Daily Musings – 7/3/09 – “Honorable People”

Zhuge Liang, a brilliant strategist, philosopher, artist, musician, inventor, and prime minister of the Three Kingdoms era in China (he was born about 180 C.E. {AD}) was a student of Taoism and studied the Tao Teh Ching, the Art of War, and the I Ching heavily.

Known for his idealistic attempts to cause as little harm in war as possible, he wrote many scrolls on leadership, crisis management, and personal cultivation–some of which have been lost to antiquity. We are lucky to have some of his writings preserved even now, millenia later. Thomas Cleary offers a commendable translation of his timeless thoughts.

Zhuge Liang’s personal motto was:

“Opportunistic relationships can hardly be kept constant.

The acquaintance of honorable people, even at a distance, does not add flowers in times of warmth and does not change its leaves in times of cold: it continues unfading through the four seasons, becomes increasingly stable as it passes through ease and danger.”

Sounds like a warning against fairweather friends, tenuous networking, and social-ladder-climbers who would use you in times of success and abandon you in times of distress? You’re absolutely correct. Zhuge Liang warned that many are treacherous, appearing to be warm and friendly, while keeping an eye out for what they can get, how they can gain more, who they can entrap and connect with, and how they can use others. This reminder to be mindfully aware and cautious permeates his “Way of the General” scroll. When you are surrounded by honorable people, they won’t add a feather to your cap in times of success–and they also won’t flee when you’re in trouble. They are there, all the time. Unfading. Permanent. Reliable. Trustworthy.

No–this isn’t entreating an X-Files-like sense of paranoia, that everyone is out to get everyone else, and that they’re all plotting against one another. Rather, it’s a gentle reminder to keep your eyes and ears open for both the honorable AND the dishonorable. In every situation. Just be aware. Receive life, but always be open.

It seems silly that we would need to remind ourselves to surround ourselves with people who are true and forthright, but it’s a concept easily forgotten in the modern world. Especially when people are fradulently nice and no one could ever see them as anything otherwise.

The Tao Teh Ching reminds us that:
“True words aren’t beautiful. Beautiful words aren’t true.”

(sometimes translated as sweet/nice words). The sickeningly sweet layer of falsity that so often conceals mal intent was a problem over a thousand years ago. It’s still troubling today.

Hold onto the center. Trust your intuition. Be true and compassionate toward yourself. Be true and compassionate toward others. The honorable will rise to the surface. They are the ones who will be there for you, whether you’ve brushed your hair, failed that big test, lost everything, won everything, given everything up. They have got your back, even when they don’t seem to know where you are. Trust is everything.

And always remember the other side of the coin:

“To lose trust by trying to gain an advantage is a mistake made by men of old.” – Zhuge Liang.

Daily Musings 6/24/09 – Stepping Back for Perspective

Daily Musings

This month, several living beings that have been part of my life have moved on–and one more, I feel, is about to.

This Daily Musing is not about death as “loss.” Instead, it’s about that window of time, just before and just after–and the gentle ripple of effect that rolls out and touches those who allow themselves to be aware (and how it seems to bounce off those who are unaware). The window all living beings will one day experience–and its connection to illusion.

A family friend, best friend of my stepfather, died last week. Lung cancer. Within a few days, my mother and stepfather’s dog, a best friend for over 20 years, also died. It was just the kind of thing that has to happen. When it’s time to move along your journey, it’s just a matter of finishing the final chapter in one book and starting the next. As Chuang-Tzu reminds us, it’s like a butterfly emerging from a coccoon. There was a time before you existed, and there will be a time after you exist (the way you do now). Holding onto transient things only drains you.

As some out there in the world are closing the cover and picking up the next volume of existence, there are others who are just beginning new chapters. Opening the cover for the first time. Friends whom I’ve known for years are brimming with life. Children. New things to work on. Projects. Pets. Picnics. Life. The cycle is always at a different place for each person, for each set of people, for each living creature–turning for everyone, always rolling along without judgment or expectation. It’s fascinating, thrilling, engaging to see this.

As my former boss (a gigantic private investigator who used to play football for the Oakland Raiders) used to say – “It is what it is.” It’s what his coach always said. It’s been deemed a meaningless statement by the media, yet it’s really very Tao in depth. Why does it happen? Because it happens.

A lady I have known for 4 years is finishing her book very soon. She is 98 years old. I have this feeling she’s close to complete, that her Jing is nearly gone. It’s not bad or good. It just is.

The same day I found out about her situation–the silliness of the unimportant world pops in.

A friend’s 18-year old son verbally scolds her for being 45 minutes late to pick him up from class, when her lunch and doctor visit take longer than expected. The same boy is ungrateful for a brand new car his parents bought just for him–because he thinks it’s a “chick car.” While he broods over whether vehicles are “girly,” another friend is now facing huge damages to their only car, because someone was careless and drove recklessly, without insurance, without anything–and rammed into the side of them. Their only form of transportation, now crippled, is held onto with respect and care, while some who are given cars and access and money are simply annoyed at the brand they’ve been “stuck” with. Still another friend is concerned about not being able to purchase an (unnecessary for daily survival) $8,000 item as fast as she wants, while other friends can barely pay their electric bills.

I am struck by the strangeness of what Taoism calls the “illusionary world.” The world of things which don’t really matter–like Starbucks and desks, 9 to 5 days, brand names, identitiy labels. We live with them all the time, yet many people cling to them like they matter more than anything else. While some living things are going through transformations, others are mired in the illusion, almost without (or perhaps ignoring) compassion for others.

And yet–illusion and reality are both part of the same big ball. Neither is better or worse. They are just tied together. Balancing yourself between both worlds (being able to exist in both, while letting neither side control everything) is key.

Be happy with what you have. Consider how your actions impact those around us. Dammit, enjoy Starbucks and a good video game when you can–but don’t be fooled into thinking that owning all the latest games and guzzling 5 gallons a day is the way to true happiness and balance.

Excerpts from the Tao Teh Ching, translated by Stephen Mitchell:

10

Can you coax your mind from its wandering
and keep to the original oneness?
Can you let your body become
supple as a newborn child’s?
Can you cleanse your inner vision
until you see nothing but the light?
Can you love people and lead them
without imposing your will?
Can you deal with the most vital matters
by letting events take their course?
Can you step back from you own mind
and thus understand all things?

Giving birth and nourishing,
having without possessing,
acting with no expectations,
leading and not trying to control:
this is the supreme virtue.

16

Empty your mind of all thoughts.
Let your heart be at peace.
Watch the turmoil of beings,
but contemplate their return.

Each separate being in the universe
returns to the common source.
Returning to the source is serenity.

If you don’t realize the source,
you stumble in confusion and sorrow.
When you realize where you come from,
you naturally become tolerant,
disinterested, amused,
kindhearted as a grandmother,
dignified as a king.
Immersed in the wonder of the Tao,
you can deal with whatever life brings you,
and when death comes, you are ready.

Can you step back from you own mind and thus understand all things?

Daily Musings – 6/21/09 – Unity

Huang Shan Mountain, China

There is a story in the Lieh-Tzu, a Taoist text from over 2,500 years ago, which goes (paraphrased) as follows:

An old man lived in a valley near a high mountain range. In order to do business with the cities on the other side, everyone from his village had to go completely around the mountains each time–which was dangerous.

He thought it would be helpful to everyone if they could move the mountains out of the way, to create a pathway from their small village to the places on the other side.

He told the idea to everyone in the village–but they all laughed. After all, he was a 90 year old man, weak and tired. How was he going to move the mountains, when he could barely lift one stone? The idea was flat-out stupid.

He told them that he wasn’t going to do it by himself–that his sons and grandsons would help, but the people still laughed at him. How could only a few people even hope to move a few rocks, much less the entire mountain?

The old man’s wife also thought it was a bad idea. When she asked him what he was going to do with all the pieces of the mountain that he moved, he said that they would take the rocks to one of the low places which flooded, to help build it up.

The next day, he went out to the mountains with his sons and grandsons. They stayed out there for months–removing the mountain one stone at a time. Slowly, the village began to realize what the old man had tried to say.

Something as large as a mountain can be moved, if everyone works together, taking away one stone at a time.

The gods of the valley noticed the old man’s determination. They also realized in a few generations, the slow-and-steady workers would completely change the landscape, and the mountains were where the spirit immortals lived. One night, the gods moved the mountains to a new location, and opened the space between the small village and the villages on the other side instantly, in honor of the old man’s tenacity in the face of dismissive negativity.

Tackle big projects one piece at a time, to chip away and accomplish things more efficiently. Consider the power of many hands, working toward one goal.

Always remember that teamwork, determination, and hard work can make things happen where they wouldn’t have seemed possible for a single person, or where they wouldn’t have even seemed possible at all.

I am reminded of this when I see big things getting done by many hands.

Ken and I began The Wooden Cow Gallery and Art Space project over a year ago. Neither of us had the funds and time to carry the entire thing alone. We recruited others to help, and through the strength and determination of many hands–we went from nothing, literally, nothing, to a full-fledged gallery and art space in less than 7 months. Almost everyone in the group donated time and money, energy and ideas. We chipped away at the big investments a little bit at a time. Simple things like garage sales and art auctions generated sightly bigger chunks. Ideas were incubated, planned, launched. New things developed. Small seeds grew into a lush garden.

While I am no longer a part of The Wooden Cow, I am proud to see that it’s still alive and still growing. I believe the strength of teamwork made the entire venture possible and the power of many hands will keep it going.

With each person picking up a stone, we moved a mountain. If each person picked up a single stone, toward any project or idea that seemed too huge to complete, they would be one stone closer to completion.

Things like small donations to charities help. Charities for animals, children, health–you name it. Every dollar adds up and chips away at the high price tags on things they need.

Think of the Barack Obama campaign. Whether you’re politically aligned with him or not, think of the power of many in that frame of reference. As a candidate, he accepted small donations from ordinary people. Donating a dollar here and there made a big difference for the campaign. Millions of differneces.

In Taoism, we are reminded that being humble is beautiful. Ideal. Simple. That we are a grain of sand among millions on the beach–but that without each of us to complete the whole, there would be no beach at all.

Remember that the things you do, the actions you act upon, resonate outward from you and affect everything and everyone around you.

So, go ahead. Pick up that stone.

Start that project you’ve been putting off.

Complete it one pebble at a time… You can do it.

Daily Musings 4/30/09 – The Joy of Giving Up

Letting go isn’t easy.

Whether it’s hanging on to a loved one, a deeply ingrained ideal, or even a favorite sweater–human beings have a hard time just letting things come and go as they will. It’s hard to step back, change our course, and let ourselves go the way we’re meant to go, especially when we have emotion, time, or money deeply invested in a particular event, plan, idea, or concept.

The more we’ve put into something, the harder it is to let the currents flow naturally.

Letting things take their natural course and flow is one of the cornerstones of Taoist thought. The more we try to force things to go as we believe they should, the more chaotic the situation becomes. The more chaotic, the more unbalanced. Since balance and internal harmony are key, it stands to reason that the more you try to control, the more out of whack and unable to find inner peace you become.

The more we go against that gut instinct that tells us something isn’t right, the more the whole thing blows up in your face. The more we lay rules down on top of the natural course of events, the more things spin out of control.

One of my Tao and Zen students, a teacher of great insight, called this ability to let go at the right time and hold on at the right time, “The Joy of Letting Go.”

“The master lets things come and go
as they will,
thus she is completely present
and can welcome all things,”

–Tao Teh Ching, Lao Tzu

Have a fantastic day.

Daily Musings – 4/28/09 – Simplicity

67
Some say that my teaching is nonsense.
Others call it lofty but impractical.
But to those who have looked inside themselves,
this nonsense makes perfect sense.
And to those who put it into practice,
this loftiness has roots that go deep.

I have just three things to teach:
simplicity, patience, compassion.
These three are your greatest treasures.
Simple in actions and in thoughts,
you return to the source of being.
Patient with both friends and enemies,
you accord with the way things are.
Compassionate toward yourself,
you reconcile all beings in the world.

–Tao Teh Ching, Lao Tzu (Stephen Mitchell Translation)

Many Taoist tales, poems, and stories remind us to keep to the simple things in life.

Many times it’s the little things we remember most. The way a friend used to wear a furry pink sweater. The way coffee smelled as it permeated a coffee house on a drizzly day. Your grandma’s orange curtains. The sweet way a cat used to play catch with twisted pipe cleaners…

Your memory–our lives are made up of small, simple things which make us smile. If you’re missing out on a record bank of those little bits of universal DNA, take a little time each day to “stop and smell the roses.” Pay closer attention to colors. To the way light bounces off a vase. The way a car sounds when it starts. You’ll take delight in the tiniest things which to some seem mundane.

Today, Ken, Robert, and I wandered into Saver’s Thrift Store. I love thrift stores for many reasons–including the whole recycle angle. I also enjoy the possibility of stories behind each broken big wheel or discarded Adirondack comforter.

We wandered through, poking fun at garish, 1970s pottery. Admiring the wall of bad art (sand paintings of misshapen eagles and paint-by-number inspired Bassett Hounds in cheap frames). Each item was silly, fun, inspiring, and sometimes just so innocent in its own ridiculousness (like a bizarre olive-brown coffee mug from some exotic island) that you just have to love it.

It seemed like we were in there for hours, enjoying every last little angle, texture, color, and use. We found bizarre kitchen items that we couldn’t identify. An odd, full size, hairless dried coconut. A book on potato bonsai. A single cleat. A bag full of pens & pencils culled from somebody’s junk drawer.

It was fun. Simple. Engaging.

I walked away with a Lite Brite (something I’ve always dug; so simple in its own plastic glamor) and began a collection of kitschy, oddball snow globes. Not the big fancy style–but the celluloid-inspired, solid blue or green background dime store variety. Cheaper. More complete. With oddly shaped snowmen and weird old women with bellows near a fireplace.

Sometimes slowing down and observing is the most rewarding type of simplicity there is.

Daily Musings – 4/27/09 – Yourself

The supreme good is like water,
which nourishes all things without trying to.
It is content with the low places that people disdain.
Thus it is like the Tao.

In dwelling, live close to the ground.
In thinking, keep to the simple.
In conflict, be fair and generous.
In governing, don’t try to control.
In work, do what you enjoy.
In family life, be completely present.

When you are content to be simply yourself
and don’t compare or compete,
everybody will respect you.

#8
–Lao Tzu, Tao teh Ching

So often, people are caught up in the drama of the illusionary layer of life–forgetting what really matters, and most importantly, losing sight of their center.

The more you try to grasp, the more falls through your fingers. The more you rush ahead, the easier it is to trip. The more you try to reach and take, on tippy toes, the more unstable you are.

Can you forget the self while being yourself? It can easily be done. Respect yourself. Be who you are. Don’t be phony. Don’t try to be what other people think you should be. Don’t rank yourself according to social rules, or social status.

Just be.

It sounds simple, silly, crazy.

As Lao Tzu said, true progress seems like stagnation. True wisdom seems silly.

Be yourself. Hold onto the center.

What is Taoism?

Below are excerpts from the Abode of the Eternal Tao’s (Solala Towler, publisher of The Empty Vessel Magazine) essay on “What is Taoism?”:

What, Then, Is Taoism?

…a unique and extremely interesting combination of philosophy and religion, incorporating also ‘proto’ science and magic.

Joseph Needham

Taoism represents everything which is spontaneous, imaginative, private, unconventional…

A.C. Graham

A Taoist laughs at social conventions, and eludes or adapts himself to them.

Lieh Tzu

Taoism is not an “ism.” It is also not an ideology, or a New Age movement. It is a living philosophy. It is a way of thinking, a way of looking at life, a way of being-being with change rather than against it. Life is made up of cycles, say the Taoists, cycle upon cycle. The only constant is change. Change is inescapable. We have no control over it. The only thing we have control over is our own responses to the changes life has to offer. For really, what else can we do?

Actually, there’s plenty we can do. Rant and rave, complain, whine, procrastinate, fight back, resist. But to what avail? To resist only weakens us. To the Taoist, resistance is a joke. It is utterly futile and without honor. To resist only makes that which we are resisting stronger. Lao Tzu speaks over and over again of the principle of the soft overcoming the hard, the weak overcoming the strong.

Yield and overcome;

Bend and be straight;

Empty and be full;

Wear out and be new;

Have little and gain.

Later on he says:

The softest thing in the universe

Overcomes the hardest thing in the universe.

–Lao Tzu

To read the entire article, please visit “What is Tao?”

Visit The Abode of the Eternal Tao

Cycle of Life

One of our Tao and Zen members this semester had a very Tao moment. Her backyard has gone from lifeless landscape to a mini ecosystem.

Moongipsies Blog

Daily Musings 2/20/09 – Impermanence

In 2003, we explored New Mexico. We picked places on the map and drove there, just to see what was there. I remember liking the name “Ambrosia Lake,” and we fantasized about what it might be like, nestled in a high desert valley north of Grants and San Rafael. As it turned out, Ambrosia Lake was a uranium mining town, which closed up when the mines shut down. All that was left, viewable from the highway, was a skeletal trailer or two and a more expensive home built atop a rock formation, which may have still been inhabited. The desert had taken over. Faint whispers of the streets miners must have used, only a decade or so ago, crisscrossed the powdery earth, with wiry trees and low-hanging bushes everywhere.

There was no sign of a lake, either.

During our exploration, we also journeyed north through the Navajo reservation. As we headed up what was then called Highway 666, massive red-rock mesas began emerging in the distance,as if rising up from the very flat desert with an almost supernatural grace. None were incredibly close to the highway, but their weighty presence was breathtaking, at the edge of our line of sight.

Then, we saw it from a great distance. We had thought “Shiprock” was just the name of a town. We saw Shiprock itself, rise from the slightly blurred distant landscape. It was an enormous, solid, fearless shape that grew larger and larger as we neared.

We were stunned.

When it was within a few miles of us, it was as if the entire universe were concentrated here, at this point, in this place. A massive volcanic neck of stone thrust itself into the sky. Photos don’t do it justice. The contrast between the flat of the surrounding land and the jagged monolith takes your breath away. It is surrounded on all sides by mounds of loose rock, softer soil, and dislodged geology–all having eroded from its original self.

27 million years ago, Shiprock was an active volcano. Its internal core would have been hot, bubbling. Full of motion. As it became dormant, access to the magma was cut off and the rock solidified. Over time, the outer layers of the volcano and ground eroded, leaving what was once the neck, or heart of the ancient volcanic mountain behind. Over time, the rock-hard volcanic neck is eroding, slowly transforming into loose, rocky debris on the flat earth.

The mountain is sacred to the pueblo cultures in the area. The Navajo call it “Winged Rock.” The ancient Anasazi culture positioned themselves around it–so that it was a the center of a larger spiral of cities.

With all of is mesmerizing power–it’s a giant, but gentle reminder, that all things change. Nothing lasts forever–yet nothing is destroyed.

Over time, Shiprock went from active volcano, to earth, to crumbling mountain, to core–and one day it will all be dust and loose rock again. Its outer shape has changed, but it has not been destroyed. Like an ice cube, which melts and turns into flowing water, Shiprock will break down and return to loose minerals. Those loose minerals will, perhaps, one day become part of a volcano again, or the base of a river, or sand in a dune.

All things change form. This is the natural state of being. One day I will be broken down into my core elements again. One day everything you see around you will revert back, change form, or become something else. Lao Tzu and Lieh Tzu called this the normal cycle of being. Nothing lasts forever, yet nothing doesn’t last forever. It changes. Perception changes.

From the Tao Teh Ching, #16

“Things in all their multitude:
each one returns to its root.”

Daily Musings – 2/15/09 – Wu Wei

Daily Musings – 2/15/2009

Remembering Wu Wei

One of the key Taoist concepts, wu wei, can be translated as “action / inaction,” or action through inaction. Accomplishing before taking action. Using your energy wisely and not overdoing things, when less energy should be expended.

I try to remember this at all times, but sometimes a wayward pickle jar or lid that won’t screw back on causes my intuitive sense to fly right out the window.

Yesterday, I was reminded again of the power of wu wei.

I had given away my CD player and my art studio was without music. A fellow artist was moving out of his studio and cleared away a lot of extra baggage, including a big black stereo from the early 1990s. I was thrilled and inherited the new source of music. I plugged it in and was eager to use it–when I tried pushing the “open/close” button for the CD tray. Nothing happened. I pressed over and over, jiggled the tray, and tried to figure out what was wrong. It seemed that the CD tray was interminably stuck, which, I assumed, must have been the reason it was left in the free pile.

Ken went over to it. I didn’t see what he did–but he was able to get the tray to pop right open. I was thrilled, thanked him for fixing it, and enjoyed music again as I worked. But, when it came time to change the disc, the tray refused to open. I pushed, pulled, yanked, rattled, and basically tried to force the piece of plastic to obey–finding that my frustration was building the more I pried at it. It seemed to be mocking me, clamming up and refusing to do what it was supposed to do.

I calmed down, reminding myself that such things aren’t worth getting angry about. I knew the drawer had to open. I knew that getting angry and frustrated would only make it stay tightly clamped.

I reached over, pressed the button once, then gently touched the front of the tray. It opened with a pleasant mechanical glide.

It needed only a light touch to the front to get its gears moving the way they should. The more someone pried or forced, the less likely it was to work.

Now, the tray opens effortlessly any time it’s needed.

36

If you want to shrink something,
you must first allow it to expand.
If you want to get rid of something,
you must first allow it to flourish.
If you want to take something,
you must first allow it to be given.
This is called the subtle perception
of the way things are.

The soft overcomes the hard.
The slow overcomes the fast.
Let your workings remain a mystery.
Just show people the results.

–Tao Te Ching, Steven Mitchell Translation

Always remember that he soft overcomes the hard. Less is more.