I Ching - O Livro das Mutações - cont.

1 Heaven heaven below, heaven above Cont.

The creative is successful; this is beneficial if correct.

The trustworthiness of balanced words, the prudence of balanced actions - these stop aberrations and preserve truthfulness and sincerity. They make the world good without killing; ... and exert a civilizing influence.... balanced speech and balanced actions are means of knowing the nature of things; by being unaffected, we can cultivate perfects self-control in all situations.

... even beginners in the intellectual stage already have the knwoledge of enlightenment and the vision of enlightenment, and these are the qualities of true leaders.

Confucius said, "... develop inner qualities through faithfulness and truthfulness. They keep at their work by cultivating their speech and establishing their honesty. ... Therefore they are not proud when they are in high positions and do not worry when they are in low positions. Therefore they work diligently, and by wariness at the proper times they make no error even in danger."

Faithfulness and truthfulness are essential for preservation of mind and are proper means of developing inner qualities. ... To go into action at the appropriate time is to see things through; to stop at the appropriate time preserves the meaning of the action. When one does not lose the way whether going forward or withdrawing, it does not matter whether one is in a high or low position.

... when guiding people for their benefit, the effect of one's influence depends on oneself.

When tranquillity and observation are practiced together, stability and wisdom are fulfilled; then one can meet the buddhas' power of compassion above yet not become proud; meet the hopes of people below, yet not become worried.

Confucius said, "Rising and descending without fixation is not wrong; advancing and withdrawing without fixation, one does not separate from the masses. A leader develops inner qualities and cultivates work so as to meet the needs of the time;" This passage shows how ancient sage-kings abdicated their thrones in the same state of mind as when they assumed their thrones.

Confucius said, "Water is wet, fire is hot, clouds follow dragons, wind follows tigers. ... Those based in heaven are close to the top; those based on earth are close to the bottom; so each follows kind." ... in heaven they are the same as gods and goddesses; among humans they are the same as humans.

The most intransigent obstacle in the world is easy for the sage who does not stop and ponder, and has no second thoughts.

... lying low ... leaving off for the moment ... carrying out tasks ... self-testing ... the calamity of going to extremes ... Using Yang, positive energy, the creative basis, means the whole world is functioning harmoniously. ... Using Yang... is using culture to conform to nature, cultivating oneself so as to be at one with the essence of human nature.

Nature needs culture; essence must have cultivation. When you produce a culture that cultivates the best in people while keeping their essential nature complete, then you see the law of nonduality as essence and self-work.

How great is heaven! Firm, strong, balanced, upright - it is the pure essence od vitality.

Clouds roll, rain falls, the land is peaceful. ... the body of the qualities of Heaven must have function - they must be useful.... The nature of enlightenment pervades everywhere, every particle os every atom of the cosmos, so it is called "vitality".

So practices ... are still in the stages of contemplation and imitation, and have not yet formed the qualities of true intuition and liberation. Therefore independent people need to cultivate qualities in order to perfect them and not just use intellectual understanding that has no substance.

Study is understanding through learning; living broad-mindedly is understanding through thoughtfulness; benevolent action is understanding through practice. When people attain completion through these three kinds od understanding, this opens up enlightened knowledge and vision, and these people are called buddhas.

Great people are one with the qualities of heaven and earth, one with the illumination of sun and moon, one with the order of the four seasons, one with the good and bad luck brought on by hidden forces. In the primordial, nature does not oppose them; in the temporal, they serve the times of nature. If even nature does not oppose them, how much less do people, ghost, or spirits oppose them?

Only sages know how to go forward or withdraw, how to stay or disappear, always doing the right thing at the right time. Advance and withdrawal, staying and disappearing, never increase or decrease the nature of enlightenment, and the nature of enlightenment does not prevent advance and withdrawal, staying and disappearing.

The Buddhist I Ching from Chih-hsu Ou-i, translated by Thmas Cleary (Shambhala Publications, 1987)