One of my greatest hopes is to spend more time with Chuang Tzu and his ideas of 
the Perfected Man in society. How to live over and above what we simply think as virtue.
To live in the state of genuine virtue which is beyond virtuousness.
Over twenty years ago I wrote and had books published about the I Ching, Lieh Tzu, Lao Tzu and the Tao Te Ching, but not Chuang Tzu and his ideas of what it meant to be a Perfected Man. Thomas Merton’s book The Way of Chuang Tzu, captures the essence of his writing very well. Also, here on my website, is Burton Watson’s version of the Chuang Tzu. If you are interested in following up on what you read here, I encourage you to study 
thoroughly.
Chuang Tzu encourages us to live beyond the horizon and ordinary ideas of virtue seeing past the veil of human understanding of what we see around us in the present, to our inner goodness that is waiting to be exposed.
The ultimate is what the Chinese call wu wei. To live in harmony with the Tao. The Tao is beyond human understanding and referred to by name as God, or other ways of spirit. What takes our essence to the eternal. Living in 
such a way that knowing this is a foregone conclusion.
November is National Native American Heritage Month, and this month and every month it’s vital to recognize that indigenous peoples’ traditional ecological knowledge is core to native plant habitat work.
To what indigenous peoples the world over has lived and known over eons of time. That it is being connected to nature as our teacher and discovering our role is why we are here. What then can there be to strive for?
To find and live within the context of the spiritual liberty of wu wei and the relation of virtue to the indwelling Tao is our 
challenge.
What Chuang Tzu asks is “who defines virtue”? Chuang Tzu often is found laughing through his writing at the Confucians for how they defined the intent of Confucius real meaning of the virtue that comes from within us as self-interest. When self-righteousness becomes the norm.
When values found in the present take precedence over universal virtue we are here to 
live and use to find our ultimate role or place. As passing values never exceed the virtue that prevails beyond time as our inner nature teaches us. That this too shall pass.
Knowing all this, what are we to do? What would my friends Lao, Lieh, and Chuang Tzu do today. What is it that living in wu wei teaches us? That we illustrate the Tao through our words, actions, and deeds. To live within the teachings and wisdom, we have always inherently known.
In retrospect, I think I did not write about Chuang Tzu years ago, because I had to live 
to appreciate his full contribution to the scope of what it means to be present.
To learn the true meaning of wu wei and truly living in, or more telling, living as and in the moment 
beyond virtue.
To write with an empty chair next to me always taking notes and surveying my actions. As though my ultimate teachers are always present with the continuum of spirit never-ending.
The Marco Polo bridge in Chengdu I have crossed over many times in the past. A city in which I have many great memories where wu wei seems to be ever present…
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