Inspiration - Yield and overcome

"The ultimate Way is simple and easy, yet profoundly deep. From the beginning it does not set up steps. Penetrate directly through to freedom and make it so that there is not the slightest obstruction at any time, with the realization pervading in all directions. Then your heart will be clear, comprehending the present and the past.

Picking up a blade of grass, you can use it for the body of Buddha; taking the body of the Buddha, you can use it as a blade of grass. From the first there is no superiority or inferiority, no grasping or rejection.

When your insight penetrates freely and its application is clear, then even in the middle of complexity and complication, you yourself can move freely without sticking or lingering anywhere. Thus, without setting up any rigid views or maintaining any state, respond freely: "when the wind blows, the grasses bend."
~Yuan-wu (1063-1135)
source: "The Five Houses of Zen"

Yield and overcome;

Bend and be straight;

Empty and be full;

Wear out and be new;

Have little and gain;
Have much and be confused.

Therefore the wise embrace the one
And set an example to all.
Not putting on a display,
They shine forth.
Not justifying themselves,
They are distinguished.
Not boasting,
They receive recognition.
Not bragging,
They never falter.
They do not quarrel,
So no one quarrels with them.

Therefore the ancients say,
'Yield and overcome.'
Is that an empty saying?
Be really whole,
And all things will come to you.

Lao Tsu,
Tao Te Ching - chapter 22

(translation by Gia-fu Feng and Jane English)

"Serenade"

Did you see the lights
as they fell all around you?
Did you hear the music,
serenade from the stars?

Wake up, wake up!
Wake up and look around you..
We're lost in space
And the time is our own..

Did you feel the wind
as it blew all around you?
Did you feel the love
that was in the air?

Wake up, wake up!
Wake up and look around you..
We're lost in space
And the time is our own.

Whoa, whoa..

The sun comes up
and it shines all around you.
You're lost in space
and the earth is your home...

The entire world is in flames,
the entire world is going up in smoke;
the entire world is burning,
the entire world is vibrating.
But that which does not vibrate or burn,
which is experienced by the noble ones,
where death has no entry--
in that my mind delights.
~ Saṃyutta Nikāya ~