new post, wise old words, ancient Chinese secrets to share

i am reading a delightful book by jon kabat-zinn oddly enough
titled with my very favorite quote, which i thought was from the
1980's film buckeroo bonzai, the book is called:
wherever you go there you are
(mindful meditation in everyday life)

i have found it a beautiful read, and very true,
wherever you go there you are!

here are words from Chuang Tzu
a very wise guy from third century China

Prince Wen Hui's cook,
Was cutting up an ox.
Out went a hand,
Down went a shoulder,
He planted a foot,
He pressed with a knee,
The ox fell apart
With a whisper,
The bright cleaver murmured
Like a gentle wind.
Rhythm! Timing!
Like a sacred dance,
Like " The Mulberry Grove,"
Like ancient harmonies!

"Good work!" the Prince exclaimed,
"Your method is faultless!"
"Method?" said the cook
Laying aside his cleaver,
"What I follow is Tao
Beyond all methods!

"When I first began
To cut up oxen
I would see before me
The whole ox
All in one mass.
I no longer saw this mass.
I saw distinctions.

"But now I see nothing
With the eye. My whole being
Apprehends.
My senses are idle. The spirit
Free to work without plan
Follows its own instinct
Guided by natural line,

By the secret opening, the hidden space,
My cleaver finds its own way.
I cut through no joints, chop no bone.

. . .

"There are spaces in the joints:
The blade is thin and keen:
When this thinness
Finds that space
There is all the room you need!
It goes like a breeze!
Hence I have this cleaver nineteen years
As if newly sharpened!

"True, there are sometimes
Tough joints. I feel them coming,
I slow down, I watch closely,
Hold back, barely move the blade,
And whump! the part falls away
Landing like a clod of earth.

"Then I withdraw the blade,
I stand still
And let the joy of work
Sink in.
I clean the blade
And put it away."

Prince Wen Hui said,
"This is it! My cook has shown me
How I ought to live
My own life!'

-CHUANG TZU


( I did also read this advice from a book called something like "Crazy Dog" about being joyful and involved in your life
simply put this fellow, a Brian someone, sorry I seemed to have mislaid this book and can't recall the authors name said "Let God open the holes")


also I love this from John Kabit-Zinn's book
a passage by our old friend Lao-Tsu, author of
the Tao-te- Ching

Do you have the patience to wait
till your mud settles and the water is clear?
Can you remain unmoving
till the right action arises by itself?