dao defense

defense Demons who enter your circle, Must be pushed out. No matter what world you walk in—office, school, temple, prison, or the streets—there is an underworld populated with demons. These are people who are avaricious, aggressive, sadistic, and cynical. They not only take advantage of others without compunction, they delight in it. They find pleasure in seeing others suffer. The why of it cannot be answered. There is only the fact, with no metaphysical meaning or other ramifications. It is not karma, it is not fate. If these people decide to attack you, it is circumstance. You must fight or be mowed down. compassion and humility may be among the most treasured of human virtues, but they are not useful in conflict. A beautiful gold statue of your most adored god is a treasure, but you would not use it as a weapon. Virtue is to be valued in the proper context; only a sword will do in battle. whether an attack is physical—assault, rape, murder—or whether it is mental—business intrigues, emotional abuse—you must be prepared. It is best to prepare for conflict by learning as much self-defense as possible.* You will not become a bully or a monster, but instead, you will learn that you can respond to any situation. If you are never attacked, that will be wonderful. Training will still help you work out our fears, inhibitions, and anxieties. In the case of conflict, no one, not even a veteran, is ever sure that they will come out alive from a confrontation. But they resolve to go in there and give themselves a fighting chance. This in itself is a triumph over evil. defense 365 Tao daily meditations Deng Ming-Dao (author) ISBN 0-06-250223-9 •Ming-Dao is an expert martial artist.His books can give you more of his background than I can do here. Speaking as an ardent pacifist, I find the training to be an important art, but strongly believe (and have used in conflict) passive resistance as my line of defense.. Stele with Buddha Sakyamuni and two bodhisattvas Henan Muscum, Zhengzhou, Henan Province Sui dynasty, 581 — 618 CE Stone height 190 cm, width 100 cm The seated figure of Buddha Sakyamuni is carved in smooth lines, which contrast with the elaborate halo framing his head. His unadorned long-sleeved robe falls in elaborate pleats over the simple plinth. Buddha is flanked by his two main disciples, Ananda and Kasyapa, which are depicted on a far smaller scale. The upper part of the stele is carved with lotus flowers, whose petals droop down in a bell shape. Small meditating Buddhas are seated on some of the lotus flowers. An inscription on the back notes that more than sixty donors, headed by Xun Gouchou, commissioned the stele and dedicated it in the second month of the second year of Kaihuang (582 CE) in the Sui dynasty. Henan Museum, Zhengzhou, Henan Province T A O I S M t w o 陶詩歌二 When beauty is abstracted Then ugliness has been implied; When good is abstracted Then evil has been implied. So alive and dead are abstracted from nature, Difficult and easy abstracted from progress, Long and short abstracted from contrast, High and low abstracted from depth, Song and speech abstracted from melody, After and before abstracted from sequence. The sage experiences without abstraction, And accomplishes without action; She accepts the ebb and flow of things, Nurtures them, but does not own them, And lives, but does not dwell. literature on daoism purchased from Amazon.com through our Associates program will assist the work of duckdaotsu. To help, start your search from the many resources at http://www.duckdaotsu.org/dao_books.html receive a full HTML copy of the daily meditation sent directly to your inbox, please send a note with the words “subscribe tao” in the subject line to duckdaotsu