MEDITATIONS: TAO TE CHING CHAPTER SIXTY-TWO

manifesting the tao way of life
requires you to emulate the great river
under the heavens

and flow with the watercourse of seasons

surrendering to the natural ordering
brings you to the repository
of all knowledge and wisdom
that only the original mind
can see
or use

magic words will not gain you entrance
good deeds will only shape your intention
but will not let you in

open your back and front
open the waist
open the arms and legs

play freely without judging
your gifts and your deficits
for your entire being
is a treasure

stretch upward with your crown
and see yourself
sitting peacefully and ordered

within the three
golden elixir fields of cinnabar
in their peaceful order

hold your heart gently
for it is a round jade disc
with a hole in the center

presented to the task at hand
as a great gift
offered to the tao source of life

move your arms and legs
restrained at the cliff
demonstrating your nobility, power, and inner strength

hold your symbol of the tao source of life
high above your head
as if holding a hammer that will never fall

and the vast and mysterious repository
will open and flow
into you

—Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching; An authentic Taoist translation. translated by John Bright-Fey

In Chapter Sixty-One, we discussed much already the metaphor of the river and how it relates to the Tao way of life and the original self. Today, I’d like to shift our focus to a few particular stanzas which more uniquely describe the opening of the mind toward adaptation, acceptance, and change. In that spirit, let’s begin with that which is deficient, as understanding the negative is often easier than comprehending a positive assertion. Lao-tzu tell us:

magic words will not gain you entrance
good deeds will only shape your intention
but will not let you in (Lao-tzu)

There is much here to unpack. The first line is, perhaps, one of the most timely (at the time of writing), though I imagine it to always be applicable given the age of the source text. It says, in a sense, not to confuse words with openness itself. Signaling to others and signaling to yourself does not make the message true. Words are illusion, not magic. No matter what we say to each other in public, and even if we continuously tell ourselves that we are stalwart stoics, or open-minded individuals, or virtuous and tolerant people, that does not make it so. But the stanza goes goes farther. The next line forewarns that even acting out good deeds is not sufficient. That is not to say putting virtue into practice is not beneficent; it is merely to notice that shaping our habits does not necessarily shape our attitudes. Even doing good can breed resentment if the burden is not embraced voluntarily through individual choice.

So, then, what is sufficient? What is in fact necessary to open one’s mind, heart, and spirit to the self and the world despite all their deficits? I believe what this chapter suggests is the answer is the discovery and elevation of the highest value. And what is that value? It is being itself:

hold your heart gently . . .

presented to the task at hand
as a great gift
offered to the tao source of life (Lao-tzu)

To recognize in our hearts that our role in existence is something more significant than any individual experience we may ever have—greater than any collection of experiences; greater than any group or movement—that is what is needed to orient ourselves as to accept being itself. When we see each of ourselves and our individual existences as a precious gift given the universe, then it becomes possible to welcome with open arms the conditions of life without resentment and ridicule. That is why you are to:

hold your symbol of the tao source of life
high above your head
as if holding a hammer that will never fall (Lao-tzu)

A hammer is a tool, one of construction as well as destruction. Raised overhead, it is ready to be employed at a moments notice. This is how we ought to position ourselves if we wish to become open to our original selves and the knowledge and wisdom available only to that unification. Stand with your highest value being that attitude which allows you to dissolve and reconstitute your expectations, desires, and aversions. This is a stance, a position, an orientation, and attitude. The hammer never falls, because we are transcending that which applies to only a singular moment in favor for immortal wisdom which applies universally.

That is the whole point of Taoism. The Tao way of life is but a practice to cultivate humility and gratitude—the attitude necessary to love and accept the Tao source of life. And what is the Tao source of life if not us as we truly are, the world as it truly is, and our proper places into which we best fit—from moment to moment, ever changing with the flow of the river?

Lao-tzu. “Chapter Sixty-Two”. Tao Te Ching; An Authentic Taoist Translation, translated by John Bright-Fey, Sweetwater Press, 2014. pp.119-20