Let Be and Let Alone (7)

1 A man of perfect practice would never talk all day long. He is like an echo or a shadow.

2 Only light can produce shadow; the shadow can’t appear by itself. Also, only sound can produce echo in the valley. A man of perfect practice doesn’t sermonize forwardly without other’s consulting him. He doesn’t help other without request.

3 However, if other asks for help, he will try his best to do it. His response is silent some time; however, all work is accomplished tacitly. His work is part-hidden. Holding your hand slightly, he takes you out of confusion to stroll in the boundless realm. He is like the sunlight to warm you in silence.

4 Coming to this world, he has to be the same as others, so he is endowed with a fresh body. For him, that is just a shell, a clothes or a means. He doesn’t do any unnecessary decoration on the body. Of course, he is not so silly as to exhaust himself to work all day only for the purpose of making it more beautiful. He always remembers that it is just a necessary means of living in this world.

5 The essential task after his descending on this world is to take care of people as the sunlight. So, any one who forgets the shell is a friend of Heaven and Earth. Any one who bustles for or even exhausts his energy for the meaningless and vain shell, is the secular gentleman.