Less is more
conditionally
a small state
arms around
to embrace
no weapons
avoiding thus
back and forth
listen and see
can be enough
for three or ten
a teacher asked
only one for three
all the others ten
they wished for
more not less
but turns out
three horses
ten guinea pigs
as this happened
so very long ago
still a small child
now all grown
rather old
at long last
less is more.
(Inspired by Lao Zi, Daodejing, #80, and a 2nd grade school memory)
“Future memory past now” — neither minor nor major
Looking to dismiss ego delusion?
“What is inside is me,
What is outside is mine —
When these thoughts end . . .
Freedom dawns.”
— Nāgārjuna, Mūlamadhyamakakārikā, 18.4 / Stephen Batchelor, Verses from the Center, p. 114
“Destroy ‘the ego’, hound it, beat it, snub it, tell it where to get off?
Great fun, no doubt, but where is it? Must you not find it first?
Isn’t there a word about catching your goose before you can cook it?
The great difficulty here is that there isn’t one.”
— Wei Wu Wei, Posthumous Pieces, p. 48
“The birds have vanished down the sky.
Now the last cloud drains away.
We sit together, the mountain and me,
Until only the mountain remains.”
— Li Po, translated by Sam Hill, Crossing the Yellow River: Three Hundred Poems from the Chinese
When and where is less becoming more?
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