With eyes alone we cannot see
It is because there is light that we can see
With legs alone we cannot walk
It is because there is earth that we can walk
If even one finger is hurt, this pain is felt throughout the entire body. If there is one black sheep in a family, he causes the entire family to be filled with anxiety. An organization, a country, a world…they are all the same in this respect. The only difference is whether the influence is very direct, or more subtle.
Our every thought, word, and action mutually influence each other. On reflection, it is keenly clear to me that we do not exist merely for ourselves, but rather for all people and all things.
Therefore, right livelihood, whatever world we live in, lies in the fulfilling of our obligations to the whole.
There is nothing more unpleasant than to receive something given reluctantly and in ill grace. If given willingly and gracefully, we will lightly accept a gift of 10,000 dollars which we did not earn. But if this money is given grudgingly, even though it has been earned, we will not want to accept a single penny of it.
Though things appear pleasant enough on the surface, inner relations are so tangled that the situation in today’s world has become intolerable.
There is a rhythm running through all things. Unconsciously, we are trying to attune ourselves to this rhythm. If we simply maintain a wholly pure state of mind, then, without any special effort or hardship, we will naturally find accord with the workings of heaven and earth. This is the highest path. By using our narrow human intellect to meticulously calculate and devise, we can never hope to gain an understanding of the laws of the universe.
For all things, it is during times of greatest tranquility and greatest joy that our actions flow with the rhythms of heaven and earth.
I have been considering the traces that feelings leave behind.
Physically speaking, we may call this inertia or aftereffect, but in any case, it is clear that the vestiges of emotion continue to exert their influence on people for a surprisingly long time. Often, the traces of an unpleasant feeling are liable to bring on another unpleasant incident, and a single bad event will tend to lead to several others.
Since the root of success or failure in a matter lies in such small things as these, we need always to keep our feelings calm and joyful.
There is a popular phrase, to “get into the swing of things”, which is truly important when it comes to working—to fail to do so prevents us from true accomplishment. The vestiges of happy feeling lead to more and more fortuitous events of the same kind, and without fail good fortune will then multiply by leaps and bounds.
The saying “like attracts like” holds true for nearly everything. Because similar moods seek each other out, even outside the physical world there is a tendency for one fortuitous event to bring on others.
Therefore, we must strive to observe this law of attraction, and ever aim to work vibrantly in the world.
Bees sting the crying face. Fortune comes to a happy home.
In counseling others on their weak points, a huge difference in result can be seen depending on whether this is done in kindness, or if it is done with malice and derision. Indeed, this can be seen in the disorder, and the abundance of pointless activity, that characterizes today’s society.
However, if we approach this social disorder with criticism and anger, we will only succeed in causing others to dislike us. Even in the actions of our higher-ups, if we look at these with righteousness and justice, there will undoubtedly be areas that we must admire. Thus, we must always try to regard others with generosity, and not show meanness by rejoicing in their minor faults. It is a sign of true humanity to sympathize with the situations of others, and avoid exposing their faults.
There is no such thing as a fundamentally evil person in this world. All people are good by nature. It’s simply from small misunderstanding and mistakes that the world has grown to be this chaotic. In all the affairs of this world, unless we try to resolve them with the mutual love seen in the caring of parent for child, and the support of wife for husband, they will only end in strife and failure.
Because the half-baked people of today wholly ignore the feelings of others, basing their actions solely on the prerogatives of logic, this world has become ill at ease and barren. No one can afford to live in denial of human emotion. No matter how righteous and good a person may be in theory, under the force of the circumstances of emotion, it is not uncommon to instead enter into evil and injustice. The person who said “Men are moved by the force of human spirit, caring nothing for fame or reputation”, was speaking of this.
No matter what new theories or principles are discovered in the future, as long as there is strife and discord between the souls of men, this world will not know happiness.
Incidentally, scholarship and knowledge are by no means the sole purpose of life. It is indeed possible for an illiterate person to lead an exemplary life, while a learned man of stunted spirit will be avoided by all.
In the end, good and evil are like east and west: there is no such thing as absolute good or absolute evil. There is no evil that does not bring some good, nor is there any good unaccompanied by some measure of evil. Essentially, it is a matter of how we see things.
It is unavoidable that when we travel to the east, we lose the west, and when we go to the west, to that extent we lose the east. If we strive to relinquish neither east nor west, we will soon find ourselves unable to budge at all. It is only fitting that we eat when hungry, and relieve ourselves when the need comes—unpleasant indeed are such uptight folk as condone the act of eating, but find its necessary complement shameful and outrageous.
The universe knows neither fixed space nor time. Our material world exists as no more than a small-scale model of this vastness—and there is nothing more absurd than to cling to the small-minded notion that this tiny model is all there is. Attachment to such foolishness is both backwards and degenerate. We must cast away the shells of narrow ideology we have built and burdened ourselves with, and dress in robes of limitless brilliance and beauty. If we simply manage to rectify the state of our hearts, this world will naturally come to a state of perfect freeedom.
The fundamental source of happiness in life is not money, science, nor medicine. It is the human heart.
The foolish people of this world, for the sake of mere trifling objects, seem to think nothing of injuring and oppressing the precious spirits of others. The human spirit is eternal; materials things fleeting. A world that values the material over the spiritual is not likely to ever know happiness or peace. Just as is said in the Chinese proverb, “Two hearts in unison have the strength to cut through metal”, there is nothing more powerful or joyful in this world than spiritual harmony. There is nothing more beautiful and enviable/ideal than the relationship between two people sharing both joy and suffering together. Even in holy scripture we find it written that “To gain true knowledge of another soul, is clearly to gain entrance to another world.”
At all times, one who values/honors the human spirit is to be respected.
