Tuesday, March 29, 2011

not trapped by discriminative concepts

Nowhere is there a principle that is right in all circumstances.

The method we use yesterday we may discard today and use again in the future;

there are no fixed right and wrong to decide whether we use it or not.


The capacity to pick times and snatch opportunities,

and never be at a loss to answer events belongs to the wise.


--- from the Book of Lieh-tzu
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2 comments:

  1. Diane AZMarch 30, 2011 at 3:43 PM

    I like this piece and your title reminds me of some of the excerpts you posted from Alan Watts' "Out of the Trap" on your "Where can one stand?" blog.

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  2. tom sullivanMarch 31, 2011 at 9:07 PM

    Thanks, Diane! I actually borrowed the words of the title from David Loy's "Awareness Bound and Unbound" wherein I also found the Lieh-tzu quote.

    Here's a relevant excerpt from Chapter One: "Although the true nature of awareness is formless,it becomes "trapped" when we identify with particular things, which include mental objects (e.g. ideologies, one's self-image) as well as physical ones. Such identifications happen due to ignorance of the basic "non-dwelling" nature of our awareness."

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