bkadoctaj's Daily Tao

wackdeafboy · Mar 15, 2009

Daily Tao is back?!

nope, I guess not.

bkadoctaj · Mar 15, 2009

Perfect is the person who knows what comes from heaven and what comes from people. Knowing what comes from heaven, she is in tune with heaven. Knowing what comes from people, she uses her knowledge of the known to develop her knowledge of the unknown and enjoys the fullness of life until her natural death. This is the perfection of knowledge. However, there is one difficulty. Knowledge must be based upon something, but one is not certain what this may be. How, indeed, do I know that what I call heaven is not actually human, and that what I call human is not actually heaven? First, there must be a true person; then there can be true knowledge.

But what is a true person? The true person of old did not mind being poor. She took no pride in her achievements. She made no plans. Thus, she could commit an error and not regret it. She could succeed without being proud. Thus, she could climb mountains without fear, enter water without getting wet and pass through fire unscathed. This is the knowledge that leads to Tao.

The true person of old slept without dreaming and woke without anxiety. Her food was plain, and her breath was deep. For the breath of the true person rose up from her heels while the breath of common people rises from their throats. When they are overcome, their words catch in their throats like vomit. As their lusts and desires deepen, their heavenly nature grows shallow.

The true person of old knew nothing about loving life or hating death. When she was born, she felt no elation. When she entered death, there was no sorrow. Carefree she went. Carefree she came. That was all. She did not forget her beginning and did not seek her end. She accepted what she was given with delight, and when it was gone, she gave it no more thought. This is called not using the mind against Tao and not using people to help heaven. Such was the true person.

Such a person has a free mind, a calm manner, and an unfurrowed brow. She is as cool as autumn and as mild as spring. Her joy and anger flow like changing seasons. She is in harmony with all things and has no limitations. Therefore, when a wise person wages war, she can destroy a nation without losing the people's hearts. Her blessings fall upon the ten thousand things, but not because she loves people.

Therefore, the person who desires to know all things is not a sage. Showing partiality is not true kindness. She who calculates her timing is not a person of wisdom. She who does not see through gain and loss is not a great person. She who seeks recognition and does not follow what she knows is not a person of understanding. She who would lose her life without being true to herself can never be a master of people. Such men as Hu Pu Chieh, Wu Kuang, Po I, Shu Chi, Chi Tsu, Hsu Yu, Chi To and Shen Tu Ti all lost their lives by doing the bidding of others. They tried to act in ways that were natural to others but not natural to themselves.

This was the true man of old. He stood straight and firm and did not waver. He was of humble mien but was not servile. He was independent but not stubborn, open to everything yet made no boast. He smiled as if pleased and responded to things naturally. His radiance came from his inner light. He remained centered even in the company of others. He was broadminded as if he agreed with everyone, high-minded as if beyond influence, inward-minded as if he would like to withdraw from the world, and absentminded as if unaware of what he was going to say. He considered criminal law to be the body of government, ceremony its wings, knowledge a requirement of the times, and reason a guide for action.

To consider law as the body, one has to be lenient in its execution. To take ceremony as the wings is to give people something to follow. To take knowledge as a requirement of the times is to do things that have to be done. To consider reason as a guide for action is to be with others on the path upward. He acted effortlessly, yet people thought that he was trying very hard.

What she likes is the One; what she does not like is also the One. That which is One is One; that which is not One is also One. She knows the One and is of heaven. She knows not the One and is of humans. So heaven and human are not in conflict. Such is the true person. It is destiny to live and die, as certain as night and day. It is of heaven, beyond the interference of people. Such is the nature of things. If a person is willing to view heaven as his father and experiences love, how much more love will he feel for what is beyond heaven! If he feels that the ruler of the kingdom is above him and he is willing to die for the king, how much more will he be willing to do for the truth!

When the springs go dry and fish are left stranded on the ground, they smear each other with slime and spew spit on one another. It is better for them to be in the rivers and lakes, where they pay each other no head. Instead of praising Yao and denouncing Chieh, it would be better to pay heed to neither and lose oneself in Tao.

The great earth burdens me with a body, causes me to toil in life, eases me in old age, and rests me in death. That which makes my life good, makes my death good also.

A boat concealed in a ravine and a fish net in a swamp appear to be safely hidden. But at midnight a strong man may put them on his back and walk off with them. Dimwits do not understand that no matter how well one hides small things in larger ones, there is always a chance of losing them. But if you hide the universe in the universe, there is no way to lose it. This is the ultimate reality.

You were born in a human form, and you find joy in it. Yet there are ten thousand other forms endlessly transforming that are equally good, and the joy in these is untold. The sage dwells among those things which can never be lost, and so she lives forever. She willing accepts early death, old age, the beginning and the end, and serves as an example for everyone. How much more should we emulate the creator of the ten thousand things, on whom the great flow depends.
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Zhuangzi 6

bkadoctaj · Mar 23, 2009

Nie Que met Xu You and asked him, "Where are you going?"

Xu You replied, "I am fleeing from Yao."

"What do you mean?"

Xu You said, "Yao is so preoccupied with benevolence, I fear that the world will laugh at him and that men will come to eat each other in future ages. The people are not difficult to collect together. Love them and they will be fond of you; be beneficial to them and they will come to you; praise them and they will exert themselves; revile them and they will leave you. Loving and being beneficial arise from benevolence and righteousness. Only a few will forget benevolence and righteousness; many will make a profit from them. In this way, acts of benevolence and righteousness become insincere and are like borrowing traps for catching birds. Therefore if one man sets out to benefit the world only by his actions, it is like penetrating the nature of all things in one instant. Yao knows that the wise and worthy man would benefit the world but he did not know that they could also harm the world. Only those who stand apart from the wise can know this."
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Zhuangzi 24

bkadoctaj · Apr 19, 2009

Zhuangzi said, "My master! My master! He judges all things but does not regard it as righteousness. He confers benefits to ten thousand generations but does not regard it as benevolence. He is more ancient than the highest antiquity but does not consider himself as old. He spans the heavens and holds up the earth; he shapes and molds all bodily forms but does not regard it as a skill. This is what is called the happiness of heaven. Therefore it is said, 'Those who know the happiness of heaven are like heaven in their actions during their life and at death undergo transformation like other things. In their stillness they embody the yin and in their movement they flow onward as the yang.' One who knows the happiness of heaven does not quarrel with heaven nor disparage men. He is not disconcerted by things nor admonished by spirits. Therefore it is said, 'He moves with heaven and rests with the earth. His mind is constant and order prevails in heaven and on earth. The spirits of the dead do not haunt him and he is not perturbed by their souls. His mind is constant and all things in the world yield to him. The words coming from his vacancy and stillness spread to heaven and earth and converse with all things. This is the happiness of heaven. This happiness of heaven forms the mind of the sage as he unfolds all under the sky'."
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Zhuangzi 13

Medicine Al · Apr 19, 2009

The Wise are guided by their belly rather than their eyes.
-Lao Tzu

Be the leader, not the Lord.
This is the Way of Virtue (Te).

Mr.GoodStuff · Apr 20, 2009

This is something else... Thank you bkadoctaj- I will definitely be taking time out from my day to read this thread through. Thanks for letting me know about this

bkadoctaj · Apr 20, 2009

Mr.GoodStuff said:

This is something else... Thank you bkadoctaj- I will definitely be taking time out from my day to read this thread through. Thanks for letting me know about this
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Absolutely. So many people are finding the Way.

bkadoctaj · Apr 22, 2009

Well Grasscity, those of you who have had your hearts touched by the words of those following the Tao such as Lao-tzu (Laozi) and Chuang-tzu (Zhuangzi) will perhaps be interested in the words of the third preeminent Taoist of ancient China, Lieh-tzu (Liezi).

That being said, here is an introduction from a translation of the Lieh-tzu by Eva Wong:

PART ONE. The Gifts of Heaven: About the Nature of the Tao and the Origin of Things

All things originate from the Tao, the undifferentiated primordial vapor that gives life to all things. There are four stages to creation: The Primal Oneness, when all things are undifferentiated from one another; the Primal Emerging, when the Primordial Vapor has taken form and everything lies in its embrace; the Primal Beginning, when yin and yang energies interact to produce the forms and shapes of things; and the Primal Substance, when forms assume qualities and defining characteristics.

Humanity is a product of the interaction of yin and yang energies, and, like all living things, we go through the cycle of birth, growth, and death. Thus, birth and death are natural occurrences and should not be fought against. Because we owe our existence to the Tao, we do not possess our bodies, nor do we have any control over our destiny. All things come and go naturally. What must come will come without our help, and what must go will leave no matter how hard we try to prevent it. This is the Way of the Tao. Only those who understand this can be free from the anxieties of birth, growth, and death.

PART TWO. The Yellow Emperor: About the Nature of Yielding

In Part Two, Lieh-tzu talks about the art of yielding. The rigid branch of a tree will snap in a strong wind, but the soft, bending limb will survive the storm. Knowing how to react to strength with yielding and how to absorb force with softness is the key to survival.

In Lieh-tzu's times, the small countries could only survive by not opposing force with force, and a person could only stay alive by not butting against strong powers. As Lao-tzu had taught, â€œOf all things, nothing is softer than water, and yet it can wear down rocks.â€ This is also what Lieh-tzu advises. While water can flow through the smallest cracks in the rocks, branches and tree trunks are broken or stopped by boulders. Yielding is also the secret to transcending the limits of body and mind. Only those who do not fight the elements can merge with them; in doing so, they can stay under water and not drown and walk through fires and not be burned.

Finally, yielding to the natural occurrence of life and death and gain and loss will prepare us for whatever may happen. We will not be excited over gain and sad over loss. Unhindered by fear, anxiety, or excitement, we will be free to say what naturally comes from our mouths, think what naturally comes to our minds, and do what naturally comes from the heart.

PART THREE. King Mu of Ch'ou: About the Nature of Reality

Here, Lieh-tzu questions the conventional view of reality and asks, â€œWhat is real?â€ In this he echoes Chuang-tzu's â€œAm I dreaming that I am a butterfly, or am I a butterfly dreaming that I am a human?â€

For Lieh-tzu, reality is not as permanent as we think it is. The boundaries of real and unreal, waking and dream are fuzzy. Therefore, why put so much importance on impermanent things such as fame and fortune? Why push ourselves to unnecessary extremes and suffer anxiety and misery in the name of virtue and honor? Besides, taking a light-hearted approach to what is real and what is not real can help us to be less attached and involved. As a result, like the homesick man who realized that he got upset over nothing, we may understand that how we feel depends on what we believe.

PART FOUR. Confucius: About the Nature of Enlightenment

According to Lieh-tzu, the difference between an enlightened and an unenlightened person is in the relationship of mind and body and of self and other. The sage Kang-sen-tzu could see and hear without eyes and ears because his mind was in turn with everything around him. Sometimes enlightened individuals hide their skill, like the Earl of Kung-yi. Sometimes, like Nan-kuo-tzu and Kung0sun Lung, they behave to the contrary, presenting strange arguments and speaking in paradoxes to awaken others from ignorance. But in all cases, the sage neither criticizes nor makes fun of others. And above all, to the enlightened person, enlightenment is a common and ordinary experience attainable by all.

PART FIVE. The Questions of T'ang: About the Nature of Attitude

In this section, Lieh-tzu talks about attitude and how it affects us. There are attitudes that will destroy us, like pride, competitiveness, and vengeance. There are attitudes that free us from anxiety and stress, like nonattachment, calmness, and inner peace.

Whether or not something is considered shocking is a matter of attitude.

Understanding and communication also depend on attitude. If we listen with a quiet mind and do not let our ideas distract us, we will understand others even before words are spoken. People who insist on clarifying semantics deliberately will destroy this attitude and limit communication to speech and words, and no spontaneous or intuitive understanding will be possible.

Learning also requires the right attitude. Whether we are learning the arts or sciences or mastering a physical or mental skill, we need to dissolve the barrier between ourselves and what is learned. Practice requires the ability to translate intention into action, which in turn requires the body to be spontaneous and responsive and the mind to be still and clear. Therefore, in all learning, the training of body and mind are equally important. If the mind is still but the body is not responsive, no intention can be communicated to the body. If the body is responsive and the mind is confused, the actions will come out confused.

Finally, teaching also requires a certain attitude. A true teacher is one who recognizes his or her limitations. How many teachers or experts today can be like Confucius, who could admit to the children that he did not know the answers to their questions?

PART SIX. Effort and Destiny: About the Nature of Events

According to Lieh-tzu, fortune and misfortune and life and death come of their own without any direction or control from us or from a supreme being. Given this, why worry over things that we cannot do much about? Why try to predict what may happen and anticipate with anxiety?

Lieh-tzu does not suggest that we should be morbid and embrace fate. He feels we would be kinder to ourselves if we do not kill ourselves trying to make things happen or prevent them from happening. Very often we feel secure when we think we have looked at a situation from all perspectives or feel that all contingencies have been provided for. But this sense of security is false, because no one can guarantee what will happen and what will not.

The emperor of Ch'in built the Great Wall and silenced opposition in an attempt to make his empire last forever, but his dynasty fell after his death. We can try to take precautions and makes things secure for our successors or children, but it is not guaranteed that things will turn out the way we want.

Finally, Lieh-tzu advises us that since we have no control over external circumstances, the only thing we can do is control our reactions to them. Therefore, the less attached we are to events around us, the less we will be drawn in emotionally. To Lieh-tzu, accepting destiny is not submitting to fate. It is acknowledging that many things are beyond our control and that we are not movers of events. The world does not revolve around us. Like everything else, we are only a part of the unfolding of events.

PART SEVEN. Yang-chu: About Personal Freedom

The message of Part Seven is very simple and straightforward. Life is short and transient, fame and renown are empty, and social rules and conventions stifle personal freedom.

The Yang-chu chapter is often considered an anomaly in the Lieh-tzu. However, as we examine the teachings of Yang-chu closely, we realize they extend the Taoist ideas of nonaction and simplicity to the question of personal freedom. Yang-chu is against all restraints on personal freedom. Yang-chu is against all restraints on personal freedom. To him, rules, regulations, norms, and social achievements such as fame, respect, renown, and reputation are all obstacles to freedom of thought, action, expression, and feeling. His approach to life is very blunt and simple-live your life and don't let others boss you around. Live according to your principles and not somebody else's.

However, Yang-chu's philosophy is not the irresponsible hedonism that many people make it out to be. Yang-chu counsels us to do only enough to live a contented life. Know when to stop, or you will lose everything.

Finally, Yang-chu has some very insightful ideas on making the world better, or â€œsaving the world.â€ He thinks if people were not so eager to play hero or savior and would leave things alone, the world might be better off. Some people think this kind of noninvolvement is selfish and uncaring. However, many atrocities have been committed in the name of â€œmaking things better.â€ If we ask, â€œWho is making things better for whom?â€ and â€œBy whose standards?â€ we will begin to understand Yang-chu's point of view. Native cultures have been destroyed because some people thought things would be better for indigenous peoples if they became â€œcivilized.â€ Genocides have been committed because someone thought the world would be a better place if certain ethnic groups were exterminated. When we look at the many things that have happened in the name of making the world a better place, Yang-chu's assertion that he would not sacrifice a strand of hair for the benefit of the world is probably not the selfish and uncaring attitude it is made out to be.

PART EIGHT. Explaining coincidences: About the Relationship of Things

Whether we view events as cause and effect, a response to a situation, reward or retribution, a mere coincidence, or an accident depends on how we interpret relationships among things and events.

There are happenings that cannot be explained, so we attribute them to luck, or being at the right place at the right time. While many people do not consider luck to be a serious factor, Lieh-tzu thinks otherwise. If we are willing to admit that luck plays a role in ours lives, we will be less pretentious about success and less depressed about misfortune. Similarly, by accepting that some things simply cannot be explained, we will be more likely to leave them alone and not try to make them happen or prevent them from happening.
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Check back soon for some passages from this translation of the Lieh-tzu.

hendrix · Apr 22, 2009

this is good stuff dude, ty for taking the time to post it

bkadoctaj · Apr 22, 2009

hendrix said:

this is good stuff dude, ty for taking the time to post it
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Always. Life is so timely... and the perspective of luck the author of the introduction mentions is quite intriguing to me. I wonder where luck comes from? I guess from the same Origin as us.

Cos Mic · Apr 22, 2009

ah luck. that familiar word we put on that intangible thing which brings us outcomes and coinciding/converging circumstances which seem fortuous to us.... where oh where does it come from.
* Cos Mic walks away laughing *

Tikiman6 · Apr 22, 2009

It doesn't come from anywhere... sometimes things occur unexpectedly in our favor. This is just a function of a lot of things happening, and most of them deviating from their means in some small amount, others in larger amounts. Just because things happen, and coincidentally they sometimes favor us does not mean a larger force at work.

bkadoctaj · Apr 22, 2009

Tikiman6 said:

It doesn't come from anywhere... sometimes things occur unexpectedly in our favor. This is just a function of a lot of things happening, and most of them deviating from their means in some small amount, others in larger amounts. Just because things happen, and coincidentally they sometimes favor us does not mean a larger force at work.
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What does it mean to you then?

hendrix · Apr 22, 2009

Tikiman6 said:

It doesn't come from anywhere... sometimes things occur unexpectedly in our favor. This is just a function of a lot of things happening, and most of them deviating from their means in some small amount, others in larger amounts. Just because things happen, and coincidentally they sometimes favor us does not mean a larger force at work.
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be it an accident, or the product of our (human) previous actions, or predestined to happen - we don't know. so we call it luck. i don't trust words, though. they dont always describe what is meant

bkadoctaj · May 3, 2009

Being, in coming into being, is produced by non-being. Affairs, as affairs, are brought into completion by non-being. When one talks about it and it has no predicates, when one names it and it has no name, when one looks at it and it has no form, and when one listens to it and it has no sound--that is Tao in its completeness. Hence it is able to make sounds and echoes brilliant, to cause material force (ch'i) and material objects to stand out, to embrace all physical forms and spiritual activity, and to display light and shadow. Because of it darkness becomes black and plainness becomes white. Because of it the carpenter's square draws a square and a compass draws a circle. The compass and square obtain forms but Tao has no form. Black and white obtain names but Tao has no name.
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Ho Yen's Treatise on Tao

bkadoctaj · May 3, 2009

Those accorded fame by the people have names. Those not given fame have no names. As to the sage, his name is really no name, and his fame is really no fame. When one realizes that the nameless is Tao and the fameless is great, then the nameless may be spoken of as having a name and fameless may be spoken of as having fame. But is the sage similar to those who can be accorded names or fame? It is like possessing nothing and thereby possessing everything. However, in possessing things one should be in harmony with possessing nothing, and be different from those who possess what they have. No matter how far apart things are, things of the same kind respond to one another, and no matter how near they are, things of different kinds do not violate each other. It is like the yang (active cosmic force) in the yin (passive cosmic force) or the yin in the yang. Each attracts and responds to its own kind. The sun in the summer is yang but at night it is yin in the same way as the sun in far-off winter is yin. The sun in the winter is yin but in the daytime it is yang in the same way as the fun in far-off summer is yang. They are all different while nearby, but similar while far away. Only when such similarity and difference are fully comprehended can the discourse on the nameless by understood. How does it happen to be this way? Now Tao never possesses anything. But since the beginning of the universe it has possessed all things are yet it is still called Tao because it can exercise its ability not to possess them. Therefore although it dwells in the realm of the namable, it shows no sign of the nameless. It is like a substance at a distance characterized by yang forgetting that it has a distant counterpart in yin. Hsia-hou HsÃ¼an said, "Heaven and Earth rotate spontaneously, and the sage functions spontaneously." By spontaneity is meant Tao. Essentially speaking, Tao has no name. This is why Lao Tzu said that he was "forced to give it a name." Confucius praised (sage-emperor) Yao, saying, "The people could find no name for him," but continued to say, "How majestic" was "his accomplishment!" It is clear that to give a name perforce is merely to give an appellation on the basis of only what people know. If one already has a name, how can it be said that people could find no name for him? It is only because he has no name that all possible names in the world can be used to call him. But are these really his names? If from this analogy one still does not understand, it would be like looking at the loftiness and eminence of Mount T'ai and yet saying that the original material force [which makes the productions of things possible] is not overwhelming or extensive.
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Ho Yen's Treatise on the Nameless

bkadoctaj · May 4, 2009

We just make justifications with our minds.

GGrass · May 15, 2009

Mind if I post a comment so this thread will be pushed up?

I read this thread once at least once a day... and sometimes it's not that easy to find...

Hope you guys are OK with it...

bkadoctaj · May 15, 2009

GGrass said:

Mind if I post a comment so this thread will be pushed up?

I read this thread once at least once a day... and sometimes it's not that easy to find...

Hope you guys are OK with it...
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That's very inspiring. I shall get some more Taoism to you tonight...

GGrass · May 15, 2009

Great!

May I make a 'request'? ^_^

Can you do a piece on 'Freedom and Equality' for human?

I've been thinking about 'freedom and equality' for humans lately after reading the below article, and I just can't string my thoughts together...

Article 1
All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR)

But,

Are human free?
Are human equal?

What does Tao say about that?

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