We continue learning from Taoism centuries later

“The Tao that can be expressed is not the true Tao. The name that can be given to it is not its true name.” so it begins one of the most enigmatic and suggestive books in the history of mankind: the Tao Te Chingby Lao Tzu.

Although Taoism appears as a doctrine around the sixth century before our era, the proprietyo Lao Tzu did not pretend to be original and write a personal work, but it became heir to an immemorial tradition.

exist numerous translations and editions of the Tao Te Ching. The translation from Chinese by Onorio Ferrero (edited by Ignacio Prado) and the one published by RBA stand out.

Written in ideographic characters, it constitutes the essence of the so-called taoisma spiritual doctrine that –along with Confucianism– has permeated Chinese life and culture until the arrival of Maoist barbarism in the 20th century: all European travelers highlighted in their chronicles that ancient China was characterized by harmony that came from his art, architecture, cuisine and even social life.

AND if the criteria and maxims of Confucius ordered society in terms of laws and forms of behavior, Lao Tzu and his disciples expressed the Taoist ideal, far from certain conventions and in search of the inner truth.

It was not considered contradictory that the same person could be a Confucian by day.following the palatial etiquette or those of officials, and taoist at nightmeditating in silence or writing poems of unfathomable beauty.

Heaven and earth, yin and yang: the search for balance

The symbolism used by Taoism is direct and primordial. So that to show the situation of man within total reality, he uses an image within everyone’s reach.

If we observe a human being in an upright position, we appreciate that his feet rest on the ground and his head stands out on top. It may well be said that we are between heaven and earth.

The so-called Great Triad of Taoism refers to Heaven or Tien (the transcendent, spiritual), Earth or Kien (the immanent, material) and Man or Jen (intermediary between the two).

So that The human being cannot fail to be faithful both to the reality of the spirit and to the concrete materiality on which his steps are supported. But today’s society is on the way to separating from both dimensions: on the one hand, it distances itself from nature, polluting the air and water, and on the other, it denies that there is any reality of a higher nature.

However, the human being cannot develop as such in the absence of both poles, celestial and terrestrial.

“The beginning of heaven and earth has no name. With a name is the mothere of the ten thousand beings” (poem no. 1). The transcendent origin of reality is beyond mental categories and naming with words. That is why the Tao is formless and nameless. But when it manifests it is the matrix of all that exists.

This brings us to the two antagonistic and complementary forces that allow universal harmony: Yin and Yang. They correspond to the feminine and masculine, both in the cosmos and in ourselves.

Opposite polarities that we already find in an even older book, the I Ching or “Book of Changes”where by means of simple trigrams and hexagrams all the possible yin/yang combinations that give rise to the processes and transformations of the manifested world. This mysterious code of Ars combinatoria already impressed the philosopher and mathematician Leibnizone of its first acquaintances in the West.

The Yin as a way to realize the Yang (Onorio Ferrero)

In China, the principle of Tao precedes the concept of Yin Yang. Therefore, the order of the sequence is: Tao Yin Yang Why does the Yin, receptive and dark, precede the Yang, expansive and luminous?

It is necessary to take into account the priority of the underground, dark situation, of the seed, of chaos or of the egg, to that of the tree, of the cosmic order or of birds and organic beings. The embryonic contains in itself all the potentialities of its future developments.

The texts on the advantages of water, of humility, of receptivity, of darkness, of weakness – all symbols of the Yin aspect – seem to suggest that the way of the Tao consists of choosing the Yin to realize the Yang.

The way of the tao towards the origin: searching for the beginning

Tao literally means Way or Way. and therefore the Tao Te Ching it is usually translated as “Book of the Path and its Action”.

The word Tao also means Principle, in the sense of origin and end of all beings. Everything derives from him, turns towards him and is sustained by him. The Taoist sage is, then, the one who walks the path towards the origin, towards himself, until find true peace in the “immutable center”.

For let us remember that Taoist metaphysics and cosmology, like others in the East and West, distinguish three levels in the manifestation of the Principle: without form, subtle and corporeal or material. The latter, the most immediate to our senses.

For Taoism, happiness is found by accommodating life to universal principles and controlling the passions, while unhappiness is the consequence of straying from the cosmic order and the Principle that sustains it.

In the same way, the true value of the human being is not based on money or social success, but on being at peace with oneself and others.

Zen aesthetics have notable Taoist influences. The simplicity and beauty of little things are qualities that Taoism especially values. Let’s not forget that the zen aestheticso far from artifice and ostentation, comes from Chan Buddhism, which came to Japan from China and had Taoist influences.

Within this context, nothing better than ending with a poem by Su Tungpo:

Clear moon without stain, silver night;
If you have to fill your cup, be silent while doing so.
Don’t fight for fame or wealth, fleeting dream…
mere flash… flight of shadows…

original nature

The love of nature is consubstantial to Taoism, being numerous the artists and hermits who sought refuge in the mountains. This is clearly seen in two examples of the highest artistic expression in China: the landscape paintingespecially from the Sung era, and the tang poetry.

The first, without ceasing to be concrete in what it captures, evokes the emptiness of the Tao through mists: the brush imitates the subtle movements (Yin-Yang one more time) of the nature.

For his part, the ideograms that the poet also draws on the white paper, go directly to our hearts when they describe human feelings and passions as well as they let the waters, the trees and the birds also speak to us.

The Taoist likes to live in the middle of virgin nature to discover and listen to its secret language. It is then not only about nature in a material sense, but about what we could call “nature of nature”.

Water, which adapts to all forms, is often evoked by poets and painters.Also in the Tao Te Ching:

“Supreme goodness is like water, without opposition it reaches everyone.” (poem 8) “There is nothing in the world as docile and weak as water. But to attack the hard and strong, nothing can overcome it.” (poem 78).

When Chuang Tzu, a great Taoist master, was close to death, his disciples wanted to prepare a great funeral appropriate to his category. But he told them when he found out: “I consider that the sky and the earth are my coffin, the sun and the moon a couple of offerings of jade and the constellations burial jewels. Won’t they be magnificent funerals? What more can I ask for?”

The Tao, inspiration for today’s life

What could be the Taoism’s message to usin the XXI century?

Both traditional Chinese medicine and fengshui, now well known in the West, derive from Taoist cosmology. But Tao Te Ching can be for any sensitive reader a source of inspiration for daily life. On the other hand, remember that

Lao Tzu said:
“I have three precious gems that I have hidden like three treasures. The first is called compassionthe second moderation and the third modesty.
Because I have compassion, I am brave. Because I have moderation, I am generous. Because I have humility, I am Sir of the vassals.
However, today one tries to be brave without compassion, generous without moderation, to dominate the people without humility.” (poem 68).

We are also invited to avoid force:

“When man is born he is soft and flexible, but when he dies he becomes hard and rigid. Plants and trees are born delicate and tender, but when they die they become dry and rough. That is why what is hard and rigid are symbols of death; the soft and flexible, symbols of life.” (76) “The norm of heaven is to give benefits and not harm. The proceeding of the wise is to act without harming.” (8)

The wisdom of the Tao is presented to us in a subtle way:

“He who knows does not speak. He who speaks does not know.” (poem 16) Silence is the guardian of truthwhile false words create confusion and mislead us. We are also reminded here of the virtue of modesty to walk the path of plenitude.”Knowing not knowing, behold the sublime. Knowing and not knowing, behold the disease.” (71) true knowledge is not purely mental or rational, but rather it transcends discursive thought and duality.“The sage does not act to accumulate. The more he gives to others, the more he possesses for himself.” (81) Generosity is the natural consequence to stop considering others as radically different from oneself. “He who is freed from desires contemplates secret perfection. He who is filled with desires contemplates only his borders.” (1) Remaining attached to the objects of desire prevents achieve freedom of the spirit.“Thirty spokes converge towards the center of a wheel, but the void in the middle makes the cart go.” (11) The usefulness of nothing is thus revealed. That’s why the wise is placed in the center of the cosmic wheel and from that position see things in their original unity.

Ways to apply non-doing

Many other excerpts from the Tao Te Ching could illustrate the qualities of the sage. We will stop at the enigmatic Wei- Wu-Wei. It is usually translated as “doing-notdoing”undoubtedly evoking for Westerners a negative state of passivity or inaction.

It would be better to understand it as a performance from the original being, spontaneity beyond fear or selfish desire. It may also be related to the “doing without merit” of Buddhism, not caring about sanctions or rewardsor the Hindu karma-yoga that states that we must act (doing good) without expecting something in return.

Taoism invites to act from the “not-do”. To apply that philosophy to everyday life, these attitudes are useful:

Simplify. If we have many tasks and we are short of time or space, wouldn’t it be a good idea to stop doing some things, lighten the agenda? And stay like this with the objects and activities that are really important to us?Unanswered. We are used to reacting, for example, to the stimuli of advertising, or we feel annoyed by the unpleasant words that certain people say to us. But we can try not to act in the usual sense: nor acquire what we don’t…