Chapter of the Week: #78 [Archive]

Carl

Carl if I am understanding what you are saying, what drive us is the need for pleasure, comfort and security, and we fear pain and loss. If I am making any sense I would propose the following for consideration:

1. Accept change, nothing stays constant. We usually look at change as a function of our friend called TIME, which does not exist.

2. Practice non-attachment. Do not attach to pleasure or pain, comfort or security, or pain and loss. We need to let things go, flow with it.

3. Everything is connected to each other! Therefore practice non-duality. We need to get above the opposites like pleasure and pain etc. This getting above opposites according to C.G. Jung "..represents not a compromise but something new" See http://www.integralscience.org/psyche-physis.html

4. Practice "Egolessness", it is our ego that is causing the need for pleasure/comfort and the fear of pain/loss.

5. Be in the NOW! The Time concept does not exist in the NOW. Also the opposites, Yin/Yang disappears in the NOW.

6. Minimize/eliminate our selfish deires/lust and what is driving us will also be minimized/eliminated.
Cheers

Carl

Each week we address one chapter of the Tao Te Ching. The Tao Te Ching can be obscure, especially if you think you're supposed to understand what it's saying! We find it easier and more instructive to simply contemplate how the chapter resonates with your personal experience. Becoming more aware at this fundamental level simplifies life. This approach conforms to the view that true knowing lies within ourselves. Thus, when a passage in the scripture resonates, you've found your inner truth. The same applies for when it evokes a question; questions are the grist for self realization.

Chapter 78
In the world there is nothing more submissive and weak than water.
Yet for attacking that which is hard and strong nothing can surpass it.
This is because there is nothing that can take its place.

That the weak overcomes the strong,
And the submissive overcomes the hard,
Everyone in the world knows yet no one can put this knowledge into practice.

Therefore the sage says,
One who takes on himself the humiliation of the state,
Is called a ruler worthy of offering sacrifices to the gods of earth and millet;
One who takes on himself the calamity of the state,
Is called a king worthy of dominion over the entire empire.

Straightforward words
Seem paradoxical.

Read commentary previously posted for this chapter.

Carl

[Note: I italicize phrases I borrow from the chapter, and link to phrases I borrow from other chapters to help tie chapters together. While making it more tedious to read, :? the Tao Te Ching is best pondered in the context of the whole.]

Why can no one can put this knowledge into practice? Put into practice implies action. The only thing more submissive than action is non-action. How do we practice non-action? That is like trying to relax, or trying to fall asleep. The more we try, the further away we get. This boils down to any exercise of will. [chref=2]Therefore the sage keeps to the deed that consists in taking no action and practices the teaching that uses no words.[/chref] It helps to look at this in terms of approach and outlook, i.e., 'the teaching that uses no words'. After all, behavior (action) is directed in large part by what one [chref=71]thinks that one knows[/chref].

Of course, another reason no one can put this knowledge into practice is that we are living animals, not water! Deep emotion and instinct drives much -- if not all -- of what we do, despite what we know (or think we know). The only way to defuse some of this instinctive drive is by taking on the humiliation and calamity on the state. The state? I look at this as the state of existence, as Buddha pointed out in the his First Noble Truth on the existence of suffering.

Isn't that the idea behind Jesus's crucifixion? He took on the sins of man. In my view, 'sins' are simply humiliation and calamity. Nothing more? Yes, nothing more, for without free will, no one 'chooses' to sin, and thus there is no one to blame. Nuts,... but we need scapegoats! Surely, this is one reason why societies and their religions cling to the illusion of free will. Okay, so what is actually responsible for the sins in society? Civilization! The unprecedented comfort and security that civilization gives our species, compared to wildlife, comes with unintended consequences. Our tools cut both ways.

Then, shall we blame civilization for all the sins and ills of humanity? Not blame! Rather, simply understand that it is a principle source of our [chref=71]difficulty[/chref]. This is how to take on ourselves the humiliation and calamity of the state. And who knows, perhaps through [chref=43]understanding[/chref], rather than pointing fingers at 'those evil sinners', we may someday lessen the humiliation and calamity. Still, it will be awhile before we [chref=80]the people return to the use of the knotted rope[/chref]... Heck, it would be enough if we just [chref=44]knew when to stop[/chref] occasionally.

* * *
Here's this week's brain teaser. I translate the Chinese as literally as possible. For example, where it says "heaven under", we would normally say "under heaven" in English. The same goes for other prepositions. Also, note the sparse use of 'filler' words and the lack of Caps. So why don't I rephrase it? Leaving it literal makes it a bit [chref=15]murky[/chref], which ironically helps a thoughtful mind see what it has overlooked.

heaven under none soft weak be water.
but attack hard strong stubbornly, nothing can surpass, because its nothing use easy of.
weak of surpass stubborn.
soft of surpass firm.
heaven under no one not know no one can do.
is according holy man say, accept nation of humiliation means the god of the land and grain host
accept nation not lucky act heaven under great.