True Mastery (from Lau Tzu's "Hua Hu Ching")

Do you think you can clear your mind by sitting constantly in silent meditation?
This makes your mind narrow, not clear.

Integral awareness is fluid and adaptable, present in all places and at all times.
This is true meditation.

Who can attain clarity and simplicity by avoiding the world?
The Dharma is clear and simple, and it doesn’t avoid the world.

Why not simply
-- love your children,
-- help your brothers and sisters,
-- be faithful to your friends,
-- care for your mate with devotion,
-- complete your work cooperatively and joyfully,
-- assume responsibility for problems,
-- practice virtue without first demanding it from others,
-- understand the highest truths yet retain an ordinary manner?

That would be true clarity, true simplicity, true mastery.

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Adapted from Hua Hu Ching, the Unknown Teachings of Lao Tzu, edited by Brian Walker, HarperSanFrancisco, 1994