James Frey, A Million Little Pieces
Okay...I am addicted to the Tao lol. Just like James Frey in A Million Little Pieces I am transferring my energy to it so I can heal. Of course, it is one of the many things I use to heal from my thinking addiction(which is probably the root cause of most addictions).
There is so much ancient wisdom in the east and it has taken centuries for the West to open up to it. Amazing really. Hmmm! The Toa offers such wisdom.
So what I would like to do, is interpret eight verses at a time. Eight is the sacred number in the East (well 108 is) only because it represents the symbol of infinity maybe? I don't know but anyway. I will do eight at a time. So every few days I will post my interpretations of those eight here.
Please know they are just my interpretations. I read James Legge because he is my chosen translator and try to understand what he meant quickly and from the heart. I often then go back to other translators as well, just to compare. The differences can be astounding! Goes to show what Lao Tzu tried to teach...that the sage should instruct without speech. Words can sometimes get in the way of what was meant.
Anyway here are the first eight:
How do we understand the first eight verses of the Tao?
Verse One
We need to understand that beyond what we can see and understand
with our physical forms, beyond what we can name and label with our minds… the
Tao exists. It is the path…the way for
all of us. It a way to healing. But we
cannot get there with our ‘little me’ or ego focus. We cannot understand it conceptually with our
minds …it needs to be experienced as the Great Mystery it is. We need to let go
of what we think we know about it, about Life, about the world and each other
and accept that we do not know.
The world is full of amazing contrast, what we refer to as opposites. Opposites are like two sides of the same coin
and that is okay….both sides are equally valuable and equally valueless. We do not need to judge anything as good or
bad…just accept it for simply being what it is.
We need this contrast. At the
same time we must realize that we make judgments about it in our mind and that
can create resistance to what is. The wise
person doesn’t do. The wise person
focuses more on being than doing. The
wise person goes beyond speech…beyond words and mental concepts to teach. Presence or being with the way is the best teacher. When we are present we go beyond a need to judge
and interpret, to own, to compete, to cling or to do for the sake of
reward, achievement and recognition. We just are
and we allow things to just be.
Third Verse
We must put away our ego tendencies if we want the world to become
a more peaceful place. We need to put
away our own individual desires to own, to flaunt, to be recognized, to be
special or better than…if we want to stop tempting others into self and other
destructive behaviours. The wise man leads others to a state of peace and
social order through helping them empty their minds of tired old belief systems
and conceptual knowledge, takes care of their bodies by filling their bellies,
reduces the power of their egos so they learn to stop resisting life and strengthens
their stability and solidity(their bones). It starts with one mind…our
own. When we have peace and stillness,
good order is universal.
Forth Verse
This verse speaks to the infinite emptiness, the infinite
spaciousness of the Tao. I really see Buddhist like ideology in this verse. The Tao
is deep, unfathomable and a mystery that we will never understand with our
conceptual minds. It is the oldest of the old and came before our understanding
of God (This translation uses the word God…but I don’t know if Lao Tzu would
have. Other translations use the word
…gods, or time etc)
Fifth Verse
Heaven and Earth and the Sage who understands them does not act to
be “good”…they just are. All beings, all things are treated without judgment,
attachment and ideas of specialness. They are treated as sacrificial toys
or humble and useless things (https://chinese.stackexchange.com/questions/13325/the-meaning-of-grass-dogs-dogs-of-grass)
There is a space between Heaven and Earth; between the physical and the non
physical. That space is like a bellows (
an instrument used by Blacksmith’s that expanded and contracted to let air
out). Even when this space is contracted and apparently empty…when we cannot
see it…it is still there and it doesn’t lose its power. And then when it is expanded and working we
can feel the air of it. The more we speak of it and use conceptual knowledge to understand it, the more tired we
become. We cannot understand it this
way. The inner being is always there guarding
the Tao, allowing it to flow freely but we cannot see that or understand
that…we cannot explain that with words or actions. It must be experienced.
Sixth Verse
In Verse sixth we speak of the eternalness of the Tao. This spiritual essence which is the way
tucked into the valley of the physical does not die. It is actually a feminine
mystery…and is often referred to as The
Great Mother in other translations. It is the root from which heaven and
earth grew. This makes me think of the
female womb, the root chakra. It is long
and unbroken, meaning that it is infinite and indestructible as is its power. It can be used gently without force or
masculine aggression…and without pain.
Seventh Verse
Heaven endures forever and earth has continued for as long as it
did because they did not live for themselves but for all beings. There is no egoic selfishness in them. Therefore the wise put away their egos and
put the little ‘self’ last. By so doing they find the ‘Greater Self’, the
true Self. The sage treats the ‘little me’ as foreign to his or herself and the
real Self is preserved by doing so. It
isn’t that they have no personal needs.
It is just that these needs are met because they are not ego needs but
the needs of the One Self. The Tao provides
Eighth Verse
In the eighth verse the Tao is compared to the excellence of water. Like water, it benefits everything. In its easy natural flow it can occupy all
things easily and go to those low places man would rather not go. It does not strive or fight its way there…it
just flows. There is also an analogy of
a residence in this verse. A residence is
a home, a place to live and excellence is defined as suitability. Legge’s
translation teaches that the mind is a suitable place to live if it is still;
relationships are suitable if they are virtuous; leadership is suitable if it
secures good order…actions and affairs are suitable if there is ability and all
movement is suitable as long as it is timely. The biggest take away here is that if we as humans do not fight or resist where
we are even if we deem it to be a low position we are showing excellence,
suitability for life and no one will find fault with us. We do not resist the
flow we go with it. We go with the flow
of Tao.
Well that is what I think and feel anyway. and we know how valuable that is lol...
References or to-reads
Frey, James (2005) A Million Little Pieces Sixth Edition. Random House Canada; Toronto
Legge, J. (1891) Lao Tzu's Tao Te Ching. https://www.sacred-texts.com/tao/taote.htm
Tao Te Ching Translation Comparison https://ttc.tasuki.org/display:Code:gff,sm,jhmd,jc,rh/section:1
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