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The border-warden of Ch'ang-wu said to TzÅ Lao, "A prince in his administrative details must not lack thoroughness; in his executive details he must not be inefficient. Formerly, in my ploughing I lacked thoroughness, and the results also lacked thoroughness. In my weeding I was inefficient, and the results were also inefficient. By and by, I changed my system. I ploughed deep, and weeded carefully, the result being an excellent harvest, more than I could get through in a year." Chuang TzÅ, upon hearing this, observed, "The men of to-day in their self-regulation and their self-organisation are mostly as the Border-warden has described. They put their Godhead out of sight. They abandon their natural dispositions. They get rid of all feeling. They part with their souls, carried away by the fashion of the hour.
Source Chuang Tzu, chapter 25, §7 · 📖 Read the full passage
✨ To meditate on today
According to Chuang Tzu, a steward of the fields learned to plough deep and to weed with measure, and his harvests became abundant; in the same way, our inner nature asks to be cultivated in depth, without neglect and without harshness towards oneself. Today, choose a quality you want to grow (patience, listening) and truly nourish it, while staying gentle with your faults instead of trying to tear them out all at once.
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