Lao Tan said, “I was letting my mind wander in the beginning of things.”
“What does this mean?” asked Confucius. Lao Tan said, “It means to attain Perfect Beauty and wander in Perfect Happiness. He who attains Perfect Beauty and wanders in Perfect Happiness may be called the Perfect Man.”
Ignorance is the failure to discriminate between permanent and impermanent, pure and impure, bliss and suffering, Self and non-Self.
If an evil man comes and creates a disturbance, you should hold your peace. You must not angrily upbraid his; then he who has come to curse you will merely harm himself.
You look at it, but it is not to be seen; Its name is Formless. You listen to it, but it is not to be heard; Its name is Soundless. You grasp it, but it is not to be held; Its name is Bodiless. These three elude all scrutiny. And hence they blend and become one.
I forgive all living beings of the universe, and may all living beings forgive me for my faults. I do not have any animosity towards anybody, and I have friendship for all living beings.
Not knowing the consequence of good and evil karmas, he is afflicted and hurt. Nevertheless, he, due to his egotism, piles up karmas and undergoes births and deaths again and again.
It is the Path of the Good Mind which Thou hast manifested to me, O Ahura! Whereby the welldoers, in accordance with the teaching of the Spiritual Guides, acting in harmony with Truth alone, Shall pass onward to the assigned reward of which Thou art the bestower, O Mazda! This precious reward of Thine, O Mazda, Thou givest by way of the Good Mind, Thou givest to those who perform actions through knowledge and pure thought; who attempt for the progress and development of the world; fulfil God’s desire and try for the progress of God’s Will through truth and righteousness.
Since, O Mazda, from the beginning, Thou didst create soul and body; mental power and knowledge and since Thou didst place life within the corporeal body and didst bestow to mankind the power to act, speak and guide, you wished that everyone should choose his or her own faith and path freely.
No individual is lost and no nation is refused prosperity and success if foundations of their thoughts and actions rest upon piety and godliness, and upon truth and justice.
