Tao Te Ching Meditation - Chapter 59; The Power of Virtue, The Virtue of Virtue.
Reading:
59.1 To govern the human and serve the divine,
nothing compares to frugality.
59.2 Only frugality brings early recovery;
early recovery means buildup of power.
Build up virtue, and you master all.
When you master all, no one knows your limit.
When no one knows your limit, you can maintain a nation.
59.3 When you maintain the matrix of a nation, you can last long.
59.4 This is called making the root deep and the basis firm,
the Way of long life and eternal vision.
Tao Teh Ching - Cleary Translation
Meditation:
Frugality and Virtue are at the root of all positive action.
Frugality comes first -- leading to "recovery"
which leads to power (or Virtue, Te
We do not understand this, failing to see that frugality is related to Virtue
because the virtue we see is contrived (artificial)
and not the spontaneous Virtue written on our hearts by our creator.
This is why the Judeo-Christian Ten Commandments, admired by half the world
and not opposed by any organized group anywhere
are ignored in hundreds of obvious ways
(and in thousands of unacknowledged ways}
There are two versions of the Commandments,
(Exodus 20 and Exodus 34)
Three commandments
(No other Gods, no graven images, Sabbath observance)
are somewhat similar in both versions
The other 14 are totally without parallel
seven are not in version, the other seven, not in the other.
Moses went to the mountaintop,
received the Commandments from God,
Then brought them down to the people.
Well, what's wrong with that?
Suppose God tells you to do something.
Now suppose God tells me to tell you to do something.
See the difference?
To find Virtue, i must return to my original nature (my Buddha nature)
This is what Taoists mean by frugality.
Give away everything that stands between me and the Tao
Then i will be receptive to Virtue.
Suppose the Prodigal son, instead of ending up in the gutter
had become a successful rancher, entrepreneur, or theologian?
Would his need to return to the Father have been any less?
Would his Father's love for him be any greater?
Not if that Father/Mother were the Tao.
Prayer: Holy Loving: Bless me with renunciation and return. Amen.
59.1 To govern the human and serve the divine,
nothing compares to frugality.
59.2 Only frugality brings early recovery;
early recovery means buildup of power.
Build up virtue, and you master all.
When you master all, no one knows your limit.
When no one knows your limit, you can maintain a nation.
59.3 When you maintain the matrix of a nation, you can last long.
59.4 This is called making the root deep and the basis firm,
the Way of long life and eternal vision.
Tao Teh Ching - Cleary Translation
Meditation:
Frugality and Virtue are at the root of all positive action.
Frugality comes first -- leading to "recovery"
which leads to power (or Virtue, Te
We do not understand this, failing to see that frugality is related to Virtue
because the virtue we see is contrived (artificial)
and not the spontaneous Virtue written on our hearts by our creator.
This is why the Judeo-Christian Ten Commandments, admired by half the world
and not opposed by any organized group anywhere
are ignored in hundreds of obvious ways
(and in thousands of unacknowledged ways}
There are two versions of the Commandments,
(Exodus 20 and Exodus 34)
Three commandments
(No other Gods, no graven images, Sabbath observance)
are somewhat similar in both versions
The other 14 are totally without parallel
seven are not in version, the other seven, not in the other.
Moses went to the mountaintop,
received the Commandments from God,
Then brought them down to the people.
Well, what's wrong with that?
Suppose God tells you to do something.
Now suppose God tells me to tell you to do something.
See the difference?
To find Virtue, i must return to my original nature (my Buddha nature)
This is what Taoists mean by frugality.
Give away everything that stands between me and the Tao
Then i will be receptive to Virtue.
Suppose the Prodigal son, instead of ending up in the gutter
had become a successful rancher, entrepreneur, or theologian?
Would his need to return to the Father have been any less?
Would his Father's love for him be any greater?
Not if that Father/Mother were the Tao.
Prayer: Holy Loving: Bless me with renunciation and return. Amen.