Hold fast to the Great Form within and let the world pass as it may. Then the changes of life will not bring pain but contentment, joy, and well-being.
- Awareness of unity keeps an individual confident through change
- When one cannot have what is external, one muse secure what is internal
Application: During this year in my life, I have been the most fearful of changes because it's the first time that I have something to lose. I have to teach myself to stop grasping on to what I have to lose. More changes have brought pain than not, so this is definitely something I need to work on.
Music and sweets are passing pleasures yet they cause people to stop. How bland and insipid are the things of this world when one compares them with Tao! One tastes, but the sweetness turns bitter. One sees, but the colors grow faint. One hears, but the sound fades into silence.
- Unified perception outshines individual perception
- Like the individual himself, what is perceived is temporary.
- We enjoy the pleasures of our senses because they remind us of our fleeting lives.
Application: I am guilty in finding pleasure in both music and sweets, but music is what causes me to stop. Fortunately it's the music that helps bring me to the Tao. So when the sound fades into silence I still have the Tao. Not a bad trade off.
One may look for fulfillment in this world but his longings will never be exhausted. The only thing he ever finds is that he himself is exhausted.
- The chief Buddhist tenet of desire causing suffering.
- The length of life often depends on the strength of desire.
- Enjoyment is not desire but contentment with the present.
Application: At this point in my life, I can wholeheartedly agree with finding myself exhausted after longing for a better life. Life hasn't been too enjoyable because I'm not living in the moment. My head is in the future too much that the present slips away.
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