no matter

Ta-Wan

When where you are and where you wish to be are the same; you're perfectly content and pure happiness is the case. When the mind wishes to be elsewhere, anguish arises.

The solution, then, is not to move the body to the mind's ever changing desires, but to let the mind accept the reality of where you are. You can't change the past, or the future. On not changing the past, your birthplace, actions, events, then this moment is all it could ever have been, the only possible reality.

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

Bit by Bit - Chapter 25, Part 17

Trey Smith

Po Ch'ang-ch'ien said, "Duke Ling had three wives with whom he would bathe in the same tub. But when Shih Ch'iu appeared in his presence to offer a gift of cloth, the duke would accept it in person and respectfully attend Shih Ch'iu. He was so depraved as to bathe with his wives, and yet so correct in his behavior before a worthy man - this is why he was titled Duke Ling."
~ Burton Watson translation ~

In terms of morality, the worst amongst us can commit exemplary actions. It also works the other way around. The best amongst us can commit actions that are deplorable and/or inhumane. None of us are completely one or the other.

To view the Index page for this series, go here.

Ziporyn on the Liji VIII: Mystical Cheng

Scott Bradley

Unseen coherence means self-completion [spontaneous coming into true being, being perfect as oneself]. Dao means self-guidance [auto-guidance, spontaneous nondeliberate directedness]. For unseen coherence is the end and beginning of each thing. Without unseen coherence there is no thing.
("The Doctrine of the Mean"; Ziporyn)

I have yet to address how this "unseen coherence" (cheng) is the mystical point of entry for this version of Confucianism — and this is its whole point. This is largely because I find it hard to grasp. Ziporyn comments: "Here this unseen coherence as the unseen inner ceaseless commitment to ultimate value takes the place of the Dao of the Daoists as the ground of all particular being . . ." (emphasis mine). The best I can do in trying to clarify this is to think of it as purpose-driven-ness; our purpose is to realize our purpose (benevolence) which we do through the purposeful pursuit of that purpose. This, it seems to me, is antithetical to philosophical Daoism when taken outside the context of our apparent purposelessness. It is in and because of purposelessness that we wander. This, we take as our tentative purpose, as opposed to one fixed by Heaven, one pursued because it ‘works’, not because it is mandated.

After pointing out that though this Confucian Dao, like Daoism's ironic Dao, is unintelligible, Ziporyn tells us: "But it is finally knowable through a subjective attentiveness to one's own value orientation, one's sincerity, which thus becomes the point of contact between the metaphysical and the empirical, the solution to the skeptical epistemology of the ironic tradition." The metaphysical 'why?' of this purpose remains unseen, but we know what it is (benevolence), and in applying it we enter the realm of the unseen. We do not know why benevolence is the ultimate value, but it is (because it is innate?), and thus when we take it as such, we unite with the ultimate. One unites with things as they seem ethically. In Daoism one unites with things as they seem emptily, without ethical or other discriminating commitments.

Should we wish to deal with absolutes we could certainly do worse than this, but history teaches us that absolutes, however wonderfully positive, quickly become the foundational excuse for all manner of oppression.

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

The Secret of the Golden Flower, Chapter 7, Part 1

Master Lu-tsu said, When there is a gradual success in producing the circulation of the light, a man must not give up his ordinary occupation in doing it. The ancients said, When occupations come to us, we must accept them; when things come to us, we must understand them from the ground up. If the occupations are properly handled by correct thoughts, the light is not scattered by outside things, but circulates according to its own law. Even the still invisible circulation of the light get started this way; how much more, then, is it the case with the true circulation of the light which has already manifested itself clearly.

Translators of The Secret of the Golden Flower are Richard Wilhelm and Cary F. Baynes. If you missed any posts in this series, please utilize the Golden Flower label below.

Ziporyn on the Liji VII: Walking Two Chengs

Scott Bradley

"Unseen coherence means self-completion [spontaneous coming into true being, being perfect as oneself]. Dao means self-guidance [auto-guidance, spontaneous nondeliberate directedness]. For unseen coherence is the end and beginning of each thing. Without unseen coherence there is no thing."
("The Doctrine of the Mean")

It is Guo Xiang's (252-312) take on Zhuangzi that immediately comes to mind at reading the quote above: "[E]very being without exception is released into the range of its own spontaneous attainments, so that each relies on its own innate character, each deed exactly matching its own capabilities. Since each fits perfectly into exactly the position it occupies, all are equally far-reaching and unfettered." (Ziporyn)

The difference, of course, is that Guo's focus is on the unconditional affirmability of each and every being just as it is, for no other reason than that it is. The author of the lines above focuses on the potential of self-completion. Taken together, it is a matter of realizing our unconditional self-completion so as to do the work of becoming self-complete. Or, more broadly, once we realize how that things are perfect, we can set about perfecting them.

Ziporyn speaks to this when he comments: "[W]hatever is is what it is because it is coherent as that thing, and only to that extent. This is the realness of the thing, and everything is real in some sense, even if only as a real fake." I would add that if things are only real because there is coherence, then there is also only coherence because things are real. The realness of things is contingent on nothing. The "fake" is as real as the realized real. The illusory is as real as the real. (Maya is Nirvana.) "Not-one is also One." This, for me, is the point of entry into a self-cultivation free of striving, and thus free of judgmentalism, as applied to self and others.

The Confucian author of "The Doctrine of the Mean" is most likely more concerned with the becoming; cheng (authenticity), for him, is contingent. Yet, his vision of self-cultivation is accessible to philosophical Daoism when coupled with an awareness of non-contingent cheng. We walk two chengs.

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

Afternoon Matinee: Protest - Pride of Man

Performed by Quicksilver Messenger Service

Turn around go back down

Back the way you came

Can't you see that flash of fire

10 times brighter than the day

And behold a mighty city

Broken in the dust again

Oh God, pride of man

Broken in the dust again

Turn around go back down

Back the way you came

Babylon is laid to waste

Egypt's buried in her shame

Their mighty men are all beaten down

Their kings are all fallin' in the ways

Oh God, pride of man

Broken in the dust again

Turn around go back down

Back the way you came

Terror is on ever sign

Though our leaders are dismayed

All those who place their faith in fire

In fire their fate shall be repaid

Oh God, pride of man

Broken in the dust again

Turn around go back down

Back the way you came

And shout a warning to the nation

That the sword of God is raised

Yes, Babylon backed by it's city

Rich in treasure wide in fame

Oh God, pride of man

Broken in the dust again

And it shall cause your tower to fall

Make of you a pyre of flame

Oh, you who dwell on many waters

Rich in treasure wide in fame

You bow unto your, your god of gold

Your pride of might shall be a shame

For only God can lead his people

Back unto the earth again

Oh God, pride of man

Broken in the dust again

Our holy mountain be restored

And mercy on that people

That people

~ from Lyric Wiki ~

Ziporyn on the Liji VI: Political Cheng

Scott Bradley

I am quite taken with this idea of cheng as offering significant insight into the process of self-cultivation. It is primarily a Confucian idea, but I think it also provides a means to better understanding the model of philosophical Daoism. It needs to be said, however, that my exploration of it here is not necessarily a faithful representation of cheng in the documents themselves or of Ziporyn's analysis of them. What I write here might better be described as a response, and then not always one that has properly understood the original intended meaning or appreciates it when it has. No matter — onward.

We have already discussed Ziporyn's quote from "The Doctrine of the Mean"; I offer it again now with his annotations: "Unseen coherence means self-completion [spontaneous coming into true being, being perfect as oneself]. Dao means self-guidance [auto-guidance, spontaneous nondeliberate directedness]. For unseen coherence is the end and beginning of each thing. Without unseen coherence there is no thing. This is why the exemplary person values unseen coherence. Unseen coherence not only brings the self to completion, but also brings things to completion. Completion of oneself is benevolence; completion of things is wisdom. These are the Virtuosities ['virtues', de] of the inborn nature, the Dao of joining the inner and the outer . . ."

I understand "bringing things to completion" as referring to the creation of a harmonious society and by extension, a harmonious world-environment. The self-cultivation of Confucianism, though it may have its beginning in the individual, intends the harmonization of the entire human enterprise, and this includes its environmental context. Is this also the Daoist vision? I think so, but it feels no need to articulate the extended goal since it takes more seriously the idea that these things arise spontaneously as one harmonizes oneself. Confucianism and Daoism are essentially on the same page in terms of desired outcomes, but philosophical Daoism refrains from political ambitions which, in the end, can only lead to the imposition of agendas, and these typically lead to just more coercion.

There is a great deal to unpack here, and this will have to be over the course of several posts.

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

The Secret of the Golden Flower, Chapter 6, Part 9

And now, it is already possible to have all three of these experiences. But not everything can be expressed. Different things appear to each person according to his dispositions. If one experiences these things, it is a sign of good aptitude. With these things it is just as it is when one drinks water. One can tell for oneself whether the water is warm or cold. In the same way a man must convince himself about these experiences, then only are they real.

Translators of The Secret of the Golden Flower are Richard Wilhelm and Cary F. Baynes. If you missed any posts in this series, please utilize the Golden Flower label below.

Ziporyn on the Liji V: Cheng With a Twist

Scott Bradley

The reader might have noticed that these posts about cheng (sincerity, honesty, authenticity) have been more about Mencius' take than that of the Liji; this is because Ziporyn introduces the latter with the former. To this writer, the exploration of the meaning of cheng is profitable irrespective of which philosophy provides us access. In other words, I am more interested in the ideas than I am in their source.

Ziporyn finds in the Liji's sense of cheng "a newly appropriated subjective form of ironic intelligibility as a hiddenness that is indirectly expressed in all actions, and hence omnipresent in that sense." He calls this sense of cheng an "unseen coherence". This is the folding of the ironic Dao of Daoism into the otherwise non-ironic Dao of Confucianism. The question is: How do we make sense of the world (so as to know how to live) when we admit to the ultimate unintelligibility of the world (the ironic Dao)? The “Doctrine of the Mean” and “The Great Learning” of the Liji answer this question by admitting that cheng spontaneously arises out of the nature of humanity and the world and is thus rooted in the "hidden", and not in an articulable analysis of the world which we subsequently follow. In other words, we realize cheng by letting it happen rather than by following some rationalized schema of our understanding of the nature of the world. This is a huge concession on the part of Confucianism, and the antithesis of Xunzi’s approach.

In this, Ziporyn sees the “Doctrine of the Mean” as going beyond Mencius and “The Great Learning” to a cheng with "a metaphysical twist": "Unseen coherence (cheng) means self-completion. Dao means self-guidance. For unseen coherence is the end and the beginning of each thing. Without unseen coherence there is no thing." Cheng spontaneously happens, arising out of that which cannot be articulated. This is the position of philosophical Daoism. But here it is given a moral interpretation. The text continues: "This is why the exemplary person values unseen coherence. . . . Completion of oneself is benevolence; completion of things is wisdom. These are the Virtues [de] of the inborn nature, the Dao of joining the inner and the outer . . ."

Because he gives it a moral meaning (benevolence spontaneously happens), we can say that this "twist" is "metaphysical". Daoism, on the other hand, though it does not dispute this outcome of spontaneity, does not assert it either, or require that it be so; whatever happens is so. In this sense, philosophical Daoism's reliance on spontaneity is non-metaphysical.

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

The Secret of the Golden Flower, Chapter 6, Part 8

Or, when one sits in meditation, the fleshly body becomes quite shining like silk or jade. It seems difficult to remain sitting; one feels as if drawn upward. This is called: "The spirit returns and touches heaven". In time, one can experience it in such a way that one really floats upward.

Translators of The Secret of the Golden Flower are Richard Wilhelm and Cary F. Baynes. If you missed any posts in this series, please utilize the Golden Flower label below.

Ziporyn on the Liji IV: Still More on Cheng

Scott Bradley

The Dao of Heaven is to be cheng; the Dao of man is to become cheng.
(Mencius, A412)

There are instances when Zhuangzi tells us what the ultimate benefits of following his suggested path are, and if we were hoping for Nirvana, or some other brand of 'salvation' or eternal reward, then we would be sorely disappointed. No, the only suggested benefit to facing squarely our human experience and transcending it in acceptance is to fulfill our allotted years. This implies a great deal more than life span, however; it is a qualitative fulfillment as well as a quantitative one. And this fulfillment is, I would suggest, cheng.

Cheng, as we saw previously, is both the highest value and the means to realizing that value. To be fully who we are, to be authentic, is the goal, and the means to achieving it is authenticity. To be fully integrated into our context, both internal and external, is to do the work of integrating. To realize sincerity, realness, is to practice sincerity. To be honest is to practice honesty. Thus, one is cheng not so much in arriving at 'absolute' cheng, but in practicing cheng in the pursuit of cheng. It may be that 'absolute' cheng is unrealizable, but that is of no great consequence, since the essence of cheng is honesty, and honesty can be realized even as an admission of our dishonesty.

As suggested at the close of the previous post, though “becoming cheng” is the fulfillment of one’s potential, this is not intended, at least in the Zhuangzian vision, to imply that there is some preexistent “true nature” to be realized. The only ‘nature’ there is is the one that we actually are, and that is always in the process of becoming, or as Zhuangzi would say, is always part of the endless transformation of things. This is reflected in the existentialist formula that “existence precedes essence”; there is no ideal essential self, no ‘true self’, to be realized, but only the self that we are at any point in time. In this, philosophical Daoism takes an entirely different path than Buddhism where we are invited to realize our “buddha nature”, the implication of which being that not only is there an essential self, but one that is somehow integral to the ultimate nature of Reality. (I realize, of course, that there are many possible rebuttals to this statement, that the ‘buddha nature’ is no-self for instance, but in the end I do not think that any sleight of mind can escape the fundamentally idealistic character of Buddhism — it knows the answer even if it cannot articulate what that answer ultimately is.)

The question arises, as it always does, whether this really matters in any practical sense. I think it does. Zhuangzi’s Consummate Person “wanders” precisely because she has no fixed destination. She has surrendered into the ever-transforming, and this involves no neatly packaged assurances about the way things really are or in which direction they are headed. All there is is this present following along with whatever Happens. Ideal goals, as Zen readily admits, are antithetical to true liberation.

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

Afternoon Matinee: Protest - Black Moon

Performed by Emerson, Lake and Palmer

Everyday I see a new cloud coming

There's one more hole in space

Everytime I walk across the street

I feel the gas blowing in my face

We never learn even deserts burn

And all politicians lie

They won't do nothin'

'Till we reach high noon

Black Moon

Ain't nobody gonna walk on water

When it falls like acid rain

Nobody gonna fake you out

Every poison stains

We're all stuck here

Right in the middle

We never call the tune

We don't get active

We become immune

Black Moon

In the night see the red sky burning

There's fire on the mountain

Oil slicks on the sea

Black Moon is rising

How long will it be

Just take a look around the world

The future never waits

We're skating on the thin ice

And we're in the hands of fate

What we need's a little re-direction

To find our blue lagoon

You know it wouldn't come

A moment to soon

Black Moon's

Ghostly images die

~ from Lyric Wiki ~

If Not I Then Who?

Ta-Wan

If you say to someone there is no I and they decide to accommodate you rather than just assume you are mad - assuming they open up to the conversation, then they ask ..

"If there is no me, then who is doing it?"

..and of course that has no answer as if there is no I or me, then there is also no other to do it.

When there is no I there is also no universe, no possible thing. So they probably just nod and hope you go away soon.

This concept that is outside the bounds of language, is of a no-thing, not any thing. It comes over as you may accept there is everything or you may accept there is nothing - in either case you can not then have a notion of I or other or anything - even in the concept of everything you must see this comes to a one outside of definition.

All of this word play sounds like a pointless headache, the key writers on it do seem to go on and on and thinking about it is a koan in itself, and there is the point.. as on trying, you see the fallacy of trying and your mind stumps itself and stops - open to bliss. Bam - and you get it (well not you but it is got), the notion of I is blown away, you may smile or laugh and see the magic.

This post originally appeared on Ta-Wan's blog, Tao Wow.

The Secret of the Golden Flower, Chapter 6, Part 7

At times the following can be experiences: as soon as one is quiet, the light of the eyes begins to blaze up, so that everything before one becomes quite bright as if one were in a cloud. If one opens one’s eyes and seeks the body, it is not to be found any more. This is called: "In the empty chamber it grows light". Inside and outside, everything is equally light. That is a very favorable sign.

Translators of The Secret of the Golden Flower are Richard Wilhelm and Cary F. Baynes. If you missed any posts in this series, please utilize the Golden Flower label below.

Time Is Not Change Is

Ta-Wan

Look at these 3;

1) a movie is playing and people move across the screen

2) a computer game or animation is processing and people on the screen

3) life, people moving around

What is happening is just a happening which appears to be peopling. I was walking and smiling at this for some time earlier today, the happening was a happening, I was a smiling happening peopling but not aware of myselfeling. I was not there it was just a happening, then someone said 'excuse me' and it made me laugh, one of these peoplings spoke to me. I then felt like a happening peopling a answering - but the happening was still happening, I was the happening briefly identifying with a character.

You can identify with a character on screen, watch them flow through the story, but there is no one there - on the screen there is just a constant wave of changing colours.

The film or computer animation or game is occuring from a timeless source and the change produced is giving the idea of people doing things over time. There is no going back in the processor, no before or after. There is only that 110100100101 there right now becoming what you see, then it is 001010010111 it has just changed and you form a continuity from that.

There is just a changing happening. One of my parents friends just died, they are sad - the happening is no longer animating that person as was, that person is just the impression people have in their minds of them - but that is all they ever were ever anyway.

When you are not there and the universe is happening with no attachment to forms you are absent and in bliss due to this, you may view the happening from the level of the film or the viewer or the other characters but you'll get hung up if you do most of those. The state is not achieved by trying as the entity trying is starting from inside the trap of self to escape the self. Self can not escape self by trying as self is the doer.

It seems though by setting the task as something for the mind to do it short circuits, the camera no longer thinks it is moving the objects around on the film. The screen no longer thinks it is doing the processor.

This post originally appeared on Ta-Wan's blog, Tao Wow.

The Secret of the Golden Flower, Chapter 6, Part 6

Now there are three confirmatory experiences which can be tested. The first is that, when one has entered the state of meditation, the gods are in the valley. Men are heard talking as though at a distance of several hundred paces, each one quite clear. But the sounds are all like an echo in a valley. One can always hear them, but never oneself. This is called the presence of the gods in the valley.

Translators of The Secret of the Golden Flower are Richard Wilhelm and Cary F. Baynes. If you missed any posts in this series, please utilize the Golden Flower label below.

Afternoon Matinee: Protest - Imagine

Performed by John Lennon

Imagine there's no Heaven

It's easy if you try

No Hell below us

Above us only sky

Imagine all the people

Livin' for today

Aaa haa

Imagine there's no countries

It isn't hard to do

Nothing to kill or die for

And no religion too

Imagine all the people

Livin' life in peace

Yoo hoo

You may say I'm a dreamer

But I'm not the only one

I hope someday you'll join us

And the world will be as one

Imagine no possessions

I wonder if you can

No need for greed or hunger

A brotherhood of man

Imagine all the people

Sharin' all the world

Yoo hoo

You may say I'm a dreamer

But I'm not the only one

I hope someday you'll join us

And the world will live as one

~ from Lyric Wiki ~

Now Has Already Happened

Ta-Wan

It has gone already. and this new now is also gone.

I have the pleasure of working during the week with a guy who gets very angry and stressed, he is one of the many things in my life that I use to re-emphasise truths.

He will be angry at things past, things happening, and angry about future events that he is sure are coming. So he is almost constantly annoyed with life. It is all someone else's fault and he is always right.

Thursday he had a new iPhone, he was pissed off at some lack of features and then the day went on, annoyed with this, with that, with this coming. He also makes many definite plans. "From now on I am leaving at 6 on the dot, I don't give a fuck what anyone says" and come 7.30 he is still there working and annoyed at something new. "I can't go home can I? That stupid so-n-so had that last minute job and now I'm expected to finish it"

During this time, I do the task at hand and sip my tea.

This post originally appeared on Ta-Wan's blog, Tao Wow.

Ziporyn on the Liji III: More on Cheng

Scott Bradley

The Dao of Heaven is to be cheng; the Dao of man is to become cheng.
(Mencius, A412)

Cheng is usually translated as "sincere" (or as a noun, "sincerity"). However, Ziporyn suggests as equally valid for the use above "real", "integrated", or in the context of his overall theme, "coherent". I would like to suggest another possibility: "authentic".

Despite the incredible mess that humanity has created in its own little backwater of the Universe, the view from Dao tells us that all is nevertheless well. Dao has its own act together, and since there is really nothing that is not Dao, that means that even humanity has its act together. Yes, that is indeed an assertion hard to get one's mind around, but one that I think is unavoidable from the point of view of philosophical Daoism and absolutely necessary to the actual behaviorial outcomes that Daoism envisions as condusive of the greatest enjoyment of life. Wuwei (non-doing), ziran (spontaneity), and Zhuangzi's free and unfettered wandering are all predicated on this implicit trust in the ultimate 'rightness' of things as they are.

Is this a "belief" (something I usually eschew)? Perhaps; but if so, it is, I would suggest, one that naturally arises out of the life experience, and as such requires no defence. Is it a belief to say that life seeks to live? Perhaps; but that life lives requires no proof. (Just as knowing the happiness of fish is self-evidential and lies beyond proof.)

Cheng, in the case of Reality, is being real, a wonderful tautology, to be sure. In the case of humanity, however, it is to become real. Thus, I have suggested "authenticity" as an appropriate stand in. Authenticity is becoming who we are. Becoming who we are is much more a question of seeing and admitting to who we are than it is changing who we are, though the latter is understood to follow naturally from the former. Thus, cheng is "sincerity", honesty. We can see then how that cheng is a necessary requirement for self-cultivation, especially as that is facilitated by self-examination.

Cheng is also "integration", which is essentially Ziporyn's "coherence". The Dao of Heaven is the way all things fit together. All things fit together; this is so ‘true’ that to say it is to miss it. It could not be otherwise (from the point of view of Daoism). In the case of human subjectivity, therefore, it is similarly the realization of integration with the givens of life and the realities of one’s own unique existential expression. It is fitting in with the way things are, or appear to be (it does not matter which). It is thus first the illumination of one’s context (internal and external) and secondly the affirmation of that which is illuminated.

Cheng also implies the fulfillment of one’s potential. In seeing who we are and affirming who we are, we become more of who we are. What is that? For Daoism, it is certainly not realizing one’s “true nature”, for there is no such thing until one becomes it.

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

The Secret of the Golden Flower, Chapter 6, Part 5

The second part means the building of the foundation on this. The great world is like ice, a glassy jewel-world. The brilliancy of the light gradually crystallizes. Hence a great terrace arises and upon it, in the course o time, the Buddha appears. When the gold being appears who should it be but the Buddha? For the Buddha is the golden holy man of the great enlightenment. This is a great confirmatory experience.

Translators of The Secret of the Golden Flower are Richard Wilhelm and Cary F. Baynes. If you missed any posts in this series, please utilize the Golden Flower label below.