The Tao of Dark Sages - Chapter 14, Part 2

The Tao of Dark Sages
by Scott Bradley

Mark-tzu: Well, I am glad to see that we all made it through that episode alive and with all our bits. I was saddened to hear, however, that Raj and several others from this village were not so lucky. For any that might be interested, the amir is taking contributions to help the families of those lost.

What is it they say, “There are no atheists in a foxhole?” Though none of us are atheists — or theists, for that matter — I suspect that, with bullets passing through the windows, we all had motivation to reflect on what it is that we...believe — or should I say, don’t believe? So, what do we believe? Or not believe? I’m not asking you, because I have decided to lecture you this morning, and to have done with it.

Our times together have been enjoyable and often helpful. But “from small beginnings come great endings”, meaning, what starts off well enough can quickly degenerate into something harmful. I have said before, and I say again now, that I feel our ‘small beginning’ may be in danger of degenerating into intellectualization and speculation. This is the natural tendency of the ego-self dominated, as it is, by the split-mind. It is to be avoided at all costs.

In Chuang-tzu, there is the story of the wheelwright who instructs the Duke Hwan as to the folly of following too religiously the words of sages past. These books the Duke is reading, he declares, are just the refuse left over from the sages who wrote them. The Duke doesn’t much appreciate a common laborer instructing him or denigrating the great sages he so adores. The wheelwright then is left to justify his statement on penalty of death. For his defense he turns to his own experience as a master wheelwright. He describes how the art of getting the parts of the wheel just right transcends art itself.

Indeed, it is only through the Tao that he is able to do this. Lamentably, he explains, he cannot pass this "knack" arising from the Tao on to another, not even his own son. So it is with the sages, he explains; their experience of the Tao must of necessity have died with them. What they have left in words is an empty shell of the reality that was. Their books, then, are so much rubbish.

If you're interested in reading more from this series by Scott Bradley, go here.