The Way of Chuang Tzu

The Way of Chuang Tzu

The sage leans on the sun and the moon, tucks the universe under his arm, merges himself with things, leaves the confusion and muddle as it is, and looks on slaves as exalted. Ordinary men strain and struggle; the sage is stupid and blockish. He takes part in ten thousand ages and achieves simplicity in oneness. For him, all the ten thousand things are what they are, and thus they enfold each other.

In the writings of Chuang Tzu an extraordinary vision of the person of true wisdom and understanding emerges. The modern world takes pride in judgments of value, unnecessary knowledge, and materialistic outcomes. So often people are hurrying about in their daily lives and activities attempting to procure happiness and achieve a fleeting feeling of security in an environment that is constantly in flux and changes at the speed of light. Occupations are pursued largely because with them comes a certain amount of material goods that help to satisfy temporary needs. While practical needs such as food, clothing, and shelter aid in a general sense of well being and comfort, Chuang Tzu encourages us to accept all things in Oneness and realize our identity with the Tao of the universe.

The primary concern for Chuang Tzu is the method in which a person orients himself or herself to the Tao. Following in the Way is the ultimate concern and source of the only true happiness, but following the Way is mysterious and incredibly spontaneous. The Way is not achieved through a mechanical adherence to any ethical standard as such. Instead, the Way of the Tao goes with the flow of things as they occur in the present moment of everyday experience. When we try to stop the flow of the universe and the spontaneous movements and rhythms of Nature we find ourselves out of sync with both our environment and ourselves. The Tao is easy and relaxed, slow and subtle, beautiful and great.

The sage is not concerned with changing the world, but rather, attempts to live in the world in such a way that is in accordance with Nature. While many people attempt to propagate their ideas and use means of power to influence the course of the world’s affairs, the sage allows the chaos and confusion to simply be, rests quiet in simplicity with a equanimity of mind and heart amidst the striving of ordinary men and women. There is an inner peace enjoyed by the true sage whether joy or suffering is present. The sage accepts all feelings, thoughts, and ways of life as worthwhile and valuable and is not concerned about bringing a halt to the ongoing changes that are a natural part of the universe and the created order.

Through this inner simplicity of mind, the sage attains oneness with all things, which is the true goal of the Way. Judgments cease and lower values are dismissed that are founded on inadequate or incomplete knowledge, based upon limited visions of reality or partial perspectives. The sage withholds judgments upon the value and worth of other persons and their actions, experiences, and objects in the material world. Through an impartial and universal acceptance of all, the sage attains a simplicity that encompasses the totality of the all, which is ultimately the Tao. The Way of the Tao is completely everywhere, infusing all of existence through all of the diverse realities and manifestations.

Chuang Tzu says that the sage looks back to the slaves as exalted because the true person of wisdom sees through the ignorance of others in their approximation of others. The sage knows in his or her being that the slave is a part of Tao as equally as all others. All to often people believe that if a person has a humble job, or thinks a certain way that appears to be on the surface as simple and ignorant, then the person is not as great as someone who has attained power, influence, and money. The sage looks beyond all outer appearances that are of great value to others to the heart of the Tao. The sage sees the Tao everywhere and absent nowhere. No single person or created being possesses the totality of the Tao or has a monopoly on the universe. All people are equal in the eyes of the sage because the sage has become ignorant of false distinctions. True wisdom is the clarity of equality.

The sage can see into both the multiplicity and unity of the Tao. Embracing the flight of the butterfly, the speed of a jaguar, the stillness of ice, and the suffering of a human being, the sage accepts the All of Nature. Becoming nothing, the sage is everything. Knowing nothing, the sage is propelled into wisdom. Cultivating simplicity, attaining Oneness, losing separateness- the sage takes part in the infinity of existence. Ordinary knowledge becomes superfluous as one enters the Tao and partial understandings slip away from consciousness. The Tao is One. The Tao is All.

Once the sage attains oneness, all of the events of life from the distant past to the far reaches of the future to the depths of the present are integrated into a simple realization of the profound interdependence of all levels and colors of being in the universe. The entirety of creation, Nature, and the wide cosmos rests in the unity of the Tao. By awakening to one’s own relationship to the Whole of the Tao, an individual opens the doors of perception to the expanses of life’s seemingly infinite variety.

The Tao sustains all of life and every plane of reality imaginable. The sage sinks into the Tao as a lover unites with a beautiful beloved companion. Orienting herself to the currents of the Way, the true sage sits in serenity through all trials and tribulations. Money, power, prestige, and pride fade away from the mind of the sage as being the purpose or primary goal of life. What most people desperately desire the sage welcomes when it comes and is content in the eventual passing. The Tao never remains constant or fixed in Nature. The Tao is much more diversified and rich for that. Why struggle to chain the arms of Nature?

The sage ultimately rejects nothing- not pain, not happiness, not love, not isolation, not change. Every experience is accepted and lived as being an embodiment of the forces of the Tao and the billions of universes present at any one moment in time. Carry oneself into the Tao and you will be the messenger of the gods, and walk upon the stars as a child with a moon in one hand and a rose in the other. Enter into communion with the Tao. Find the joy of Union.

When the discriminating soul is liberated and freed into the oceans of the Way, true blessedness and happiness is realized and enjoyed. No longer is there any need to lay slumber in the throes of ignorance and the disparity of confusion. Plunge yourself into the absurd, bath in the majestic mystery of the Unnamed. If you try to understand it all at any given time, you are bound to miss the magic of the Tao manifesting before your eyes. Accept decay and death, sorrow and suffering when the time is near and present. You cannot run away from the infinity of the Way or fail to be a living participant in the immensity of the cosmic play.

Cast aside fear, dive into the abyss of being, and fly into the winds of the Miraculous. Ride the slippery flow of the Tao. Nature will make you Her mermaid by playing with you in the waters of the infinite streams of change. Lose thoughts of your separate self- pure illusion! See the beauty of the Tao everywhere and your home in the universe will be forever secured. Forget the stupidity of trivial pursuits with shallow ends. Turn into the waves of bliss, and ride them into your imagined sunset of brilliant hues.

Listen to the soft secrets of Nature, says Chuang Tzu, and sage hood will become your occupation. Do not bother to proceed in the ways of man because the Way of the Infinite Beauty far surpasses such meddling trifles. The sage recognizes that life will proceed along different paths, but walks down them all. Personal tastes, likes and dislikes, impartial attitudes and opinions are cast into the flames of ignorance. Change is constant. The constancy of the Tao remains forever fixed and cemented in the heart of the universally Everywhere.

Stand gloriously upon the worlds of time and space. Fly through the aromas of freshly scented flowers and listen to the masterpiece melodies of Nature’s breath. The Lotus will begin to blossom inside you to the degree you nourish simplicity and the complete Oneness of passionate union. Create a romance with the Tao and your dreams will come true. Find balance only in the entirety of the One. Good and Evil, black and white, stupidity and genius, love and hate- all these decimating slices of the Way can only be temporary in the perpetual ascension through the heavens of Mind, Being, and Tao. Find yourself in the place you were born and forever will remain. Nothing is to be lost. The panoramic art of Nature is available to the sage through identification with the One, the Many, the Ultimate Tao of All.