Post by Kivawolfspeaker on Jun 15, 2006 22:49:49 GMT -5
Tao Living
Breaking Free
by Derek Lin
Once there was a thief who had mastered the art of thievery. His exploits were legendary. His son looked up to him and wished to walk in his footsteps.
The son trained hard to practice the skills of theft, but he knew the training could not compare to the real thing. With the impatience of youth, he frequently asked his father to take him along on a heist, but his father always said he wasn't ready.
"When will I be ready, Father?" He would ask.
"You'll see."
One night, the thief told his son to follow him. Finally, the son thought, a chance for real action!
Together they moved stealthily into a large mansion. Once inside, the thief pointed to a door and motioned for the son to enter. The son went in and saw that it was only a closet. He turned around just as his father closed the door on him and locked it.
He whispered urgently: "Father, what are you doing? Let me out!"
Instead of unlocking the door, the thief went running down the hallway, yelling "Thief! Thief!" Then he fled outside and disappeared into the night.
The son was trapped. Awaken by the disturbance, the residents of the mansion got up to investigate. The servants banded together to conduct a room-by-room search.
The son had to free himself, but how? An idea occurred to him. When the servants came closer to the closet, he made mouse noises.
Reacting to this, the servants unlocked the closet door to take a look. The son sprang into action. He kicked the door wide open and pushed the servants aside as he ran for his life.
Once out of the mansion, the son was able to get away. He made it back home, where he found his father waiting for him. "Welcome back," his father said. "Tell me how you escaped."
The son gave a detailed report. When he was done, he saw his father nodding. "Now you are ready to be a thief," said his father with a smile.
This story is about an important transition in Tao cultivation: from studying the Tao as an academic subject to living its teachings as a way of life.
The art of thievery symbolizes the spiritual quest. The son's goal of becoming a thief is like our journey toward enlightenment. This journey can take quite a bit of time, so we sometimes become impatient, just like the son. We may feel stuck and wonder why we cannot progress quickly from ignorance to mastery.
The training that the son went through is similar to our reading of books about the Tao. Just as the son realized that his training was not the real thing, sooner or later we also realize that reading books cannot compare to actual cultivation.
While we can certainly benefit from reading, there is a gap between academic knowledge and the living, breathing wisdom of the Tao. There are people who read volumes of books and yet experience no significant change in their lives. Oftentimes this is because they are trapped by the words they read.
For instance, they may come across the teaching of ziran, or naturalness. The Tao follows the laws of nature, so we should also act from our natural selves. This is a great concept, so they decide they should also live in accordance with nature, like the sages.
But something is not quite right. They may show up late for a meeting or an appointment, and when friends ask if everything is okay, they explain that the tardiness is simply due to their effortless way of doing what comes naturally. They overslept, but that's okay, because they were following nature.
Upon hearing this, a sage would ask: "Which aspect of nature?"
This question seems simple, but it is not. Nature, like the great Tao, is all-encompassing. In terms of processes, nature offers progression, stagnation, and regression. They are all part of nature. Certainly we should follow nature, but which of these aspects should we follow, exactly?
In terms of evolution, we find development as well extinction in nature. Both are natural, so which path shall we take with respect to spirituality? Will we evolve naturally, or will we be naturally eliminated?
When we emulate nature without the clarity of this insight, we are likely to fall into the default option of inertia and whim. This is a path that leads nowhere, so we end up exactly where we started.
We can break out of this pattern by realizing that being natural does not mean following random thoughts of the moment. Instead, it means consciously aligning our actions and decisions with spiritual goals so they become easy and effortless.
This is the key realization that sets us free. It releases the lock on the trap. Like the son springing into action, we burst out of confinement, push aside the obstacle of words, and regain liberty.
What we really want is not the freedom to do whatever we feel like at the moment. Living that way limits us to a level of spirituality we cannot transcend, so it is actually a prison.
What we really need is the natural self-discipline of the Tao. When we flow with this discipline and move steadily forward, we have the ability to, in time, take our spiritual practice to any level we wish, with no limits. This is the true meaning of freedom.
Having broken free, we are able to return home – to the Tao. As we look back on our escape, we can smile in knowing that, now, we are ready… to truly begin cultivation and live the teachings of the Tao as a way of life!
from www.truetao.org
Breaking Free
by Derek Lin
Once there was a thief who had mastered the art of thievery. His exploits were legendary. His son looked up to him and wished to walk in his footsteps.
The son trained hard to practice the skills of theft, but he knew the training could not compare to the real thing. With the impatience of youth, he frequently asked his father to take him along on a heist, but his father always said he wasn't ready.
"When will I be ready, Father?" He would ask.
"You'll see."
One night, the thief told his son to follow him. Finally, the son thought, a chance for real action!
Together they moved stealthily into a large mansion. Once inside, the thief pointed to a door and motioned for the son to enter. The son went in and saw that it was only a closet. He turned around just as his father closed the door on him and locked it.
He whispered urgently: "Father, what are you doing? Let me out!"
Instead of unlocking the door, the thief went running down the hallway, yelling "Thief! Thief!" Then he fled outside and disappeared into the night.
The son was trapped. Awaken by the disturbance, the residents of the mansion got up to investigate. The servants banded together to conduct a room-by-room search.
The son had to free himself, but how? An idea occurred to him. When the servants came closer to the closet, he made mouse noises.
Reacting to this, the servants unlocked the closet door to take a look. The son sprang into action. He kicked the door wide open and pushed the servants aside as he ran for his life.
Once out of the mansion, the son was able to get away. He made it back home, where he found his father waiting for him. "Welcome back," his father said. "Tell me how you escaped."
The son gave a detailed report. When he was done, he saw his father nodding. "Now you are ready to be a thief," said his father with a smile.
This story is about an important transition in Tao cultivation: from studying the Tao as an academic subject to living its teachings as a way of life.
The art of thievery symbolizes the spiritual quest. The son's goal of becoming a thief is like our journey toward enlightenment. This journey can take quite a bit of time, so we sometimes become impatient, just like the son. We may feel stuck and wonder why we cannot progress quickly from ignorance to mastery.
The training that the son went through is similar to our reading of books about the Tao. Just as the son realized that his training was not the real thing, sooner or later we also realize that reading books cannot compare to actual cultivation.
While we can certainly benefit from reading, there is a gap between academic knowledge and the living, breathing wisdom of the Tao. There are people who read volumes of books and yet experience no significant change in their lives. Oftentimes this is because they are trapped by the words they read.
For instance, they may come across the teaching of ziran, or naturalness. The Tao follows the laws of nature, so we should also act from our natural selves. This is a great concept, so they decide they should also live in accordance with nature, like the sages.
But something is not quite right. They may show up late for a meeting or an appointment, and when friends ask if everything is okay, they explain that the tardiness is simply due to their effortless way of doing what comes naturally. They overslept, but that's okay, because they were following nature.
Upon hearing this, a sage would ask: "Which aspect of nature?"
This question seems simple, but it is not. Nature, like the great Tao, is all-encompassing. In terms of processes, nature offers progression, stagnation, and regression. They are all part of nature. Certainly we should follow nature, but which of these aspects should we follow, exactly?
In terms of evolution, we find development as well extinction in nature. Both are natural, so which path shall we take with respect to spirituality? Will we evolve naturally, or will we be naturally eliminated?
When we emulate nature without the clarity of this insight, we are likely to fall into the default option of inertia and whim. This is a path that leads nowhere, so we end up exactly where we started.
We can break out of this pattern by realizing that being natural does not mean following random thoughts of the moment. Instead, it means consciously aligning our actions and decisions with spiritual goals so they become easy and effortless.
This is the key realization that sets us free. It releases the lock on the trap. Like the son springing into action, we burst out of confinement, push aside the obstacle of words, and regain liberty.
What we really want is not the freedom to do whatever we feel like at the moment. Living that way limits us to a level of spirituality we cannot transcend, so it is actually a prison.
What we really need is the natural self-discipline of the Tao. When we flow with this discipline and move steadily forward, we have the ability to, in time, take our spiritual practice to any level we wish, with no limits. This is the true meaning of freedom.
Having broken free, we are able to return home – to the Tao. As we look back on our escape, we can smile in knowing that, now, we are ready… to truly begin cultivation and live the teachings of the Tao as a way of life!
from www.truetao.org