Line by Line - Verse 60, Lines 7-8

When these two do not injuriously affect each other, their good influences converge in the virtue (of the Tao).
~ James Legge translation, from The Sacred Books of the East, 1891 ~

They do not hurt each other,
And the Virtue in each one refreshes both.
~ Gia-fu Feng and Jane English translation, published by Vintage Books, 1989 ~

They both do no harm to one another
So virtue merges and returns
~ Derek Lin translation, from Tao Te Ching: Annotated & Explained, published by SkyLight Paths, 2006 ~

so people won't have to worry
about getting hurt,
and they'll take the opportunity
to do the right thing.
~ Ron Hogan rendition, from Beatrice.com, 2004 ~

So much of what we do as we wend our way through life is harmful. We make decisions that harm ourselves, our families and people we will never meet. Sometimes our decisions are conscious ones -- we conduct our own cost-benefit analysis and decide that the benefit outweighs the cost -- but, more often, our harmful actions are born of unconscious decisions.

Imagine if we took all the variables of life into consideration each time we decided to act AND we decided to do no harm. Each of us would instantaneously become a sage!

We could change the world!

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

Real Life Tao - Embodiment of a Principle

Trey Smith

In Huainanzi, Entry 59, I talked about a conference that I had worked to development that eventually was undermined by a higher up. What started off as a major event to address a pressing issue turned into a dinky event that was poorly attended which defeated the whole purpose of holding the conference in the first place.

In the aforementioned post, I left one thing unsaid and, in the comments section, the always astute Baroness Radon honed in on that point. She suggested that the higher up pulled the plug, so to speak, because she feared she wouldn't get the credit for a successful conference. In essence, by doing all the work needed myself, I wasn't behaving like a "team player."

Long before I had ever heard the word, Taoism, I can say that I truly embody at least one Taoist principle: staying in the background. I have never worried about the public accolades that most people seek for successful work. My motivation is for the conference, event, program or project to have a successful outcome. Let others sop up all the "glory."

By my willingness to shoulder much of the responsibility for getting the work done and yet having no need to be recognized for it publicly, I think I am a consummate team player. The success of the team or group is what motivates me.

The majority of people aren't like this and so most people don't believe I am being genuine. All throughout my life I have had issues with others being suspicious of my motives -- higher ups worried that I am underhandedly trying to usurp their "place" and colleagues worried that I am trying to outshine them. I have told them until I was blue in the face that they don't understand what drives me, but it rarely has made a difference in their attitudes.

I now realize that my autism plays into the situation. I have a problem with being recognized and lauded. It makes me very uncomfortable. I am much more in my element when people leave me alone to get the work done and that's why, for much of my life, I have been happy to take on the behind-the-scenes administrative jobs. For me, the greatest affirmation that I'm doing a good job is that the wheels of an organization roll so smoothly that no one realizes that there is someone in the background keeping the wheels well oiled!

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

Chapter 14, Part 2 - Confucius

"When the love of superiority, boasting, resentments, and covetousness are repressed, this may be deemed perfect virtue."

The Master said, "This may be regarded as the achievement of what is difficult. But I do not know that it is to be deemed perfect virtue."
~ 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 - Rest Easy

It is raining so you don't water. It is sunny so you turn out the light.

These make sense.

The universe is forever in a state of perfection, so rest easy.

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.

The Confucian Project

Scott Bradley

"What heaven has disposed and sealed is the inborn nature. The realization of this nature is called the process. The clarification of this process is called education."
(Chung Yung, I,1)

The Chung Yung (The Mean, The Unwobbling Pivot), traditionally thought to be the words of Confucius recorded after his death by his grandson, Tzu Ssu, is now thought to be a combination of two or more texts possibly written as late as the early Han. In any event, it is one of the Four Classics of Confucianism which has defined and guided those who espouse his philosophy for two millennia.

This simple opening statement quoted above tells us in a nutshell a great deal of what the Confucian project is about — the transformation of society through the transformation of the individual.

This transformation is effected through a process of realizing in action what one already is thought to intrinsically be. The process is facilitated through a growing understanding of the nature of the goal and the mechanics of the process itself.

One could hardly argue against such a worthy endeavor; yet if we would wish to in some sense take it onboard as part of our own project (should we be committed to one), then we must first understand it in its own context and then determine how we might modify it to make it our own.

(I believe there is certainly a place for a revival of Confucianism in today's world, only it would need to be radically reworked and restated (purged of its extreme conservatism, among other things) so as to be relevant to today's realities.)

The first premise in this opening statement is that there is such a thing as an inborn nature. I have discussed this previously, and have said that I find any presumed fixed and ideal given nature problematical. I won't renew that argument here. Only I will say that it is enough to find in oneself a vision of how one would wish to be, though one does not as yet embody it. Herein is the birth of the same project Confucius envisioned.

There is at least one statement ascribed to Confucius where he confesses to having failed to realize the ideal of his own project. There is at least one in which he claims to have done so. I would expect that the confession of having fallen short would be the most accurate, but in either case the most important thing to understand is that it is indeed a process. It is work.

Because the project is work, it needs to be remembered that there is an entirely different reality also at work in the process, namely the realization of the unconditionality of one’s integration into the Whole. One does not earn participation in the unfolding of Dao; this is the true given.

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

Tao Bible - Ezekiel 14:9

And if the prophet be deceived when he hath spoken a thing, I the LORD have deceived that prophet, and I will stretch out my hand upon him, and will destroy him from the midst of my people Israel.
~ King James version ~

Tao is beyond deception.
~ possible Taoist alternative ~

If we read the line of this verse literally, it would seem to say that God deceived a person and then will punish that person for allowing God to deceive them.

Tao provides for all and, if any deception is involved, that comes from people!

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

Chapter 14, Part 1 - Confucius

Hsien asked what was shameful. The Master said, "When good government prevails in a state, to be thinking only of salary; and, when bad government prevails, to be thinking, in the same way, only of salary; this is shameful."
~ James Legge translation via The Internet Classics Archive ~

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

Journey To The Center Of Our Ego, Part 3

Shawn Tedrow

“Descend, bold traveler, into the crater of Sneafellsjokull, which the shadow of Scartaris touches before the Kalends of July, you will attain the centre of the earth, which I have done. Arne Saknussemm.”

Some of you might have picked up on, that the above writing is from the famous novel, A Journey to the Center of the Earth, written by Jules Verne.

Reading further into the background of this challenging call to descend into the center of the earth, it is no coincidence to find that Jules Verne mentions that Arne Saknussemm was an alchemist. Not only does he mention this, he goes out of his way to give kudos to the alchemists.

After Professor Lidenbrock realized Saknussemm wrote this, he said, "Arne Saknussemm! Why that is the name of another Icelander, a savant of the sixteenth century, a celebrated alchemist. Those alchemists, Avicenna, Bacon, Lully, Paracelsus, were the real and only savants of their time. They made discoveries at which we are astonished”.

No, this wasn’t just trivial, inconsequential, without intent writing, when Jules Verne went out of his way to pencil-in, with such enthusiastic homage, that Arne Saknussemm was an alchemist. He was giving a hint to the hidden meaning of what the story, A Journey to the Center of the Earth, was really about, underneath the surface of the outer expression of this novel.

It is no secret regarding Jules Verne’s love for cryptology. Cryptology is derived from the Greek word “krptos logos”, meaning “hidden word”. This whole novel is echoing hidden messages and analogies pointing in the direction of alchemy.

The alchemists have a long history throughout time, way too much for me to get into right now. I would like to though, extract and identify something that is in-common with the many perennial alchemist movements. A definition of alchemy is an inexplicable or mysterious transmuting from one thing to another.

This interest and desire of alchemy is embedded in the nature of each human being. How we humans respond to this instinctive unconscious driving force within, is perplexing. This aspiration for alchemy is most of the time circumvented, by trying to meet its ingrained longing, through misguided ideas and misconceptions. The list is many.

Some philosophies even try to subdue and suppress this innate spiritual evolutionary movement within us, by writing-off its energy, as being an egoic duality cosmic joke. I mean, why desire transformational change? According to new age Advaita School of extreme-thought, you are what you seek. All else is an illusion. Just accept this reality and experience “instant enlightenment”. Aren’t we all so enlightened by this wisdom?

I wouldn’t consider myself an alchemist in the traditional sense, but I am passionate about the subject of radical spiritual transformation, an experience, or multiple experiences, which leads to an internal alchemy of extraordinary change.

Such amazing spiritual metaphors can be discovered throughout this epic story written by Jules Verne. Recently, while doing a little research on this novel related to writing this post, I discovered that I am not the first to realize that this famous story has hidden meanings and spiritual application.

Henri Ellenberger (1905-1993) once mentioned, “The book could be interpreted in all its details as a journey through the unconscious, with discovery of deeper and deeper archetypes, until the encounter of a fireball sets about the enantiodromia that is the reversal of regression, and the return to the common world”.

Wow! I can’t agree more with Henri Ellenberger that this book can be interpreted in all its details, as man's journey into himself, probing deeper and deeper, until it leads to alchemy.

I wish I could have found more about what Henri Ellenberger saw into this book besides this one statement, but if I did, I would maybe miss out on my own discoveries, as I read and ponder on my own.

In fact, I am one that thinks that veiled revelations of spiritual passageways can be discovered in many secular writings. These spiritual sign post and accesses to portals of illumination, found in numerous non-spiritual books are so apparent, that many times I find myself scratching my head in complete amazement and awe, with joy overflowing in my heart, because of sensing such alive, esoteric wonder.

The spiritual path is not a walk on pavement that is composed of dead and dried up bones. There is liveliness to the path. It breathes, has pulse, and speaks. The path’s journey is rich with hidden treasures waiting to uncover. We each have an opportunity to open up and interact with life’s unseen vastness of vivacious mystery. Just like how William Morales discovered the Che Chem Ha Cave, we need to push aside the bush of doubt, and marvel at the wonders that were always there.

The one thing I like about discovering spiritual metaphors in secular writings is that it is the reader that is doing the active-unveiling of spiritual application, instead of the reader/student being hand-feed spiritual truths that are absorbed into the linear left side of the brain.

I know a teacher that had a student whom had been involved with Taoism and Zen for over thirty years but was found wanting. She had read and studied countless spiritual books and understood every spiritual concept that you could imagine, but came to realize that she was really just spinning her wheels.

This teacher asked her to give up what she was doing, and just watch movies, go to plays, read non-spiritual books, and develop her own authentic spiritual discoveries. What’s real sad is that she knew he was right, but couldn’t do that simple instruction he had offered her. She kept on doing what she was doing. I think Einstein called that insanity.

When a student begins to break through to the other side from intellectual spiritual knowledge, and develop their own spiritual life of discovery, a gushing well of flowing water that never ends has been discovered.

Let’s do a little rock-uncovering, of this well underneath our feet, into some of the details found in just the beginning chapters of this famous novel, and continue our exploration of self-discovery into a, “Journey to the Center of Our Ego”.

You can check out Shawn's other musings here.

Afternoon Matinee: Best of the Bushisms

Wu Wu

Ta-Wan

Space is empty and so planets teem with life. Earth forms empty so rivers and lakes rise in fullness. Valleys are empty and so mountains rise high.

Absent of fullness and emptiness is Tao.

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

Flux II

Scott Bradley

If we cannot step into the same river twice, can we address the same person twice? Yes. And no.

Amazingly, compared to the human, the vast and infinite universe seems straight-forward and easy to understand (should we have the intelligence to contain it). The human, on the other hand, is by its nature a bundle of irreconcilable contradictions.

The human has attempted to fix itself as a static reality. The "I" to which I refer today is understood to be the same "I" that it was yesterday. Similarly, the "you" to whom I refer today is understood to be the same "you" to whom I referred yesterday. And in some sense these identities must indeed have some form of continuity.

Yet we are ever changing. And in the context of this reality we understand that the continuity of identity is merely 'formal'; it is an artificial construct whereby we are able to 'know' things.

As individual selves we have reified ourselves, believing ourselves to be fixed entities. Consequent to this we have established patterns of behavior which define ourselves, to ourselves and to others. In this, we are able to address each other and respond to one another as someone known. I know myself. You know me. I know you.

Yet we are ever changing. How then do we say we 'know' someone else? We both know them and do not know them. And it is in this ambiguity that we learn something of the art of acceptance and tolerance. It is in this ambiguity that we learn openness.

Should we wish to assign judgments upon others we must do so realizing that we are shooting at a moving target as if it were fixed; we are necessarily speaking to the past, not the present moment. Admittedly, we are typically locked into a specific set of behaviors, and from a purely empirical point of view we can generally predict the continuity of these behaviors. But, though the Taoist way must keep this in mind when addressing others, it also would have us live in the openness of ambiguity.

There are some whose behaviors are changing more than others. There are some who follow a path of personal transformation which, one would hope, would increase the ambiguity between our knowing and our not knowing of 'who' they are. A swimming coach would be less likely to assign a previous time-performance to a diligent trainee than to one who merely splashed about in the shallows.

Open-heartedness is the Taoist way. And though it can theoretically lead to injury, it is also the Taoist way to have no one who can be injured. Still, though the tiger finds no essential place in the sage to sink its teeth, the sage is careful not to give it the opportunity to existentially do so.

I trust this is all sufficiently ambiguous.

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

Line by Line - Verse 60, Lines 5-6

It is not that it could not hurt men, but neither does the ruling sage hurt them.
~ James Legge translation, from The Sacred Books of the East, 1891 ~

Not only will it do no harm to others,
But the sage himself will also be protected.
~ Gia-fu Feng and Jane English translation, published by Vintage Books, 1989 ~

Not only do its gods not harm people
The sages also do not harm people
~ Derek Lin translation, from Tao Te Ching: Annotated & Explained, published by SkyLight Paths, 2006 ~

Also, as a wise leader,
you cause no harm to others,
~ Ron Hogan rendition, from Beatrice.com, 2004 ~

From the standpoint of Lao Tzu, the great Way is impartial. The laws of nature do not single out life forms to be rewarded or punished. Gain and loss, abundance and scarcity, and life and death occur through the normal processes that we signify as Tao.

Consequently, if the sage (as leader) seeks to embody Tao in all she thinks and does, then she too will treat the ten thousands things impartially and her actions will not be undertaken to mete out harm to anyone.

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

Hard to Fathom

Trey Smith

Each year, the U.S. State Department, as required by law, issues a “Human Rights Report” which details abuses by other countries. To call it an exercise in hypocrisy is to understate the case: it is almost impossible to find any tyrannical power denounced by the State Department which the U.S. Government (and its closest allies) do not regularly exercise itself. Indeed, it’s often impossible to imagine how the authors of these reports can refrain from cackling mischievously over the glaring ironies of what they are denouncing (my all-time favorite example is discussed in the update here).

In 2010, the State Department included a long section on the oppressive detention practices of China. The “principal human rights problems” of the tyrannical Chinese government include “a lack of due process in judicial proceedings” and “the use of administrative detention.” Indeed, “arbitrary arrest and detention remained serious problems. The law grants police broad administrative detention powers and the ability to detain individuals for extended periods without formal arrest or criminal charges.” Can one even find the words to condemn these Chinese monsters?
~ from Khader Adnan and Now-Normalized Western Justice by Glenn Greenwald ~

If you haven't noticed, it is this kind of information that gives rise to my frequent and vehement denunciations of my own government. While ALL governments are hypocrites, it is hard to fathom that any nation on the face of the earth is more hypocritical than our very own.

We criticize others for the kinds of things we routinely do and our leaders don't bat as much as an eyelash at the, shall I say, irony.

Just take a look at one contemporary issue. Our leaders are all up in arms because Iran is pursuing nuclear power and, potentially, nuclear weapons. We might have a wobbly leg to stand on IF we ourselves were trying to curtail -- better yet, end -- our use of nuclear energy and nuclear weapons.

But we are doing nothing of the sort! We possess the second most nuclear warheads (slightly behind Russia) in the world and we happen to be the only nation to drop nuclear bombs during a war. In Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya, we have utilized depleted uranium in the various bombs and missiles that we have rained down on these countries. We are the poster child for the irresponsible threat and use of nuclear weapons.

So, why do we get to decide which nations can possess nuclear technology and which ones cannot? Personally, I would like to see ALL nations agree to eschew nukes and to phase out nuclear energy, but that prospect -- particularly in the US -- is unlikely. So, if we have the right to jeopardize the health and safety of the entire world, why shouldn't Iran have the same right as well?

Chapter 13, Part 30 - Confucius

The Master said, "To lead an uninstructed people to war, is to throw them away."
~ 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 - Sediments

Rivers and weather can be explained in words and so can spiritual ideas.

The more words used the less the description resembles the truth of just sitting, by the river, in the moon light.

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.

Flux I

Scott Bradley

Heraclitus (c. 470 BCE) proclaimed that all that apparently "is" is in flux. "You cannot step into the same river twice." Reality is never a fixed 'thing' nor is it composed of fixed things; it is ceaseless transformation and all things are participants in this transformation.

This is essentially the Taoist view of Reality. Things are not static, fixed entities; they are endless series of events. Every moment of the human experience is likewise an event. We are not fixed entities, but this same unfolding of events.

One does not respond to things as one thing in opposition to other things, but as a fellow participant in the Great Transformation. We are not fixed entities responding to events, but events responding to events. We ‘event’ together. This is why and how the sage "follows along with the present 'this'". It is what Guo Xiang means when he suggests we "vanish into things". Our vanishing is into the flow of ceaseless Transformation. Our unity is not that we are made of the same stuff, but that we are together one Transformation.

Heraclitus was called "the Dark One". The Greek (Western) mind prefers that things be things. This should not surprise us in as much as the self likewise wishes itself to be a fixed entity; in possession of an immortal soul, our personal continuity is assured. The Taoist project is to let this go, to affirm and enter the flow, to be one with Transformation which recognizes no continuity of identity, not even for a moment.

Taoism is not much concerned with the 'what' of things; it does not require to know what Reality is. It is more concerned to know how best to respond to things which enter the field of human experience. And this is expressed as "going along with things" as a fellow participant in Transformation; no 'thing' is opposed, because there is no 'one' to oppose it; not opposing, we are not opposed. "It is because he (the sage) does not contend with the myriad things that none are able to contend with him." (Daodejing 66; Huainanzi 1) This is why the tiger can find no place in the sage to sink its teeth.

But the tiger can most certainly sink its teeth into the sage, one might protest. Yes, it can. And things are also things. This is how we do science. But what the tiger and things cannot do is take from the sage his participation in that which transcends mere existence, namely the All-Embracing Flow. The tiger can take the life of the sage, but when did the sage ever possess a life to lose?

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

A Bit of a Difference

Trey Smith

Having lived in a large metropolitan city (Kansas City, MO), a mid-sized city (Salem, OR), a small city (Hot Springs, AR) and a variety of small towns, one big difference between the larger areas and the smaller ones can be found in the frequency of emergency vehicle sirens.

Growing up in KC, it's hard to remember a time in which I didn't hear such sirens at ALL hours of the day and night. In fact, in all of the cities I lived in, sirens are part of the day-to-day experience. In the smaller communities -- like South Bend -- a siren is something out of the ordinary.

Just the other night, I was driving down to our mini mart. In the distance, I saw the flashing lights of a police car moving towards me. As I pulled to the side of the road to provide unimpeded travel to the emergency vehicle -- which I do as a rule even when, like in this instance, there was no other traffic -- I realized that there were only flashing lights, no siren.

Emergency vehicles RARELY employ their sirens around here at night. After 8 or 9 pm, there is very little traffic and so there is no need for the piercing noise. In most cities, particularly the larger ones, there is traffic 24/7 and so the need exists.

This is one of the things I enjoy about living in a tiny Hamlet like South Bend. It's something hard to imagine as a city dweller -- true peace and quiet.

Tao Bible - Ezekiel 11:17

Therefore say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; I will even gather you from the people, and assemble you out of the countries where ye have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel.
~ King James version ~

Tao is not a mapmaker.
~ possible Taoist alternative ~

God, in his great beneficence, decides he will give a specific territory to a specific people. Isn't that swell and dandy? (Probably not for the nonspecific people who were residing there!)

If anything, Tao has bequeathed to us --and by us I mean all living forms -- the entirety of the cosmos. We humans are the ones who make maps and draw borders. From the standpoint of The Way, all is one.

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

Chapter 13, Part 29 - Confucius

The Master said, "Let a good man teach the people seven years, and they may then likewise be employed in war."
~ James Legge translation via The Internet Classics Archive ~

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

As Old as The Hills

Trey Smith

There have been quite a number of reports and articles in the past few months about certain conservative individuals (e.g., the Koch Brothers) and groups (e.g., American Legislative Exchange Council -- ALEC) who have been meeting and crafting legislation for government bodies all over the country. These reports present this coordination as a new strategy in the elite's master plan to mold the country into the kind of shape they desire.

What gets me is that this strategy is anything but new; it's as old as the hills! Individuals and groups from every political perspective imaginable have been meeting together to plot out their machinations since the nation-state was born. Heck, it may even predate then.

While the strategy itself is not innovative in the least, what has changed in this 24/7 news world is that people outside of these meetings and conferences know about them. Before the advent of mass and instant communications, these little enclaves met in secret and most folks were completely in the dark!

Beyond that facet, it is again as old the hills that various political factions desire to revolutionize society and government in ways that benefit them. We see this very clearly in Naomi Klein's The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism as she describes how the boys from the Chicago School have spent the better part of the last four decades trotting around the globe introducing the shock doctrine wherever they can.

In the book I'm currently reading, Chinese Thought, from Confucius to Mao Tse-Tung, the author shows how this idea of influencing the tenor and direction of society was a central piece of Confucius's educational mission.

...Confucius expected his students to play the dynamic role of revolutionizing any government in which they might take part and making it serve the needs of the people.

It's a good bet that others before and after the time of Confucius have had this same basic goal with the only difference being which people's needs they believed should be served.