Daily Tao - 1

A heart wanted to know great heights, but did not have the head for it.

A head wanted to know great love, but did not have the heart for it.

A hand wanted to touch the tree, but did not have the legs for it.

The legs wanted something, but could not put a finger on it.


You can't know this life, unless you came from stillness.

You can't know suffering, unless your root is bliss.


You can't feel separate, unless unity is you.

Only this moment, undefined, is true.

Daily Tao is a reprint from Ta-Wan's blog, Daily Cup of Tao, which offers one post per day for an entire year. You also can read these posts in an ebook.

Compassion

Compassion
by Scott Bradley

Some time ago I did a post entitled "Love" in which I began with a quote from the Gospel According to John to the effect that God is love. I must have strayed from my intended purpose, because this led to people telling me what love is. BR said it was a verb rather than a noun, and I think that says a lot about love. So my real question can now be resolved to this: In what sense is Reality a verb? I am going to cheat and rephrase the question: In what sense is Tao a verb? And if it is a verb, is it transitive or intransitive? Does its love require an object or no?

In substituting Tao for Reality, I have begged the question; Tao does nothing, according to our orthodoxy, and is indifferent to us. "Tao treats all things as straw dogs," Laozi tells us. This may or may not be true. But as Zhuangzi points out, since any revelation as to the nature of Source is conspicuously absent, it really makes no difference. 'For all practical purposes', Nature is Tao, and Nature seems utterly indifferent to questions of love.

All of this brings me to the concept of compassion as some supreme quality exemplifying the nature of ultimate Reality. Buddhism even proposes a goddess of love. She makes a great garden ornament. Nice and sentimental. But I don't get it.

Discounting all those mythical bodhisattva characters, I honestly don't see a whole lot of transitive compassion among these compassionate ones, in any case. So, if Reality is a verb, it must be intransitive. It's about feeling good, not doing good.

Today, on the radio, I heard a medical doctor bemoaning that she couldn't get a job. Really? I'll bet the Somalis would be glad to give her one. But then the BMW would have to wait, I suppose.

I confess that I am an extremist. Talk to me about compassion and I'll stick your nose in a pile of shit in Calcutta where, even as I write, some child is looking for something to eat. I have seen them. Compassion? My ass.

You can check out Scott's other miscellaneous writings here.

He Ain't Heavy...It's Just Metal

Throughout my life I have noticed that, as people age, their tastes in music tend to soften. If they grew up to head banging music, they become more enchanted with softer ballads. The same seems to be true for the artists themselves. Singers and groups that used to scream at the top of their lungs these days are more apt to play acoustical versions of their past hits.

Since I am a proverbial nonconformist, I've noticed that I'm heading in the opposite direction! When I was younger, I more favored what was called pop music and rock 'n roll. As I've aged, however, I've noticed that I'm listening to more and more heavy metal.

I recently discovered that this one song that they play frequently on our local rock station -- a song I just love -- is by the heavy metal group, Def Leppard. Back in the day when Def Leppard was big, I don't think I could have named one song they performed. I also didn't listen to Europe, Bon Jovi, Van Halen, Thin Lizzy, Black Sabbath or any other group of that ilk. These days these groups and more dominate my play list.

Weird how tastes change with the years!

Tao Bible - Isaiah 43:16-17

Thus saith the LORD, which maketh a way in the sea, and a path in the mighty waters; Which bringeth forth the chariot and horse, the army and the power; they shall lie down together, they shall not rise: they are extinct, they are quenched as tow.
~ King James version ~

Whenever you advise a ruler in the way of Tao,
Counsel him not to use force to conquer the universe.
For this would only cause resistance.
Thorn bushes spring up wherever the army has passed.
Lean years follow in the wake of a great war.
~ from Verse 30 of the Tao Te Ching ~

One big difference between the Christian God and Tao concerns the issue of war. In many ways, Yahweh is a war-like god who brags about armies, death and destruction.

Tao, on the other hand, is not war-like at all. As Lao Tzu points out, when something is forced against its nature, it will resist and resistance creates tension and suffering.

If you're interested in reading more from this experimental series, go to the Tao Bible Index page.

Chapter 5, Part 4 - Confucius

Someone said, "Yung is truly virtuous, but he is not ready with his tongue."

The Master said, "What is the good of being ready with the tongue? They who encounter men with smartness of speech for the most part procure themselves hatred. I know not whether he be truly virtuous, but why should he show readiness of the tongue?"
~ James Legge translation via The Internet Classics Archive ~

Go here to read the introductory post to this serialized version of the Analects of Confucius.

Normal Is Great

Normal Is Great
by Ta-Wan

Enlightenment could be a thing of the past. By the old standards, most of us are probably enlightened or more. Smarter too.

I say this because children understand gravity and teenagers understand that E=m, maybe they don't understand the maths, but they intuitively know. Einstein got there by intuition, the maths came later. Lau Tzu got there by intuition (he never read a book on it), Buddha too. In those times, there were many people who didn't get these things, they thought that angry gods brought rain and famine, that the world was flat and things moved down.

Now we don't, we're generally more enlightened than before. We don't on the whole believe in gods, we do have more intelligent concepts for things than we used to. This is said even given that in a few years we will be exposed as dumb by new thinkers, for now though, we're good.

What is this enlightenment people seek, what is this perfection, this release? Just exposure or admission of an inner imbalance? Not to worry, that's being human.

You can check out Ta-Wan's other musings here.

Afternoon Matinee: Orwell Rolls in His Grave, Part 7

To view this documentary in its entirety, go here.

Common Potato

Common Potato
by Ta-Wan

Are you the action or the replay?

Are you the light collected by the the iris or the prejudiced playback?

What is it to recite that which may have been before (in your opinion) and speak of it as it were a solid immutable truth, rather than to carve a unique path which is what it is?

Can you build an ego you're happy with on the works of others or would you rather stand alone right in your shoes?

You can check out Ta-Wan's other musings here.

Jumping On and Off This Magical Rope

Jumping On and Off This Magical Rope
by Shawn Tedrow

We must get to the place where all of our conditions and beliefs on what enlightenment and truth is or isn't becomes painfully meaningless, where one's preferential spiritual understanding and knowledge doesn't work anymore, and going off the cliff of all our human understanding becomes our only option. (Please note that I am not suggesting pursuing and trying to get this to happen).

This is when all of our philosophy that we are grasping on to and all our transcending efforts abruptly cease and come to an end. But what is so strange and perplexing, in order to get to this critical point, it was all of our useless contextual philosophizing and egoic efforts that we are letting go of and divorcing ourselves from that actually bring us to this hot-point of a spiritual crossroad. What has been realized to be useless had usefulness.

There was a time when I visualized this spiritual journey we are on as being a magical rope that is suspended vertically in air, starting from the earth’s crust and extending up beyond the heavens. Very much like a Jack and the Beanstalk scenario.

Some of us are moved within to jump onto this rope by faith and begin journeying upward, not-knowing where we are going, like inspired pilgrims on an expedition-odyssey headed towards uncharted living.

This rope represents our sincere interactive engagement with our spiritual journey which involves deep heart workings accompanied with very intense thinking.

As we struggle and climb upward, below our feet this rope is aflame, burning-up and disintegrating. We keep climbing and ascending upward but below our feet this rope keeps on being reduced to ashes (there is no turning back).

Finally, we get to what feels like the end of the rope at the top, but this burning flame keeps moving upward all the way into our hands grip. The heat is unbearable so we let go into a freefall. As we are falling, besides knowing that there isn’t a rope to grab onto, we realize there is no ground below us. There is nothing solid to fix onto period. There is only Source.

Falling, we seamlessly blast through the minuscule cell of the never ending universe that we have been living in with a weightlessness-sense that self was left behind.

This Magical Rope...the paradoxical unnecessary-necessary.

You can check out Shawn's other musings here.

Line by Line - Verse 49, Line 8

--and thus (all) get to be sincere.
~ James Legge translation, from The Sacred Books of the East, 1891 ~

Because Virtue is faithfulness.
~ Gia-fu Feng and Jane English translation, published by Vintage Books, 1989 ~

Thus the virtue of belief
~ Derek Lin translation, from Tao Te Ching: Annotated & Explained, published by SkyLight Paths, 2006 ~

This is real faith.
~ Ron Hogan rendition, from Beatrice.com, 2004 ~

For Derek Lin,

The compassion of the sages is truly universal. They treat people well, whether they are deserving of kindness or not. In general, sages expect the best from everyone and get it, because people cannot help but raise their standards to live up to the bar that the sages have set for them.

To view the Index page for this series to see what you may have missed or would like to read again, go here.

Reading the Newspaper

Every now and then, I purchase a copy of The Daily World. Published in Aberdeen, it is the closest [almost] daily newspaper around. I picked up yesterday's edition because two of the headlines caught my eye: 1) Study: Rich Getting a Lot Richer and 2) Gregoire Calls for Deep Cuts.

In regards to story #1, the Associated Press reports that "average after-tax income for the top 1 percent of US households almost quadrupled, up 275 percent, from 1979 to 2007." For the middle class the increase was only 40 percent and for those of us near the bottom, the increase was a paltry 18 percent.

Those are sobering statistics! The impact of the information presented in article #1 play a central role in the information presented in article #2.

It seems that our state has a $2 billion shortfall. In her proposed state budget, Democrat Gregoire "is proposing eliminating the state's health care program for the poor, trimming another 15 percent from higher education and reducing levy equalization for poor school districts by 50 percent."

Do you see a connection here? The rich keep growing richer which, in turn, impoverishes state government and the way state government proposes to dig out of the financial hole is to stick it to the poor. By eliminating or curtailing programs that serve the poor, we only will grow poorer, while the rich continue to get richer.

This model represents a dead end for too many Americans and offers yet another quintessential reason why so many have taken to the streets.

Chapter 5, Part 3 - Confucius

Tsze-kung asked, "What do you say of me, Ts'ze!" The Master said, "You are a utensil." "What utensil?" "A gemmed sacrificial utensil."
~ James Legge translation via The Internet Classics Archive ~

Go here to read the introductory post to this serialized version of the Analects of Confucius.

Daily Tao - It Always Gets There in the End

All conversations end in silence.

Daily Tao is a reprint from Ta-Wan's blog, Daily Cup of Tao, which offers one post per day for an entire year. You also can read these posts in an ebook.

Finding Nothing

Finding Nothing
by Scott Bradley

Bodhidharma's first disciple, Hui-k'o, came to him and said, "My mind has no peace; please put it to rest." Bodhidharma replied, "Bring me your mind, and I will put it to rest." Hui-k'o exclaimed, "I have searched, but I cannot find it!" "There," retorted Bodhidharma, "I have put it to rest!" Hui-k'o had satori.

Since this is mythological, I paraphrase as I please.

I have at hand a book of the teachings of Ramana Maharshi in which he expounds upon the realization of Self through the 'simple' repetition of the question, "Who am I?" The implication is that there is something there to find; I am Self and Self is the Ultimate. His sweet smiling face nearly convinces me.

Most Zen teachers advocate discovering our 'original nature', our Buddha-nature. Again, there is something to find.

Bodhidharma, on the other hand, seemed to advocate finding that there is nothing to find. Hui-k'o could have just as easily spent his time asking himself, "Who am I?" And when he failed to find it, Bodhidharma's retort would have been the same. "You have found where peace is found." This echoes his answer to the Emperor Wu's question, "Who the hell do you think you are?" "I don't know," replied Bodhidharma.

Find your way to nothing.
There is nothing for you to find.
Surrender is the triumph of the heart.

Like so many sayings of Chen Jen, this one both inspires and embarrasses me. They contain wisdom, but written by one who does not embody them, they are also seem trite. Nevertheless, the dialectic goes on.

Some find it in something. Some find it in nothing. Most don't find it at all.

Some see it in the light. Some see it in the dark. Most abide in twilight.

Some find it in pain. Some find it in joy. Most avoid too much of either.

Who am I, and who is anyone else, to discriminate between them?

My way finds nothing, but hesitates to say there is nothing there to find. Instead, it says that nothing need be found. Not-finding is as sure a path as finding, if it leads to an open heart.

You can check out Scott's other miscellaneous writings here.

Tao Bible - Isaiah 43:10-11

Ye are my witnesses, saith the LORD, and my servant whom I have chosen: that ye may know and believe me, and understand that I am he: before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me. I, even I, am the LORD; and beside me there is no savior.
~ King James version ~

Better to stop short than fill to the brim.
Oversharpen the blade, and the edge will soon blunt.
Amass a store of gold and jade, and no one can protect it.
Claim wealth and titles, and disaster will follow.
Retire when the work is done.
This is the way of heaven.
~ Verse 9 of the Tao Te Ching ~

Here we have another example of God telling people to do as he says, not as he does. What does the Christian Church teach about vanity? It's bad and not godlike, yet here is that same God exuding vanity for all to see!

Tao works in the background, never calling attention to itself. Taoists agree with their Christian brethren that vanity is a human foible and not Tao-like. However, we can point to the humble nature of Tao as proof.

If you're interested in reading more from this experimental series, go to the Tao Bible Index page.

Chapter 5, Part 2 - Confucius

The Master said of Tsze-chien, "Of superior virtue indeed is such a man! If there were not virtuous men in Lu, how could this man have acquired this character?"
~ James Legge translation via The Internet Classics Archive ~

Go here to read the introductory post to this serialized version of the Analects of Confucius.

This Is Why

Why has the Occupy Wall Street (OWS) movement taken much of the world by storm? Because Wall Street and the financiers wield too much power! They control the flow of money -- to their own benefit, of course -- and they can choke off anyone at anytime. If you don't think so, take a look at the story below by Dan Gillmor.

Suppose you are the proprietor of an information service. Your customers buy what you sell using the major payment systems such as Visa, MasterCard, Western Union and PayPal. The information you provide is greatly upsetting to powerful people who would prefer to keep it a secret. You have been charged with no crime, much less convicted of one. But one day, you discover that all of these payment systems – quite obviously responding to pressure from the government but citing no actual legal authority – are refusing to accept money from your customers on your behalf.

This, sadly, is not a supposition. It is nearly the precise situation that WikiLeaks has encountered since late last year, stripping most of the revenue away and now, as reported this week, forcing the whistleblowing media operation to suspend all activity except fundraising in a struggle merely to survive.

If this was happening to any traditional media company, it would be a scandal, and the media in general would be screaming about the threat to free speech it represented. While the news media are covering the WikiLeaks situation, they are not offering serious support in ways that matter to an organisation with which they have much more in common than not.

The New York Times has often angered American politicians and bureaucrats in recent decades – and in fact, the Times's activities in ferreting out classified information differs not at all, in any practical sense (and probably in any legal way), from what WikiLeaks has done. Like other publications, the Times has reported on WikiLeaks' financial predicament. And as at others, the editorial page has not condemned the government and financial institution actions that have precipitated it.

You know, the issue is NOT about whether you support the work of WikiLeaks or not. It doesn't matter whether or not you're a fan of Julian Assange. No, the issue is that the financial elites can silence pretty much anyone they want to in the public sphere. They willfully control the flow of information and, if they don't like the information being spread, they can turn off the spigot.

This is why people have taken to the streets. They have decided to create their own news and spread their own information. The state -- that entity which is controlled by the elites -- is trying to thwart the effort, but, so far, the people are refusing to be silenced.

Afternoon Matinee: Orwell Rolls in His Grave, Part 6

To view this documentary in its entirety, go here.

Real Life Tao - You Aren't What You Wear

About 6 months ago -- after our beloved Princess succumbed to cancer -- we went to the local Humane Society and adopted Lily. Our new little doggy is part dachshund and part xoloitzcuintle (Mexican Hairless). Having never had a hairless canine in the family before, we have spent a lot of time performing research on the internet.

One important thing that we've learned is that hairless dogs are impacted by extreme temperatures more so than other critters. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out why. Fur acts as an insulator and this dog don't got no fur on over 90 percent of her body. (She has a little bit on the top of her head, around her muzzle, on her feet and the tip of her tail.)

When the weather turns cold, the experts recommend that you have doggy sweaters, pullovers, jammies and coats ready at hand. Well, the weather here has turned colder and so, particularly in the evening and night, we dress our doggy in her warm weather clothing.

We've purchased several used outfits and, yesterday, we went to a pet store near Astoria (Oregon) to buy her a new sweater. Last night we put it on her and, let me tell ya, she looks cute as a bug!

Yes, we are responsible pet owners. We're working diligently to ensure our little xolo doesn't get cold. There is only problem: She isn't cooperating!!

It seems like every time we get her dressed up in a piece of her apparel, within a few minutes or hours, we discover that she's naked as a jay bird! She invariably finds a way to wriggle out of it. Mind you, we're not dressing her up so she can look like a little foo-foo dog; we're trying to protect her from the elements.

What does she do when she's obviously cold? She finds a blanket or some of our dirty clothes and she burrows underneath them. She stays there until she is sufficiently warmed and then comes charging out to run around the house and yard like a banshee.

I'm certainly not suggesting we're going to throw away all of her dog clothes. When we get into the middle of winter, maybe she won't think a sweater or pjs are so bad. But we're learning that all the expert advice -- much of it good-intentioned -- isn't on the same path as she is.

This situation offers a good lesson to those of us who walk on two feet. External advice as to how to lead our lives often will miss the mark. By its very nature, this kind of advice is generic and each of us is unique. What may work for the average person may or may not suit us.

Each being plies its own path.

This post is part of a series. For an introduction, go here.

Free Will?

free wool
by Ta-Wan

I was unable to alter the title of this post. I could easily edit it at any moment, but it seems I'm not about to. And who is this I who could or could not and who wrote?

Were free will the truth of the matter, then wouldn't millions wake up, late, tomorrow feeling great, skip work and go flying? Wouldn't they then return to their rich life and have superbly passionate sex with the partner of their dreams who never ever farted?

Most people wish or will for a life situation quite different from the one they have, do they then have free will? Can anyone reading this, have not have started reading it? Can you relive that last embarrassing moment and avoid the slip up? Why with free will did you make a complete tit of yourself last Tuesday?

Given that you can't change the past, or do anything other than what you're doing now, or shape the future, then is this "I" you say you are anything? Is there a separate agent there or if free will is not the case aren't "you" just one of trillions of illusions inferred by one indivisible wobble? To be continued (?)

You can check out Ta-Wan's other musings here.