Laozi

LAOZI

REALITY BALANCING BOOK

The dao de ching is often described as enigmatic. That is the inevitable quality of something which is an exploration of profound reality. It  also follows that such an exploration is non-prescriptive, because profound reality doesn’t differentiate between good and bad. Those are human inventions.

The type of reality I speak of here, is that which is called  the way , dao or tao in this book. It is written as

道

and is composed of the components “head” and “walk”. I like to imagine this reality as an all encompassing river with no edges. We float on that river as individuals and as a community on something like a log or a branch. We are ants moving around on that branch, thinking one place or another on that branch is better.

This “reality” I speak of is the same as a deeper sense of nature, the one which encompasses humanity as just a tiny part of it. Our sense of self becomes lost if we dwell in such thoughts, yet our sense of self is so overwhelming in our day to day lives. How do we balance this sense of self with not only this deep reality, but also with all those other selves we share this world with? This challenge is what  de or te addresses. I think of the daoist

德

(de) as; a balance of heart (the self) and eyes (the outside world), standing upright and moving forward. (Many scholarly writings cover the difficult to grasp concept of the chinese “de”; and the confucian “de” versus the daoist “de”.) This balancing is the challenge which sentient beings face. The dao de ching is a tool which helps some of us when dealing with this difficult balancing.

The writing which follows is not an attempt at translation, but merely a kind of artistic interpretation. It is something which helps me to gain insight into each verse of the dao de ching, which I think of as "the reality balancing book". If it helps me, maybe it will help somebody else, that is why I share it here.

道

I start with verse 1 from the Wang Pi translation but, I feel it is better not to pay too much attention to the numbering system but more attention to the flow of the thoughts. When the verses flow into each other they become more coherent.

道

The thoughts that I can possess are not Reality.

The ideas I can express are not the Truth.

The nameless is the origin of all things.

The named is the mother of all things.

When I am without longing

I can experience the subtle mystery.

When I have longing

I can experience my boundaries.

Both states spring from the same source,

though they are given different names.

I move between one and the other,

Breathing one in, holding and then letting go.

There is a darkness here,

and that darkness is the gateway to the subtle mystery.

~

When I experience separateness,

I experience both the pleasant and the unpleasant.

The separateness is illusory.

Being and Nothingness are two glimpses of a single thing.

Male and Female

Lightness and Darkness

Front and Back

The awareness of one, depends on the other.

When I live this truth.

I embrace my innate action.

And leave behind my contrived action.

When I embrace my innate action

I am never separated from existence.

~

Not glorifing individuals prevents contentious interactions.

Not valuing possessions prevents stealing.

Not displaying desirable things prevents the mind from being unsettled.

This is why I empty my thoughts and feed my belly.

Why I weaken my ambition and but strengthen my bones.

I allow myself to let go of ambitions and desires and forget to act.

Without action everything is already in order.

~

Reality clears away and makes use of emptiness

It has no boundaries like the mother of all things.

By living, I subdue its sharpness,

separate its confusion,

Soften its brightness.

I mingle with its dust.

Its presence is so profound it barely seems to exist.

I can not know its nature

but it gives me glimpses of the Origin.

~

Reality has no sympathy for our point of view.

It treats all things as expendable.

All life is washed cleaned and then recharged again.

The more it washes away the more it can recharge.

Too much information overwhelms and makes it hard to remain centered.

~

The attraction of things is forever.

It is a mystery which never dies.

The entrance to this mystery is the origin of existence.

Its presence is ethereal yet everywhere at once.

Use does not deplete it.

~

Existence is infinitely wide and infinitely lasting.

Existence is such because it does not create itself.

The sage within me can learn from this example.

I can stand back and come to the front.

I can separate myself and become more present.

By freeing myself of self-interest,

I can accomplish what is needed.

~

The highest fairness is like water.

Water touches all things but does not contend.

It is fair to all things yet dwells in the places

forsaken by the crowds.

This makes it like Reality.

I am fair to my home when I am present.

I am fair to my heart when I am deep.

I am fair to my speech when it is truthful.

I am fair to my plans when I am content.

I am fair to my work when I focus on my skills.

I am fair to my movement when my timing is right.

I find when I don’t contend, I don’t take on worries.

~

I am better off when I refrain from grasping for more.

Achievements are forgotten with time.

My possessions can not bring me contentment.

Exalting myself, only brings me unease.

I will simply withdraw when my work as done.

That is the example of Nature.

~

While;

I fill myself with life can I maintain balance?

I focus my life’s work can I remain as open as a baby?

I engage the dark mysteries can I see the perfection therein?

I engage with others can I proceed with intuitive action?

I see death is near can I accept it with peace?

I have reached the extent of my knowledge can I know nothing?

Profound Reality;

gives birth to all things and nurtures them.

gives birth but does not possess.

nurtures but does not control.

Practicing this is, mysterious humanity.

16

If I am still,

I can witness the birth and the death of the world.

It is everchanging but it never changes.

It is the change which makes it constant.

I am at peace if I remember this.

I find myself acting without thought.

Moving as though I know already.

If I must think about trust, then trust is lost.

I move carefully but naturally.

“This is me.”

I know the times of disconnection.

When I feel mechanical and fake.

I just go through the motions without feeling.

Forget the plans,

Forget the outrage,

Forget the conversations with myself.

There is something that lies below, and above it all.

It is simple and plain.

I can see it if I am not distracted by the intricate designs.

When I learn to not learn.

I feel my worries melt away.

What difference does it make to live or die.

To laugh or cry.

We are forever trapped in fear.

It is garbage! this drawing distinctions will never end!

Such joy, such purpose, such dedication.

Oh the rewards!

But not for me, I am alone and still.

Feeling dazed and wondering.

How foggy and uncertain it all seems.

My path is a different one.

My path holds true to the mother who birthed us all.

Holding true to the mother is my essence.

From outside, this path seems foggy.

How neblous and blurred it all seems.

But there are faint hints of shapes and forms.

It is so deep and dark

Yet within it there is an essence.

It has lived throughout all of time.

And we have taken its shape.

How can I tell what shape it is?

We are the shape of it.

It is easy to forget

that I do not create reality

I am created by it.

Finding the path of least resistance

is disguised as my choice.

We bump our heads against reality

and bow down to it, conforming ourselves to it.

Knowing this, and accepting this is called wise.

The sage diminishes the self and finds peace.

It is natural to be without ambition.

I can resolve to improve myself and this world,

But they are only thoughts and will soon fade with time.

Our words matter little, we are carried by the current of reality.

Our heart and our connections guide us through life.

In passing, letting go allows us to move forward.

If I must think about trust, then trust is lost.

I pursue, yet I never arrive.

I see myself, but I am not enlightened.

This truth remains hidden from me.

My ambitions are extraneous sentiments.

Reality does not dwell there long.

There is a thing confused, then complete before the earth and sky existed.

It remains, silent, omnipresent and unchanging.

We can imagine it as the beginning of existence but it remains nameless.

I will think of it as “reality”.

If I must give it a word, I will call it the “formless form”.

It both grows and recedes.

We look toward the earth,

the earth looks toward the sky

the sky towards reality

and reality toward the formless form.

It is the center that allows us lightness.

It is the stillness which allows us to act.

We may flit about with our thoughts and sympathies.

Chatting with others and occupying ourselves with superfluous tasks.

But we are only free from worry when we know our center.

If there is always action then the stillness is lost.

If there is always lightness then the center is lost.

When we are adept, our movements are silent

When we are adept, our movements are invisible.

When we are adept we move without thought.

Our actions appear only as natural extensions.

When I am wise, I waste nothing,

No person, thing, words or thought.

Sometimes I move as a teacher.

Sometimes I move as a student.

They both require each other and neither one is superior.

This wondrous mystery shows itself as confusion.

My thoughts are active.

My heart remains passive.

I inhabit the lowest position.

By inhabiting the lowest position,

I can see my way forward.

I am a child again.

I think of perfection,

But I remain imperfect.

Simplicity is enough for me,

it brings me contentment.

I feel bliss and sorrow,

but I live with calmness.

This is how I feel empathy.

My choices are not my own.

My choices arise without thought.

If I try to order the world, I will fail.

I can only live within the world’s order.

It’s mystery is not mine to own.

Striving only leaves me forlorn.

In this world, sometimes we lead

and sometimes we follow.

Sometimes we are bold,

and sometimes we are meek.

When I am wise I do not yearn for unneeded things.

When taking action, I do not seek triumph.

Such a path is likely to bring desolation at some point.

To fulfill my purpose is all that is needed of me.

When I am done I move on to the next thing.

I do not boast of what I have accomplished.

I do not dwell in triumphalism.

I think of this as being resolute without winning.

Fixing the world, moves against reality.

What moves against reality does not last long.

Reality can’t be grasped,

its essence is small,

yet it can’t be contained.

If it could be grasped

a Oneness would prevail over all things.

I put things in order

and give names to the things

I come across in my world.

It gives me comfort, but

it also cuts me off from the essence of Reality.

My small life is like a trickle of water,

flowing into a small stream, then a larger stream

then a river and eventually the Sea.

All the water is joined as one.

It is only my Self which needs to give them separate names.

I feel my Self drawn to engage the outside world.

I want people to adore me

and possess the rewards that come with it.

Contentment can only be glimpsed by looking inside myself.

This is also how I can find my place in the world.

I join my work with that of others

so that it can live on in their lives

when I am gone.

Reality flows out in all directions.

It permeates and fills all things.

Yet it possesses no thing.

By possessing no thing it makes itself small.

By touching all things it makes itself great.

When I know this, I can see the greatness inside myself.

I know if I remember the nature of Reality,

I will not be forgotten.

The world will come to me

and find peace in my presence.

If I try to put words on it

the words sound bland and vague.

Yet this memory is inexhaustable.

In all action there is a time of release and a time of possession.

And a time of possession and then release.

Knowing the inevitability of this, helps me glimpse contentment.

Letting go will always ease my fears.

I move through my life as if an actor in a play

but without seeing the script or the lines.

I can not know the story of my life before it happens.

Reality can never be possessed.

If I find peace within in it.

All things will appear natural.

If they seek to become unnatural.

Reality will define their boundaries.

Such boundaries cause no disgrace.

Without disgrace there is peace.

This is where truth resides.

德

(The Ma-Wang-Tui Manuscript starts out with the following verse as the beginning of the Te section.)

德

If I find my place in the world

I feel no need to insist upon it.

When I am searching to find my place

that is when I feel the need to declare my self-importance.

As such my place is lost.

If I have found my place there is no need to struggle or justify.

If I feel empathy I might struggle but have no need to justify.

If I need acclaim, first I will struggle then I will justify.

If I only follow the example of others I will struggle but no one will respond.

Then I will be left feeling frustrated.

When Reality is lost I am left with layers.

Each layer becomes one step further removed from Reality.

That is why I choose to find contentment within my place in the world.

~

In the past,

The Sky, the Earth, the land, the water, the essence and the people

have all attained Oneness and found their place in the world.

Yet if this were possible the Sky, the Earth, the water, the essence and the people would all seize to exist.

What is left for me is acceptance.

I am only special because I am so ordinary.

When I lead myself through this life I try to remember how ordinary I am.

By seeking the approval of others,

I am left with nothing for myself.

So I find comfort in who I am,

not who I might be.

~

At times I can see and hear echoes of reality,

but I find it hard to join with.

Other times the echoes of reality fade in and out,

sometimes they are there and sometimes they are lost.

And other times I can only laugh at the echoes

when I hear them on someone else’s lips.

If I didn’t laugh at times, it would not be reality.

There are old sayings which teach many befuddling paradoxes,

such as;

Brightness is dim,

Forward is backward,

Smooth is bumpy,

Striving to be good is bad,

Great whiteness seems black.

The great square has no corners.

The great sound can’t be heard.

The great image has no form.

Reality is hidden and can’t be given a name.

Only reality is good at enabling all things to take their shape.

~

Reality moves backwards.

Reality does not achieve.

All life was born from existence.

All existence was born from non-existence.

~

Reality is not divided.

Though we perceive reality as divided.

And we see ourselves as separated from one another.

We all carry with us the world we were born into

and at the same time we yearn for a different world.

The two clash, join together and bring forth the present,

It is the present which defines harmony.

Those things which others reject I will embrace.

By embracing those things I will become less separate.

My innate action will not bring me catastrophe.

I will use this as my guiding principle.

~

The softest things in existence overwhelm the hardest things.

Space penetrates all things. This is how I know the advantage of innate action.

The map without lines, moving with innate action,

few know the advantage of these things.

德

How others know me or how I know myself,

which is more precious?

My life or my property,

which is more important?

To win or to lose,

which is a greater burden?

My attachments to this world come at great cost.

When finding contentment and peace,

I avoid anguish and danger.

This allows me to be present and see the world clearly.

~

Perfection has already been realized.

Completeness is already present.

My truth has already been spoken.

My accomplishments have already been achieved.

My needs have already been met.

My fluency is at its height.

It is natural to move when still for too long,

And to rest when moving for too long.

With stillness and effortlessness I am complete.

~

I am born of Reality and reared to fulfill my true nature;

Reality births us,

Nurtures us,

Rears us,

Follows us,

Shelters us,

Tempers us,

Sustains us,

Protects us,

Reality originates, but does not take credit,

It acts but does not assume,

It rears but does not demand.

This is our model of profound Nature.



52

All things have a beginning

which I call the origin.

By observing the origin

I can know the descendants.

After knowing the descendants

I can return to abide with the origin.

And know a peaceful existence.

I can put a check on my senses and emotions,

and know my life will remain full.

Allowing my self to be overwhelmed by my senses and emotions

I know leads to inner distress.

Seeing the small things is clarity

Yielding to the large is powerful.

~

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