The Tao Te Ching: The Greatest Harm to Yourself is Holding onto 'Harm'
If someone harms you, perhaps it is the other person’s fault, but after the matter is over, if you still dwell on it, that is your own fault.
The Tao Te Ching: When you hold ‘harm’ and ‘injury’ without letting go, that is the greatest harm to yourself.
The fool is like a sponge, any chaotic and noisy things in the world, once they pass by his side, he will absorb them into his body, unable to dispel them; the wise man is like a mirror, even if he sees the chaos and troubles of life, he will not be imprisoned by the problem, but will reflect these things back in their entirety.
Some people are like sponges, and some people are like mirrors.
The Buddha said, ‘Greed, anger, delusion, and ignorance’ are the five poisons of the heart. The problem in this world is not just the problem of the world, but the problem within one’s own heart. All states of life are driven by one’s inner ‘greed, anger, delusion, and ignorance’.
The world and oneself are like two different individuals.
When facing everything given to you by the world, if you do not have wisdom to dispel it, good things will make you become overly proud, resulting in ‘slowness’—the habit of arrogance; bad things will make you overly angry, resulting in ‘anger’.
Just as in life, there are always some people who refuse to let go of their life’s entanglement, and arise ‘anger’, and even make harmful actions.
When a person faces problems that appear around him, he will always attribute all errors and problems to the outside world, unaware that the real trouble that confines him is his own ‘greed, anger, delusion, and ignorance’, his unwillingness to let go of his obsessions.
A person’s pattern of thinking shapes all of his life’s experiences.
A broad mind can know that the problems it faces exist, break through its ‘greed, anger, delusion, and ignorance’, and stand above human weaknesses; an ignorant person will fall into the problem at once, just like a ‘sponge’.
And the purpose of cultivation is to let oneself stand above ‘greed, anger, delusion, and ignorance’—these human weaknesses.
The ‘Canon of Vegetables’ says:
The earth’s dirt is fertile for many creatures, and water’s clarity often has no fish; therefore, a virtuous person should have the measure to tolerate others’ shortcomings and forgive others’ faults, and should never be conceited and solitary.
Those places with a lot of debris often give rise to many creatures, while extremely clear water doesn’t have fish growing in it; therefore, a truly virtuous person should have the ability to tolerate others’ shortcomings and forgive others’ faults, and should never be conceited and solitary.
‘Water is good because it dwells beneath all things, nourishes and benefits all things without contention, and resides in the places that people dislike, therefore it is closest to ‘the Way’”.
A person’s life does not need to be too ‘pure’ or too ‘clean’, do not always reject those who are not good around you and noisy, many people’s ‘anger’ and fury arise because they cannot accept life’s small people and chaos.
We should solve the problems that we should solve, not the problems of the world.
Kindness needs a bottom line, use your bottom line to defend your principles, but don’t be too impulsive or let go of any filth.
Water is good because it dwells beneath all things, nourishes and benefits all things without contention, and resides in the places that people dislike, therefore it is closest to ‘the Way’.When one’s life encounters unpleasant people and things, one must remember that at this moment, one can use principles to defend one’s rights and bottom line, but after the matter is over, one must not dwell on it or hold onto it.
If something happens, perhaps it is the problem of someone else, but you don't let it go, that is your own problem.
Text by | National Learning Repository
Reflecting on national learning wisdom, experiencing ancient culture, comprehending a different world, seeing a different life.
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