The heights reached and maintained by great figures are not attained overnight. Rather, they are climbed step by step with great effort, often when their companions are asleep. Among the easiest things in the world, wasting time is the least effortful.
The meaning of life lies in complete enlightenment, which is to rationally understand one's original nature. Do not reject circumstances when they arrive, nor cling to them when they depart. Go with the flow to attain freedom, and realize liberation by letting go. Worry makes the world narrow; resentment turns every place into an enemy; grief binds oneself; anger places a great enemy before you. Cultivate the mind with emptiness, the body with virtue, all things under heaven with benevolence, and the ages with the Tao. Keep kind words ready in the mouth, good deeds at hand, kind eyes on the face, and good thoughts in the heart.
Why is it that you are independent and capable, yet your life is so hard, while those who only know how to act cute live more comfortably than you? It is because when you have everything, others give you nothing. Those who appear weak always have a crowd of people protecting and helping them. If you pretend to be strong, the people around you will only be those who need your care. One persuades by strength, the other by intellect. The strong suffer, the weak enjoy, and those who act cute win the world.
Easy-going people are magnanimous, relaxed, and far-sighted. Because they are easy-going, they are wise and can perceive the world with shrewd eyes. Because they are easy-going, they are humble and can face life with a low profile. Unmoved by honor or disgrace, they leisurely watch the flowers bloom and fall in the courtyard. Savoring being easy-going makes one a sage; enjoying it makes one a sage in wisdom. Easy-going people have cultivation, can communicate, know gratitude, and understand appreciation. Being easy-going is a form of capability.
The human world is full of turmoil. Through mutual forgiveness and tolerance, we act out all the grudges and emotions of this world. Watching the red dust and the changes of the sea and mulberry fields, specific moments and events are inherently uncertain. Face everything with composure; let go of the past without entanglement, staying calm and indifferent, like clouds gathering and dispersing. Every day, every moment, is an end, and also a beginning.
