February 15th, 2022

Approval

As soon as you accept and approve anything, recognizing it as your own, you are immediately bound hand and foot and cannot move. So even if there are a thousand possibilities, nothing is right once you have recognized, accepted, and approved it as your own.

It is like making a boat and outfitting it for a long journey to a land of treasures, then as soon as you get started you drive a stake in the ground and tie the boat down, then row with all your might. You may row till the end of time, but you will still be at the shore. You see the boat moving from side to side, and think you are on the move, but actually you haven’t gotten anywhere.

Foyan (1067-1120)