Tao Jam.

I have been reading Deng Ming-Dao's book 365TAO for several months, a little bit at a time.  I wanted to share some of my favorite segments thusfar.  Original translations of the Tao are in bold, with the author's comments in italics.

1.  Reflection

Moon above Water

Sit in Solitude

If waters are placid, the moon is mirrored perfectly.  If we can still ourselves, we will mirror the divine perfectly.  But, if we engage solely in the frenetic activities of our daily involvements, if we seek to impose our own schemes on the natural order, and if we allow ourselves to become absorbed in self-centered views, the surface of our waters becomes turbulent.  There is no effort we can make to still ourselves.  True stillness comes organically through moments of solitude where we allow our minds to settle.  As water seeks it's own level, the mind will gravitate toward the holy.  Muddy water will become clear if allowed to stand undisturbed, and so too will the mind become clear if it is allowed to be still.  Neither the water nor the moon make any effort to achieve a reflection. 

2. Sound and Silence

Wind in a cave: movement in stillness, power in silence.

When listening with the spirit instead of the ear, one can perceive the subtle sound of supreme purity.  The deepest sound is silence.  Silence is not absence of sound, life, or variation.  Silence is sound unified with all it's opposites.  Both sound and soundlessness.

3. Emerging

Growth comes with a shock.  Expression and duration appear in the first moment.

All growth comes with a shock.  When a seedling appears, it carries with it the complete pattern for its growth, and even the makings of an enormous tree.  Although time and right conditions are necessary, neither of these things adds anything to the inherent nature of the seedling.  The growth and character of the plant- and its very life- are all present at the moment of emerging.

4. Work

Splitting wood is both action and inaction.

If the wood splitter works against the grain, the blow is wasted.  If he tries to add weight to the swing of the axe, there is no gain.  Whether it is the time or method, true labor is half initiative, and half knowing how to allow things to proceed on their own.

5. Disaster

Mute black night, sudden fire.  Destruction.

Disaster changes us deeply, but it will pass.  We keep our deeper convictions, remember ourselves, and WE decide whether to remain the ash or become the Phoenix.

6.  Healing

Fire cools.  Water seeks it's own level.

Natural events balance themselves by seeking their opposites, and dynamic balance is at the heart of all healing.  Slight imbalances allow movement in life.  Total centering and balance would only be stasis.  All life is continual destruction and healing, over and over again.  In the midst of the extreme, the wise are patient, knowing that healing follows upheaval.

7. Positioning

Heron stands in the blue estuary.

How do we follow the Way?  It is as easy as the heron standing in the water.  The bird moves when it must, but it does not move when stillness is appropriate.  The secret of it's serenity is its type of vigilance, a contemplative state. Not mere dumbness or sleep, but lucid stillness.  It stands unmoving, gazes unperturbed, and is aware.  When Tao brings it something he needs, he seizes the opportunity without deliberation or hesitation.  When life presents US with an opportunity, we must be ready to seize it without hesitation or inhibition.  Position is useless without awareness.  If we have both, we make no mistakes.

8. Spectrum: refraction and returning to focus.

Pure light is all colors.  Only when singleness is scattered does light appear.

The same is true of Tao.  In its pure state it embodies everything.  Thus it displays nothing.  As pure light has all colors, yet shows no color, so too is all existence initially latent and without differentiation in Tao.  When Tao enters our worlds it explodes into myriad things.  We say all things owe their existence to Tao, yet really all things are refractions of it.  Colored light, when mixed together, becomes pure, bright light again.  Those who follow Tao constantly speak of returning.  There cannot be diversity within unity.

9. Skills

Zither, chess, book, painting, sword.

There was once a wanderer who cared nothing for fame.  He searched for teachers who could help him master five things: zither, chess, book, painting, and sword.  The zither gave him music for expressing his soul.  Chess cultivated strategy and response to others' actions.  Books gave him education.  Painting exercised beauty and sensitivity.  Sword was a means for health and defense.  He was once asked what he would do when he lost those five things.  At first he was frightened, until he realized that his zither could not play itself, chess was nothing without players, a book needed a reader, brush and ink could not move on their own accord, and the sword could not b unleashed without a hand.  Cultivation is not merely for the acquisition of skills.  It was a path to expression of innermost being.

10. Subjective. Observer Communicating.

Movement, objects, speech, and words: we communicate through gross symbols.

We are forever imprisoned by our subjectivity.  Followers of the Tao assert that we know no absolute truth in this world, only varying degrees of ambiguity.  All communication is relative.  Taoists are practical- they know that words are imperfect and therefore give them limited importance: the symbol is not the same as the reality.

11. Uselessness

An ancient, gnarled tree: too fibrous for a logger's saw, too twisted for a carpenters square, outlasts the whole forest.

Useful trees are cut down.  Useless ones survive. The same is true of people. The strong are conscripted, the beautiful are exploited, and those who are too plain to be noticed by others are the only ones to survive.  They are left alone and safe.  We must not accept the judgement of others as the measure of our worth.  Rather, we should live in simplicity.  Since we need not expend energy in putting on airs or maintaining a position, we are free to cultivate the best parts of ourselves.

12. Leadership through humble influence.

Know when and how to lead.

True leadership combines initiative and humility.  The best leader remains obscure, leading without drawing personal attention.  If the collective has direction, the leader has been effective.  Credit is not taken, but awarded when the people realize that it was the subtle influence of the leader that brought them success.