Mark Forstater's Blog

From: The .99c Guide to Enlightenment

October 2, 2014 at 8:52 am Leave a comment

The Art Of Nourishing Life

Yen Ping Chung asked Kuan Yi Wu about nourishing life.

Kuan replied, “It’s enough to give life its free course, neither blocking nor obstructing it.”

Yen said, “How do I do that?”

Kuan replied, “Let the ear hear what it likes, the eye see what it likes, the nose smell what it likes, the mouth say what it likes, the body to enjoy the comfort it likes, and the mind to do what it likes.

Now what the ear likes to hear is music, and prohibiting that is what I call obstruction of the ear.

What the eye likes to look at is beauty, and if it is not permitted to view beauty I call this obstruction of sight.

What the nose likes to smell is perfume, and it’s not being permitted to smell I call obstruction to scent.

What the mouth likes to talk about is right and wrong, and if it is not permitted to speak I call it obstruction of the truth.

The comforts the body enjoys is to have rich food and fine clothing. And if this is not permitted, I say this is obstruction of the senses of the body.

What the mind likes is to be at peace. If this is not permitted I call this obstruction of the mind’s nature.

All these obstructions are a source of the most painful irritation.

Morbidly to cultivate this cause of irritation, unable to get rid of it, and so have a long but very sad life of eighty to a hundred years, is not what I call nourishing life.

But to stop this source of obstruction and with calm enjoyment to await death – for a day, a month,a year or ten years – is what I understand by enjoying life.

Now that I have told you about cherishing life, please tell me about the burial of the dead?

Yen said,
Burying the dead is of little importance. What shall I tell you about it?

Kuan replied,
I really would like to hear it.

Yen answered him,

What can I do when I am dead? They may burn my body or cast it into deep water or bury it or leave it exposed or throw it wrapped up in a mat into some ditch or cover it with princely apparel and embroidered garments and rest it in a stone sarcophagus. All that depends on mere chance.

Kuan said,
Good. Both of us have made some progress in the principles of life and death.

Entry filed under: Ancient wisdom. Tags: hedonism, pleasure, sense, yang chu.