Today: “You are new to this situation. Watch, listen, study, contemplate, then step lightly but decisively on. To move constantly forward is good fortune to a Wanderer.” – from the I Ching

You are new to this situation. Watch, listen, study, contemplate, then step lightly but decisively on. To move constantly forward is good fortune to a Wanderer.

See Yogi Bhajan’s quote for the day

Tao Te Ching – Verse 16 – Empty your mind of all thoughts. Let your heart be at peace. Watch the turmoil of beings, but contemplate their return.

Meditation: LA097-790327-Yoni Kriya

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56 – Fifty-Six. Lu / The Wanderer

Fire on the Mountain, catastrophic to man, a passing annoyance to the Mountain:
The Superior Person waits for wisdom and clarity before exacting Justice, then lets no protest sway him.

Find satisfaction in small gains.
To move constantly forward is good fortune to a Wanderer.

SITUATION ANALYSIS:

You are a stranger to this situation.
It is your attraction to the exotic that has led you here, but you will move on to a new vista when this one has lost its mystique.
Because much of this environment is foreign to you, you must exercise only the best judgement.
You don’t know the custom here, and it’s too easy to cross a line you don’t know is there.
Because you are the foreigner in this setting, you have no history to acquit you.
Watch, listen, study, contemplate, then step lightly but decisively on.

yang
yin above: Li / The Clinging, Fire
yang
yang
yin below: Kên / Keeping Still, Mountain
yin

 

THE MOUNTAIN, Kên, stands still; above it fire, Li, flames up and does not tarry. Therefore the two trigrams do not stay together. Strange lands and separation are the wanderer’s lot.

THE JUDGEMENT

The Wanderer. Success through smallness.
Perseverance brings good fortune
To the wanderer.

WHEN A man is a wanderer and stranger, he should not be gruff nor overbearing. He has no large circle of acquaintances, therefore he should not give himself airs. He must be cautious and reserved; in this way he protects himself from evil. If he is obliging toward others, he wins success.
A wanderer has no fixed abode; his home is the road. Therefore he must take care to remain upright and steadfast, so that he sojourns only in the proper places, associating only with good people. Then he has good fortune and can go his way unmolested.

I Ching Online

THE IMAGE

Fire on the mountain:
The image of THE WANDERER.
Thus the superior man
Is clear-minded and cautious
In imposing penalties,
And protracts no lawsuits.

 

Fire on Sugarloaf mountain

 

Fire on Sugarloaf mountain, in Chiricahua National Monument, 2011

When grass on a mountain takes fire, there is bright light. However, the fire does not linger in one place, but travels on to new fuel. It is a phenomenon of short duration. This is what penalties and lawsuits should be like. They should be a quickly passing matter, and must not be dragged out indefinitely. Prisons ought to be places where people are lodged only temporarily, as guests are. They must not become dwelling places.
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Today: “Words do not mean anything.” – Yogi Bhajan

“Words do not mean anything. If someone starts arguing that which is wrong, if you know it is wrong, just say yes, it is wrong. Get out of it. You can learn about you from everywhere. A person who can accept facts about himself is a factual man.”
Yogi Bhajan

Meditation: A653-900612 – Self Hypnotic Trance

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What else Yogi Bhajan said

Tao Te Ching – Verse 63 – Act without doing; work without effort

Tao Te Ching – Verse 16 – Empty your mind of all thoughts. Let your heart be at peace. Watch the turmoil of beings, but contemplate their return.

Tao Te Ching – Verse 16

Empty your mind of all thoughts.
Let your heart be at peace.
Watch the turmoil of beings,
but contemplate their return.

Each separate being in the universe
returns to the common source.
Returning to the source is serenity.
Continue reading “Tao Te Ching – Verse 16 – Empty your mind of all thoughts. Let your heart be at peace. Watch the turmoil of beings, but contemplate their return.”

Today: “You have things well in hand.  Keep an eye on corruption and other disruption to the flow of things.” – from the I Ching

You have things well in hand.  Keep an eye on corruption and other disruption to the flow of things.

See Yogi Bhajan’s quote for the day

Tao Te Ching – Verse 15 – The ancient Masters were profound and subtle

Meditation: Listening to Angelic Whispers – from the Mind

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43 – Forty-Three. Kuai / Breakthrough

A Deluge from Heaven:
The Superior Person rains fortune upon those in need, then moves on with no thought of the good he does.

The issue must be raised before an impartial authority.
Be sincere and earnest, despite the danger.
Do not try to force the outcome, but seek support where needed.
Set a clear goal.

SITUATION ANALYSIS:

Your iron will must come to the forefront now.
It will take great personal determination to resolve the situation in question.
Your adversary would love to force you into an angry display.
That would legitimize his opposition to you.
Such a berserker rage would drag you down to his level.
You must resolutely take a public stand against what he represents, but refuse to engage him.
Without compromise, you show others the way to higher ground.

Nine in the fifth place means:

The wisest method for dealing with weeds is to remove them before they are firmly rooted.
In this way, your garden grows strong without violence.

In dealing with weeds,
Firm resolution is necessary.
Walking in the middle
Remains free of blame.

Weed

Weed

Weeds always grow back again and are difficult to exterminate. So too the struggle against an inferior man in a high position demands firm resolution. One has certain relations with him, hence there is danger that one may give up the struggle as hopeless. But this must not be. One must go on resolutely and not allow himself to be deflected from his course. Only in this way does one remain free of blame.
34 – Thirty-Four. Ta Chuang / Awesome Power

Thunder fills the Heavens with its awful roar, not out of pride, but with integrity; if it did less, it would not be Thunder:
Because of his Great Power, the Superior Person takes pains not to overstep his position, so that he will not seem intimidating or threatening to the Established Order.

Opportunity will arise along this course.

SITUATION ANALYSIS:

The Awesome Power available in this hexagram stems from what the Taoists call your Te, a term not perfectly translated into English.
Roughly, it is your Integrity — not in the Western sense of honor — but more in the psychological definition of a full integration of Who You Are.
This Awesome Power is achieved only by fully embracing both the good and the bad, the strong and the weak, the masculine and the feminine — all polarities within you.
Such self-knowledge spawns a Mastery tempered with the humility necessary to rein in and harness this Awesome Power.

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Today: “Ananda, bliss, is a constant state of mind where one does not feel disturbed either by gain or by loss.” – Yogi Bhajan

“Ananda, bliss, is a constant state of mind where one does not feel disturbed either by gain or by loss.”
Yogi Bhajan

Meditation: KWTC7-19910705 – Self Hypnotic Trance – Self Bliss

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What else Yogi Bhajan said

Tao Te Ching – Verse 15 – The ancient Masters were profound and subtle

Tao Te Ching – Verse 15

The ancient Masters were profound and subtle.
Their wisdom was unfathomable.
There is no way to describe it;
all we can describe is their appearance.
Continue reading “Tao Te Ching – Verse 15 – The ancient Masters were profound and subtle”

Today: “Live your life humbly without trying to control too much.  You will be happier.” – from the I Ching

Live your life humbly without trying to control too much.  You will be happier.

See Yogi Bhajan’s quote for the day

Tao Te Ching – Verse 14 – Look, and it can’t be seen. Listen, and it can’t be heard. Reach, and it can’t be grasped.

Meditation: Breath to Conquer Time Space and Destiny

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52 – Fifty-Two. Kên / The Mountain

Above this Mountain’s summit another more majestic rises:
The Superior Person is mindful to keep his thoughts in the here and now.

Stilling the sensations of the Ego, he roams his courtyard without moving a muscle, unencumbered by the fears and desires of his fellows.
This is no mistake.

SITUATION ANALYSIS:

There is a higher vantage point available to you, but it is obscured by the visible peak of personal ambition.
To climb to this higher plane, you must shake off the desires and fears of the conscious, visible world around you.
To make this journey you must quiet the Ego, empty your mind of past and future, and dwell totally in the moment at hand.
Thorough mindfulness of what is before you is the only tranquility.
Be. Here. Now.

Nine at the top means:

His constant goal is an end to striving.
Good fortune.

Noble-hearted keeping still.
Good fortune.

Rest from Work

‘Rest from Work’ (after Millet) – Vincent van Gogh, 1890

This marks the consummation of the effort to attain tranquillity. One is at rest, not merely in a small, circumscribed way in regard to matters of detail, but one has also a general resignation in regard to life as a whole, and this confers peace and good fortune in relation to every individual matter.

15 – Fifteen. Ch’ien / Modesty

The Mountain does not overshadow the Plain surrounding it:
Such modest consideration in a Superior Person creates a channel through which excess flows to the needy.

Success if you carry things through.

SITUATION ANALYSIS:

The Cosmos is moving toward equilibrium.
Extremes are being tempered, excess is beginning to shift toward the empty.
You can use these moderating influences to strike a balance in the world around you.
Remember, though, that this Leveling will not come about through an arrogant confiscation of excess, but through subtler persuasions.
Modesty and moderation are the keys.

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Today: “What is a habit? When the mind is tuned after an activity, it is known as a habit.” – Yogi Bhajan

“What is a habit? When the mind is tuned after an activity, it is known as a habit. First you tune the mind into activity and then the habit is established. You become slanderous if the habit is slanderous; you become divine if the habit is divine.”
Yogi Bhajan

Sadhana

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What else Yogi Bhajan said

Tao Te Ching – Verse 14 – Look, and it can’t be seen. Listen, and it can’t be heard. Reach, and it can’t be grasped.

Tao Te Ching – Verse 14

Look, and it can’t be seen.
Listen, and it can’t be heard.
Reach, and it can’t be grasped.

Above, it isn’t bright.
Below, it isn’t dark.
Seamless, unnamable,
it returns to the realm of nothing.
Form that includes all forms,
image without an image,
subtle, beyond all conception.

Approach it and there is no beginning;
follow it and there is no end.
You can’t know it, but you can be it,
at ease in your own life.
Just realize where you come from:
this is the essence of wisdom.

(translation by Stephen Mitchell, 1995)
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Look at it, it cannot be seen
It is called colorless
Listen to it, it cannot be heard
It is called noiseless
Reach for it, it cannot be held
It is called formless
These three cannot be completely unraveled
So they are combined into one

Above it, not bright
Below it, not dark
Continuing endlessly, cannot be named
It returns back into nothingness
Thus it is called the form of the formless
The image of the imageless
This is called enigmatic
Confront it, its front cannot be seen
Follow it, its back cannot be seen

Wield the Tao of the ancients
To manage the existence of today
One can know the ancient beginning
It is called the Tao Axiom

(translation by Derek Lin, 2006)
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Sight and blindness are indistinguishable.
Thunder and silence are one.
Touch and ether are the same.
There is always light and dark.
Shape is illusion; form is Formless.
The future is the past.
The Beginning is the present.
Nothingness is the Zero called changeless.

(translation by Jeremy M. Miller, 2013)
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from I Ching Online

 

Today: “To know who you are dealing with, you must view a person from the view of his psyche.” – from the I Ching

To know who you are dealing with, you must view a person from the view of his psyche.

See Yogi Bhajan’s quote for the day

Tao Te Ching – Verse 12 – He allows things to come and go. His heart is open as the sky.

Meditation: Know the Psyche of the Other

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61 – Sixty-One. Chung Fu / Inner Truth

The gentle Wind ripples the Lake’s surface:
The Superior Person finds common ground between points of contention, wearing away rigid perspectives that would lead to fatal error.

Pigs and fishes.
You may cross to the far shore.
Great fortune if you stay on course.

SITUATION ANALYSIS:

The subject of this hexagram discovers a key to Tranquility by first gaining insight into his own nature, then turning that vision outward.
By resolving inner conflicts and being at peace with himself, he learns to gain insight into others.
In effect, he enters another, sees with the other’s eyes, listens with the other’s ears, feels with the other’s heart.
He then returns to his own center, with new perspective and understanding.

yang
yang above: Sun / The Gentle, Wind
yin
yin
yang below: Tui / The Joyous, Lake
yang

 

The wind blows over the lake and stirs the surface of the water. Thus visible effects of the invisible manifest themselves. The hexagram consists of firm lines above and below, while it is open in the centre. This indicates a heart free of prejudices and therefore open to truth. On the other hand, each of the two trigrams has a firm line in the middle; this indicates the force of inner truth in the influences they represent.
The attributes of the two trigrams are: above, gentleness, forbearance toward inferiors; below, joyousness in obeying superiors. Such conditions create the basis of a mutual confidence that makes achievements possible.
The character of fu (“truth”) is actually the picture of a bird’s foot over a fledgling. It suggests the idea of brooding. An egg is hollow. The light-giving power must work to quicken it from outside, but there must be a germ of life within, if life is to be awakened. Far- reaching speculations can be linked with these ideas.

THE JUDGEMENT

INNER TRUTH. Pigs and fishes.
Good fortune.
It furthers one to cross the great water.
Perseverance furthers.

Pigs and fishes are the least intelligent of all animals and therefore the most difficult to influence. The force of inner truth must grow great indeed before its influence can extend to such creatures. In dealing with persons as intractable and as difficult to influence as a pig or a fish, the whole secret of success depends on finding the right way of approach. One must first rid oneself of all prejudice and, so to speak, let the psyche of the other person act on one without restraint. Then one will establish contact with him, understand and gain power over him. When a door has thus been opened, the force of one’s personality will influence him. If in this way one finds no obstacles insurmountable, one can undertake even the most dangerous things, such as crossing the great water, and succeed.

But it is important to understand on what the force inner truth depends. This force is not identical with simple intimacy or a secret bond. Close ties may exist also among thieves; it is true that such a bond acts as a force but, since it is not invincible, it does not bring good fortune. All association on the basis of common interests holds only up to a certain point. Where the community of interest ceases, the holding together ceases also, and the closest friendship often changes into hate. Only when the bond is based on what is right, on steadfastness, will it remain so firm that it triumphs over everything.

Wind on water

THE IMAGE

Wind over lake: the image of INNER TRUTH.
Thus the superior man discusses criminal cases
In order to delay executions.

Wind stirs water by penetrating it. Thus the superior man, when obliged to judge the mistakes of men, tries to penetrate their minds with understanding, in order to gain a sympathetic appreciation of the circumstances. In ancient China, the entire administration of justice was guided by this principle. A deep understanding that knows how to pardon was considered the highest form of justice. This system was not without success, for its aim was to make so strong a moral impression that there was no reason to fear abuse of such mildness. For it sprang not from weakness but from a superior clarity.
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Today: “Man from the very first is a habit-free being and this is a freedom given to him.” – Yogi Bhajan

“Man from the very first is a habit-free being and this is a freedom given to him. But as we develop, we slowly develop habits and man becomes so accustomed to habitual thought patterns that he intellectually justifies them.”
Yogi Bhajan

Meditation: LA589-890412-GoldenGrain

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What else Yogi Bhajan said

Tao Te Ching – Verse 13 – Success is as dangerous as failure. Hope is as hollow as fear.

Tao Te Ching – Verse 13

Success is as dangerous as failure.
Hope is as hollow as fear.

What does it mean that success is as dangerous as failure?
Whether you go up the ladder or down it,
your position is shaky.
When you stand with your two feet on the ground,
you will always keep your balance. Continue reading “Tao Te Ching – Verse 13 – Success is as dangerous as failure. Hope is as hollow as fear.”

Today: “Be careful about trusting something more powerful than yourself.  You cannot control it.  You can only control yourself.” – from the I Ching

Be careful about trusting something more powerful than yourself.  You cannot control it.  You can only control yourself.

See Yogi Bhajan’s quote for the day

Tao Te Ching – Verse 12 – He allows things to come and go. His heart is open as the sky.

Meditation: LA950 A00214 20000214 Develop Self-Reliance

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52 – Fifty-Two. Kên / The Mountain

Above this Mountain’s summit another more majestic rises:
The Superior Person is mindful to keep his thoughts in the here and now.

Stilling the sensations of the Ego, he roams his courtyard without moving a muscle, unencumbered by the fears and desires of his fellows.
This is no mistake.

SITUATION ANALYSIS:

There is a higher vantage point available to you, but it is obscured by the visible peak of personal ambition.
To climb to this higher plane, you must shake off the desires and fears of the conscious, visible world around you.
To make this journey you must quiet the Ego, empty your mind of past and future, and dwell totally in the moment at hand.
Thorough mindfulness of what is before you is the only tranquility.
Be. Here. Now.

Six in the second place means:

Relaxing his legs.
He sees he cannot rescue the one he follows.
He resigns himself to sorrow.

Keeping his calves still.
He cannot rescue him whom he follows.
His heart is not glad.

Falling man

The leg cannot move independently; it depends on the movement of the body. If a leg is suddenly stopped while the whole body is in vigorous motion, the continuing body movement will make one fall.
The same is true of a man who serves a master stronger than himself. He is swept along, and even though he may himself halt on the path of wrongdoing, he can no longer check the other in his powerful movement. Where the master presses forward, the servant, no matter how good his intentions, cannot save him.
18 – Eighteen. Ku / Repairing the Damage

Winds sweep through the Mountain valley:
The Superior Person sweeps away corruption and stagnation by stirring up the people and strengthening their spirit.

Supreme success.
Before crossing to the far shore, consider the move for three days.
After crossing, devote three days of hard labor to damage control.

SITUATION ANALYSIS:

You are blessed with an opportunity to resuscitate that which others have abandoned as beyond repair.
This ruin wasn’t caused by evil intention, but by indifference to decay.
Just by addressing yourself to the problem, you exhibit a new awareness, a fresh perspective.
This is a time of recovery, renewal, regeneration.

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Today: “If you are going to be mind alone, then you are doing an injustice to both your mind and your soul. ” Yogi Bhajan

“If you are going to be mind alone, then you are doing an injustice to both your mind and your soul. And if you are calculating everything on the basis of mind, you cannot get the correct result. You are calculating wrong. The intellect releases the thought. You must check that thought with the body and soul, because you are body and soul as well as mind.” Yogi Bhajan

Here is a Buddhist perspective

Meditation: LA721-920325: for the Intuitive Intellect

What else Yogi Bhajan said

Tao Te Ching – Verse 12 – He allows things to come and go. His heart is open as the sky.

Tao Te Ching – Verse 12

Colors blind the eye.
Sounds deafen the ear.
Flavors numb the taste.
Thoughts weaken the mind.
Desires wither the heart.

The Master observes the world
but trusts his inner vision.
He allows things to come and go.
His heart is open as the sky.

(translation by Stephen Mitchell, 1995)
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The five colors make one blind in the eyes
The five sounds make one deaf in the ears
The five flavors make one tasteless in the mouth

Racing and hunting make one wild in the heart
Goods that are difficult to acquire make one cause damage

Therefore the sages care for the stomach and not the eyes
That is why they discard the other and take this

(translation by Derek Lin, 2006)
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Colors blur sight.
Sounds blur hearing.
Tastes blur the Nectar.
Chasing drives Bliss away.
Lust blurs calm.
In the Nothingness of Zero is Unimaginable Peace.

(translation by Jeremy M. Miller, 2013)
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from I Ching Online

Today: “Strong and steady.  Wait for the fruits of your efforts to develop.” – from the I Ching

Strong and steady.  Wait for the fruits of your efforts to develop.

See Yogi Bhajan’s quote for the day

Tao Te Ching – Verse 11 – We work with being, but non-being is what we use.

Meditation: NM0336 – For Inner Strength

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32 – Thirty-Two. Hêng / Durability

Arousing Thunder and penetrating Wind.
Close companions in any storm:
The Superior Person possesses a resiliency and durability that lets him remain firmly and faithfully on course.

Such constancy deserves success.

SITUATION ANALYSIS:

Endurance is the key to success in this situation.
However, durability is not synonymous with stone-like rigidity.
True resilience requires a flexibility that allows adaptation to any adverse condition, while still remaining true to the core.
Can you maintain your integrity under any circumstance?
Can you influence the situation without giving opposing forces anything to resist?
Then you will endure to reach your goal.

Six at the beginning [yin at bottom] means:

He pledges his love too hastily, and awaits her promise in return.
This stunts the natural growth of affection.

Seeking duration too hastily brings misfortune persistently.
Nothing that would further.

Lao Tzu

Lao Tzu

Whatever endures can be created only gradually by long-continued work and careful reflection. In the same sense Lao Tzu says:
“If we wish to compress something, we must first let it fully expand.”
He who demands too much at once is acting precipitately, and because he attempts too much, he ends by succeeding in nothing.
55 – Fifty-Five  Fêng / Abundance

Thunder and Lightning from the dark heart of the storm:
The Superior Person judges fairly, so that consequences are just.

The leader reaches his peak and doesn’t lament the descent before him.
Be like the noonday sun at its zenith.
This is success.

SITUATION ANALYSIS:

You are in a position of authority in this situation.
Archetypally, you are the New King, returned from your quest to claim your throne.
However, you are enlightened enough to realize that you are merely a part of a cycle, and that you must someday yield your throne to the new kid in town, the younger, faster gunslinger, the young turk, the next returning hero, the next New King.
Fretting about the inevitable descent is senseless.
For now you must play your role to the hilt and use this gift of power to govern your world as best you can.
You are the best person for the job.
That’s why you were chosen.
Give it your personal best.

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