The ultimate truth does not belong to anyone or any religion. But the ultimate truth can have huge effects on the daily life of everybody. How can we learn the ultimate truth and achieve enlightenment?
Someone can point to you the location of the mountain top. But the pointing finger is not the mountain top itself. If you wish to reach the place, you will have to climb the mountain yourself. The destination is not where the fun is; the fun is in the journey. Books can only point to you the direction to find the ultimate truth. The books are not the ultimate truth itself. The ultimate truth cannot be expressed in words; intelligence cannot be transferred from one’s mind into another. If you wish to know the ultimate truth, you will have to learn it yourself. Knowing the ultimate truth is not where the fun is; the fun is in the journey of the quest.
Zhuang Zi saw a school of fish in the river. He said: “The fishes are swimming so freely and happily.” Hui Shi asked: “You are not the fishes. How do you know the fishes are happy?” Zhuang Zi said: “You are not me. How do you know whether I know the fishes are happy?” Hui Shi said: “I am not you, so I don’t know whether you know the fishes are happy. But you are not the fishes, so you cannot possibly know whether the fishes are happy.” Zhuang Zi said: “Let’s go back to your first question. You asked how I know the fishes are happy. That means you already know I know the fishes are happy.” Whether or not the fishes are happy is not important. Zhuang Zi was happy for the freedom of the fishes and that was all that matter to him. We don’t need to know who really know the ultimate truth. All that matter to us is we find happiness in the journey of the quest.
The secret of health for both mind and body is not to mourn for the past, worry about the future, or anticipate troubles, but to live in the present moment wisely and earnestly. The past is in the past; mourning for the past will not change the past but kill a lot of brain cells and bring no benefit at all. The future is in the future; worrying about the future will not change the future but kill a lot of brain cells. What you can change is the present moment; you can become a better self, plan for the future, and focus on what is possible to do now.
A king was reading a book. An old man was making a wheel outside the house. The old man asked the king: “What book are you reading?” The king said: “I am reading a book written by the Sage.” The old man asked: “Is the Sage still alive?” The king said: “He died long ago.” The old man sighed and said: “That means the book you are reading is just the waste matter of the forefather.” The king was angry and said: “What nonsense are you talking about? I give you a chance to explain. If you simply cook up the rubbish, I will cut off your head.” The old man said: “Please listen to me and don’t be angry. My work is making wheels. Please allow me to explain based on my experience in making wheel. When making a wheel, if we swing the knife too fast, we can save some energy but the wheel will not be round. If we swing the knife too slow, we will need more energy and time but the wheel will be round. The best way is to swing the knife not too fast or too slow. Use the heart to control the hand. But I have not been able to pass down the skills to my son. That is why I am still making wheel although I am already 70 years old. Using the same reasoning, the ultimate truth which the forefather acquired through enlightenment cannot be passed down. Isn’t that very obvious? Isn’t it true that the book you are reading is just the waste matter of the forefather?” Expecting to acquire the ultimate truth from the book is impossible. You can only get a hint from the book and do the thinking yourself in order to achieve enlightenment. How fast is too fast, how slow is too slow, how much is good, how little is bad, require not only knowledge but personal experience and intelligence to really make the right calls in various situations.
In the early stage of learning martial art, we follow exactly all the teachings from the master (守). To master the martial art, we need to be innovative and break some rules taught by the master (破). To achieve mastery of martial art, we need to leave the original form altogether such that we are totally flexible and not constrained by any form (离). We move based on the movement of the opponent, like water adapting to the changes. Bruce Lee learnt Weng Chun initially. He then founded Jeet Kune Do. He said: “Styles tend to not only separate men – because they have their own doctrines and then the doctrine became the gospel truth that you cannot change. But if you do not have a style, if you just say: Well, here I am as a human being, how can I express myself totally and completely? Now, that way you won’t create a style, because style is a crystallization. That way, it’s a process of continuing growth.” “Be like water making its way through cracks. Do not be assertive, but adjust to the object, and you shall find a way round or through it. If nothing within you stays rigid, outward things will disclose themselves.”
If we don’t have a teacher, we may never know there is such a thing called martial art. The first martial art ever invented from nothing would not be very sophisticated. Similarly, we would not do very well if we try to start from scratch and make no reference to any book. By standing on the shoulder of a giant, we are able to see further. We can make higher achievement. If we try to learn from nothing, we may learn nothing. If we start with ignorant and learn from no one, we will probably end with ignorant. That’s OK, if that is what we wish. Really, people from some parts of the world stay ignorant and never go to school their whole lives, and they stay happy until their very last day. Ignorant is not necessarily a bad thing. But the ingenuous people may not be able to survive in a “civilized” world where the people are mostly ingenious. If we start with a small empty space in our minds (i.e. mental space to absorb new knowledge), we will probably end with a small empty space when we die. But if we learn from a teacher some good things and some bad things, stretch out the rubber container of knowledge and make it bigger, and then unlearn all the rubbish, we will have a lot of empty space after the spring-cleaning. The initial empty space and the eventual empty space are both empty spaces, but they are just not the same, at least in term of the size.
Lao Zi said: “Learning new knowledge every day will give you more and more knowledge. However, you may start to have your own doctrines and then the doctrine become the gospel truth that you cannot change. To learn the ultimate truth or Dao, you need to unlearn the doctrines every day until you have no more desire to be rigid in your style of thinking; no more desire to create distinctions between right and wrong. Rigid distinctions between right and wrong are inaccurate. In the final stage, learning the ultimate truth or Dao requires a higher level of thinking: no more distinction of desire and no desire. Your thinking will be fluid like water, adapting to changes naturally. You will be able to express yourself honestly and completely and yet do no wrong.” (为学日益，为道日损。损之又损，以至于无为。无为而无不为。) Do whatever that makes you happy and never feel obligated to follow rules. Follow rules only when it leads to happiness, or it helps to avoid unhappy consequences. Focus on the objective of the rule rather than the rule itself. Rules are guidance or paths, not intelligence itself. Rules are only applicable in certain time and space. You won’t learn the ultimate truth by following written rules or paths.
Confucius said: “If a person has no compassion, his good manners are meaningless.” (人而不仁，如礼何？) A person who insists on following the rules even though the rules will cause disharmony is an uncompassionate person; following the rules defeat the purpose of the rules. This is the typical characteristic of bureaucracy. The “rulers” have forgotten that the use of rules is to create harmony (礼之用 和为贵). Confucius also said: “The forefathers didn’t know much about good manners and they were blunt because they were innocent (i.e. they had pure hearts). The later generations followed a better set of good manners and they displayed gentlemen behaviors. However, in term of the effectiveness or real benefit of good manners, I prefer the forefathers’ way.” (先进于礼乐，野人也；后进于礼乐，君子也。如用之，则吾从先进。) You must focus on what you want to achieve with the rules in the first place instead of strictly enforcing the rules. John Locke, commonly known as the “Father of Liberalism”, said: “The end of law is not to abolish or restrain, but to preserve and enlarge freedom.” We do need to have law, but the law enforcement shall not abolish or restrain freedom. Focusing on the rules of the rule-of-law will create an orderly society but with no spirit; focusing on the spirit/objective of the laws will create a society which is alive and full of spirit but naturally has some disorderly behaviors here and there.
Don’t grip strongly on Me (like saying “I am always right. I don’t need any book or teacher.”) (破我执), don’t grip strongly on knowledge and methods (like saying “the teacher said this is right and that is wrong, so we must follow”) (破法执), and don’t grip strongly on nothingness (like saying “I am wrong, you are wrong, everybody is wrong, nothing is right, and we follow no rules”) (破空执). You will miss it or lose it if you try to grip it strongly. The truth is not inside Me, not in the book, and we must not rely on nothing. We need a combination of Me (i.e. self-confidence), the book, and nothing (i.e. be innovative). What does the truth look like? The spirit of Yi Jing gives a good hint: the truth is simple in its form (简易), it changes constantly (变易), but there is a pattern which doesn’t change within the changes (不易). Learn not only the knowledge of Buddha, but the intelligence of Buddha. The intelligence is not in the book (万法皆空); the book only shows us the path. Memorizing the knowledge and reading the whole library of books insatiably will not make you intelligent (执则迷，迷则不悟). Conversely, when you attain the intelligent through enlightenment, you will not need any book anymore. There was no book. It was the intelligent which gave birth to the first book; not the other way around.
Climbing up a high mountain of a thousand foots has to start by stepping out the first step (百仞之高 始于足下). If you prophesied that you will not be able to make it, your prophecy will be fulfilled by yourself. If you doubt your capability to make it, you will give up halfway. If you decide to do it no matter you make it to the top or not, your first step may lead to your success. Whatever happens, the views along the way are worth the trip. What more can you ask for?
RESILIENT KID 