To be at peace, we must wage war against those things that prevent it; unhealthy desires, laziness, ignorance. These things stop inner harmony from occurring. Every bone in our body must be a dagger ready to strike at anything less. We wage war not with violence, but with wisdom. A good soldier is never violent, a good fighter not angry. It is the calming wind that tames the churning sea. It is the generation of peace and understanding of the Way that will overcome the forces that seek to prevent it.Day in and day out, Roshi Hogan offers poetic and eloquent snippets of Taoist wisdom. I could share one of these each day, but I don't want to be a perpetual copycat.
~ "Waging War" from Roshi Hogan's Teachings of the Tao ~
I should note that I finally got around to changing the link to his blog in the right sidebar. He used to entitle his blog, Pure Mountain Tao. Quite a while ago, he changed it to what is cited above and the sole reason that I didn't change it for the longest time is that "Pure Mountain Tao" seems to be one this blog's most popular out links.
But as Lao Tzu tells it, names are just names. I recommend frequent visits to his blog, regardless of what he calls it!!
"To be at peace, we must wage war..."
ReplyDeleteAh, he already lost me. What is this, 1984? Slavery is Freedom? I don't think such language or metaphors really helps.
One creates peace by being peaceful; or, as Chuang Tzu said
"Men do not mirror themselves in running water--they mirror themselves in still water. Only what is still can still the stillness of other things."
So much of the works of Lao Tzu and Chuang Tzu involve the art of paradox. I think that Roshi Hogan embraces this style far better than most in the writings on his blog.
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