Verse 67 - Living by the Three Treasures

Re: Verse 67 - Advice from Dr Dyer

Re: Verse 67 - Living by the Three Treasures

Re: Verse 67 - Stephen Mitchell & Byron Katie

From Stephen Mitchell - tao te ching - A New English Version

Some say that my teaching is nonsense.
Others call it lofty but impractical.
But to those who have looked inside themselves,
this nonsense makes perfect sense.
And to those who put it into practice,
this loftiness has roots that go deep.

I have just three things to teach:
simplicity, patience, compassion.
These three are your greatest treasures.
Simple in actions and in thoughts,
you return to the source of being.
Patient with both friends and enemies,
you accord with the way things are.
Compassionate toward yourself,
you reconcile all beings in the world.

From Byron Katie - A Thousand Names For Joy - Living in Harmony with the Way Things Are

                                                   Compassionate toward yourself,
                                                   you reconcile all beings in the world.

I notice that I fed myself this morning in the kindest way.  The food was wholesome and simple, and if I hadn't had china and elegant flatware and chairs and table and candle, I would have found a place in the sun and sat and eaten breakfast with my hands.  I wouldn't give myself less than the best of what is available at any moment.  I love that I am my keeper, and I love what keeps the keeper: everything.

Making breakfast for Stephen and myself is about watching kindness in action.  I watch it move to the refrigerator, a hand opens the door, and I call it mine.  I can never believe that, and the mind song is the background music that I love.  What will the hand reach for ?  It pulls out an egg carton and a loaf of bread, and I notice the light reflected off the white surfaces in the kitchen.  The hand takes four eggs, the body moves to the counter, the hand puts two slices of bread in the toaster, takes out a fork, a bowl, cracks the eggs, scrambles them, adds salt and pepper, moves to the stove, puts a pat of butter in the skillet, watches it melt, pours in the eggs.  And as they are cooking, I see mental pictures of chickens in the fresh air and sunlight (the eggs are free-range), and also pictures of chickens in cages on top of each other, being force-fed, and I ask myself where am I in a cage, and I wait in the silence.  I see the long-ago times when I was in a cage, and what an endless, dark period that seemed to be, when I believed that my pain was unbearable even as I bore it, in that pitch-dark cage, with no way out.  And then I saw the key, and I opened the door.  And after that, every time a problem seemed to arise in this new world, it was like child's play, as if I were some kind of skilled magician, the sorcerer who makes everthing disappear with one stroke of mind.  All this as the eggs are cooking.  To me, they are strength.  They die so that I can live.  I put them on two shiny white dishes, with the toast that has popped up in the toaster, and I move to the dining room table, where tea and teacups are waiting.  What a beautiful word breakfast is.  What a beautiful world.

Beyond what the mind can see is kinder than what it sees - that's the privilege of an open mind.  Kindness resonates with the way things are.  Kindness is sipping a cup of tea without a thought that I'm even sipping it.  It's like being my own plant, feeling myself being watered, beyond any thought that that's what I even need.  It's the sound of rain against the window, the gift of the sound of rain in my ears, the gift of life, which I did nothing to deserve.  Kindness prepares what I am to eat in the next season.  It even leaves a rainbow.  It's infinite.  It's the hair that protects my head in the sun, the ground that supports the floor.  There's nothing that isn't kind.  A death accomplishes what ordinary life could never do, letting you experience what is beyond identification: the bodiless self, mind infinitely free.

When you realize where you come from, no imagination can move you to believe that you are separate.  Everything is seen for what it is, and you understand that no one is in danger of losing anything but his identification.  And in that forever good news, in the face of everything that appears to be real, only kindness remains.  It's nothing that can be taught.  It's an experience; it's self-delight.  When I give to you without motive, I am delighted.  I act with kindness because I like myself when I do that.  The kindness can only be to myself.  It doesn't include anyone else, not even the apparent receiver.  I am both giver and receiver, and that's all that matters.

The whole world belongs to me, because I live in the last story, the last dream: woman sitting in chair with cup of tea.  I look out the window, and whatever I see is my world.  There's nothing beyond that, not one thought.  This world is enough for me.  Anything I ever need to do or be is in this unlimited space.  It's enough to accomplish my purpose, and my purpose is to sit here now and sip my tea.  I can imagine a world outside what I can see, and as it happens I prefer this one.  It is always more beautiful here, wherever I am, than any story of a future or a past.  The here and now is where I can make a difference.  It's what I live out of.  Nothing more is required.

Re: Verse 67 - Jonathan Star

From Jonathan Star - Tao Te Ching - The Definitive Edition

All the world talks about my Tao
          with such familiarity -
What folly !
Tao is not something found at the marketplace
          or passed on from father to son
It is not something gained by knowing
          or lost by forgetting
If Tao were like this
It would have been lost and forgotten long ago

I have three treasures that I cherish and hold dear
          the first is love
          the second is moderation
          the third is humility
With love one is fearless
With moderation one is abundant
With humilty one can fill the highest position
Now if one is fearless but has no love
          abundant but has no moderation
          rises up but has no humility
Surely he is doomed

Love vanquishes all attackers
It is impregnable in defense
When Heaven wants to protect someone
          does it send an army ?
No, it protects him with love

Re: Verse 67 - The Tao of Emerson

From The Tao of Emerson by Richard Grossman

From James Legge - The Texts of Taoism, 1891

All the world says that, while my Tao is great,
It yet appears to be inferior to other systems of teaching.
Now it is just its greatness that makes it seem to be inferior.
If it were like any other system,
          for long would its smallness have been known !


With gentleness I can be bold;
With economy I can be liberal;
Shrinking from taking precedence of others,
          I can become a vessel of the highest honor.
Nowadays they give up gentleness
          and are all for being bold;
Economy, and are all for being liberal;
The hindmost place, and seek only to be foremost;
          of all which the end is death.


Gentleness is sure to be victorious even in battle,
          and firmly to maintain its ground.
Heaven will save it possessor,
          by his very gentleness protecting him.

From the Essays of Ralph Waldo Emerson - ”Success”

Self-trust is the first secret of success.
I fear the popular notion of success
          stands in direct opposition on all points
          to the real and wholesome success.
One adores public opinion, the other private opinion,
          one fame, the other desert;
          one feats, the other humility;
          one lucre, the other love.


What is especially true of love,
          is that it is a state of extreme impressionability;
The lover has more senses and finer senses than others,
His eye and ear are telegraphs;
He reads omens on the flower, and cloud,
          and face, and gesture,
And reads them right.

Re: Verse 67 - The Tao of Motherhood

From Vimala McClure - The Tao of Motherhood

67


YOUR TREASURES

Everyone says the Eternal One
is great.  Because it is great it is
beyond our comprehension.
If we could hold it in our minds,
it would be limited.  If it is limited,
it is not the Way.

There are three treasures which
are invaluable to you as a parent:

The first is kindness.  The second is
simplicity.  The third is humility.

If you are kind, you can act with
courage to support and protect
your children.

If you keep your life simple, you
have lots of time to give them.

If you know yourself as a human
being - no more, no less - you
teach your children without
imposing on them.

A parent who is protective without
being kind, whose life is busy and
complicated, who demands respect
and expects perfection, loses her
children in the end.

Loving kindness, simplicity, and
humility are the treasures your
children will inherit.

Re: Verse 67 - Dr Dyer's Essay

Your being invited to change your life by seeing it through the prism of this ancient verse of the Tao Te Ching, which instructs you on the three things you need for a Tao-styled life of success:

- Mercy is the name used here for the first treasure, but additional terms such as compassion, good-heartedness, love, kindness, and charity have been employed in other translations.  You've very likely been weaned on a model of achievement that's measured by accumulation, accomplishment, and the acquisition of power and influence over others.  Successful people are usually considered to be narrowly focused on their own goals, oblivious to anything but getting to the top, and ruthless in preventing anyone else from getting what they're after.

Lao-tzu, however, says that the first and most important treasure is what true courage stems from, not from a heartless and callous attitude.  He even tells you that boldness without mercy is a prescription for death !  So you're encouraged to think of others first by being willing to serve and exhibit kindness and love, even toward your enemies, instead of seeking external indicators to prove that your're successful.

Shakespeare speaks of the first treasure in The Merchant of Venice: