TEXT
善行，无辙迹；
善言，无瑕谪；
善数，不用筹策；
善闭，无关楗而不可开；
善结，无绳约而不可解。
是以圣人常善救人，故无弃人；
常善救物，故无弃物。
是谓袭明。
故善人者，不善人之师；
不善人者，善人之资。
不贵其师，不爱其资，
虽智大迷，
是谓要妙。
TRANSLATION
Good actions leave no trace;
Good speech leaves no blame;
Good plans do not need stick and carrot;
Good c
[The following flows from a discussion that we had recently on ITZI Supprt Zoom]
What follows below is quite condensed yet by no means exhaustive. The methods are as innumerable as the cases and the amount that can be said about right view is similar
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重为轻根，静为躁君。
是以君子终日行不离辎重，
虽有荣观，燕处超然。
奈何万乘之主，而以身轻天下？
轻则失根，躁则失君。
TRANSLATION
By seriousness frivolity can have a root.
By calm impatience.can have a master.
Thus the nobleman travels all day long
never leaving the heavy wagons.
Although one have a
Buddhism is a mystical religion.It is noumenal. It does not fit within the common paradigm, but soars far beyond.
Those who turn their hearts and attention to what is beyond this world are called mystics. Buddha was one. This is why he is called a m
Read more…It is notable how symptoms of social disintegration have been multiplying recently. The politics of the UK and of the USA have not been so turbulent for a long time; France is in the grip of rather chaotic public demonstrations the objective of which
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有物混成，先天地生。
寂兮寥兮，独立而不改，
周行而不殆，可以为天地母。
吾不知其名，强字之曰：道，
强为之名曰：大。
大曰逝，逝曰远，远曰反。
故道大，天大，地大，人亦大。
域中有四大，而人居其一焉。
人法地，地法天，天法道，
道法自然。
TRANSLATION
有物混成，先天地生
There is something confusedly formed,
born before heaven and earth.
寂兮寥兮，独立而不改，
silent, empty, standing alone an
A basic problem is that the British side is run by politicians and the European side by bureaucrats. As a sweeping generlisation, politicians do not mean what they say, are willing to vote tactically and to change allegiance when it suits whereas bur
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曲则全，枉则直，
洼则盈，敝则新，
少则得，多则惑。
是以圣人抱一为天下式。
不自见，故明；
不自是，故彰，
不自伐，故有功；
不自矜，故长。
夫唯不争，
故天下莫能与之争。
古之所谓"曲则全"者，
岂虚言哉？
诚全而归之。
TRANSLATION
Crooked, then whole; bent, then straight;
low, then full; battered, then new;
lacking, then apt; endowed, then perplexed.
Therefore, the
The basic problem for the world at the moment is that we have had an economic system that has kind-of worked for several hundred years but is reaching its sell-by date, but, as yet, we have no credible alternative on offer. The fact of reaching an en
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孔德之容，惟道是从。
道之为物，惟恍惟惚。
惚兮恍兮，其中有象；
恍兮惚兮，其中有物；
窈兮冥兮，其中有精，
其精甚真，其中有信，
自今及古，其名不去，
以阅众甫。
吾何以知众甫之状哉？
以此。
TRANSLATION
The appearance of a person of high Te (virtue) is due to nothing except the Tao.
The activity of Tao is vague and indistinct:
so indistinct
Someone has asked me my opinion about the US government shutdown.
Well, I have opinions, for what they are worth, about several aspects of this lamentable situation.
1. Trump is not without justification. He campaigned on the issue of the wall. It wa
Read more…Richard Ollier has recently published an essay in the Journal of Global Buddhism "Dharmavidya’s Engagement with Hōnen: How a Contemporary British Pureland Buddhist Teacher Retrieves his Japanese Spiritual Heritage"*
It is a good academic article and,
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絕學無憂
唯之与阿，相去几何？
美之与恶，相去若何？
人之所畏，不可不畏?
荒兮!
其未央哉！众人熙熙，
如享太牢，如春登台。
我独泊兮，其未兆；
沌沌兮，如婴儿之未孩；
傫傫兮，若无所归。
众人皆有余，而我独若遗。
我愚人之心也哉！
俗人昭昭⒅，我独昏昏。
俗人察察，我独闷闷。
澹兮，其若海；
飂兮，若无止。
众人皆有以，而我独顽且鄙。
我独异于人，而贵食母。
TRANSLATION
Cut out copying the crowd - no misery!
Between bribery and flattery,
I have recently read an essay about Theravada meditation. Of its type it is an excellent essay. It decribes samatha (calm meditation) and vipassana (insight meditation) and the relations between them, showing how in some schools samatha provides a fo
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绝圣弃智，民利百倍；
绝仁弃义，民复孝慈；
绝巧弃利，盗贼无有。
此三者以为文不足，
故令有所属；
见素抱朴，
少私寡欲；
绝学无忧。
TRANSLATION
Give up holiness, abandon wisdom
and people benefit a hundredfold.
Give up humanism (ren), abandon appropriateness (yi)
and people become filial and compassionate.
Give up takin
TEXT
大道废，有仁义；
智慧出，有大伪；
六亲不和，有孝慈;
国家昏乱，有忠臣。
TRANSLATION
When the great Tao is lost
we have benevolence and appropriateness.
When cleverness springs up
we have great hypocrisy.
When the six relations are on bad terms
we have filial obedience and pare
TEXT
太上，不知有之；
其次，亲而誉之；
其次，畏之；
其次，侮之。
信不足焉，有不信焉。
悠兮，其贵言。
功成事遂，百姓皆谓“我自然”。
TRANSLATION
The master of Tao does not know he has it.
Next to him is the person who relates to it and praises it.
The next best fears it,
then come those who ridicule it.
If there i
