

It means that he fails to realize that his own true nature is the integral nature of the universe itself.”Īt one point the prince says he wants to leave his worldly responsibilities and practise meditation twenty-four hours a day, and the Master tells him that both the outward life of serving others and the inward work of focused meditation are necessary. If a person thinks in terms of attaining something, that means he believes there is something to obtain or achieve external to his own nature.

The Master kindly answered, “Yes, this is very true, dear prince…. “Venerable Teacher, according to the Universal Way, when one attains subtle awareness he should not label it an achievement. The prince addressed the Master once again. Many of the exchanges concern one follower who is a prince. The Master’s gentleness, humility and simplicity are evident in every scene.
#Hua hu ching hua ching ni series
The rest of the book is a series of conversations between the old Master and the group of disciples. After their daily work … they went to the garden where the old Master stayed and awaited his precious instruction. All his friends and followers … maintained a peaceful, righteous way of life and enjoyed the abundance of their being. His instruction was neither religion nor worldly wisdom, yet it revealed the truth of every aspect of the universe. Followers came from everywhere to sit at his feet, for he was a model of universal harmony.

There once was a great white-bearded Master who appeared at the boundary of the Central Territory on his journey to the west. The Hua Hu Ching opens with the following scene: Yet, whether written by Lao Tzu or another teacher, the work offers us a great treasure of spiritual wisdom. Most modern scholars doubt this early and august origin for the text, believing it to be the work of a Taoist Master of the fourth or fifth century CE. Then, it is believed, the eighty-one short chapters of the Hua Hu Ching were passed down orally for nearly a thousand years before being written down. It is said that after Lao Tzu wrote the Tao Te Ching (circa 500 BCE), he travelled to the west, and when he reached the western boundary of China, he composed the Hua Hu Ching. The Hua Hu Ching is traditionally attributed to Lao Tzu, author of the Tao Te Ching, the single most important text of Taoism. Hua Hu Ching: The Later Teachings of Lao Tzu
