The Way to Wisdom
According to Classic Taoism
Thomas Cleary (Tr.)
A traditional image of legendary Lao-tzu, or Laotse
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The following
fragment reproduces chapters
4 and 5, pages 6-8,
from the book “Wen-tzu,
Understanding the Mysteries”, Further Teachings of
Lao-tzu,
translated from the Chinese by Thomas Cleary,
Shambhala, Boston
and London, 1992, 184 pages.
(CCA)
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Lao-tzu said:
Sagehood has nothing to do with governing others but
is a matter of ordering oneself. Nobility has nothing to do with power and rank
but is a matter of self-realization; attain self-realization, and the whole
world is found in the self. Happiness has nothing to do with wealth and status,
but is a matter of harmony.
Those who know enough to deem the Self important and
consider the world slight are close to the Way.[1] Therefore I have said, “Reaching the extreme of emptiness,
keeping utterly still, as myriad beings act in concert, I thereby observe the
return.”
The Way molds myriad beings but is ever formless.
Silent and unmoving, it totally comprehends the undifferentiated unknown. No
vastness is great enough to be outside it, no minuteness is small enough to be
inside it. It has no house but gives birth to all the names of the existent and
nonexistent.
Real people embody this through open emptiness, even
easiness, clear cleanness, flexible yielding, unadulterated purity, and plain
simplicity, not getting mixed up in things. Their perfect virtue is the Way of
heaven and earth, so they are called real people.
Real people know how to deem the Self great and the
world small; they esteem self-government and disdain governing others. They do
not let things disturb their harmony, they do not let desires derange their
feelings. Concealing their names, they hide when the Way is in effect and
appear when it is not. They act without contrivance, work without striving, and
know without intellectualizing.
Cherishing the Way of heaven, embracing the heart of
heaven, they breathe darkness and light, exhaling the old and inhaling the new.
They close up together with darkness, and open up together with light. They
roll up and roll out together with firmness and flexibility, contract and
expand together with darkness and light. They have the same mind as heaven, the
same body as the Way.
Nothing pleases them, nothing pains them; nothing
delights them, nothing angers them. All things are mysteriously the same; there
is neither right nor wrong. [2]
Those who are physically injured by the tortures of
extreme climatic conditions find that the spirit is suffocated when the body is
exhausted. Those who are psychologically injured by the afflictions of emotions
and thoughts find that the body is left over when the spirit is exhausted.
Therefore real people deliberately return to essence, relying on the support of
spirit, thus attaining completeness. So they sleep without dreams and awake
without worries.
When Confucius asked him about the Way, Lao-tzu said:
Straighten your body, unify your vision, and the
harmony of heaven will arrive. Concentrate your knowledge, rectify your
assessment, and the spirit will come to abide. Virtue will be receptive to you,
and the Way will be there for you.
Gaze straight ahead like a newborn calf, without
seeking the wherefore; let your body be like a withered tree and your mind like
dead ashes. Realize genuine knowledge, and don’t use twisted reasoning. Keep
yourself open, unminding, and you may attain clarity and all-around mastery.
How could this be unknowing?
NOTES:
[1] “The Way” - the Way is the Tao in the Taoist
translations of Thomas Cleary. (CCA)
[2] There is neither right nor wrong as seen by superficial and superstitious minds; yet
selfishness produces pain, just as generosity produces wisdom, and wise action
results in happiness. Immortals and Adepts, as well as aspirants to wisdom, carefully
evaluate the results of their future actions, choosing those which will be most
beneficial. See the next paragraphs. (CCA)
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The above text was
published in the associated websites on 26 July 2019.
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See in the
associated websites the ancient book “The Tao Teh Ching”, in the
version prepared by Lin Yutang.
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On 14 September 2016, a group of students decided to
found the Independent Lodge of
Theosophists. Two of the priorities adopted by the ILT are learning from the past and building a better
future.
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