Zangetsu 残月, a Chinese master during the Tang dynasty, wrote the following advice to his students:
• Live in the world, yet not by forming attachments to the dust of the world.
• Poverty is your treasure. Modesty is the foundation of all virtues. Never exchange it for an easy life.
• Let your neighbors discover you before you make yourself known to them.
• To a sincere student, every day is a fortunate day.
• Pass each day in peaceful contemplation and leave results to the great law of the Universe.
This is the way of the student of Zen and Tao.
Rural Chinese families and all of their possessions by Chinese photographer Huang Qingjun 黄庆军
Photos copyright the artist
Courtesy 798 Photo Gallery