Tag: Buddhism

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Empty Yourself Of Everything

Steve Rowe

Tao Te Ching Part Sixteen  “Empty yourself of everything.Let the mind become still.The ten thousand things rise and fall while the Self watches their return.They grow and flourish and then return to the source.Returning to the source is stillness, which is the way of nature.” The perfect meditation. Emptying the mind and bringing it to the point of stillness. Sit with good posture and focus on the breath, gradually the body will calm down, followed by the emotions and finally the mind. We are then harmonised with the Tao and able to observe how entropy works. “The way of nature … Continue reading Empty Yourself Of Everything

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The Ancient Masters Were Profound

Steve Rowe

Tao Te Ching Part Fifteen “The ancient masters were subtle, mysterious, profound, responsive.The depth of their knowledge is unfathomable.” They don’t know everything that they know, because insight and wisdom are not definable and reside in the part of the mind that is open and connected to the infinite, it is profound and able to be responsive by naturally responding and doing the right thing at the right time. “Because it is unfathomable,All we can do is describe their appearance.Watchful, like men crossing a winter stream.Alert, like men aware of danger.Courteous, like visiting guests.Yielding like ice about to melt.Simple, like … Continue reading The Ancient Masters Were Profound

Tao Te Ching Explained3 Comments

It Cannot Be Seen, Heard Or Held

Steve Rowe

Tao Te Ching Part Fourteen “Look, it cannot be seen – it is beyond form.Listen, it cannot be heard – it is beyond sound.Grasp, it cannot be held – it is intangible.These three are indefinable;Therefore they are joined in one.” This is the essence of the Tao, it can’t be seen, heard or touched, it’s beyond the normal senses, but that doesn’t mean that it can’t be directly experienced and grasped with a different part of the mind. “From above it is not bright;From below it is not dark:An unbroken thread beyond description.It returns to nothingness.The form of the formless,The … Continue reading It Cannot Be Seen, Heard Or Held

Tao Te Ching Explained3 Comments

Accept Disgrace & Misfortune

Steve Rowe

Tao Te Ching Part Thirteen  “Accept disgrace willingly.Accept misfortune as the human condition.  What do you mean by “Accept disgrace willingly”?Accept being unimportant.Do not be concerned with loss or gain.This is called “accepting disgrace willingly.”  Our ego and pride get in the way of our contentment and often our relationships with family and friends. By ceasing our self obsession we are able to listen, understand, help and be more empathic and compassionate toward others. “What do you mean by “Accept misfortune as the human condition”?Misfortune comes from having a body.Without a body, how could there be misfortune?” Misfortune is a … Continue reading Accept Disgrace & Misfortune

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Power Of The Senses

Steve Rowe

Tao Te Ching Part Twelve  “The five colors blind the eye.The five tones deafen the ear.The five flavors dull the taste.” The excitement and distraction of the senses outward creates the desires that solidifies the identity that society gives us. It’s important to be able to ‘seal the senses’ and turn them inward to understand who and what we really are. This is an important part of our mindfulness training. “Racing and hunting madden the mind.Precious things lead one astray.” ‘Racing and hunting” stimulate our survival instincts and base energies. The ‘fight or flight’ instinct is powered by adrenaline short … Continue reading Power Of The Senses

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Space – The Final Frontier

Steve Rowe

Tao Te Ching Part Eleven “Thirty spokes share the wheel’s hub;It is the center hole that makes it useful.Shape clay into a vessel;It is the space within that makes it useful.Cut doors and windows for a room;It is the holes which make it useful.Therefore benefit comes from what is there;Usefulness from what is not there.” ‘Some thing’ can only exist by the grace of ‘no thing’. Space, apart from filling the void is 99.9999999% of an atom. If the space was removed from a human body the remaining matter would be as big as a speck of dust. It pervades … Continue reading Space – The Final Frontier

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The Universe Police

Steve Rowe

I was floating around as a spirit in the universe with a kind of unresolved yearning. Then the universe police caught me in a net set out for spirits like me and I was given a ‘life sentence’ and suddenly found myself imprisoned in a meat carcass on this planet. At first I was confused, selfish, hurt and hated prison, as a result the other prisoners hated me and I hated them, my ‘teenage years’ were tumultuous and painful. I caused a lot of danger to myself, my cell, others and the prison itself. As the years went by I … Continue reading The Universe Police

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The Primal Virtue

Steve Rowe

Tao Te Ching Part Ten  “Carrying body and soul and embracing the one,Can you avoid separation? Attending fully and becoming supple,Can you be as a newborn babe?Washing and cleansing the primal vision,Can you be without stain?” A new born baby still belongs to the Tao, it doesn’t know yet that it will be indoctrinated into developing a ‘self’ by society, given a name, and becoming the subject of fear, anger, desire and addiction, separating it from the Tao. The skill is to engage in life and embrace the Tao, retaining that child like sense of wonder, this is washing and … Continue reading The Primal Virtue

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Don’t Fill To The Brim

Steve Rowe

Tao Te Ching Part Nine “Better to stop short than fill to the brim.Oversharpen the blade, and the edge will soon blunt.” A lot of modern stress, anxiety and illness is the result of our modern stressful living. We seem to have lost the art of pacing ourselves, we are constantly pressured to do more, to become more and push ourselves beyond our limits. To not ‘fill to the brim or oversharpen the blade’ is good advice to stop at the point that where we can improve but not go too far. “Amass a store of gold and jade, and … Continue reading Don’t Fill To The Brim

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The Valley Spirit Never Dies

Steve Rowe

Tao Te Ching Part Six “The valley spirit never dies; It is the woman, primal mother.” ‘Valley spirit’ because it’s the Tao that underlies everything that is the primal mother, giving birth to everything in the universe and receiving it back, this is the same as western pagan thought. Diana the goddess giving birth to Herne the hunter at the beginning of each pagan year and receiving him back at the end, the circle of life. “Her gateway is the root of heaven and Earth. It is like a veil barely seen. Use it; it will never fail.” Seen as … Continue reading The Valley Spirit Never Dies