365 Tao

[adept]

MODESTY

Have you ever had a knot in your shoelace?

You have to bend down to untie it.

 

Difficulties in life confront us all; people respond in their own ways to adversity. Some succumb, some grow boisterous. Some marshall their determination, some respond with trickery. All too often, hardship will mow a person down.

When confronted with difficulty, those who follow Tao respond with modesty : they conform to the situation. They bow before it, and they concentrate upon it until they find a solution. They do not apply undue force; neither do they acquiesce meekly to fate. They examine the situation and carefully undo it. In the same way you bend down to untie a knot in your shoelace, they bend down to find guidance.

 

Even modesty can become an error if we become meek and insecure. Some people become so humble that they become self-defeating. They are talented but their personalities are so split that they cannot achieve their potential. Therefore, there must be limits even on modesty. It works. Like anything else, it must be applied in the right manner.

[thelerner]

Great writing as always. Insightful without lapsing into vague philosophy.

 

 

Michael

[adept]

COMMITMENT

Maiden plucks folk tune on steel strings,

Crickets chant like monks.

I've walked into autumnal contentment,

Yet a young boy seeks guidance.

 

One my be quire far along on the path, but if one meets a beginner who sincerely seeks guidance, then one should help without reservation. If such a beginner were to come to you, what would you say? This is what I said to someone today :

"The time of beginning is one of the most precious times of all. It can be very exciting and full of wonderful growth. The first thing to do is to make up your mind that you are going to go the distance.

 

"When I first began, I made a lifelong commitment. I determined that I would learn from my teacher for at least seven years. Now, it has been much longer than that, but the essential element is still the same : commitment.

 

"But commitment needs something else in order to be perpetuated. It needs discipline. This is the perseverance to keep on when things are tough. Adversity is life's way of testing and perfecting a person. Without that, we would never develop character.

 

"Rice suffers when it is milled. Jade must suffer when it is polished. But what emerges is something special. If you want to be special too, then you have to be able to stick to things even when they are difficult."

 

Commitment and discipline -- these are two of the most precious words for those who would seek Tao.

[adept]

DETERMINATION

Lady butterfly,

I saw you a week ago.

Now you are back,

With your lover,

In tandem flights

And helical tangents:

How many times

You return gladly!

 

In the legends there is the story of the butterfly lovers. They loved each other so much that even in death, their hearts were fixed faithfully upon one another. In honor of their devotion to each other, the gods changed them into butterflies and let them come back together in reincarnation after reincarnation.

Would that all of us could manifest such determination and faith to what we loved!

[adept]

HELIXES

Three subtle energy currents:

Twin helixes around a jade pillar.

This glowing presence

Is the force of life itself.

 

Deep in meditation, it is possible to become aware of the life-force itself. You can see it if you learn how to look within. To describe it as electricity, or power, or light, or consciousness is all somewhat correct. But such descriptions are inadequate. You have to see it for yourself. You have to feel it for yourself. You have to know it for yourself.

To be in its presence is like being in front of something primeval, basic, mysterious, shamanistic, and profound. To be in its presence makes all references mute and all senses slack, leaving only deep awe. One is drawn to it in utter fascination. It is the mighty flame to our mothlike consciousness.

 

This column of energy that coils around itself holds all the stages of our growth. It is our soul; it is the force that animates us and gives us awareness. If you want to engage your life completely, it is essential for you to come to terms with this inner power. Once you harmonize with it you can blend with the dynamics of being human.

[adept]

SOLITUDE

There are no ancients before me,

No followers behind:

Only the vastness of heaven and earth

On this mountain terrace.

Though heaven may know the ultimate,

Joy or sorrow is our own will.

 

We stand alone in this life. No one lives our life for us. Neither drug nor sorcery can remove us, even for a moment, from our own life. We can deny it, but it is useless : We are here alone, to engage every precious moment according to our wills.

The precedents of the ancients may be helpful, but in the end they are only references. The thought of those who will follow after us is likewise merely a consideration. What matters is being, pure being. Accept who you are. Be who you are.

 

If there are gods in the heavens, maybe they know the future. As a human being, I can only say that the future is yet to be made. Let us go forth and make it, but let us make it as beautifully as we can. The degree of elegance is determined by our will and the perfection of our own personalities. Therefore, do not sigh over misfortune or adversity. Whether you are happy or sad is entirely up to you.

[adept]

MOON

Silver disk: Let me call you goddess --

You, with your mirrored face.

Tonight, of all nights, your shape is perfect,

Your presence sublime.

You know it too. You appear before the sun has even set,

Glorious without your cloak of night,

Gazing down in supreme splendor,

To make this dusty world pastoral.

 

Tonight is the harvest moon. The queen of night is at her most perfect roundness, closer to us than at any other time of the year. She glows silver in an indigo sky.

People celebrate this night for many reasons. For some, it is the time to enjoy the view of the moon, and they toast it with sweets, wine, and tea. For others, it is a time of relaxation and thanksgiving for the harvest.

 

The Moon Festival is a woman's festival, their time to worship. The harvest moon symbolizes the ascendancy of cool darkness over the bright heat of summer. This reminds us of equality in the cosmos : light and dark, male and female, heat and frost, hard and soft -- all these things are part of an overall equilibrium.

 

If you are a woman, then tonight is your night for worship and celebration. If you are a man, then it is a night to step aside and give your wives, mothers, and sisters their privacy. But for all, we can be thankful for the riches of autumn and begin our preparations for the coming frost.

[Mal]

Currently southern hemisphere = welcome to summer

[Marblehead]

Currently southern hemisphere = welcome to summer

 

Yeah, you folks have always been up-side-down.

[adept]

WHOLE

I hate the way this chicken comes

All bagged in plastic

Without head or feet;

Neck, heart, liver, and gizzard

Stuck into its cavity.

No wonder people feel unconnected.

 

Traditional people like to see the whole animal when they shop for their meals. In cultures where personal contacts are more meaningful and closeness to the earth is a way of life, it is no surprise that people are interested in a complete relationship to their food. They buy it or raise it, they harvest it, they clean it, and they cook it -- all before they eat it in gratitude. They don't become sentimental over their food -- practicality is to understand that we kill to survive -- but they do give thanks for what has died to sustain them.

Today we have a very incomplete relationship to our food. We don't see where something grows, we eat foods out of season, we buy prepared foods made by someone we don't even know. There is a great power in knowing your food, knowing where it came from, preparing it with your own hands. This food, whether vegetable or animal, died for us. The least we can do is partake of it thoroughly and with respect.

 

Nowadays it is quite common for people to feel isolated. They lament not having friends, not having genuine experiences, not having a sense of who they are. If even the food that we eat and the way that we eat is lacking in wholeness, then how will we feel completion in the rest of our lives?

[adept]

HISTORY

Autumn trees swept with dawn

Look as if they've been lacquered,

Rooted around an old battlefield.

The mists linger here like ghosts.

 

There are still places where you can walk and feel a profound gloom. Such is the case with old battlefields. People died there. The force of their determination still resonates.

You can find such places in every country. Often no one builds anything there, even when land is dear. We say that we do not want to forget our dead. We say that there should be a memorial. Others say that the disturbance there is so great that the living cannot abide with the dead.

 

History is essential to our understanding of the present. Unless we are conscious of the way in which we came to this point in time as a people, then we shall never fully be able to plan the present and the future. We need to know what roots are still alive. We need to know how things came to be so that we can project from here. We also need to know the failures of the past so that we can avoid repeating them.

 

History is not always glorious. Sometimes our history is melancholy. We must accept that. This life is terrible and people do terrible things to each other. If we are to live for the sake of the good and strong, then we should have as much of a background as possible.

[adept]

STILLNESS

Wind stirs the bamboo,

But once the wind passes,

The bamboo is silent.

Geese land in the chill pond,

But once the geese fly away,

There are no reflections.

In the same way,

Once the red dust passes,

The mind is still.

 

The affairs of the world are often euphemistically referred to as red dust. This is the involvement of the world that is hard to brush away and yet equally hard to hold on to. We may seek meditative detachment, but as long as the stimulations of the world continue to blow through our minds, the true stillness of meditation is impossible.

If we do not involve ourselves with the difficulties of the world, there will naturally not be an y suggestion or stimulation present. Then the mind will be still. The still mind is capable of the most supreme states of existence.

 

Obviously, total withdrawal from the tribulations, dangers, sensual temptations, and entanglements of everyday life would be one way of doing this. If you feel ready to do this and you have that option, then you should do so. You will find satisfaction and happiness very quickly. But if you are obligated to remain in the world for some time more, and still want to practice the art of tranquility, you must execute withdrawal on a more microcosmic scale. Then stillness is possible for at least short periods.

[Marblehead]

Yeah, even I need a little bit of stillness now and then.

 

Meditation is an excellent means of attaining the stillness most of us need now and then.

[adept]

MEASURE

Birthdays, anniversaries, memorials, festivals

Measure our progress on the path.

 

How old are you? Have you made a life you can look back on and be satisfied?

How long have you been practicing your devotions? Can you look back on years of unbroken progress?

 

How long has it been since a significant world event? Has the world gone any further in creating collective good?

 

Is today a day of celebration? How much have you done since the last holiday?

 

Each day of measure is a milestone on the path. If you are just beginning on the path, then it is good to determinedly look forward to the day when you can look back on a year, a decade, or many decades of perseverance. If you are today standing on the vantage point of some anniversary, then count the time that you have maintained your progress and be glad.

 

Those who follow Tao do not celebrate their birthdays, do not mark the anniversary of their embarking on the path. They say that following Tao is one continuous flow, not to be violated by the calendar. They are like hikers who wander, not worrying about the road, not concerned about distance or time. The rest of us have not yet attained that level of pure spontaneity. For we who are still struggling to maintain a foothold on the path, it is profitable to look forward to passing milestones as a way of encouraging ourselves and measuring our progress.

[adept]

UNCARVED

Once a statue is finished,

It is too late to change the arms.

Only with a virgin block

Are there possibilities.

 

It's not easy to raise a child. You have to set an example all the time. Sometimes it is important for both child and guardian to understand that a child should not do certain things that the adult does. This is not hypocrisy. It is wisdom.

There was once a child who responded to his father's admonitions by saying, "You do the same things." The father took his son to a carver of temple figures. In the yard were great blocks of camphor and rosewood. Inside the studios were deities in various stages of completion, from gods still with fresh chisel marks to brightly painted and gilded masterpieces.

 

"I am older than you," said the father. "So I am more like one of these finished statues. I have my accomplishments, and I have my faults. Once this figure has been carved, we cannot change the position of its arms.

 

"But you, my son, are like the pieces of wood in the yard, still to take shape. I do not want you to have the same faults as I do, so I do not let you do certain things. Look at me. Yes, you say I still do certain things, but doesn't that show how hard it is to undo a mistake once it is carved into you? Don't copy me, and don't make the same mistakes that I did. Only then will you become more beautiful than I."

[adept]

DURATION

The sun shines half a day,

The moon dominates the rest.

Even contemplation

Should have its proper duration.

 

Some monks meditate sixteen hours at a time. Some have sat cross-legged so long that they have calluses on the sides of their feet. Others need frames to prop their bodies up, or they rest sticks on the floor with the sharp tips at their chins, so that they are awakened by a stab if they doze off. Is this admirable? Or is it mere obsession?

Meditation should have its proper duration. Once one finds the proper procedures, they should not be seen as an activity isolated from the rest of life. Those who follow Tao hold meditation to be imperative, but not exclusive. The primary point of this existence is to live, and all living things move and grow. Therefore meditation should be integrated with the flow of life. It should not dominate above all else.

 

There is one exception to this. That is the case where one spontaneously and naturally falls into a long period of meditation. Sometimes this state will last for hours, even days. This is not the same as meditation artificially induced by forced sitting. This is a wholly different type of meditation. One is now with the universe and meditation ceases to be an activity. It becomes a natural expression.

[Marblehead]

I like that!

[Mal]

ENVIRONMENT

 

How can you live

With the constant noise of traffic?

The stench of garbage?

The sight of buildings instead of mountains?

The movement of streets instead of rivers?

The feel of pavement instead of earth?

 

 

There are some metropolitan areas famous for their power, their sophistication, their history, their place in civilization. These places cannot be centers of spirituality too. You only need to look at them with open eyes and heart. How can anything holy root there?

The noise of traffic is constant. At any time of the day or night, that distracting roar, that underlying trembling disrupts the subtle. The air is not clean but is filled with dust and soot. Especially when the weather is hot, the smell of rotting garbage wafts up from the foundations like the odor of leprosy. The earth is unable to breathe, smothered beneath concrete, asphalt, steel, and junk.

 

Some people who live in these places become interested in spirituality. They want to know if it is possible to reach high levels in deeply urban environments. The answer is no. It is not possible to become fully realized in an urban environment. For to gain realization means the achievement of special psychophysical states. That requires quiet cultivation and an acquaintance with the subtle. When the roar of the city is all there is, how can the song of the divine be heard?

[Mal]

[Marblehead]

 

Some people who live in these places become interested in spirituality. They want to know if it is possible to reach high levels in deeply urban environments. The answer is no. It is not possible to become fully realized in an urban environment. For to gain realization means the achievement of special psychophysical states. That requires quiet cultivation and an acquaintance with the subtle. When the roar of the city is all there is, how can the song of the divine be heard?

 

I must express my disagreement with this.

 

As Chuang Tzu said, "Don't listen with your ears but listen with your heart."

 

When we listen with our heart all "noise" disappeares.

[Marblehead]

[Guest tao4joe]

TOTALITY

Those who consider their path superior are condescending.

A parrot who speaks of the totality of the self is absurd.

Many paths lead to the summit,

But it takes a whole body to get there.

 

Once I met a woman who was a lifelong Christian. She had two sons who practiced yoga. She thought that was wonderful, but they arrogantly considered their beliefs to be superior to hers and told her that she was not doing enough for her spiritual salvation.

No one has a right to condemn another person's spiritual beliefs. No spiritual system is superior to another. Each one of us should have the philosophy and practices that work for us. We should be happy once we find it, we should help those who are interested in the spirituality we represent, but none of us should behave condescendingly toward others' spirituality.

 

We are all trying to get to the summit of spiritual realization, and there are many valid paths leading to the top. Of course, the view and terrain on one side of a mountain will differ from the other, but the summit is identical no matter what your approach.

 

Whatever your path, all that matters is that you commit yourself totally to following it. Others will do the same. As long as we all climb, each from our own direction, and reach the summit of human spirituality, we can achieve complete totality in our lives. Then all the fracturing discussions of sects and different religions become unnecessary.

good truth right there friend, many people become arrogant tweeds in finding something spiritual, just listening and supporting is in itself a measure of our spirit. thanks dude..

[adept]

Sorry folks I'm finding it difficult to make daily postings. Work is mad at the minute. Thanks Mal for filling in for me for the past couple of days.

[adept]

COMPLETION

Only when the last spoke

Has been fitted to the wheel,

Is there completion.

 

Ambitions, career, family, and everyday identity are like the outer wheel. All the different talents and deep aspects of the mind are like the spokes. The consciousness is the hub that holds all together. At the center of the hub is emptiness -- that aspect of ourselves that is open to the universal reality.

Unfortunately, we are not always whole. Perhaps it is a matter of opportunities missed when we were younger. Perhaps it is a lack of education or experience. Whatever it may be, we should, through introspection, search out what we lack and then work toward fulfilling it. Once we identify and complete some part of ourselves, it is like fitting a spoke into our wheel. When we have enough spokes, we are whole.

 

A new wheel will have a long future of rolling. Our selves, once made whole, can then serve our spiritual aspirations until the end.

[adept]

HORIZON

Single line drawn from one ocular corner to the other.

White clouds firmly tethered to shadows.

What is close at hand must first appear on the horizon.

What is cast upon us always has a source.

 

Life need not be the travesty of confusion and disorganization that it seems to be for so many people. When one feels this way, it is nearly always due to two things : Either one isn't even looking, or one's vantage point is too low.

Those who follow Tao position themselves on high vantage points. Life never surprises them. Whatever is in their lives today, they foresaw many days before. Whatever is on the horizon, they take the time to prepare for. Such people are called wise, not because they have special abilities but because they take the care to view things from a high place.

 

Those who follow Tao also realize that all phenomena have a source. Just as shadows on the ground are cast because clouds float between the earth and the sun, so too are the events outside of ourselves cast into our minds. A reaction in our minds is like a shadow cast by an external event.

 

We can understand such phenomena clearly if we stand at a place where we can see them coming. We need to remember to deal with them not simply by how we feel, but also by looking at their external form, and even checking to see their source. If we take care to do this, then we shall never be deterred.