Taoism and Lao Tzu
I think the first thing we learn about seeing beyond ourselves is understanding who we imagine we’re yet to become. And much later, learning the Buddhist bodhisattva vow, which teaches that we are meant to first be students of virtue and the Way, and then to become teachers.
There’s a kind of fearlessness that comes with recognizing we are meant to commit to and become an integral part of the cosmic order. With this we look to assurances that what inevitably changes will rest in our favor.
There’s a timeless hierarchy of people, places, and things we’re meant to connect with, becoming part of what the ancient Chinese called “one of ten thousand things”.
Nature helps us understand ourselves and the deep continuity of everything, as we share those lessons through a love for it that goes beyond all else. Our love for nature starts as a virtue within us and spreads outward, shaping who we are. In the end, this connection to the eternal and nature is what will truly define us.
I often think our greatest task and ultimate joy comes when we recognize our innate institutional memory as our most valuable possession, to what makes us truly universal. From the wisdom of Indigenous peoples and the earliest interpretations of the I Ching, we learn that constant change is this very nature of reality. Why Chuang Tzu’s ideas of the Perfected Man and virtue become a central core to our spiritual attainment. Not so much in a religious sense, but as actual achievable goals for ordinary people as our divinity becomes personified, even tied to natural forces as the unity found in all things.
We are here to grow into the best version of ourselves—individually and collectively as we ask ourselves “where are we doing it from”. Nature will guide us through changes that ease fear and dissolve any sense of scarcity or limitation, reminding us that there is always enough for everyone. This shift in perspective needs to start where we first began.
It’s the place where we left off and began again. We need to look back, taking in the wisdom from both our wins and mistakes, and how they’ve shaped where we stand today. It’s about realizing the power and value of our memories, which guide who we’re becoming that serve as the roadmap we follow.
Verse 18 – When Innocence prevailed and Formlessness endured
As you contemplate returning tomorrow to the place where it all began to attend a gathering of now distant relatives, you recall time spent on the farm.
Returning to the place you originally called home. Returning to the place where you first caught the attention of dragons as a small boy on the farm in Lamar. Back to the beginning, where innocence prevailed and formlessness endured. Before details could enter to cloud your way. You begin to wonder what drew you to the Tao and dragons that were searching for you even then.
You are reminded of the paradox that surrounded you. The beauty and comfort found in nature – found in an old farmhouse at the end of a long circle drive. Everything in nature finding its place. You were affected greatly by opposites that tore at your inner most being.
Tearing away the self-identity as a small child that would reveal the formlessness of the sage. A difficult transition revealing inequities living seemingly always bring to the forefront. Living in a home with argument and distrust carrying the day, you were encouraged to find security and serenity deep within yourself.
Soon discovering an innate understanding that when names arise from discontent, we find distinctions like kindness, peace and harmony. Attributes formlessness can now find to spring forth and flourish.
As such you have now become the conciliator, the mediator who can see through conflict brought forth by envy, ego, lack and mistrust. To those who are unsure of your identity a mystic, to those few who know, perhaps a prophet telling of things yet to come.
Opposites described above affecting you as if you were a blunt piece of metal being hammered into intricate form by blows coming from all sides.
Learning then to look away from good and bad and recognizing that both were the same. So that one day when the dragons would finally get your attention – to carry you to heights previously thought unattainable you would recognize their presence and acknowledge that they had been guiding you all along.
Only waiting for the opportune time to show you the path you were to follow. Reminding you of your true identity and responsibility to the Tao.
Now that I have come full circle and returned, cognizant of the road I have traveled and the one before me that I am still to follow, I am assured and thankful that virtue will lead the way.
(Written in June 2000 during a trip back to Joplin and the farm in Lamar where I was a small child. I lived there from 1952 through the fourth grade, the summer of 1962.)
第18节 天真烂漫，无拘无束的时候
当你明天打算参加在一个远亲家里举行的聚会时，你回想起你在那个农庄曾经度过的时光。回到你从前的家，回到在拉马尔的农庄，在那里，作为孩童的你，第一次接触神龙。回想从前，你是如此的天真烂漫，无拘无束。那时，纷纷世事还没有象云彩那样遮住你的视线。你扪心自问，是什么把你引向正在寻找你的神龙？
你想起那些围绕你身边的迷惘，那些似是而非的事情。大自然的美丽和舒适也可以在坐落于长长的环形路尽头的农庄房子里找到。世间万物在自然界都有自己的一席之地。你为真正的友情而感动，但孩提时的天真烂漫和无拘无束已经荡然无存。人生的转折总是艰难复杂的。在家里互不信任地争吵了一天后，你鼓起勇气出来寻找藏在你心灵深处的安宁和真诚。
你很快就发现一个天生的道理，这就是当人情绪不愉快时，总爱数落他人。由此我们发现了友善，宁静与和谐之间的区别。无拘无束的天性现在可以萌芽抽枝，旺盛生长了。确切而言，你现在变成了一个安慰者，一个调停者，能够看穿一切妒忌，自私，缺陷和不信赖。对那些对你神秘身份有怀疑的人和少数知道你的身份的人来说，也许你是一个能够预测未来的先知先觉。
上述的反面事例影响了你，你就如同一件经过千锤百炼的钝器，形状已经变得十分复杂。
学会不要从善和恶的角度看问题，两者的性质其实是一样的。当有一天神龙引起你的注意，把你带到以前从未到达的高度时，你就会承认他们的存在，并感谢他们对你的引导。他们只是等待一个适合的时机指明你的路，提醒你的真实身份和对道的义务。
现在，我已经环游世界一周回到家里。我认得曾经走过的路，并打算沿着这条路继续走下去。我自信，我欣喜，大德将指引我的路。
(2000年6月作于回祖泊林和拉马尔农庄度假期间。1952－1962年夏天我在那里度过了我的童年）
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