The Simple Way, Part 8

The Simple Way
The Life & Teachings of Zhouzi
by Scott Bradley

“Master, how in your way does one realize Unity?” asked a visiting master.

“One vanishes into the Vastness,” replied Zhouzi.

“And the Vastness is All?”

“It is Mystery — ‘the vast wilds of open nowhere’, ‘our homeland of not even anything’ where the sage, Zhuangzi, wandered,” replied Zhouzi. “Words mean nothing. What is ‘All’?”

“But Master, ‘how?’” the master persisted.

“How does life arise in you? I do not know. I know nothing of ‘how’.”

“I teach that Unity is,” continued Zhouzi, “and that all things are, just as they are, this Unity. Just now, in this very moment, all is completion. There are no conditions to meet — nothing to become, no purity to achieve, no truth to understand, no behavior to change, no battles to win. This I teach because this is where I wander.”

When the master had left the hall, a disciple exclaimed, “Master, never have I heard you say so much!”

“And never have I said so little,” replied Zhouzi.

If you're interested in reading more from this series by Scott Bradley, go here. To check out more of Scott's writings, please visit TRT's shadow blog and look in the Table of Contents in the left sidebar.