Zen and the Art of Happiness by Chris Prentiss

Author:Chris Prentiss
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
ISBN: 9780943015620
Publisher: SCB Distributors
Published: 2011-02-08T20:00:00+00:00

from perfect to perfect

One in all,

All in one—

If only this is realized,

No more worry about your not being perfect!

—SENG TS’AN

When I was about thirty-three, I came across an ancient Chinese book of wisdom called the I Ching. When writing came to China five thousand years ago in 3000 B.C., the I Ching was the first thing to be written. Before that, it had been passed along in the oral tradition for thousands of years. The I Ching may be the world’s oldest known wisdom. It survived all those years because it was of such great value to the people. I studied it not only because of its wisdom, but also because it contained many Universal laws. As the I Ching was written so long ago, much of its language and meanings were unclear to me, and I yearned to know what its phrases meant. I felt certain that some of the secrets of the Universe were locked away in them.

Over the years, I grew in my understanding of Universal laws such as cause and effect, and I became ever more careful of my words and actions. I learned that character is the bow from which we shoot the arrows of the future. During all those years, I spent several hours each day studying the I Ching, and I still spend a few minutes each day reading it.

I came to see that Universal law governs everything. Once I understood that, I was able to perceive and understand a great many other aspects of the world in which we live. For instance, I learned that all the laws of the Universe are in favor of the continuation of the Universe.

How do we know that to be true? Because the Universe continues. Astronomers and scientists tell us that the Universe has been around in its current state for about eighteen billion years. If there was even one law that favored discontinuation, surely that would have come to pass by now. Since it hasn’t, I feel it is safe to believe that all the laws are in favor of continuation.

For the Universe to continue to exist, it can only permit the best possible events, perfect events, to occur at any moment in time. If it were otherwise, the Universe would be in danger of its own destruction because one imperfect event could lead to two imperfect events, to three, and so on unto destruction. Imperfect events are not tolerated, not even once. Since our Universe has continued for all those billions of years, there can be little doubt about the perfection of its construction. The Universe continues to be perfect at every moment and never permits even the first imperfect event to occur. It goes from perfect to perfect to perfect.

This is related to the Universal law of the conservation of energy: “Nothing can be lost or destroyed, only changed.” That includes us. Being part of the Universe, we will continue to exist. Perhaps we will exist in a different form, perhaps in a different state, but exist we shall.

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