Zen Thoughts Of The Day: The Tao Te Ching

Hi,

So this is part 2 to diving into the Dao De Jing.

While I read,

Dissolve yourself into the words.

Don't try to extract an answer out of them.

Just listen with your core and forget yourself.

Free from desire,

You realize the mystery.

Caught in desire,

You see only the manifestations.

Yet mystery and manifestations arise from the same source.

This source is called darkness.

Darkness within darkness.

The gateway to all understanding.

When people see some things as beautiful,

Other things become ugly.

When people see some things as good,

Other things become bad.

Being and non-being create each other.

Difficult and easy support each other.

Long and short define each other.

High and low depend on each other.

Before and after follow each other.

Therefore the master acts without doing anything and teaches without saying anything.

Things arise and she lets them come.

Things disappear and she lets them go.

She has but doesn't possess.

Acts but doesn't expect.

When her work is done,

She forgets it.

That is why it lasts forever.

So there is not much that could be added to these words without reducing their infinite meaning.

But I will point out to you some ideas and reflections,

Sort of concrete guidelines that come up in my mind when I read them.

Although the Tao Te Ching cannot be reduced to a few limited contexts,

Since it speaks remarkably clearly a truth that is universal.

It is a translation of the non-conceptual.

Therefore don't we fool ourselves,

Conceptualizing the things like we do in life in general.

So the first paragraph that goes,

Free from desire,

You realize the mystery.

Caught in desire,

You see only the manifestations.

To me it makes me think of a sort of consumerism in a way.

Because by wanting more,

By the simple fact that you want to possess,

You don't see the value of things anymore.

You're objectifying them and wanting to submit them to your will.

Therefore they are not the things you liked in the first place anymore.

But I kinda digress.

My point is partly that by focusing on what you don't have,

You're eternally unhappy and you believe that your happiness is outside of yourself.

And you have to either buy it or seek it in some people or situations.

Which is never ending in satisfaction and despair.

The second paragraph that goes,

Yet mystery and manifestations arise from the same source.

This source is called darkness.

Darkness within darkness.

The gateway to all understanding.

So here,

Take a moment to contemplate the fact that we are here in this world that came out of nothing.

And we came out of this world which came out of nothing.

Like an explosion,

Fireworks.

From silence,

Sounds arise.

And from darkness,

We can see the light.

Just like by being once unexistent,

We are aware that we are alive today.

The same truth,

The same source is behind everything.

Third paragraph.

When people see some things as beautiful,

Other things become ugly.

When people see some things as good,

Other things become bad.

Everything and non-being create each other.

Difficult and easy support each other.

Long and short define each other.

High and low depend on each other.

Before and after follow each other.

So opposites are inseparable.

Everything is what it is in comparison to something else,

By contrast.

Therefore it is neither beautiful or ugly,

Long or short,

Big or small.

Fourth paragraph.

Therefore the Master acts without doing anything and teaches without saying anything.

Things arise and she lets them come.

Things disappear and she lets them go.

She has but doesn't possess.

Acts but doesn't expect.

When her work is done,

She forgets it.

That is why it lasts forever.

So I really enjoy this paragraph,

Which is powerful in my opinion because it expresses effortlessly the carefreeness of the Zen mentality.

It's about doing stuff for the sake of doing it,

Without any intention which is external to the action itself.

So therefore the Master acts without doing anything,

She is not trying to teach anything and she has without possessing anything because there is no intention to retain what comes to her and grasp to it.

And when she acts,

It is not out of expectations because she is not seeking for any external thing.

She is not looking for recognition or approval or focusing on the result.

She is doing what she is doing because that's the only thing to do.

Every moment exists for itself.

Its value is in itself.

And why does she forget the work that she has done?

Because the past is the past.

And there's a new thing to do.

You can't get stuck in the past and expect new good things to happen to you.

You can't do your best if you're stuck in the past or focused on the future,

On the result.

You have to be fully invested in the moment.

We're looking back into the past for guidelines but the situation has changed.

You can't apply the same old solution on your new problems.

It's like trying to put on your baby shoes.

No wonder it doesn't work.

The master also forgets her work because your work cannot define you.

You are and you do many things but you cannot define yourself with what you have done.

You cannot hang on to a single aspect of yourself that does not represent the whole.

You are always more than what you associate yourself with.

And that is part of the fact that your conscious attention is not all what goes on.

You do beat your heart and grow your hair,

Digest your food and renew your skin.

All that without you noticing.

And is it less of a fact only because it is not a conscious decision of your mind?

Of course not.

It is silly to overestimate the importance of your conscious mind's activity.

Yes it's important without a doubt but so is all the rest.

Without your body,

Without your environment,

You couldn't be.

All of this is interdependent.

In a harmonious whole.

And that is what it is.

That's it for today.

Have a nice time and take care of yourself.