Sunday, January 29, 2012

A verse for Sunday...................

After a bitter quarrel, some resentment remains.
                 What can one do about it?
          Being content with what you have
                  is always best in the end.

Someone must risk returning injury with kindness.
           or hostility will never turn to goodwill.
So the wise always give without expecting gratitude.

                       One with true virtue
                  always seeks a way to give.
                   One who lacks true virtue
                    always seeks a way to get.
           To the giver comes the fullness of life;
              to the taker, just and empty hand.

Tao Te Ching,  79th Verse
as adapted by Wayne Dyer
Change Your Thoughts, Change Your Life

One of the glories of the ancient texts, written in a language
not our own, is the subtle (and not so subtle) differences in
translation.  Here is a different translation of the 79th Verse:

Compromise with great resentment
      will surely yield lingering resentment;
How can this be seen as good?

For this reason,
      The sage holds the debtors side of the contract
         and does not make claims upon others.

Therefore,
      The man of  integrity attends to his debts;
      The man without integrity attends to his exactions.

The Way of heaven is impartial,
   yet is always with the good person.

Tao Te Ching
translated by Victor H. Mair

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