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sage
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Ancient sages lived in forests and
Wandered from village to village,
Sharing openly, teaching the people
Without profit or ownership.
There were more holy aspirants in ancient times. These men and women cultivated themselves in the mountains or wandered among forests and streams. When they came to a village and saw that there was some knowledge that could be imparted to the people, they did so openly. Once they taught what was necessary, they disappeared, knowing that others would follow behind them. They did not establish religious schools, temples, or philosophies bearing their names. They knew knowledge did not belong to anyone. It could not be owned, parceled out for profit, or withheld selfishly.
Nowadays, many people regard knowledge as a mere commodity to be packaged, marketed and sold. Their interest is not in benefit for others' souls but for their own pocketbooks. For example, one contemporary master requires a thousand ounces of gold before he will teach a single technique. We live in a world where the selfless sharing of knowledge is no longer a virtue.
The more knowledge you give away, the more with come to you. The more you hoard, the less you will accumulate. Be compassionate to others. What do you have to fear by being open?
sage
365 Tao
Deng Ming-Dao
Daily Meditations
Watercolor 2
Alan Chen
Alan Chen is a Ph.D. student in the College of
Computing at Georgia Tech. He received his B.S. degree from the College
of William and Mary in 1998 in Computer Science and Economics. Alan's
background also includes formal training in Fine Arts since a very young
age. His current research interests are in combining Fine Arts techniques
with computer animation and computer visual techniques.
mailto:smile@cc.gatech.edu
http://www.cc.gatech.edu/~smile
( '? note: I sent yesterday's meditation to the artist and he quickly returned a note, saying he was very pleased that his work was giving us such joy! Truly one of the compassionate.
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