{"id":8604,"date":"2025-08-08T10:32:14","date_gmt":"2025-08-08T17:32:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/?p=8604"},"modified":"2025-08-08T10:32:14","modified_gmt":"2025-08-08T17:32:14","slug":"loy-ching-yuen-no-use-fretting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/2025\/08\/08\/loy-ching-yuen-no-use-fretting\/","title":{"rendered":"Loy Ching-Yuen – No use fretting"},"content":{"rendered":"

No use fretting over gold, beauty or fame;
\nby Loy Ching-Yuen<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

English version by Thomas Cleary<\/font><\/p>\n

No use fretting over gold, beauty or fame;
\nNurturing these, how can we calm
\nOur fluttering heart?
\nNon attachment brings deep truth,
\nAnd a truthful nature brings immortality.
\nEmpty your heart,
\nSit quietly on a mat.
\nIn meditation we become one with All;
\nTao billows like the vapors
\nIn a mountain valley,
\nAnd its supernatural power wafts into our soul.<\/em><\/p>\n


\/ Image by Jan Canty<\/a> \/<\/em><\/font><\/p>\n

A reminder to us all from a modern Taoist master to keep our life priorities straight. I like this poem\u2019s calm clarity.<\/p>\n

Fretting over \u201cgold, beauty or fame\u2026\u201d What does that get us? Even if we succeed and attain wealth or attention, it is tainted by the ingrained habit of fretting. The satisfaction we hoped for slips away almost immediately. And each of those things will inevitably shift and recede in the cycles of time anyway \u2014 and we know it, so acquisition is tainted by the fear of loss. Having poured so much life energy into their pursuit, there is no peace or enjoyment, just a \u201cfluttering heart.\u201d<\/p>\n

No use fretting over gold, beauty or fame;
\nNurturing these, how can we calm
\nOur fluttering heart?<\/i><\/p>\n

The human soul recoils from loss. The sticky self, having grown attached to the objects of its desires, views their loss as a loss of some part of itself. Because of attachment, each loss is perceived as a death. Yet this is a fluid world, a world of comings and goings. To the self that endlessly identifies with external things, it is a world of a thousand small deaths. Amidst the constant fear of death, the truth of one\u2019s eternal nature is lost.<\/p>\n

Empty your heart,
\nSit quietly on a mat.
\nIn meditation we become one with All<\/i><\/p>\n

The solution, Loy Ching-Yuen reminds us, is in non-attachment:<\/p>\n

Non attachment brings deep truth,
\nAnd a truthful nature brings immortality.<\/i><\/p>\n

Non-attachment here does not necessarily mean renunciation, becoming a monk or living in a mountain cave somewhere. Non-attachment means non-identification. A person, an experience, or an object may be important, and is therefore to be cherished. But our fundamental identity remains settled within the heart. External movements do not tug at our sense of self. We can witness reality as it is from the supreme security of our true nature.<\/p>\n

Loss and death have no claim on us. This is Loy Ching-Yuen\u2019s immortality.<\/p>\n

And it is naturally so. It doesn\u2019t even require work on our part. We must simply, quietly watch the process happen.<\/p>\n

Tao billows like the vapors
\nIn a mountain valley,
\nAnd its supernatural power wafts into our soul.<\/i><\/p>\n


\n

<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/a>Recommended Books: Loy Ching-Yuen<\/font><\/b><\/p>\n\n

<\/p>\n

\n\n\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n

<\/center>
\n<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/td>\n<\/a><\/td>\n<\/a><\/td>\n<\/a><\/td>\n<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
The Essential Mystics: Selections from the World\u2019s Great Wisdom Traditions<\/a><\/small><\/td>\nThe Book of the Heart: Embracing the Tao<\/a><\/small><\/td>\nThe Supreme Way: Inner Teachings of the Southern Mountain Tao<\/a><\/small><\/td>\n<\/a><\/small><\/td>\n<\/a><\/small><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\n\n
\n<\/td>\n\nLoy Ching-Yuen<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

China (1873 \u2013 1960) Timeline<\/a>
\nTaoist<\/a><\/a>
\n<\/a><\/a><\/em>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n

<\/p>\n

Loy Ching-Yuen was one of China\u2019s best known Taoist tai chi masters of the early 20th century. He had a large following in Shanghai.<\/p>\n

More poetry by Loy Ching-Yuen<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

No use fretting over gold, beauty or fame; by Loy Ching-Yuen English version by Thomas Cleary No use fretting over gold, beauty or fame; Nurturing these, how can we calm Our fluttering heart? Non attachment brings deep truth, And a truthful nature brings immortality. Empty your heart, Sit quietly on a mat. In meditation we […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[112,2601,1706,2599,340,2480,39,2600],"class_list":["post-8604","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-poetry","tag-chinese-poetry","tag-fame","tag-immortality","tag-loy-ching-yuen","tag-meditation","tag-non-attachment","tag-taoist-poetry","tag-wealth"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8604","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8604"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8604\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8605,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8604\/revisions\/8605"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8604"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8604"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8604"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}