Know the Tao.... (Words of Wisdom) (Video 1:45 & Transcript)

In today's short video, I read Chinese Taoist author Loy Ching Yuen's suggestions about how to live quietly, modestly within the cycles of life & nature.

To know Tao, meditate
and still the mind.
Knowledge comes with perseverance.

The Way is neither full nor empty;
a modest and quiet nature understands this.
The empty vessel, the uncarved block;
nothing is more mysterious.

When enlightenment arrives
don't talk too much about it;
Just live it in your own way.
With humility and depth, rewards come naturally.

The fragrance of blossoms soon passes;
the ripeness of fruit is gone in a twinkling.
Our time in this world is so short,
better to avoid regret:
Miss no opportunity to savor the ineffable.

Like a golden beacon signaling a moonless night,
Tao guides are passage through this transitory realm.
In moments of darkness in pain
remember that all is cyclical.
Sit quietly behind your wooden door:
Spring will come again.

Loy Ching Yuen

From "The Essential Mystics: Selections from the World's Great Wisdom Traditions" edited by Andrew Harvey © 1996. Reproduced here under the doctrine of Fair Use.