Thursday, January 13, 2011

The Simple Way, Part 36

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


When a Taoist priest came to the community and spoke to the monks of the miraculous and spiritual powers available to those who practiced his way, Zhouzi called him and rebuked him, and bid him depart. “In this way,” said he, “we look nowhere but to our humanity. We know nothing of providence or miracles or help from above.”

After the priest had departed, an elder monk asked Zhouzi, “Master, never have I heard you so rebuke another for his erroneous views, your teaching being always the affirmation of all. Why was this priest excepted from your acceptance of all?”

“But the priest was not excepted at all,” replied Zhouzi. “His way is his own to follow, and we affirm it as such. Whatever his views, they are an expression of humanity and thus likewise of Tao. And we can only hope that they lead him to peace. Let us not call them ‘erroneous’, but only views different from our own. Yet we need not affirm their content or accept them as our own. Nor need we allow them to disturb those who would follow this Simple Way.”

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.

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