LETTING GO OF TRYING TO CONTROL LIFE

www.innerself.com

“74

If you realise that all things change,

there is nothing you will try to hold on to.

If you aren't afraid of dying,

there is nothing you can't achieve. Trying to control the future

is like trying to take the master carpenter's place.

When you handle the master carpenter's tools, chances are that you'll cut your hand.”

SOURCE: 
Tao Te Ching, Stephen Mitchell translation & commentary : Te III


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CHINESE WISDOM FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF A CUP OF TEA

thegreenteahouse.com

“There was a mad horse getting crazy in my stomach, hitting my lungs and heart with his hooves like he was trying to get out from there. That tea was really weird (…) At first put in an empty pot and being burnt, afterwords boiled, full of strange bitterness and smell of burning. I felt like spitting it out, screaming and escaping from there, but I stayed. That's what politeness and being a traveler requires from you. (…) I was sitting in the house of the Bai people and wondering how to disappear. (…)

- More tea – my hostess said.

It wasn't a question. It was an order.

- Xiexie, thank you – I got up very fast, trying to put on my face something that could eventually be called a smile. The bitter taste of tea was twisting my tongue.
- Sit – the Chinese ordered.
I sat down.
- Drink.
I drank. And I was surprised because the second cup didn't have this terrible bitterness - at the contrary - it was a bit sweet and tasty! I breathed a sigh of relief. I finished the tea, put back the cup and got up.
- Sit – repeated Chinese. - More tea.

More tea? Really, the hospitality of Bai people was starting to be annoying.

- Drink – the girl put a cup in front of me.
I wanted to say 'no', refuse and go away but I smelled an extraordinary fragrance. Violet, honey with a bit of spiciness. I swallowed unspoken words and drank the third tea.
- Good tea? - the Chinese asked.
- Delicious! - I answered immediately and totally honestly.
- You see – the Bai woman leaned over me. - Tea is like our life. The first cup - it is youth. Bitter, full of disappointments and difficult lessons that you're getting from life. It's the time of learning and gaining experience.
- Oh! - I sighted, impressed. That tea was so bitter that I could still feel the pain inside me.
- The second cup is like an adulthood. Then you are able to use the knowledge that you've gained before and you're eating sweet fruits of what you've learnt in your youth.
It's true that in the second cup I could taste nuts and cane sugar.
- And the third cup? - I asked.
- The third cup is like an old age. A bit bitter and a bit sweet, with a bit of honey and ginger, because the wisdom of old age tells you that the life has a lot of different tastes and all of them are worth trying.”



SOURCE:
My own translation & interpretation of: Blondynka w Chinach, Beata Pawlikowska, National Geographic 2012




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