Body and Soul

Wisdom and muscle
need each other.

One wants a body.
The other wants a soul.

Two Minds

When one is
of two minds,
it helps if
one mind
faces inward,
and the other
faces out.

What You Seek

If you hope to find,
be intentional about
what you seek.

Not a Pleasure

It may not always
be a pleasure
to please others,
but it shouldn't
be a pleasure
to displease, either.

Heaven

This time will be
better than last time.
This time will be
better than ever before.

This time I won't fail.
This time I'll succeed
beyond my wildest dreams.

This time everything
will turn out perfectly.

This time will change
everything for the better.

This time will be enough
to save me from the future.

This time will be enough to save me.
This time will save me.

This time I'll finally be okay.

The Creating of What I Create

No matter what I create,
it will decay and pass away.

No gate, no wall, no prison.
No work, no child, no art.
None will survive time.

It isn't what I create.
It's the creating of what I create.

Another reason to pay attention.

Life Imagined

If I imagine myself
someplace else,
who is left here
to do the imagining?

If I picture myself
doing something else,
who is left here
to paint that picture?

Which life is richer?
The one imagined
or the one imagining?

Pain Recycling

Like trash floating down a stream,
pain never goes completely away.

Best to recycle it into something new.

Prosperity

We become truly prosperous
when we share our prosperity.

We become truly wealthy
when we give wealth away.

As long as our possessions own us,
we will never escape our poverty.

Fellow Travelers

Disaster and opportunity
travel along the same road.

One is a thief.
One is an ally.

Which is which is hard to know.
They both wear similar clothes.

Real

Real healing
starts in the mind,
not in the body.

Real serenity
starts in the heart,
not in the mind.

Real compassion
starts in Tao,
not in the heart.

Two Gifts

To listen well
to another is a gift,
both for the listener
and the heard.