Taoism and Lao Tzu
Acknowledging history and what comes before us as our memories unfold of cause and effect are often in keeping with an awakening of our own spirit. Of knowing that if certain things occur, surely future events can be foretold.
Lao Tzu in the Tao Te Ching lays out clearly the road or path of virtue that we are meant to follow with everyone finding their own way.
He begins chapter/verse seventy-six by conveying where both hard and soft can lead. That when people are born, they are soft and supple, and when they die, they are firm and rigid.
That we often lose sight of the true meaning of virtue we find in the East when the three Buddhism, Confucianism, and Taoism come together. With each one playing a significant role in the development of the other two. Western thought has similar mentors in the way of Aristotle, Plato, and Emerson just to name a few.
Spirit guides all, whose role show us how to live with our highest endeavors tied to universal awareness as we too learn to pivot to the stars. With artists like Monet showing us how to make the best impression of ourselves on life’s canvas. All with the single purpose of helping us to see beyond ego to what’s best for nature and the continuity of life on Earth.
What solidified this idea in Chinese history was the teachings of Confucius over a period of hundreds of years infusing consciousness carried over from the inalienable rights of all things that man found in nature.
Being one with nature was to become the strength of our spiritual aim which manifests as virtue based on selfless love. Seeing the world beyond ourselves and our own individual needs.
I like the commentary Wang P’ang, who lived during the Northern Song Dynasty (960-1127 CE). He produced scholarly annotations for Lao Tzu’s Tao Te Ching, that had become the foundational Taoist text, I especially liked his commentary on chapter/verse seventy-six as follows,
“In terms of yin and yang, yin becomes before, and yang comes after. In terms of Heaven and Earth, Heaven is exalted, and Earth is humble. In terms of Virtue, the soft and the weak, overcome the hard and the strong. But in terms of material things, the hard and the strong control the soft and the weak. The people of this world only see things. They don’t understand Virtue.”
Lao Tzu talks about how when the ten thousand things and grasses and trees are alive, they are supple and pliant. But when they are dead, they become withered and dried out and become companions of death.
While the supple, the soft, the weak, and the delicate are considered as companions of life. That the hard and strong are followers of death and the soft and weak are followers of life.
He continues, “When an army becomes strong and soldier’s rigid, it suffers defeat and will come to its end. Rigidity and power will occupy the inferior position, just as when a plant becomes hard it snaps. The hard and strong dwell below and the soft and weak dwell above.”
Our virtue is meant to remind us of who we are. We talk about of the yin and yang, and their importance and the transformative process as the limitlessness of the Tao. It helps us to see things differently and to where the meaning of words can take us.
Why in knowing the Tao one must first learn to fully appreciate the workings of the I Ching that align and convey our own growth and change that mirrors the metamorphosis of spirit.
Two words I like to explore to assist with our vocabulary are clarity and turbidity. Clarity is the easiest of the two. For myself, clarity is bringing things to light that furthers both understanding and wisdom we carry forward in our endeavors.
Turbidity is the cloudiness or haziness caused by things that are generally invisible to the naked eye or believing in something that is present that remains unseen but present… as love, or hate, or even like the air we breathe.
Verse 76 – In death the Tao acknowledges the Sage
Before there was considered to be a force in the universe that would be known as God there was the Tao.
Before there existed the myriads of shamans, saints, priests and holy men considered to be here to lead the way, there was the Tao.
As the ten thousand things came forth from antiquity to manifest and begin the cycle of being born, dying and being born again continually as the natural extension of the Way, the sage ultimately came forth as one protected by dragons.
The dragons but those who have been chosen to impart simple virtue as those who follow the correct path or way of Heaven.
The sage coming forward to find that the reason there is suffering or hunger for life is that others impose too many restrictions on how we should live, therefore people remain unfulfilled.
That the reason people are hard to get along with is that those who would lead the way have forgotten the path in which all should follow.
However, when death follows as the natural course of events after everything has passed through him and acknowledges his ultimate place in the universe, the loving life becomes secondary as eternal life comes forth to greet the great sage.
Loving God and what the Tao teaches, he simply lets his enthusiasm come naturally as the centuries have shown him the proper way.
第76节 死后道向圣人致谢
从前，宇宙中有一种称为上帝的力量，有道。从前，出现过无数个被认为能够带领众人的术士，
圣人和传教士，有道。
作为道的延续的万物从远古而来，开始出生，死亡和再出生的不断循环。圣人最终在神龙保护下出现。作为遵循正确途经或天道的神龙被挑选来传授大德。
圣人发现，苦难和饥饿的原因是有些人对我们如何生活设置了太多的限制。因此，人民的聪明才智没有得到充分的发挥。人民不团结的原因是引路的人忘记了众人应走的路。然而，在万物穿过圣人，承认他在宇宙的最高地位后，死亡作为自然规律随之而来，情欲生活成为次要，因为永恒的生命前来欢迎伟大的圣人。
热爱神，热爱神的和道的教导，圣人的热情油然而来，几百年来圣人已经找到了正确道路。
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