Do you see a contradiction between the Daoist ideal of gracefully accepting death, suggested by Daodejing, and the Daoist search for long life and immortality? Can the two be reconciled?
Daoism, according to the writing of Lao Zi and Zhuang Zi, has many similarities with the original teaching of the Buddha in the five Nikayas.
Both Buddhism and Daoism teach us to have no fear. That is probably the best feeling or state of mind one can attain. Nothing is certain but death and taxes. We pay taxes not just to the government but also Nature to stay alive, i.e. to maintain our bodies. If we minimize our desire 寡欲, we will have less suffering, as we pay less taxes to Nature. In that way, we will have a life well lived.
Many people are afraid of ghosts although they have never seen one except in the movie. Fear is due to lack of knowledge and wisdom. Afraid of death is like primitive people afraid of things they don’t know about but listen to rumours and wrong views. Buddhism and Daoism give us more knowledge and wisdom to have no fear about anything and everything, including death. Gracefully accepting death precisely means no fear of death. Because of the good feeling of no fear, one will also have no fear to live, but live well to have a long life and enjoy the delight, happiness and equanimity for as long as possible. There is no contradiction. However, some later Daoists started to use drugs to extend their lives, and also helped Emperors and nobles to attain long life. It violated the original teaching of Daoism because the practitioners started to fear death or have desire for existence. It caused them to suffer from the fires of lust, aversion, and ignorance.
何谓贵大患若身 吾所以有大患者 为吾有身 及吾无身 有何患
Lao Zi said: “Why should one pay attention to natural disasters like it is happening to his body? Disasters can have an effect on me because I have a body. If I don’t have a body, I will have no worry over disaster.” One fears death or suffering to his body because he sees the body as the self; therefore, he has the natural tendency to protect the self. If he chooses to see that the body is not the real “self”, and the real “self” is not inside the body, he will have no fear of whatever disasters happen to the body. The body is just a vehicle; whatever happens to the vehicle has no effect on me since I am never inside the vehicle. A Daoist must learn to see “no self” 无我. The greatest self (or selfishness) is selfless 大私无私.
适来，夫子时也；适去，夫子顺也。安时而处顺，哀乐不能入也，古者谓是帝之悬解。
Zhuang Zi said: “Our great teacher came into this world spontaneously at the right time, and leaves this world spontaneously and peacefully as a necessary natural sequence of events. Accept the Natural Laws, be content with the ways things are and how things change, come as we are and go as we should, then our hearts will not be troubled by what common people consider sadness or joy. This is what our ancestors called the great relief from all punishments of being hanged upside-down.”
You must see and accept reality as it really is, not as you wish it to be. If you wish to have a long life and no sickness, you are not accepting the reality as you should. If you wish to have no pain in your life, you are not being realistic. Conversely, if all these desires are negated, you will be expecting sickness and death instead of trying to run away from these natural phenomena. You will feel blessed for being healthy most of the time, and the duration of you being in the state of sickness is just a small percentage of your lifetime, and you are lucky enough to die only once. If you choose to inflict distress on yourself by feeling fear, sad, angry, guilty about past mistakes, or worrying about the future, even during healthy times, you are choosing to suffer most of the time in your lifetime. Physically living for a hundred years means you have a short meaningful life if you are suffering most of the time. Physically living for ten years means you have a relatively long meaningful life if you are happy most of the time.
Zhuang Zi said: “The longest living person in history lived for 800 years. (Coincidently, Master Yoda also lived for 800 years or so.) There is a type of bug which is born in the morning and dies in the night. It cannot comprehend the concept of one month. There is a type of cicada which is born in the Spring and dies in the Summer; or born in the Summer and dies in the Autumn. It cannot comprehend the concept of one year. There is a type of turtle where 500 years is like a Spring season; another 500 years is like a Summer season to it. There is a type of tree where 8000 years is like a Spring season; another 8000 years is like a Summer season to it. The bug and cicada have short lives; they cannot comprehend the thinking of the turtle and the tree as far as longevity is concerned. To the bug and the cicada, longevity more than a few years is simply impossible or unbelievable. Similarly, an 800-year-old human is considered having a really short life as far as the turtle and the tree are concerned. Isn’t it laughable if you consider that as longevity? It doesn’t really matter whether you live for 100 years or 10 years; Anybody who claims to have longevity is simply fooling himself (or having a shallow mind) and choosing to ignore the longevity of the turtle and the tree.”
Being not afraid of sickness doesn’t mean you don’t look after your health. Being healthy is essential for your happiness. Being not afraid of death doesn’t mean you have to jump down the mountain cliff. Killing yourself is not bravery but plain stupidity for abandoning your future happiness. You had nothing, not even your body, before coming into existence in this world. Everything you have is a bonus; you get to enjoy it like the bank does in the business of safe keeping and investing the deposits of the customers. You don’t really lose anything when the customers withdraw all their deposits. You shouldn’t feel unhappy; instead, you should feel happy to have gained so much profit in the past out of someone else’s deposits. You should feel content.
Don’t ask what if you get sick but prepare to face it. Nobody is 100% healthy. Expecting perfect health and no illness at all is judgmental. Thinking negatively and worrying that your health will worsen cannot bring any improvement. Instead, the depressing thoughts will worsen the illness and also cause clinical depression (major depressive disorder) if you allow these thoughts and feelings to grow out of control. 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. Get help if necessary. Take medications and drugs prescribed by qualified doctors and stop worrying about the side effects.
Think positively. Not every illness needs to be cured with medication; you can usually heal yourself. Not every illness needs to be cured; it may not kill you. You can sometimes live with the illness, and die with the illness, instead of dying of the illness. That doesn’t mean you don’t take care of your body. You must eat well, sleep well, exercise well and have good hygiene in order to maximize your happiness. Don’t be afraid to eat anything but be wise to avoid eating too much or crave for delicious/exotic foods. Some people have a long life although they smoke cigarettes, drink alcohol, and drive fast cars. They must be thinking: “Nothing too bad will happen to me.” I am not sure whether they are being too positive. Too positive necessarily means lack of criticality. Being too positive may be equally undesirable as being too negative. You must find a balancing point for yourself. Let intelligence guide you on what to eat or not to eat; and let intelligence guide you to have no fear in making good decisions as well as bad ones.
Sicknesses are changes to your body by the Nature. Whatever happened to the body need not be associated with unhappiness. As long as your mind is still functioning properly, it is possible to stay happy as if the body doesn’t belong to you. Your body, including your brain organ, is like a vehicle to facilitate the functioning of the real you which is your mind; you don’t have to feel unhappy when your car breaks down. If your mind is not functioning, your body will not work even if it is 100% healthy.
Zhuang Zi said: “Mother Nature is extremely powerful. She gave me a physical body; and uses the necessity to live and maintain the body to make me work. She doesn’t need to say a word to compel me to do anything. She uses time to make me turn old and retire; and uses death to make me rest forever. We must accept the changes by Mother Nature without any resentment. We will then be able to have no fear and see no difference between life and death. The history of time is extremely long; it makes the lifetime of a human being so insignificant regardless of his age.”
RESILIENT KID 