07-08-2007, 11:10 AM
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#1 (permalink)
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Tao Meditation: Victory
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Victory
Can you be both martial and spiritual?
Can you overcome your ultimate opponent?
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To be martial requires discipline, courage, and perseverance. It has nothing to do with killing. People fail to look beyond this one narrow aspect of being a warrior and so overlook all the other excellent qualities that can be gained from training. A warrior is not a cruel murderer. A warrior is a protector of ideals, principle, and honor. A warrior is noble and heroic.
A warrior will have many opponents in a lifetime, but the ultimate opponent is the warrior's own self. Within a fighter's personality are a wide array of demons to be conquered: fear, laziness, ignorance, selfishness, egotism, and so many more. To talk of overpowering other people is inconsequential. To actually overcome one's own defects is the true nature of victory. That is why so many religions depict warriors in their iconography. These images are not symbols for dominating others. Rather, they are symbols of the ferocity and determination that we need to overcome the demon within ourselves.
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victory
FROM THE TEXT
365 Tao
Daily Meditations
by Deng Ming-Dao
ISBN: 0.06.250223.9 |
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