without blurring?.”
“Can I? Can You? Can We remember that we were born with the capacity to marry body and spirit, ride our breath, embody clear seeing, and lead from the undivided wisdom of the heart?—Yamin
Living the Way
Today, I invite you to exercise your capacity for wholeness by paying attention to the often artificial divisions within your Self.
Notice when your mind says one thing while your gut feels another; when your body resists while your habitual energy presses forward; when you feel scattered, pulled in too many directions. Simply bear witness to these movements, gathering information so that, at the end of the day—or the week—you can call an Inner Council and gather the parts of yourself around the fire of Oneness. This may be as simple as taking a deep breath together, allowing each seemingly divided part of your Whole to feel and be felt, to see and be seen, and perhaps even to appreciate both its own place and the place of every other part within the rich tapestry of your inner life, where each thread may reveal something of your true colors…
Then notice how, in meeting yourself this way, you meet the world.
gathering…
Yamin
