An Accidental Taoist
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| My 1979-ish vintage copy of the Tao Te Ching. |
About a month ago I was randomly thumbing through my bookshelves and opened my college copy of the Tao Te Ching. My good friend Matt owned a copy and introduced me to it. He seemed to be able to distill it all down nicely at the time. I liked the pictures and the way its presentation felt. Soon thereafter I owned a copy just like his.
It is an oversized heavy well-published and minimalist paperback. The pages are open and spacious. The black and white photos accompanying the text are all contemplative. In my hands today it is a very nice 40-year old book.
I remember reading it the first time and being so drawn in. And yet it seemed impossible to decipher. It all sounded really cool but it took me nowhere spiritually because I had no clue what the text was saying. Of course, I have leafed through it several times through all these years. It is always a puzzle and more of a curiosity to me than anything else.
And it was curiosity that made me open it up about a month ago. Only this time I read the first several chapters and decided to see what Taoist videos are available on YouTube. I discovered there was a ton of stuff out there but it was a challenge to find anything I considered watchable and informative.
A lot of the videos connect with some aspect of Tai Chi. That interested me, I have regularly thought about trying Tai Chi in the last 40 years. It’s just I’ve been more of a yoga guy. But I found a couple of really excellent sources. One is from a random 25-year-old British dude who, like I was at his age, on his “spiritual quest.” I subscribe to his feed. He ended up in China with this Taoist master who speaks pretty good broken English.
The other video is a lecture by Alan Watts. The Watts lecture on Taoism is one of the best talks I’ve ever heard. Period. It is well-worth you checking out even if you can't stick around for the whole hour and 20 minutes. Watts was a genius. In listening to him something clicked. I was dialed in. My paperback and Alan Watts and all these years were of the same spirit.
One of the things Watts mentions is something I read online somewhere since I am now suddenly obsessed with Taoism. The first line of the Tao Te Ching is somewhat famous. “The Tao that can be named is not the eternal Tao.” Which makes prefer sense in English but it misses the fact that these words are a pun in Chinese. The Tao Te Ching opens with humor. The reader is meant to smile.
Some YouTube video I watched said a better translation of the line would be: “The Tao that can be Taoed is not the eternal Tao.” Which is a surprising sentence, having read it the other way all these years. It gives the sentence a broader perspective than straight translation. Watts brings this up in his lecture and points out specifically that the pun would require a word to be invented in English. He would read the line as: “The Way that can be Wayed is not the eternal Way.” I get what that means and can see the humor in it. Through the lens of humor it seems even more insightful. It suddenly clarified a lot of stuff about the puzzle for me.
30 years ago I was at a party weekend with friends and Ted, one of my oldest friends, who always loved to have philosophical conversations with me, and I were discussing Taoism. Ted had the same paperback edition that Matt and I owned. Out of nowhere it clicked to me that my father was a Taoist. I told Ted this and, knowing my dad, he said, “yeah, I can see that.”
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| The oversized paperback is nicely published in a minimalist style. This is chapter twenty-five. Each chapter is very short in terms of text and can easily fit into a two-page spread like this. |
Of course, my dad has no clue what Taoism is. He has never heard the words "Tao Te Ching" uttered to him in his entire life. But I noticed that many of his behavioral patterns naturally coincided with my vague understanding of Tao. Taoism has always only been a passing thing to me. It would come back around every now and then. Like this time.
This time I ordered a couple of books, however. After watching YouTube for a couple of weeks and surfing the Internet for what was available, I ordered Taoism for Beginners and The Tao of Daily Life. As fate would have it, the first book was actually a preorder. The book was released May 19, a couple of weeks after my interest was renewed. A coincidence. I got the second book because it was rated so highly by Amazon readers.
Also by coincidence, the young British guy I had been following and the Taoist master launched a virtual Taoism learning center online on May 20. How to practice Taoism is completely online in a plethora of videos and live chats with a Tao master directly from central China, for a modest annual fee. I haven’t taken advantage of that so far. But I found it noteworthy that this site launched literally a couple of weeks after I started following the guy on YouTube.
By the time I finished rereading the Tao Te Ching the new books arrived. Both are paperbacks. The introduction book is excellent, well-presented in a muted colorful format. Just enough detail and yet covering every aspect of Taoism. There are many. The daily life book uses the traditional Taoist means of conveying wisdom, through stories or parables. It opened my eyes to the application of some of the basic concepts.
All of this put together has resulted in me beginning to learn Tai Chi. I am using this series of videos off YouTube to get started. I only practice about 10 minutes a day but, as the instructor points out in the first video, doing the forms correctly is not what is important. What is important is practicing every day. I’ve been doing that for about ten days now. In another 90 or so days it will become a habit. Hopefully.
They say it is important to learn new things at any stage of life. But this is particularly true of older folks like me. It helps keep our brains young-ish. I also figure that if I can make it a habit and continue to improve, Tai Chi will help me age better on a variety of levels. It is a nice change from yoga practice, which I have gotten really sloppy with these past few years.
Part of my motivation to incorporate Tai Chi practice into my daily life is because, in reading these books and searching for content online, I have discovered that much of Taoism is effortless for me. I have joined my dad as an accidental Taoist. I already have a wealth of personal Taoist experiences without previously realizing it. I have happened upon these moments haphazardly, without trying to “cultivate” them as the master Derek Lin might say.
That is a powerful realization. Because, since I have experienced these things without seeking them, this is the very essence of what Taoism calls wu wei.
What the hell am I talking about?
According to the beginner’s book, Taoism is founded upon a “deep respect and reverence for the natural world.” It heavily references “the subjective experience of its practitioners.” It also respects physical health and human longevity. Taoism inherently appreciates the interdependencies of opposites, therefore, seeming contractions are really just balances.
Taoism is how to psychologically and philosophically align yourself with the rhythms and changes of nature. At its essence, the interplay of yin and yang allows the Five Elements to emerge. Taoism is fundamentally about the emergence of everything. Specifically, earth, water, fire, metal, and wood all mixed and matched by yin and yang to create “the ten-thousand things,” which is just a phrase for “everything that exists.”
The intention of Taoism is to become attune to the “patterns of transformation” in nature and yet to remain in “stillness.” Simplicity of life is central to Taoism. More or less, this is why I bought my land back in 1993, to live in nature. I have tried to live a contemplative life, exposing myself to many, often conflicting, perspectives. I have chosen not to get too deeply involved with the consumerist culture, preferring nature to malls or even concerts. I have actively sought ways to enhance my longevity through yoga, diet, supplements, sex, and exercise.
All of these things I did with intent, sometimes disciplined but usually not, without any overarching system or name for what it was I was practicing. I was often practicing Taoism without knowing it. I spent 20 years backpacking, for example, predominantly to get more connected with nature. To just appreciate the stillness along a stretch of trail. I was not trying to confirm any faith. I was just enjoying the moment.
Since my return from India I have ventured through Hindu then Buddhist then Zen meditation in addition to continuing my yoga practice. To discover now that I naturally cultivated certain Taoist experiences within the context of all those other things, is surprising. Of course, I have not been actually practicing Taoism. I have been skipping along the surface of it like a thrown stone upon the reflection of the sky in a small pond.
Compassion, simplicity and patience allow the Tao to be cultivated in one’s life. Spending time in nature is a core teaching. Actual time being immersed in the natural world is critical to Taoism. The rhythm of nature cannot be known any other way.
Developing skills are another important aspect. Taoism encourages the study of martial arts, “inner alchemy,” healing arts, ritual and ceremony, meditation, leadership, and/or creativity. Taoism isn’t about the vague “journey without a goal” that Buddhism is. It is meant to be applied to daily life. These skills assist with connectivity to the Tao, this is an intentional practice with a specific set of goals. Each of these skills can be a path upon which you cultivate the experience of living.
There are many Taoists deities, it is a polytheistic religion like Hinduism. So ceremony toward these different gods is, indeed, one of several paths to follow the Tao. But the cool thing about Taoism is that you and take or leave any path – as long as you choose one and follow it. So the path of magic and power, for example, does not have to involve me. The path of longevity does interest me, however, and I want to learn more about that, since I am already practicing it in a non-Taoist way.
The Taoist meditative path is also very goal directed. Ultimately, you are to dissolve all polarities and return to the nondual source of all phenomenon which, of course, is the Tao. Though I could certainly handle all those hours of sitting and have done it before, that guided approach does not appeal to me.
I have spent many years in various other forms of meditation. I am highly suspicious of any goals directed toward the act of meditation. The practice is such a strong force by itself, without any teaching attached to it. It is easy to guide someone in meditation if they stick with it. Which is why I ultimately got around to Zen. There are fewer goals in Zen practice. But that’s another story.
Then there is the path of free and easy wandering. The intro book offers several simple daily practices of Taoism and one of them is “Aimless Wandering.” In a nutshell, it is roaming around in nature without any particular direction in mind for about 20 minutes. Well hell, I’ve been doing that on my property for two decades. It is best not have a plan or premeditated destination, but I don’t have enough land for that. I do have plenty though to stop along isolated stretches of my trails and watch and listen and smell.
I sometimes stand there for a long time. My dog Kudo serves as my “wander master.” Many times she determines where we go and at what speed. It is a marvelous, mind-clearing experience that is totally Taoist but I never thought of it that way before. Now beginning to actually learn about Taoism, I how I can improve upon these happenstance experiences. How I can tap in to the flow of these experiences and how that can change me as a human being.
As I said, a Taoist life is founded upon spending time in nature. But it has many other characteristics. Cultivation is the best noun/verb to describe the attitude of the practice. What is cultivated? “Playfulness, spontaneity, wonder, and awe. Resurrect your childlike innocence and natural curiosity.” “Question the authority of your mind’s habitual beliefs.” “Have a sense of humor.”
Which is why the Tao Te Ching opens with a pun.
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| The latest additions to my library. |
“We forget about the spectacular sunset, the glorious full moon, the angelic smile of an infant, the glimmer of a soul when you look deeply into your lover’s eyes. These are the simplest things imaginable, and yet beautiful beyond description.”
“It isn’t that sages suppress or deny the urge to argue. They transcend it. They can see the futility in imposing their opinions on an unwilling audience. Since it is a waste of energy, they direct their attention away from it to being perceptive to perspectives other than their own.”
“Possession and enjoyment seem to go hand in hand, so we think of them together. In reality, the two are independent of each other…Endless acquisition has become a habit. If we break this habitual pattern, we can be doing ourselves a tremendous favor…There are many ‘gardens’ in your life. You may own some or many of them, but that is an unimportant detail. The important thing – the only thing – is that you enjoy them, if you really want to.”
How remarkably refreshing and inspiring. And yet how familiar for me. I have touched many of the experiences Lin writes about repeatedly in my life. I have touched them without any overall intent, I simply enjoyed them and continue to do so. This is not to assume I have cultivated with any skill or discipline. I can certainly learn more from Taoism. I intend to.
There are only about 12 million practicing Taoists in the world. About 100 million people have participated in Taoist practices, however. Tai Chi, fung shui, yin/yang, Qigong, I Ching, all have a Taoist heritage. The common teaching that a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step is Taoist. So the influence of the Tao goes far beyond the ceremonial practice of it.
Taoists agree that the Tao can be approached philosophically without all the religious aspects. That is appealing to me since I have no real interest in extra-temporal experiences. I see the benefit of ritual in life. But all the gods are nevertheless dead. The wonder and counsel of nature has nothing to do with supposed higher powers as far as I’m concerned. Nature is glorious just as it is here and now. And it teaches us.
Taoism isn’t a perfect fit for me, however. Its respect of all things natural and its skill paths of healing arts, herbalism, and inner alchemy all converge to recommend you do not take modern medicines. They are bad for you and remove you from nature. I cannot accept that. That is most definitely not my personal experience.
The other thing is that there is this whole idea that the microcosm is a reflection of the macrocosm and that humans are connected to the universe. Chi is interchangeable and interconnected. I can plainly see why this teaching is valid in the shamanistic tradition out of which Taoism emerged but this is precisely what I call subtle-arrogance. I do not believe there is any meaningful connection between me and the Milky Way other than the fact I am made out of dead stars. So what? That’s hardly a significant relationship.
Still, there is enough in Taoism to at least give it serious consideration. I can already see how incorporating Tai Chi into my daily life improves it. That is all Lao Tzu was talking about 2,500 years ago. How to cultivate natural rhythms, learn skills to improve your life and others.
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