S.W.B., The Tao Te Ching

2 years ago

The Tao Te Ching

So i’m reading this book and the idea of Taoism is interesting. Its very difficult to describe tho, because “the Tao that can be described is not the true Tao.” If one were to describe it Tao is defined as “the way” or the “true path”. It is the mother of everything and therefore humans cannot understand what it is, “they can only understand what it is not”. Here’s a quote from the book:

Humanity follows the Earth

The Earth follows Heaven

Heaven follows the Tao

And the Tao follows what is natural

Taoism follows a few principles. The Tao or The Way as i have mentioned. There is the principle of “Wu Wei” which means “action without action” or effortless doing. It sound very paradoxical but think about it this way. A tree does not sit there and try to grow from a seed, it just does naturally. Water is very yielding, soft and weak, but it can carve mountains and move stone. It says people should not try to exert their will against the world, but place there will in harmony with the natural universe. I’m still trying to figure out what that means but it sounds good, lol.

Another principle (and i think probably the best one) is the principle of P’u which translates into an Uncarved Block. It represents a passive state of receptiveness. P’u is a symbol for a state of pure potential and perception without prejudice. In this state, Taoists believe everything is seen as it is, without preconceptions or illusion.

P’u is usually seen as keeping oneself in the primordial state of tao. It is believed to be the true nature of the mind, unburdened by knowledge or experiences. In the state of p’u, there is no right or wrong, beautiful or ugly. There is only pure experience, or awareness, free from learned labels and definitions. It is this state of being that is the goal of following wu wei. (taken from wikipedia).

It sounds like they just want you to sit and meditate all day, but i don’t percieve it this way. I perceive it in the way that someone that is an uncarved block is constantly learning. Not burdened by ego and not learning until they get to a certain point (the point being the finished sculpture in the metaphor) but constantly learning about the things around them and gaining experiences. For example, a white belt is always learning new things about their art every day, once they become black belts, there is a certain ego that comes with it. A sort of “i know what i’m doing” attitude that impedes them from learning much more. Wouldn’t one want to stay a white belt to learn as much as possible?

Anyway, its a cool idea either way, but i’m still reading the book.
Notes

The Tao Te Ching

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