Tao Te Ching, Chapter 76 [Original]
Man is weak in life, but strong in death; The life of plants and trees is also brittle, and its death is withered.
Therefore the strong are dead, and the weak are alive.
If the soldier is strong, it will be destroyed, and if the wood is strong, it will be broken. Where the strong are below, the weak are above.
Tao Te Ching, Chapter 76 and the Month of Equilibrium ^19
15. Without a strong and diligent mind, it is difficult to cultivate the Tao.
In Lao Tzu's use of rigidity and softness, it is always a combination of rigidity and softness. Especially for the path of self-cultivation, if you don't have a strong and diligent mind, the path is very difficult to cultivate.
Therefore, true cultivation should cultivate one's own strength and firmness from three points:
First, the power of the wish should be profound.
The so-called vow is the determination to get things done.
The matter of vows has nothing to do with religion, just look at two points:
- 1. Whether you have a strong desire to change;
- Second, after the change, can it benefit more people?
When our aspirations are good, ambitious, and altruistic enough, this power will touch our hearts - the power of wishes is the second life of life, because there is a force in the heart that is activated, and the future has a direction to be lit.
Desire is more important than effort, because effort is the body, and the desire is the heart.
As long as the desire is profound enough, the path of cultivation will be smooth, no one can control him, and no obstacle can stop him. Because, the heartfelt desire will help him get rid of the inertia of the past and enter a new life track.
Second, the practice should be one.
There are thousands of ways to practice in the world, so don't keep wandering around the methods. There is no best method, only the most suitable one, no matter how advanced the method is, no one can practice without a foundation of basic skills.
Cultivation is to hold one, and "holding one" is to take root, and it is possible to succeed only when it is deeply rooted.
Self-cultivation can't be too much, and cultivation can't be too many doors - too many things will make people tired on the outside and chaotic on the inside; The same is true for monasticism, it is much more efficient to grasp a book and learn it in a solid way than to taste everything superficially.
It only takes one boat to cross the river, and if you step on two boats, you will definitely end up falling into the water. Therefore, the practice should be one, the few are solid, and the strength is strong.
Third, we must be firm in our ethics.
Willingness is to choose what to do, ethics is to choose not to do, just like a person who is determined to exercise, he has to say goodbye to laziness, if he wants to cultivate quality, but he refuses to restrain himself in some things, this kind of battle between heaven and man consumes the most energy.
In life, it is not difficult to pick up, it is the most difficult to let go of temptation, and refining the mind in a dull place is a difficult hurdle to cross in practice.
In the fifty-second chapter of the Tao Te Ching, it is said: "Stuff it, close its door, and be industrious for life." ”
This "diligence" is a neutral word, which does not refer to diligence, but to labor.
People have to build a barrier for themselves to separate right from wrong and temptation, and then they can break with the unrighteous self and have the effect of "lifelong industriousness".
Because, when the mind can be settled, all the power is in itself, and there is no longer any need to run around and search up and down.
The matter of cultivating the Tao is to seek the greatest success beyond all the success in the world, which is to act against the heavens, and it requires a fierce and promising attitude that is different from ordinary people in order to move towards the weak and inaction of the heavenly way.
If you can achieve the above three points: you are willing to be profound, practice to be one, and have firm ethics, even if the foundation is weak, perseverance can also succeed.
On the contrary, if you can't do these three things, even if you are on the root and on the instrument, even if the Tao is in front of you, you can only look at the ocean and sigh.
Therefore, if you don't have a strong and diligent mind, it is very difficult to cultivate the Tao.
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