I often think about what the ancients would say about how our divine nature paves the way for spiritual growth. They would say that we should first let our tranquility define us giving our true selves an opportunity to emerge.
To the flow that gives our nature an identity. It’s what teachers do to remind us of what is great and small. That we are to pursue what it means to become a self-actualized person with our success not determined solely by accruements, i.e., financial gains over time, but how we have grown from the inside out.
Taoism and Lao Tzu
Lao Tzu’s writing became not only a guide to governing, but one to govern both the state and individual and how we are to live. Over the centuries commentaries of Lao Tzu gave us an idea of enhancing our innate talents and only doing what contributes to our personal growth. He especially liked following the eight elements of the I Ching and how they foretold our future.
After his death, the Tao Te Ching became a manual for governing during what was known as the Warring States period of China so techniques regarding warfare would be expected, especially the need to precede with virtue in hand. Competing states had armies of hundreds of thousands of men and continual warfare was more the norm.
At this time there were a number of philosophies competing in China. Ancient ideas of shamanism, Confucius and thoughts on how the family should thrive in the community and the examination system, legalism that leaned more to the structure of authority, and what was to become Taoism following the teachings of Lao and Chuang Tzu.
When Buddhism entered the picture there became an interest in how they could exist and work together. Over time and what became thousands of years they figured it out. Nowadays the Christian Family Church is also found in most communities in China
What Lao Tzu tells us is that those who follow the Tao and honor the Way and virtue are not fond of weapons and keep hatred from their hearts. They eliminate disaster before it arises.
They are angered by nothing. They use kindness among neighbors and virtue among strangers. And they conquer their enemies without fighting.
They command through humility. Not in competition but with virtue. What was to become Taoism followed tradition and importantly the stars and constellations, and especially the north star. Mapping and following the constellations and stars and creating an accurate calendar and seasons were a central part of aligning with nature. Compromise not competition was to nature its highest chance for success.
In chapter/verse sixty-eight Wu Ch’eng who lived about a thousand years ago showed unique insight fifteen hundred years after Lao Tzu lived. He says,
“Even though our wisdom and power might surpass that of others, we should act as though we possess neither. By making ourselves lower than others, we can use their wisdom and power as our own. Thus, we can win without taking up arms, without getting angry, and without making enemies. By using the virtue of non-aggression and the power of others, we are like matching and uniting with Heaven, which overcomes without fighting and reaches its goal without moving”.
Lao Tzu calls this the virtue of non-competing. Next was Te-Ch’ing, who was one of the greatest Buddhist writers of the Ming dynasty. He was best known as a devoted follower of Buddhist Pure Land practice. His commentaries on Lao Tzu and Chuang Tzu were considered to have real insight. He says:
“Heaven is yang and Earth is yin. But if Heaven and Earth remain stationary, everything stops, and nothing comes into existence. Only when yang descends and yin rises does everything flourish. Thus, Heaven’s position is to be above, but its function is to descend. When the sage is above the people, his heart is below, we call this uniting with Heaven. This was the pole star of the ancient kings.”
Verse 68 – Rising to the forefront through compassion
Refraining from greatness is an obstacle the sage finds himself continually up against.
As he goes forth in compassion others are drawn to his light. While he prefers to remain in the background, others are quick to recognize his virtue and vision. While he prefers not to distinguish or differentiate himself, he goes out of his way not to demean or glorify himself.
Once the sage becomes useful to others, so does the means to be great. He therefore prefers to remain in the background and stay small.
The sage counters this rush to judgment by upholding his sense of integrity by treasuring inner patience, frugality, and not competing. He does this by living a simple life based on compassion, a sense of austerity and a reluctance to excel as if life were drifting through the world without opposing others.
Just as the sage is reminded of when at the age of eighteen, he wrote something that has remained the underpinning of who he was yet to become…
“That sorrowful feelings mean nothing if there is no compassion felt”.
He has now come full circle in gaining an understanding of where and how all things in the universe fit together. That all things serve a purpose and that if we renounce compassion for valor without recognizing that being soft allows us to overcome what is most difficult, anything seen as success would be shallow or non-existent.
That the sage can be austere by learning when to stop and content with just what he has this moment, thereby living in both hardship and extravagance. By standing back, or aside, as if we are reluctant to excel no one excels us.
Since the sage does not compete, what he brings to the table allows him to understand the root of all problems, or underlying contradiction and do only that which must be done. The sage is moved by compassion as the ultimate expression of the Tao.
Compassion defined as protecting the ten thousand things under Heaven and remaining prepared for and knowing any outcome that may follow.
68. 出于同情，挺身而出
避免出人头地是圣人经常面临的问题。当他充满深情的发表演说时，众人被他的光辉所吸引。他
更愿意隐身殿后，但是众人很快就通过他的德行和远见将他认出。他不喜欢与众不同，因此他离开道，不作炫耀。但是一旦圣人帮助别人，他就显其伟大。因此圣人宁愿退居幕后，甘于平凡。
圣人反对作草率的判断，他通过耐心，俭朴和谦恭来维护他的完整性。圣人过着出于同情的简朴和无争的生活，淡泊名利，好像生命在与众无争的世间漂浮。
圣人在十八岁时写过一句话。这话至今依然反映他将来的为人。这话是，“没有同情心的伤感是毫无意义的”。
圣人已经对万物在宇宙何处如何适应这个问题作了一番研究。万物均为了一个共同目的。如果我们因为勇猛而失去了同情心，没有认识到柔弱也可以使我们克服困难，我们的成功就显得极其肤浅或根本不存在。圣人能够俭朴，因为他知道事情何时终止，并满足现状，因此他可以过着艰苦和富裕的生活。退一步来说，如果我们不愿意战胜别人，别人也不可能战胜我们。
因为圣人与世无争，能够洞察问题的关键和矛盾之所在。他只做那些必须做的事情。圣人常常为道的最终表达－同情心而感动。
同情心是为保护天下万物而产生的。有同情心的人永远准备着，并知道任何伴随而来的结局。
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