Dao Values and Concepts
1. Fewness of Desires (Simplicity)
A Daoist Recluse says that Daoists "...believe the secret of happiness lies in learning to have few wants. A simple dwelling, a few sets of garments to suit the changing seasons, plain food tasty enough to tempt the appetite -- these are all that is needed for tranquil living. If people were content to have no more, there would be so much to share with others that poverty would be rare." from John Blofeld / p56 / Beyond the Gods / 1974
2. wuwei and ziran (Spontaneity)
James Wong writes about Laozi's concept of ziran. I like his interpretation of ziran and of wuwei, which he discusses in section III of his article. From it I get that zi ran is our inner nature or natural expression. And wu wei is action that shows respect for our natural expression (zi ran). He breaks it down into respect for one’s own natural expression and respect and support for another’s natural expression. This reminds me of Holmes Welch’s view in TAOISM, The Parting of the Way. I’ve had that book for forty years. Years ago I underlined a couple of passages on page 41 that seem in line with Prof Wong’s ideas.
After "fewness of desires," the second part of Lao Tzu’s prescription for getting hold of the Uncarved Block is the rejection of public opinion, or of "other-directedness" as some call it today.
Thus they will never permit violence to be done to their inner natures and their inner natures will never cause them to do violence in return.
Prof. Wong sees these two attitudes as a pair. He writes: Just like all other pairs such as you and wu, yin and yang, etc., in the Daodejing, these two sides are differentiated from each other, but are always complementary to each other as indispensable partners.
You never get far from the paired complementary opposites in the Daodejing. And this pair is related to the wu/you and yin/yang pair. Here it has to do with action in the world. Here it is fu zi ran, meaning to support/respect your own inner nature or natural expression on the wu/yin/near side and to support/respect the inner natures and natural expressions of others on the you/yang/far side. Prof. Wong says that an action accords with wu wei insofar as it respects/helps/supports (fu) one’s own zi ran or the zi ran of others. Fu zi ran = respect nature. Avoid coercion, interference, and oppression. So if zi ran is spontaneity, it is a natural spontaneity, not random spontaneity. And the soft and yielding attitude of the Daodejing is not passive or non-active. It is yielding to zi ran in oneself and in others.
In footnote 22 of the article Prof. Wong writes that he hopes his interpretation would make our understanding of Lao Zi’s philosophical spirit richer and more coherent. It definitely does that for me. His notion that wu wei = fu zi ran resonates with so much of what is said in the Daodejing about the power of yielding and so-called weakness. Yield to zi ran. Don’t try to force it to match some imposed cultural ideal.
There is an even deeper meaning to wuwei and ziran, and this is that there is no doer. Everything happens spontaneously, on its own.
Thoughts and actions happen as naturally as the wind blows and the rain falls. This may seem to be a doctrine of passive fatalism which pictures us as nothing more than puppets of predestined fortune. But this is to miss the deeper teachings. Actually there are no separate individuals to be controlled by anything. There is only the flow of Tao. from Timothy Freke / p34 / Taoist Wisdom / 1999
Even choices and decisions happen on their own. If you feel that you have made a conscious decision about something, that is natural, but the feeling comes after the decision has has happened. It's part of the natural flow of life, of Dao.
3. yin and yang
Since Taoism understands the world as a duality, in yin and yang, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that we can think about the Tao in two different ways—a Yang way and a Yin way. The Yang Tao is the Manifest Tao, the Tao-that-can-be-spoken. It characterizes the whole world of becoming. Day and night, male and female, sun and moon are all features of the Manifest Tao, the visible, pulsating, ever-changing, glorious, miraculous world we live in. from Diane Morgan / p 25 / Magical Tarot, Mystical Tao / 2003
But there’s another, deeper Tao. This is the Unmanifest Tao, the deep Yin Tao beneath what we see and know, the Tao-that-cannot-be-spoken. The distinction between the Manifest and the Unmanifest Tao is so crucial that it comprises the very first chapter of the Tao Te Ching…
All religions yearn toward the Supreme. … Taoism, on the other hand, understands Being-ness itself, a Supreme Being-ness that pervades the cosmos, and in which all Beings partake. It is no a place, state, god, or condition. It can’t be reached by effort or handed out by grace. It is the essential/existential quality of the cosmos itself. In its essential, original state, it is the Unmanifest Tao, unitary, hidden, holy. In its existential, created condition, it is the Manifest Tao, the insinuated Yin and Yang.
The Unmanifest Tao is eternal. It isn’t part of Time. Time is a process of individuation, the separating out of one instant from another, of naming and characterizing each particular moment. This is a feature of the manifest world, which proceeds instant by instant like a flowing river, symbol of the Manifest Tao. It declares itself, however, within the smallest flower and the largest galaxy. …
The Unmanifest Tao is limitless. It knows no boundary; it takes up no space. It is indeed "darkness within darkness." The Unmanifest Tao holds the Manifest Tao as the empty bowl holds the water, and the darkness makes possible the light.
The Unmanifest Tao is nameless, and can be best indicated only by negatives such as "un-manifest," un-knowable," and "time-less." Names are limitations. By calling something "blue," one excludes "red" and "yellow." The ultimate must be forever beyond names. The Manifest Tao takes on all the names and qualities of the universe: great and small, dark and light, bliss and sorrow.
The Unmanifest Tao is Being-ness without Being. If it were Being itself, it would be Manifest. If it were non-Being, it could not be made manifest. It is Being-ness without Being and without non-Being, but bearing the potentiality of all.
The Unmanifest Tao is Yin; the Manifest Tao is Yang. The Unmanifest Tao is potential; the Manifest Tao is power. One proceeds from the other as a child proceeds from its mother. Yang is part of Yin, and Yin is part of Yang. The Unmanifest Tao gives birth to the Manifest, or what we call "Nature."
That was a long quotation, but I think it does well in conveying the flavor of yin and yang and Dao as found in the Daodejing. Yin is awareness. Yang is appearance. And these are two views of a single undivided experience or presence, which we nickname Dao. Yin is simplicity. Yang is spontaneity.
4. Verse 42 and Headless Seeing
The words yin and yang occur only in this verse. These refer to the complementary opposites talked about in the first verses. On the most basic level, yin is the receptive and yang the active. Yin is the container and yang the contents. Yin is the near side of the Tube (of awareness) and yang the far side. The finger points in to yin and out to yang. These most generic of terms could be applied to all the experiments. And here's the clincher: This verse says (in some translations) that yin is on my shoulders, and yang is in my arms. Yin is on my shoulders—just where I long imagined I had a head. Yin is my first person experience of what's right here at my center.
This verse gets the description right—receptive yin and active yang. It also gets the location right. Yin is on my shoulders, at my back. I carry yin and embrace or face yang. It couldn't be said more succinctly or more clearly.
There's a famous quote from Chuang Tzu: One yin, one yang; this is Dao. Here's a haiku I wrote based on this design.
Just what is the Dao?
It is yin on my shoulders
And yang in my arms.
Here's another quick verse based on verse 42 and on the experiments at http://www.headless.org/english-welcome.htm.
Look in and see the yin.
Look out and see the yang.
Look in and out and see the Dao,
And now you see the whole shebang.
This verse contains an experiment that points to the two sides and then goes on to say that the two sides (or forces) blend to achieve harmony. Yang in my arms? Isn't this the experiment where I spread my arms 160 degrees to embrace the world? Yin on my shoulders? Yin is capacity, receptivity—in other words aware space. And the two blend to make a harmonious whole. In a sense, each is the other. There's no boundary to be discovered, only a wholeness, a single presence. And this presence is Dao. It's awareness here and appearance there.
Ron Hogan says :
Chapter 42 starts out
with some cosmic mumbo-jumbo
about Tao making one,
one making two,
two making three,
and three making everything else.
I don't know what it means,
and, frankly,
I wouldn't worry about it too much.
It seems clear to me that these three numbers refer to Dao and to yin and yang. And I take them in a design or architectural sense. One is the Dao, the single presence that I am, that we all are. It is life itself. Two is the yin and yang of the experiments—on my shoulders and in my arms. And three is the wholeness, balance, harmony and satisfaction that comes from seeing this design. Three is also the first number with a center—Dao at the center of yin and yang. Dao is both a singularity (one) and a totality (the whole shebang of yin and yang). Three is the triune design of awareness or presence or life.
This is a lot like Douglas Harding's maps. It's an attempt to plot the design of awareness. Many of those maps show the "yang in my arms" side of the equation specifically with a drawing of outstretched arms embracing the world. You can find them right on this website. They also show the "yin at my back" aspect. And together they show the totality and wholeness, as well as the singularity, of the design. The maps show the triune design of sentient life. The numbers of verse 42 do the same thing. One represents the singular presence that is our life. Two represents the two aspects—the near side of yin and the far side of yang. Three represents the triune totality with Dao, life itself, at the center.
Douglas was an architect. He discovered the Grand Design. He drew a blueprint, many in fact. You see them in every book he published. I think the Daodejing is doing the same thing. It isn't so much talking about origins and creation. It's talking about the design of the present moment. In a sense, the past is with us right now in everything we see, everything "in our embrace." And the future is with us too. It's in the unseen potential "on our shoulders." It's within each of us. Time is part of the Grand Design too. It's not a separate matter. It's on show too.
Many commentators say that this verse is connected to verse 40, which talks about this same two-way looking, not in terms of yin and yang, but of the seen (yu) and the unseen (wu). Not all interpreters translate these words as seen and unseen, but many do, and they sure make a good fit with headless seeing. Yin is obviously unseen (seen as an absence) while yang is seen. This ties it altogether for me. And, just to go back to the numbers of verse 42, this triune design makes possible the life of the 10,000 things in all its variety and beauty.
Cosmic mumbo-jumbo? I don't think so. But I can see how people unfamiliar with the experiments would laugh at all of this. If they didn't laugh, it wouldn't be the Dao, as verse 41 tells it.
This is the design of awareness, of life itself, of Dao as awareness.
Awareness of awareness
To some it may be bland
To me it is the total truth
No if or but or ampersand
How to be in tune with the Dao? It's simple. Just look and notice the design of awareness. Is that enough? Yes, it's everything. How to prove it? Just see, and see what happens. The proof is in the seeing. You are the sole authority on what it's like being you. Dao is an experience, not an abstraction. Dao is in the seeing, in living the seeing.
5. Satisfaction
For me seeing and being the wholeness bring satisfaction and delight. I see that I have it all, and that is enough. This is the real basis of Daoist simplicity.
Excuse me! Excuse me!
Am I missing something here?
Can someone please explain to me?
Make it very clear?
I sincerely want to know
This isn't a rebuff
When I see that I am everything
Isn't that enough?