Love-of-self by Linaji
What is bestowed by heaven is called human nature. The fulfillment of human nature is called the Tao. The cultivation of the Tao is called true learning.
The Tao is the law of nature, which you can’t depart from even for one instant. If you could depart from it, it wouldn’t be the Tao.
Thus the mature person looks into his own heart and respects what is unseen and unheard. Nothing is more manifest than the hidden; nothing is more obvious than the unseen. Thus the mature person pays attention on to what is happening in his inmost self.
Before pleasure, anger, sorrow, and joy have arisen, we are in the center. When these passions have arisen and when all attain their proper degree, we are in harmony. That center is the root of the universe; that harmony is the Tao, reaching out to all things. Once we find the center and achieve harmony, heaven and earth take their proper places, and all things are fully nourished.
—Tzu-Ssu (483-402 B.C.E)
Confucius said,
“To find the Tao, there is nowhere you need ‘to search’.
If it is not inside you, it is not the Tao.”
” Thus in dealing with people we already have the perfect model of behavior inside us.
Just act sincerely, in accordance with your true nature.
Don’t do to others what you wouldn’t want done to you.”
