Tuesday 8 October 2013

Morning Thought

Waking up. It’s dark outside. I’m looking for news for one of my assignments. Sometimes the world – and all that happens in it – seems such a horrible place. But, there is beauty in it, I believe, as well as lot of wonder. This morning I decided to start off my day in a way that I haven’t done in a long time, by reading a verse from the Tao.

Tao Te Ching - Lao Tzu - chapter 50

Between birth and death,
Three in time are following life,
Three in ten are following death,
And men just passing from birth to death also number three in ten.
Why is this so?
Because they live their lives on the gross level.

He who knows how to live can walk abroad
Without fear of rhinocerous or tiger.
He will not be wounded in battle.
For in him rhinoceroses can find no place to thrust their horn,
Tigers can find no place to use their claws,
And weapons no place to pierce.
Why is this so? Because he has no place for death to enter.


(translation by Gia-fu Feng and Jane English)

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