the ancient masters looked ordinary
but their wisdom was profound
they didn't deviate from the truth
the clever couldn't persuade them
the beautiful couldn't seduce them
the rich couldn't corrupt them
they considered life and death
to be insignificant matters
unhindered, their minds could soar
to the edges of the unknown,
beyond time and space, and plunge
past the beginning and the end
they could take the most menial positions
and find contentment in their work
the ancient masters
slept without dreaming
woke without concerns
their food was spare and simple
their breath went deep
they didn't hold on to life
they faced death free of concepts
emerging without desire
going back without resistance
they didn't trouble their minds
searching for what their end was
they received life as a gift
and handed it back gratefully
there was no limit to their freedom
the sage dreams, but he knows it to be a dream in the same way as he knows the waking state to be a dream. established in the state of supreme reality, he detachedly witnesses the three other states, waking dreaming and dreamless sleep, as pictures superimposed onto it. for the sage all three states are equally unreal. most people are unable to comprehend this, because for them the standard of reality is the waking state. whereas for the sage the standard is reality itself
When a drunk falls from a wagon
he won't be killed, no matter
how fast the wagon is moving
his body is like other men's
but the way he falls is different
life and death mean nothing to him
thus fear can't enter his heart
he meets all circumstances
like an infant, without a thought
unconscious that he is falling
he falls softly, and his bones
bend like the branches of a tree
the mature person is like a good archer
when he misses the bull's eye
he turns around and seeks
the reason for his failure in himself
you can't talk about the ocean
with a frog who lives in a well
he is bounded by the space he inhabits
you can't talk about ice
with an insect who was born in June
its life is bounded by a single season
you can't talk about the Tao
with a person who thinks he knows something
he is bounded by his own beliefs
