What do I like from Daoism?

What do I like from Daoism? Chung Boon Kuan’s answer to What are the first steps to becoming a Taoist? How do I become a member of Taoism?

The single most important word Lao Zi was told by his master on the dead bed was: Don’t be arrogant. 

The single most important word Lao Zi told his student Confucius was: Don’t be arrogant.

Everybody knows being arrogant is not good for oneself and the people around him. Yet, most people behave arrogantly. How is everybody arrogant? We are arrogant when we want to be right. We are arrogant when we choose to think we are right. In Buddhism, it is called clinging to views.

The first sentence in the Dao De Jing say: “Dao (ultimate truth) which can be expressed with words is not the true Dao (道可道也 非恒道也).” There is an ultimate truth but we say there is no absolute-right because it cannot be expressed with words. The ultimate truth is not a constant; it changes with time and space. We can never know everything about everything. So, what is there to be arrogant about? How can we assume we are right and anybody who disagrees with us must be wrong? At different times and spaces, what was right can become wrong, and what was wrong can become right.

I learn about Dao simply because I want to learn from Dao. Dao is my principal teacher. Knowing the path is not the same as walking the path. I practice Dao so that one day I can declare: I am one with the Dao, and the Dao is with me.

Dao has no desire. It doesn’t compete with anything. What Dao wants is nothing; no karma and no fruition. That is the perfect blissfulness of blamelessness (戒), equanimity (定), and wisdom (慧). Dao knows not what right and wrong are. It doesn’t debate with anybody. Dao don’t quarrel with the world; the world quarrel with Dao (天之道 不战而善胜 不言而善应 不召而自来 单而善谋 天网恢恢 疏而不失). Competing or debating who is right and who is wrong, who is big and who is small, just goes to show the ego and the strong desire to become puff up with pride (企者不立 自视者不章 自见者不明 自伐者无功 自矜者不长 其在道也 曰 余食赘行 物或恶之 故有欲者弗居) which a person of wisdom will never encourage. Anyone who claims to know the Dhamma, and yet still has a mind overcome by defilement, is like a person who talks about wealth but can produce none when it’s needed.

Lie Zi (列子) learnt self-levitation method from his master. A disciple wanted to learn the method. The disciple did all kinds of chores at the house of Lie Zi, but was never taught the self-levitation method. He was angry and went back home. A few months later, he came back to Lie Zi. He said: “I know I was too impatient and acted rashly.” Lie Zi said: “In the first three years of training under my master, I learnt to stop thinking about right and wrong, and stop talking about benefit and risk, success and failure. Only then, my master started to look at me. Five years later, I achieved another mental level of not dividing right and wrong, benefit and risk. Only then, my master started to smile at me. Seven years later, I naturally didn’t think of right and wrong. My words naturally didn’t touch on benefit and risk, success and failure. Only then, my master let me sit with him. Nine years later, whatever I thought and said wouldn’t touch on right and wrong, benefit and risk. I felt no difference between my external self and inner self. I could hear with my eyes, smell with my ears, eat with my nose, and there was no difference. Thereafter, I could concentrate my mind and body so much so that I forgot myself, and my bones became weightless. Without my knowledge, my body started to levitate. I floated in the air, suddenly to the East and suddenly to the West. In the end, I didn’t know whether I rode the wind, or the wind rode on me. And you, my disciple, only know how to complain. The Chi of Nature cannot accept any part of your body; therefore, your limbs cannot be lifted. How can your body be levitated?” If ‘real’ is what you can see, hear, smell, taste and touch, then ‘real’ is simply electrical signals interpreted by your brain. You must not let your five senses decide how you feel about the real world; you must filter the signals which your brain received from the five senses and then decide what to do with the signals. Don’t be quick to judge right and wrong using fixed rules or threshold levels (above or below which are considered unacceptable). With the same signals, make different interpretations and decisions at different times and spaces according to the contexts.

Meng Zi said: “The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain with themselves and like to be the teachers of everybody else.” (人之患在好为人师。) Don’t be one of the fools and fanatics. The competition between “teachers” about who is right and who is wrong leads to chaos and wars in the world. Therefore, the desire to distinguish right and wrong is probably the second-greatest desire which causes endless sufferings, to oneself and to others around him.

You must make having no desire your lifelong endeavor. Having no desire will bring you the greatest happiness. You are already standing on an undefeatable ground (立于不败之地) when nothing can make you unhappy; no one has the privilege to control your heart and decide the feeling which you are allowed to have. Having no desire is the greatest desire; selflessness is the greatest selfishness. “Taste the tasteless and stay serene to have a clear view of your ambition and the altitude you can realistically reach. Stay comfortable with being unknown and quiescent to reach a great distance in the future.” (淡泊以明志，宁静以致远。) A person with a lot of desire can never do great good because he uses a lot of time and energy for self-serving purposes (i.e. laughably small selfishness compared to the greatest selfishness). An impatient person who is restless will make a lot of mistakes and never go very far; even if he truly desires to do great good for the people. Hope is never a good strategy; good intention is never a guarantee of good outcome. We should intent to have no greedy ambition (but pursue small targets one-by-one instead), do nothing to chase for success like accumulating medals (but wish to have no problem to solve instead), and enjoy the tasteless life (because ordinary life is better than given the opportunity to achieve extraordinary success which comes from the suffering of yourself and other people) (为无为 事无事 味无味). Keep learning and be prepared to face challenges anyway; opportunity is reserved for people who are prepared to grab it.

We must not desire to be right. Wanting to be right is arrogant. We must instead choose to think that we are not right. We must choose to be not right; so long as we are not wrong. This sounds politically-incorrect. The Buddha gave a politically-correct way to say it: no clinging to views, and no clinging to rules and rituals. This way of thinking enables me to learn everything because I have no aversion or rejection to learn something which is considered “bad” by some people; or something from other schools of thoughts. A true Daoist must be a believer of all religions; that also makes him a believer of no religion, because he can never cling to the views, rules and rituals of any one religion, therefore become a disobedient person. 

The sea can become big because it stays low and accepts the discharges from all rivers. Be like the sea, have the stomach to accept new ideas (both the not-right and not-wrong ones), and have the stomach to forgive and accept the fools and fanatics (海纳百川   有容乃大). The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn. Continue to improve your intelligence (睿智), learn to think critically (i.e. not blind acceptance of any teaching), and widen your knowledge on all subjects (聪明). These are essential to gain the ultimate wisdom of life (道). Having no zeal to discriminate right and wrong, you will be able to apply the appropriate not-right or not-wrong idea according to the conditions (缘起) which are arising.