Questioning
The Great Way (Sengstan)
I'm reading the book "Kim" by Rudyard Kipling. It's an interesting novel, taking place in India and describing the country under British occupation.
One of the main characters is a Tibitan Lama, searching for the "River of the Arrow" to wash away all sins (or things, not sure yet
). He's a follower of "the Way", or at least that is how I remember it - he might call it differently.
In a search for some more information about this, I found the following poem. It's translated from Chinese and I really don't know what religion/stream of thought it's about.
The Great Way is not difficult
for those who have no preferences.
When love and hate are both absent
everything becomes clear and undisguised.
Make the smallest distinction, however
and heaven and earth are set infinitely apart.
If you wish to see the truth
then hold no opinions for or against anything.
To set up what you like against what you dislike
is the disease of the mind.
When the deep meaning of things is not understood
the minds essential peace is disturbed to no avail.
The Way is perfect like vast space
where nothing is lacking and nothing is in excess.
Indeed, it is due to our choosing to accept or reject
that we do not see the true nature of things.
Live neither in the entanglements of outer things,
nor in inner feelings of emptiness.
Be serene in the oneness of things
and such erroneous views will disappear by themselves.
When you try to stop activity to achieve passivity
your very effort fills you with activity.
As long as you remain in one extreme or the other
you will never know Oneness.
I see this might be more a way of thought than a poem, but still I'd like to share it
I think it's a high price to pay - to give up love to know oneness... I know love and hate re two sides of the same coin - but what's wrong with letting that coin lay on one side?!
One of the main characters is a Tibitan Lama, searching for the "River of the Arrow" to wash away all sins (or things, not sure yet
). He's a follower of "the Way", or at least that is how I remember it - he might call it differently. In a search for some more information about this, I found the following poem. It's translated from Chinese and I really don't know what religion/stream of thought it's about.
The Great Way is not difficult
for those who have no preferences.
When love and hate are both absent
everything becomes clear and undisguised.
Make the smallest distinction, however
and heaven and earth are set infinitely apart.
If you wish to see the truth
then hold no opinions for or against anything.
To set up what you like against what you dislike
is the disease of the mind.
When the deep meaning of things is not understood
the minds essential peace is disturbed to no avail.
The Way is perfect like vast space
where nothing is lacking and nothing is in excess.
Indeed, it is due to our choosing to accept or reject
that we do not see the true nature of things.
Live neither in the entanglements of outer things,
nor in inner feelings of emptiness.
Be serene in the oneness of things
and such erroneous views will disappear by themselves.
When you try to stop activity to achieve passivity
your very effort fills you with activity.
As long as you remain in one extreme or the other
you will never know Oneness.
I see this might be more a way of thought than a poem, but still I'd like to share it
I think it's a high price to pay - to give up love to know oneness... I know love and hate re two sides of the same coin - but what's wrong with letting that coin lay on one side?!
Total Comments 2
Comments
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i think it might be something from the buddhism, with giving up all earthly things and emotions, but i could be completely wrong as well
but i agree more with you on this (maybe that's wrong of me but it's the way i feel it) you can only truly experience or at least appreciate for instance happiness when you have known sadness (be it through yourself, or others. I personally think i can value a sunny day a lot more because it rains soo much here. So yes i think it is beneficiary to set up what you like against what you dislike just because it makes you (or at least me) appreciate what i got much more and be humble about it, and that can't be all that bad can it? But of course i have never tried it as stated here but i can't imagine holding no opinions for or against anything, to me that actually appears rather shallow, but thn again i could be wrong Posted 03-04-2009 at 11:54 AM by angelstar
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I think it's about finding a balance in everything you do. Distinguishing whether one thing is better than its opposite makes us "unbalanced". When you're biased for or against something, you're unable to see it for what it really is. You may tend to ignore some stuff as well because you choose to distance yourself from it, or only see things from certain perspectives. But that's my own definition.
Posted 03-04-2009 at 03:29 PM by Chocolatefan
