Tao Te Ching, or Dao De Jing

[dizzydoll]

Tao can be roughly stated to be the flow of the universe, or the force behind the natural order. Tao is believed to be the influence that keeps the universe balanced and ordered. Tao is associated with nature, due to a belief that nature demonstrates the Tao. The flow of qi, as the essential energy of action and existence, is compared to the universal order of Tao. Tao is compared to what it is not, like the negative theology of Western scholars.. It is often considered to be the source of both existence and non-existence

Te

Tao is also associated with a "proper" attitude, morality and lifestyle. This is intimately tied to the complex concept of Te , or literally "virtue". Te is the active expression of Tao. Taoism generally expresses this as "integrity" or "wholeness". Tao is considered a "way", while Te is the active living, or cultivation, of that "way"

Wu wei

Wu wei is a central concept in Taoism. The literal meaning of wu wei is "without action". It is often expressed by the paradox wei wu wei, meaning "action without action" or "effortless doing". The practice and efficacy of wu wei are fundamental in Chinese thought, most prominently emphasized in Taoism. The goal of wu wei is alignment with Tao, revealing the soft and invisible power within all things. It is believed by Taoists that masters of wu wei can control this invisible potential, the innate yin-action of the Way.

In ancient Taoist texts, wu wei is associated with water through its yielding nature. Water is soft and weak, it is noted, but it can move earth and carve stone. Taoist philosophy proposes that the universe works harmoniously according to its own ways. When someone exerts his will against the world, he disrupts that harmony. Taoism does not identify man's will as the root problem. Rather, it asserts that man must place his will in harmony with the natural universe.

P'u

P'u is translated as "uncarved block" or "simplicity". It is a metaphor for the state of wu wei and the principle of jian It represents a passive state of receptiveness. P'u is a symbol for a state of pure potential and perception without prejudice. In this state, Taoists believe everything is seen as it is, without preconceptions or illusion.

P'u is seen as keeping oneself in the primordial state of tao. It is believed to be the true nature of the mind, unburdened by knowledge or experiences. In the state of p'u, there is no right or wrong, beautiful or ugly. There is only pure experience, or awareness, free from learned labels and definitions. It is this state of being that is the goal of following wu wei.

Jian

The second is jian literally "frugality, moderation, economy, restraint, be sparing", a practice that the Tao Te Ching praises. Ellen M. Chen (1989:209) believes jian is "organically connected" with the Taoist metaphor pu "uncarved wood; simplicity", and "stands for the economy of nature that does not waste anything. When applied to the moral life it stands for the simplicity of desire."

Spirituality

Taoists believe that man is a microcosm for the universe. The body ties directly into the Chinese five elements. The five organs correlate with the five elements, the five directions and the seasons. Akin to the "neoplatonic maxim" of "as above, so below", Taoism posits that by understanding himself, man may gain knowledge of the universe, and vice versa.

In Taoism, even beyond Chinese folk religion, various rituals, exercises, and substances are said to positively affect one's physical and mental health. They are also intended to align oneself spiritually with cosmic forces, or enable ecstatic spiritual journeys. These concepts seem basic to Taoism in its elite forms. Internal alchemy and various spiritual practices are used by some Taoists to extend life, even to the point of immortality. Immortals, their actions and their relationships with the gods and natural forces form a significant portion of Taoist mythology.

[dizzydoll]

A Time Of Blossoming [Ch'an Tao Chia]
by Stan Rosenthal

1. From the seed there grows the shoot, and then the bud appears, a tight but secure knot, providing its own protection. But the bud does not remain the bud forever, for as the plant matures, the bud begins to struggle to free itself, and with a mighty effort, bursts open to become the flower.

2. From the baby there should grow the child, secure in the environment, which its parents provide. And the baby should grow into the adolescent, who, through maturation, develops into the self actualized adult, safe and secure in the knowledge of his or her own being.

3. It would indeed be wonderful if we lived in a society in which childhood and adolescence were accepted as the time in which the bud appears, and with the tremendous strength with which youth should be endowed, begins to blossom into the flower of self being.

4. What a great joy it would be, if in the process of maturation, we became open to receive experience, just as the blossoming flower receives the summer dew, and became free to accept ourselves for what we are, which is the birthright of every being, just as the life giving warmth of the sun is the right of everything that grows.

5. The society in which we live cannot allow us complete freedom. Indeed, the very nature of man prohibits such a society from ever existing. But this is not to say that we cannot blossom, as does the flower. To become fully alive, to live our lives to the full, complete in our self being, we should accept as a gift, every moment of life.

6. We should use life for the purpose for which it was intended, for living. If we choose to use it for that purpose, the whole of life becomes a time of blossoming.

7. One of the major inhibitors of human blossoming is probably life itself, for in living our lives to the full, we are required to accept that much of what we will experience cannot be described (in terms of our 'I'-ness) as either beautiful or enjoyable. Because of this, we might erect barriers to the reception of experience.

8. One of the experiences which we sometimes deny ourselves is the experience of love. This denial may easily result from our fear of failure because we may fear that by becoming worthy of love, we might win love, and might then become unworthy of it, and thus lose it.

9. Fear of losing love is caused by the fact that we live in a society which values that which it terms 'success', and condemns that which it calls 'failure'. And yet, it can only breed success at the expense of those whom it describes as failures. We must learn to live without this fear of failure, and so allow ourselves to live within our human right...to live. If we erect barriers to the giving and receiving of love, we may, in our folly, inhibit both ourselves and those who love us, from blossoming into true being.

10. We must each look into ourselves, and so find the courage to break free from those concepts of ourselves, which we have allowed to predetermine what we are, what we should be, or what we should remain.

11. We should realize that there is no limit to human potential, other than those limits, which we ourselves set, or allow others to set in our name.

12. When we can accept that there are no limits to our potential, then we can begin to find that energy which changes the whole of man; for just as the parting of the petals which form the bud, allows that bud to blossom into the flower, and thus change the face of the earth, so does the blossoming of one individual into a self actualized being, change the face of mankind.

13. The flowers and trees have sun and rain to aid their blossoming. As human beings, we should have love to help us grow into self being. When we live in true being, self being, we gain the ability to love, for love has many forms. We may gain the ability to change the shape of things with our hands, and thus change the function of those things. This may be an act of love.

14. We may gain the ability, by the use of our hands and minds, to produce things which have beauty, and whose beauty may be shared by those who are open to accept it. The creation of such a thing as has beauty is an act of love. The acceptance of the beauty in a thing which a fellow being has created is an act of love.

15. When we have true being, self-being, in which to dwell, then we may learn to love our fellow beings. When we can see our own imperfections as readily as we can see the imperfections of others, and when we can allow those others their imperfections as readily as we ignore our own, then it may be said that we love our fellow beings.

16. When we can accept others for what they are, rather than try to change them to what we would have them be, or even wish that they are something other than they are, then we perform an act of love.

17. When we have true being, self-being, instead of 'I', then we have the ability to become one with our fellow beings. This we may achieve only by ceasing to consider ourselves as the primary subject, and our fellow beings merely as objects, which are there for us to manipulate. This act, the act of treating others as we would ourselves wish to be treated, this act is an act of love.

18. There is the love between brothers and sisters. This form of love may develop and grow where wise parents do not use one of their offspring as a goad or spur to the other. Treating our offspring as equals is an act of love.

19. As parents, if we can see that our offspring are not mere 'objects', and no less 'subjects' than are we, then we can cease to manipulate them. Thus, we allow the child to become the adolescent, and the adolescent to become the adult, to the mutual benefit of all.

20. In parental love, we should place the development of our offspring before our own wishes, and even before our own self-delusion. When, as parents, we give our offspring the same rights as we give ourselves, and thus prevent ourselves from inhibiting their development, then our offspring may grow into adults, secure in their own self-being, as a result of our act of love.

21. Although all acts of love are transcendental in themselves, most are but minor forms of the greatest act of love, which is therefore the greatest transcendental act, the act of sharing love. Only when we have true being, self being, and so no longer need the 'I', then we are ready to take part in this greatest act of love, for, in sharing love with the one who is our counterpart, and so helping them to become complete, we may ourselves become complete.

22. In the act of sharing love all other forms of love are manifest. We each accept that the other has the same rights as we have ourselves. In the act of sharing love we are not jealous of the achievements or attainments of the other, but welcome and share them as our own, for they are the fruits of our love.

23. In the act of sharing love we are not jealous of the achievements or attainments of the other, but welcome and share them as our own, for they are the fruits of our love.

24. In the act of sharing love we do not look for the imperfections of the other, but accept each other for what we are, in our totality. We look for our own imperfections, and we each ask the other to help us overcome those imperfections; and thus we help each other to grow. Each of us ceases to consider our own 'I'ness, and so banish our own needs in subordination to the needs of the other.

25. In the great transcendental act of sharing love, all other transcendental acts are also encompassed. In such an act as sharing love we may change our function from that of satisfying our own needs to that of satisfying the needs of our counterpart, this is a transcendental act.

26. In such an act as sharing love we may use our bodies to create a beauty which both may share, and so become a part, this is a transcendental act.

27. In such an act as sharing love we cease to consider ourselves as the primary subject, and thus may become one with the other with whom we share our love, this is a transcendental act.

28. In the act of giving love there is no concept of who we are, of what we should be, or of what we should remain, for only in the act of giving love may we receive and so share love.

29. In the act of sharing love, there is no subject and no object, for both are one. This union of the two is a transcendental act.

30. When we give and receive love in the greatest transcendental act of all, then each of us (who is one) and the universe (which is one) unite to become the absolute. Then there is no longer even one, for we are part of it, and it is part of us, all in the now. We thus become free to give and receive that which only true love can provide, Peace and ecstacy, and the freedom to grow.

[NikolaiI]

I couldn't read it all now, Diz, but it's really great. Goes along well with "Why Worry" by Dire Straits... So, I did send it just now by e-mail to about 10 people I know, just various people I thought of while looking at my contact list, none of whom are on here Lit-net. When I do have time I'll happily write a post to keep the discussion going.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=im2SoltmZEc

[dizzydoll]

Oh Nikolai, I love Dire Straits and for a moment I had forgotten them. Thank you for reminding me. Great song.

The question I wanted to ask is this, we are well aware that Lao Tzu, among others, speaks of the duality in life... you know good/evil, right/wrong, this/that, black/white etc.

So we all understand clearly that there are natural opposites that surround us. Now here is my question, as human beings even tho we are conscious of these opposites I feel they should not consume us any more than they must in our day to day lives. Of course we should be aware of any opposite consequence -- but surely as we LIVE our lives, one day at a time, we should choose ONE of each opposite. iow, I will choose either Good or Evil and I am free to choose which of these I live by, which in my eyes means if I choose one I should "let go" of the other to avoid confusion... so even tho I am very much aware of Evil, if I choose to conduct myself in a Good manner, I dont believe I should give Evil anymore thought once that decision is made. Is that not the correct and best way of looking at any duality? To disregard the opposite once our mind is made up. I just feel if people's minds are constantly considering both sides of the dual it could create a fair amount of confusion in their lives.
Gosh I hope you understand my clumsy English.

Sooo cool Dire Straits has just come to the end as my post came to an end...

Thanks for that, look forward to your reply.

[NikolaiI]

Oh Nikolai, I love Dire Straits and for a moment I had forgotten them. Thank you for reminding me. Great song.

The question I wanted to ask is this, we are well aware that Lao Tzu, among others, speaks of the duality in life... you know good/evil, right/wrong, this/that, black/white etc.

So we all understand clearly that there are natural opposites that surround us. Now here is my question, as human beings even tho we are conscious of these opposites I feel they should not consume us any more than they must in our day to day lives. Of course we should be aware of any opposite consequence -- but surely as we LIVE our lives, one day at a time, we should choose ONE of each opposite. iow, I will choose either Good or Evil and I am free to choose which of these I live by, which in my eyes means if I choose one I should "let go" of the other to avoid confusion... so even tho I am very much aware of Evil, if I choose to conduct myself in a Good manner, I dont believe I should give Evil anymore thought once that decision is made. Is that not the correct and best way of looking at any duality? To disregard the opposite once our mind is made up. I just feel if people's minds are constantly considering both sides of the dual it could create a fair amount of confusion in their lives.
Gosh I hope you understand my clumsy English.

Sooo cool Dire Straits has just come to the end as my post came to an end...

Thanks for that, look forward to your reply.

Yea... now I am listening Lady Writer

Well as Nietzsche says, anything done in love is beyond Good and Evil!

Well - to affirm life in the highest and to reach potential, we have to have a lot of love in our lives. It's not that we have to have love every day or week of our lives; but we can reach more potential when we are able to live in harmony and love. I also think we can gain a lot by connecting with other life; plants, animals, with different personalities and appearances and behaviour. We can reach understanding and communication with them, and probably helps us feel our connection to Life - my friend, named Nietzsche on here, has found he's felt something was wrong inexplicably certain times when his pet turtle had turned over, and he was able to help him aright.

Alan Watts has given us the insight; Good and Evil are only the first step in understanding our moral universe... They are one of the levels where life is seen to be a very serious struggle between the two. On another level of existence it can be seen that they are not absolutes. They are subjective in the way that Evil for me is generally what happens Bad to me, what puts obstalces in my path, makes me suffer and ultimately anything that would kill me.

But we can see first that natural disasters are not in themselves evil; Evil would have to be done by humans, with a malicious intent.

But then we can see a very good example of how what is discord at one level of being is harmony at another - in our bloodstream there are creatures which kill each other (discord). Yet such goings on are undetected to us on our conscious level, we never detect them... and our physical and mental bodies may be functioning completely harmoniously.

It is not to say that the cosmos may be a gigantic living body; but the principle is there and the inference should be able to be made. If we can compare ourselves with tiny particles of energy it can give us a bit of perspective as well - the infinite particles of energy in our universe go on patterns we will never fathom - and run into each other quite a lot! But when they do they just change course or medium, and there is no morality concerned whatsover. It may or may not help us to find courage or endurance but it is a relative thought none-the-less.

I will also add that life and events flow in a natural way. There are may positives, despite increase in some cases, violence has been gradually decreasing in the human game for tens of centuries, and is still doing so. There is definitely a sense found in all cultures of there being more to life than first meets the eye; and some force behind it, and some way to interact with this force, in such a way that events happen in flow, and we can be protected in many situations unexpectedly or unexplainably. In one paradigm, one awareness, of all the forces of the world, it can be seen that everything is in its right place. Watts explained this by saying that even the absurd (for example, the absurdity of a wasted effort, in the shape of a ruined and abandoned car - becomes a beautiful work of art.)

"For in this world nothing is wrong, nothing is even stupid..." Watts says, "The sense of wrong is simply failure to see where something fits into a pattern, to be confused as to the hierarchical level upon which an event belongs—a play which seems quite improper at level 28 may be exactly right at level 96. I am speaking of levrels or stages in the labyrinth of twists and turns, gambits and counter-gambits, in which life is involving and evolving itself —the cosmological one-upmanship which the yang and the yin, the light and the dark principles, are forever playing, the game which at some early level in its development seems to be the serious battle between good and evil. If the square may be defined as one who takes the game seriously, one must admire him for the very depth of his involvement, for the courage to be so far-out that he doesn't know where he started."


Further there is the fact that we are whole beings. I believe this with all my heart and will speak it to my last breath. We are whole just as the universe is whole. It is a fallacy and a destructive lie to teach that we are sinful, that we are weak, that we are deficient by our very nature. Yes, we can come together with other humans in love; and we can reach levels of mystery and truth we which are available to us only through love and companionship - yet also, ontologically, we can see that the self of an individual is the same in quality as the Self of the universe - if there is one. If there is not, though I predict there is, then it still holds up; we, as part of the energy of the universe, have always been, and will always be (at least as long as the universe has been and will be).

As Watts says, "The apple tree is a process which produces apples, the apple tree apples, and in the same way, the universe peoples." We're a completely natural process, one with the universe. The whole universe is contained within us, just as the apple tree is contained within the apple seed. The universe creates us and we create the universe. Scene and viewer arise together, an as the viewer leaves, the scene disappears with the viewer.

How we are whole is the mystery of self-realization. Not that we become whole, but we realize we are whole.

Abstract thought has been useful to us in material science and controlling our external environment. Vivekananda explains that the goal of yoga is the same as the goal of material science, ultimately, to control our universe. The yogi controls the internal universe and once he's attained it, he has control over the external nature as well. The material science will come to the same point, and realize the equally vital importance of the interal universe, which really is the realm of Daoism as well as yoga. Dualities in our abstract thought may come to separate us from the world and others and ourselves. As we say "I went to the mall," or "I am feeling good today," who is the observer, and who is the observed? A separation exists through our abstraction. As we work along in this way, if we are not careful stress wears our body and mind out.

Turning inward, which is also involves by turning toward nature and all it means and is, and turning away from the straight lines and confines of the concrete and modern life - can be a wonderful step toward regaining health, and rightness, and the harmony of Dao an Qi. Too much separation from the Dao causes wayward Qi within us. The organism's (us) natural tendencies and instincts are generally right and true. To return to that at times is a healthy and natural activity, and perhaps inevitable one way or another.

According to some, to many; one of the meaningful attainments, or perhaps it is merely the first step into a new world: is non-duality, unity, or oneness.

Black Elk, "Only when men know they are one with the universe, will they know peace in their souls."

William Blake, "If the doors of perception were cleansed, then man would see all as it is, infinite."

[dizzydoll]

Yes I know all of that which you speak Nikolai but you are missing my point. I was just using Good and Evil as examples. Lets put it another way:

If the weather is Summer, nature doesnt even consider Winter until it is faced with that season. Do you see what I mean?

If we as humans choose, one of the dualities in anything... surely we dont have to even consider the other side [of the choice we've made] once our mind is made up. Lets say I decide something is Right, should I dwell on what is Wrong? If I do, dont you think this would confuse my mind?

After all these are just words which society has called "the duality of life", words mean nothing to nature itself nor to any opposites in nature for that matter.

I hope you get it now. I am not asking about the duality itself, I am asking what role this knowingness should play in our conscious lives?

[NikolaiI]

Yes I know all of that which you speak Nikolai but you are missing my point. I was just using Good and Evil as examples. Lets put it another way:

If the weather is Summer, nature doesnt even consider Winter until it is faced with that season. Do you see what I mean?

If we as humans choose, one of the dualities in anything... surely we dont have to even consider the other side [of the choice we've made] once our mind is made up. Lets say I decide something is Right, should I dwell on what is Wrong? If I do, dont you think this would confuse my mind?

After all these are just words which society has called "the duality of life", words mean nothing to nature itself nor to any opposites in nature for that matter.

I hope you get it now. I am not asking about the duality itself, I am asking what role this knowingness should play in our conscious lives?

I got what you meant I just didn't address it in the way you were asking - but I mean to say no you should definitely not dwell on what is Wrong. It is a waste of time and it may reinforce unhelpful or unproductive thinking. There is a wholeness in the organism (our body as an organism) which comes before the abstracts of duality. This is what I meant to reply.

I see the questions of Right and Wrong and the body of thought devoted to its analysis to be akin to all other such human thought; a good way to develop the mind, good problems to teeth on, but not the final or most important questions.

[dizzydoll]

I got what you meant I just didn't address it in the way you were asking - but I mean to say no you should definitely not dwell on what is Wrong. It is a waste of time and it may reinforce unhelpful or unproductive thinking. There is a wholeness in the organism (our body as an organism) which comes before the abstracts of duality. This is what I meant to reply.

Thank you Nikolai, thats what I figured. We are on the same page on this. I am beginning to get tired of people consistently mentioning the duality in life. Is like such a waste of time.

Please post something else after this comment so when I feel like adding another bit of Dao inspiration it wont be on consecutive posts. I would appreciate it. Good one you've done it.

That Divine Comedy is funny Nikolai, thanks for sharing. See you later I have to log off now.

[NikolaiI]

Thank you, thats what I figured. We are on the same page on this. I am beginning to get tired of people consistently mentioning the duality in life. Is like such a waste of time.

LOL it is what you make it I guess.

Off topic...but this was just before the above quote of Watts, in the same paragraph.

The Divine Comedy. All things dissolve in laughter. And for Robert this huge heap of marvelously incongruous uselessness is a veritable creation, a masterpiece of nonsense. He slams it together and ropes it securely to the bulbous, low-slung wreck of the supposedly chic convertible, and then stands back to admire it as if it were a float for a carnival. Theme: the American way of life. But our laughter is without malice, for in this state of consciousness everything is the doing of gods. The culmination of civilization in monumental heaps of junk is seen, not as thoughtless ugliness, but as self-caricature—as the creation of phenomenally absurd collages and abstract sculptures in deliberate but kindly mockery of our own pretensions. For in this world nothing is wrong, nothing is even stupid. ...

[dizzydoll]

In the Presence ©

At every dawn, monks, farmers, shepherds, fishermen, sailors, joggers, early morning golfers know, that if they choose to, they can stop and treat themselves to witnessing one of nature's unrepeatable performances. At dusk, once again, nature puts on her best for all to see. Those who dare to watch with hearts and minds open, free of the fear of feeling naked, can bathe in the ecstasy of being in the Presence. There is an unmistakable bubble arising from the heart. The heart expands. The fullness of being is experienced. If one is open to it, one is moved to tears.

For centuries non-believers and skeptics have demanded proof, ridiculed those who thirst for a divine experience, and scoffed at their efforts to find That which they yearn for, whatever they think it may be. In the innocence of their ignorance non-believers fail to see that proof is everywhere waiting to be discovered but only by those who dare to take a leap of faith and believe in what cannot be explained but felt in the heart.

What is the Presence?
Where is it found?
Can it be seen?
Can it be heard?
For those who have tasted it, nothing can match its splendor
For those who yearn for it, nothing else can satisfy
It is nowhere
It is everywhere
It is in every sound, every shape, every color
It is in silence, formlessness, and the void
Because it is everything, it is without limits
Because it is infinite, it is always
It is found where night turns into day
And where day turns into night
In the magnificence of the noon day sun
In the comforting shade of the afternoon sun
In the tenderness of a full moon night
And the endless sky of a moonless night
In the moment before a race begins
In the silence at the end of a movie
In the moment just before an airplane lands
In the emptiness at the end of a competition
Upon entering an empty room
Upon saying goodbye to a loved one

In the subtle smile of a newborn child
In the uneven heartbeat of the dying
In the enthusiastic cheers of a curtain call
Above the angry screams of a protest
In a breath of clean, fresh air
Within the constancy of pain

As it is outside
So it is within

The planet is changing. The majesty of nature's response to humanity's ignorance of the Presence in everything leaves the world speechless. The climax of nature's performance is nearing. But despite the drama, in the midst of the performance, the Presence is unchanging. The individual's anchor through the performance, through the drama, is the experience of the Presence within. It is there before, during, and after the climax. It is untouched. It is constant. It is all-powerful.

What need is there to know what is to happen? What need is there to prepare materially? There is no way humanity can thwart the outcome. There is no way to predict when. The only way is to align oneself to the God within, to become the God within.

The unchanging nature of the Presence is unconditional love. When we live in love, when we act from love, we eventually experience that we are that love. Pettiness dissolves into expansion. Feelings of injustice melt into compassion. Anxiety is transformed into peace. There is unflinching courage. There is unquestionable confidence. There is only unconditional love.

This is the calling to human beings of this planet earth: to reclaim the birthright to live in that Presence - to merge with it, to understand that you are no different from it and that all other aspirations, wishes, and personal, as well as community causes, dissolve in the light of this one true desire. It is this desire and only this desire that gives direction, sense and meaning to life in this ocean of existence. It is this desire that fuels human life to return to its origin.

Bask in the light of the Presence.
Become that Love.