Bit by Bit - Chapter 25, Part 18

Trey Smith

Hsi Wei said, "When Duke Ling died, we divined to see if he should be buried in the family graveyard, but the omens were unfavorable. Then we divined to see if he should be buried at Sand Hill and the omens were favorable. Digging down several fathoms, we found a stone coffin and, when we had washed and examined it, we discovered an inscription which said: `You cannot depend upon your heirs - Duke Ling will seize this plot for his own burial.' So it appears that Duke Ling had already been titled Ling for a long long time. How could these two here know enough to understand this!"
~ Burton Watson translation ~

One thing that a great many people dislike is the act of digging -- particularly when said digging is into one's own psyche! There are lots of ghosts and goblins down there. Still, if we can find the courage to dig there, we often can uncover treasures of perspective that would have remained covered otherwise.

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