Confucian and/or Daoist magic

With Spring in the air, it is time for some Confucian and/or Daoist magic, the magic of transformation. How can we do this? Simple and easy, just follow through with what the ancients suggested. Cultivate the cardinal virtues and students of the Yi and Tao can manifest goodness and kindness before returning to the original virtue. People may tell you differently but the heavenly Daoist immortals and Buddhas will agree to what is posted, so will the Yi (refer to the Qian / The Creative hexagram).

Many down the ages often ignored these virtues, while Laozi, Confucius and Buddha discerned and taught them to their students. These great sages also wrote these virtues into their treatises to be passed down to posterity. Just because the multitude are ignorant does not mean we have to be the same. Perhaps fellow travelers and Yi students can make the cultivation of these four cardinal virtues as their Chinese New Year resolution. One year from now, those who earnestly cultivate may find that their close friends and relatives may wonder how their transformation was managed. A suggested answer can be, ‘Now that is Confucian and/or Daoist magic!’

The one posted on the left is Confucian while the one on the right is Daoist. But both comprised the same meanings, it is just a matter of semantics. Buddha in the Dhammapada teaches the eight fold path - right thoughts, right actions…… They all lead to the same transformation of your character. If you can change your character (for the better) you have begun to learn how to master your fate.

Ladies may find that they do better at changing fate than men because of their maternal instincts and their higher tolerance of the faults of humans. If only they want to cultivate – after all the cardinal virtues are for the common good and part of human nature - since cultivation is not meant just for men, in this time and age. If the ladies do not want to learn the Confucian ethics, they can always learn the Daoists’?

Footnote:

For those who cannot read Mandarin – the pinyin for the Confucian ethics is Ren, Yi, Tao and Te. The pinyin for the Daoist ethics is Ren, Yi, Li and Zhi.