The ancient sages of China gleaned their deepest insights by observing snow fall and seasons turn, by watching planets orbit and tides change. Through keen observation of nature, they understood that all life follows the same basic patterns. They looked up and gave the name Heaven to the natural world functioning above. The looked down and gave the name Earth to nature functioning under foot. The looked within and gave the name Humanity to nature functioning as body and mind. They saw these three as a trinity in unity. They noticed the whole of creation was reflected in each of its parts. An atom is a miniature solar system. A human body is a miniature universe. The inner world they called the micro-cosmos, the outer world they called the macro-cosmos.
In the words of the Tao Te Ching...
Something mysteriously formed,
Born before heaven and earth.
In the silence and the void,
Standing alone and unchanging,
Ever present and in motion.
Perhaps it is the mother of the ten thousand things.
I do not know its name.
Call it Tao.
For lack of a better word, I call it great.
The Way of Tao is the way of nature. The way of nature is spontaneous and uncontrived. It acts without thinking and accomplishes without trying. It is an ever-flowing procession. To move with it is to last forever.
At the very root of the Way of Tao is the observation of polarity. Ancient sages did not create the concept of polarity and set it as a axiom of their philosophy. They simply noticed that the entire phenomenal world--from plants, to planets to thought--operates through interplay of complementary opposites. They called these two yin and yang. These were not intended as esoteric terms. In fact "yin" simply means the shady side of the hill, while "yang" means the sunny side.
The Judeo-Christian mind, with its deep love for opposition and conflict, sees polarity as another fight between light and dark, good and evil, God and devil. The basic principal of polarity then becomes the grounds for an entire philosophy that sets man on a quest to remove half the polarity he deems low, dark and evil. He projects this judgment on everything he sees and is thus in conflict all creation. Yet, night cannot be separated from day, any more than "heads" can be separated from "tails". Although polarity points to a relationship between two things, in reality the two are one: a coin with two sides, a magnet with two poles. Notions of dualism and vertical hierarchy are irrelevant in light of the Taoist notion of yin/yang.
The yang transforms and the yin conserves. The yang and the yin manifest as movement and rest: yang moves to tis utmost, then rests; yin rest to its utmost, then moves. Therfore, yin rest within yang, and yang moves within yin; the two are inseparably interwoven. It is this as a single unit that they are one with Tao.
- Chu Hsi (11th century AD)
A follower of the Way sees life's mysterious procession and jumps in wholeheartedly. Avoiding fixed ideas and mechanical thinking they remain supple and natural in all life's circumstances. Not constructing philosophies, they have less to carry and nothing guard. With nothing to guard, there is nothing to lose. With nothing to lose, there is no fear and no death.
From the perspective of Tao there is no real death, only change. Everything is in a constant process of becoming something else. This means there are no things, only tendencies. Nothing stays put long enough to be truly fixed and named. Nothing. Not even you. Take your body, for example. Some short years ago you were as tall as fire hydrant. Before that, a mass of dividing cells. Soon a large tree will grow out of the lump of soil that you once called your body. Now consider mind, emotions, and intelligence: all are temporary, changing.
An adept looks at all of life's compulsory activities and makes them an art form: breathing, cooking, eating, sleeping, working, moving, dying. Making them an art form is not learning some fancy or esoteric way of living--quite the contrary! To deregulate the activities life down to their essential, undistorted nature is the way of Tao.
Words are running out,
I have already said too much.
If more could be written about Tao,
It would only count for less.
Many have spoken of Tao;
Endless volumes have been written.
Poetic words are fingers
Pointing at moon's reflection.
Don't stay on the shore
Like a spectator.
Dive in,
Taste Tao for yourself.
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