Jing:
Tranquillity,
StillnessTranquillity: Jing
Enlightenment: Ming
The carved and the uncarved
Wu xin
Ghosts and Spirits: Gui shen
The Dao is empirical
Honest selfishness
A perpetual springtime
Listen to the qi: Ting qi
Definition of de (creative
power) and: the practice of de (how to)
No singular destination
Qing Spontaneous self-correction:
Qing jing wei tian xian zheng
Hun dun: Will you be able to answer
the moon's question correctly?
Collect your spirit in stillness and the body will correct
itself.
Zhuang Zi, Chapter Eleven
Tranquillity (jing) is the Taoist centerpiece in the process of psychic transformation. Jing is the mental posture that allows the adept to effectively engage the external world. Jing describes a singular type of calmness, it is not idleness or inertia; it includes processes that are quite dynamic.
"Thirty spokes come together to make a wheel, but it is the emptiness (at the hub) that allows it to function on a cart." (LZ11) The effectiveness of function in mechanics depends on relationships between solid parts and spaces, specifically on the ability of open sections to receive a part and channel it into effective action.
This is an apt analogy for Jing: the coordination of overt activity by a central psychic area where there is no apparent movement, like the wheel's center. The overt activity may be physical or mental, in either case the process is coordinated by a key part of the psyche that is free of detectable activity. Jing is stillness at the center, a calmness that effectively integrates perception, process, and response. With it one's responses are "Like the compliance of a whetstone, entirely without a flaw, moving or still, no mistake is made."(ZZ33)
It is not only subconscious activity that the calm psychic ground at the center is integrating. Not distracted by the noise of internal conversations (conscious articulated thinking), the mind's concentrated attention integrates a pristine view of everything within the field of mental perception, a clear and simultaneous reception of both internal and external information:
"If water is still, its clarity lights up the hairs
of beard and eyebrows, its
evenness is plumb with the carpenter's level. ....how much more
the stillness of the
quintessential-and-daemonic, the heart of the sage! It is the
reflector of heaven and
earth, the mirror of the myriad things." Zhuang Zi,
Chapter Thirteen (GZZ259)
With clarity of vision and a tranquil mind, there is nothing to interfere with the remarkable capacity of the preconscious mind to effectively process and respond to the complexities of reality. Stilling that critical zone allows the integration of elaborate combinations of subconscious and conscious inter-activity; the psyche is able to accurately perceive, integrate ("make things one"ZZ1) and respond coherently to the volatile disturbances that occur in the labyrinth of the internal and external worlds. Zhuang Zi calls this "peacefulness in the midst of agitation." (ying ning) (ZZ6)
The primary purpose of jing is not introspective reflection, it is not an attempt to repair the psyche on the basis of an internal inspection. The mind will spontaneously function effectively when it is freed from superficial concerns. The cultivation of Jing is directed toward an immediate engagement of the world and its inhabitants: "It is said that with emptiness (xu) and tranquillity (Jing) one is able to grasp heaven and earth, one is able to penetrate the ten thousand beings." (ZZ13)
Tranquillity is the balanced state of a mind that has reached optimum (zheng) potential. It is functioning with the maximum effectiveness that can be achieved from flawlessly integrating all of the capabilities in its design. When the mind operates at such refined intensity, it effortlessly moves the world around it as well: "I excel at tranquillity (jing) and thus the people perfect (zheng) themselves." (LZ57)
When your discernment (Ming) penetrates the four quarters
Are you capable of not knowing anything?
Lao Zi, Chapter Twenty CLZ
Gazing at the muddy water's surface,
I was deceived and missed the deeper clarity.
Zhuang Zi, Chapter Twenty
Taoist enlightenment is a "return to the original light (ming)."(LZ52) This light is subtle (xuan): without an analytic understanding of how one is proceeding, one is yet able to engage the people and things of the world with an intimacy that is accurate and effective. Embracing all things, good and bad, "is called following the light (ming)". (LZ27)
The Taoist seeks not a salvation of the soul from a mundane realm, but a redemption of her perception, a recall of the miraculous quality of world, a reawakening to the astonishment of simply being here.
The carved and the uncarved, the prejudiced and the impartial
The tao is a difficult problem for the small mind of the human being, it does not seem to fit into our categories of thought: The tao, the uncarved block (pu), also includes within itself, the carved and the carving. We humans are to "embody the tao" (ti tao), we are to duplicate within our minds this coexistence of both the carved and the uncarved.
The tao is the zi ran, self-so, self-ordering. The modern "systems (or complexity) theory" aptly describes the behavior of the tao. "The tao resides within all things" (Zhuang Zi). All dynamic systems under heaven are self-ordered (zi ding). Everything is part of a local system and also part of the One system.
The self-organizing force of the tao is primal, impartial, (bu si) disinterested (wu jin), and undivided. The manifest mind of man is subsequent, partial, biased, and divisive. The original mind of man is a replica of the primal tao. But as Zhuang Zi indicates, in order to thrive, the original and the manifest mind must work together. (liang xing)
I cannot get through a doorway unless my mind is able to "discriminate out" the outlines of a door from my general visual field. But I will not thrive if I only react partially to my world, if I simply respond to each in the series of individual things I am able to notice in my perceptual field, if I only notice doorways, and if I try to get through every doorway that I notice. My perceptual field must be seen in its parts and also seen as the whole that it is.
"The great man joins together the partial to become impartial (da ren he bing er gong). This is why for influences from outside he has an appropriator which makes them his own, and he does not cling to one or another; and for outgoings from within he has a regulator which sets them in the true direction, so that others do not resist them." Zhuang Zi (A. C. Graham)
Graham page 151, Eastwind page 431
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"Interpenetrate the One and thereby consummate all affairs, dismiss mind (wu xin) and ghosts and spirits will wait upon you." Zhuang Zi
Wu xin: the state of being that is beyond that experienced by ordinary mind.
The human is a being transformed by the mentation generated by its psyche, it embodies its experience, it becomes its thoughts.
We might argue whether "wu xin" or any other example of transcendence is real or "merely allegory." But the dichotomy cannot be so neatly cut. Our experinence of everything in this world of phenomena will always be an allegory of another allegory that lies behind it.
To an amateur scholar such as myself, it looks like the benign depiction of the gui (ghosts) in Lao-Zhuang amounts to a break from traditional Chinese spirituality. The behavior of the ghost in Zhuang Zi follows that of the Guanzi where this mystical character is a benevolent helper, not a malevolent interloper. Zhuang Zi said the dao is manifest even in the "piss" and "shit," so it is less astonishing that he would find it fully manifest in the ghost.
Lao-Zhuang found the bifurcation of the world into good and evil to be implausible. Therefore Lao-Zhuang has no place for miscreant ancestor spirits, for example the ghosts called "returning killers" (gui sha) that we find later in the sixth century C. E. Taoist document, "Master Redpine's Almanac of Petitions."
In "The Wondrous Scripture of the Upper Chapters on Limitless Salvation" (5th century C.E.), the word for demon is "mo," a term that Bokenkamp suggests comes from Buddhism's notorious trickster "Mara."
"The Way of demons (mo) values death....The Way of demons ever brings disaster." (Bokenkamp)
While noting that the text is a Lingbao scripture, as a non-scholar I would not dare blame the slandering of ghosts on Buddhists. Morbid forces such as ghost breath (gui qi), for example, seem to have appeared much earlier in Chinese culture. Probably the idea of malignantly unhelpful ghosts originated from an indigenous shaman tradition?
Perhaps evil arises whenever immortality is at issue; it seems there must be winners and losers ("separate the wheat from the chaff") in every religious paradigm that promises an opportunity for individual survival beyond the grave. Lao-Zhuang had little or no interest in immortality, could that be why their ghosts were not bad actors?
Note: all of my citations are taken from Stephen R. Bokenkamp's
book "Early Taoist Scriptures."
In my rendition of the above two lines from Lao Zi, I have virtually copied D. C. Lau's translation of the second line:
Its (dao) essence is authentic,
Within it is something that is testable.
Qi jing shen zhen
Qi zhong you xin.
The way of Zhuang Zi and Lao Zi requires
no stretch of the imagination. You don't have to believe anything
that is outside of your direct experience. Follow the path and
you will see your life improving, you won't have to have faith
to obtain the results.
"Fully provided for by heaven and earth, by giving away to others, he only gets even more for himself." Zhuang Zi.
Here there is not the idea of selflessness, putting others first, or sacrifice. There is no need for Zhuang Zi to kid himself and think he is not interested in pleasing himself. He allows his motivation to be transparent.
What Zhuang Zi has realized are the dynamics of qi. There is a reciprocal exchange and increase of qi when qi is concentrated and expressed outward. This is why Lao Zi says, "Don't honor the sage." The sage is no less selfish than you or me, she has simply learned a much more enlightened selfishness.
er yu wu wei chun: a
perpetual springtime
Not allowing anything to invade (ru) the ling fu (inner mind) allows one the ability "to make a springtime of any circumstance that occurs." One can use both material gain and material loss as an opportunity for renewal. Hence Zhuang Zi said that the sages "were content when they were sucessful, and content when they failed."
"Ting" is the second and the seventh character in the Chinese sentence from Zhuang Zi that appears above. (Wu ting zhi yi xin er ting zhi yi qi.) Ting is usually translated as "listen." Ting indicates not only hearing, but includes all agents of perception. (touch, smell, etc.) It is helpful to realize that like the English word "listen," ting also means "to comply with." As in "You had better listen to what your father told you."
Therefore one can translate the sentence as:
"Don't listen to (and comply with) your mind, rather listen to (and comply with) the qi."
The daoist places the conscious mind (articulated thought) in a subordinate position. Held in primary position is that subtle nexus of mind/body integration that directs the full attention of the psyche onto the entire undifferentiated flow of immediate reality. The nexus is variously called the nei xin (inner mind), the ling fu (spirit chamber) or the chi (guardian).
The flow of the entire world of phenomena outside the nexus is "qi" (The last character in the sentence from Zhuang Zi.) The dynamic configuration of qi is too complex and rapidly changing to be grasped by the meager abilities of the "xin" (conscious or discursive mind: fifth character in the sentence).
By listening to the qi, the inner mind immediately grasps the germane aspects of the entire external configuration of forces, and effectively responds to it before the conscious mind even realizes what is happening. Response becomes as sudden as change in qi.
In the sentence above we find a good definition of "de." "Dong yi bu de yi wei de": "Action applied in coordination with the inevitable (the fixed aspects of any configuration of things) is called 'de.'"
The last character in this Chinese sentence from the Zhuang Zi is the character "de," often translated as "power." Power comes not from strength, but from applying action at the right intensity, at the right place, at the right moment, in the right configuration of circumstances.
An opportunity for the correct application of action is actually present in every situation, but the location of the opportunity is not easy to perceive. In the Lao-Zhuang tradition this continuous opportunity for action (which is often a subtle response) is called "the pivot of the dao".
The practitioner viscerally senses and subliminally grasps the pivot , she does not perceive it with the mind's conceptual eye. It is found in the psychic darkness, beyond the mind's limit of direct intellectual apprehension; hence Zhuang Zi says, "the darkness has the pivot." (ming you shu) And hence he speaks of the "dark power." (xuan de)
Force that emerges from the pivot intuitively senses the inevitable (bu de yi) aspects of a situation; it is effective (it has "de") because it engages only those aspects which are ripe for change.
The practice of de:
Minimize discursive/intentional
thought (xin zhai) and avoid the idea that you will
ever be able to posit any absolute truth (wu
chang), and you will thereby attain the psycho-physical
disposition the daoist calls "de". This
creative power (de) provides the capacity to respond
effectively to any circumstance.
Hu hu he shi, wan wu bi luo, mo zu yi gui.
"What end would you carelessly seek? All possibilities are simultaneously manifest before you. There is none worthy of considering as your singular destination." Zhuang Zi
In much of Daoist literature we find an rapt interest expressed in an eschatological end game, i. e., literal immortality, or permanent existence in one's present form. But there is also within daoism a tradition that aims to transcend all defined end games and immediately become one with the flow of the dao: the vast richness, the unlimited, unforeseeable, undifferentiated, always changing currents of existence. Hence Zhuang Zi's above statement.
The idea of immediate transcendence achieved by immediate enlightenment through one's fully grasping what is present with clarity (ching), is seen earlier in the book: "Hide the world (of possibilities) in the world and you can't lose any of it."
Lao-Zhuang is not interested in eschatology, but rather in thriving (zao) right now. This school of thought believes if you only focus out into the distance you will not be able to effectively utilize the unlimitable value of this immediate moment that confronts you. (Dear reader, I mean right now.)
This idea of missed opportunities caused by having the mind intent on a single cherished outcome is reflected in some lines found in the Lushi chunqiu:
"People in the world who listen with their ears in order to distinguish the true from the false, very often suffer from being confined. This being the case, they end up with what is opposite to what is the case in their listening. The reasons for being confined are many, but essentially they come form one's likes and dislikes. One who looks eastwards does not see the west wall, and one who looks southwards does not see the north. This is because there is that on which his mind is intent."
(above translated by D. C. Lau: from Chinese Texts and Philosophical
Contexts: editor Henry Rosemont, Jr.)
This line from chapter forty-five of the Lao Zi provides a good definition of the term "wu wei". It might be translated as:
"By means of internal clarity and serenity all things are spontaneously integrated and effectively consummated."
I wrote the following essay on this chapter forty-five line a few years ago:
In Lao Zi, chapter forty five, one finds the
characters above: Qing, jing, wei, tian, xia, zheng.
What at first appears to be a mysterious esoteric formula turns
out to be a subtle, but surprisingly artless approach to the complexities
of human relationships, creativity, and power. One may translate
these into five English words: Clarity, stillness, cause, heaven,
below, perfected. The phrase can be interpreted as: "When
(the sage) is clear and still, everything under heaven falls into
place." This disarmingly simple incantation is one of the
most dense psycho/spiritual descriptions of psychic reality ever
articulated. The entire body of Taoist thought is an elaboration
of this elemental formula.
Quiet (jing) the mind, quell articulated (discursive)
thought; this is Zhuang Zi's "fasting of the mind" (xin
zhai). Clear (qing) the mind of obstacles,
free it of dogmatically held preconceptions, and rid it of rigid
ego defenses. We can be freed (jie) from the deceptive
idea that we must carefully engineer circumstances to enhance
our lives. We can be liberated (jie) from the vexation
that comes of the mind's calculating every transaction it has
with external reality as a gain or a loss.
Now, the inner world is empty (xu) of activities
and concepts that would have clouded a completely lucid vision
of the surrounding world. It is free of mental noise that would
have prevented an effective integration of sensory input and stored
knowledge. Without interference from such distractions one achieves
a deep (xuan) penetration (tong) into
the underlying (subliminally perceived: bu zhi)
dynamics of the immediate world around one. With this unhindered
and unedited (hun) vision of this reality, psychic
energy (qi) is able to flow freely. The mind without
conscious thought, is able to fully assess the situation and synthesize
an efficacious response to it. This constitutes an enlightened
(Ming) mind.
Attentive (qi shen ning) to the interplay of inside
and outside world, a precise (zheng) intuitive response
will then arise spontaneously (zi ran) from the
integrated mind (ling fu). This powerful, though
frequently subtle response (wu wei) has an impact
outside on other beings. Its dynamics impel (wei)
the present configuration of reality (tian xia)
to self-transform (zi hua), thus reaching its full
potential (zheng).
As the action is completed, the psyche redirects itself; it returns
(fu) to surface stillness, tranquillity (jing)
is reestablished. The recurring circular movement of Tao has completed
one cycle.
With practice, this circle can be tightened to a remarkable degree,
to reach a point where the active and still, Yin and Yang, phases
occur nearly simultaneously. This accomplished prowess can be
seen in the image of a dragon in the I Ching:
"He seems to be leaping
up, but is still in the deep." (James Legge translation)
Hun dun: Will you be able to answer the moon's question correctly?
"The sage grasps dao, efficacy, and the undifferentiated
perspective.
He merges with the dark mystery."
from the Xisheng Jing: Scripture of Western Ascension.
(Shen ren zhe. Zhi dao de hun dun. Xuan miao tong ye.)
The intent of daoist cultivation is to corporally merge with the dao; to embody its efficacy by acquiring the multi-focal perspective and responsiveness of "tian" (the naturally transcendent dao.) The release (jie) from a uni-focal perspective is called attaining the "da fang" (great view) by Zhuang Zi. This personal embodiment of the dao's perspective and responsiveness is mentioned ("ti dao") in the Huainanzi. By the time of the classical daoists, a similar idea had already arisen in the myth of India:
"All who depart from this world go to the moon; their lives cause its waxing side to swell, and on the strength of its waning side it ushers them into a new birth. But the moon is also the portal to the heavenly world, and whoever is able to answer its queries is permitted to proceed further. Those, on the other hand, who are unable to answer are transformed by the moon into rain and they fall down on the earth. Here they are reborn as a worm, or as a fly, or as a bird, or a lion, or as a boar, or as a tiger, or as a human being, or as something else, at this place or that, according to his works and according to his knowledge.
This is to say, if someone comes to the moon
and the moon asks him: Who are you? He should reply: I am you.
If he replies in this way the moon will let him pass."
Upanishads: translation Paul Deussen ("Sechzig
Upanishads des Veda"), Noel Barstad, and Algis Mickunas.
ling xing
Ling xing (spiritual nature) is
a term used by Tang Junyi. In the following Tang is being quoted
by Roger T. Ames:
"from the perspective of the embodied
ideal that we have of man in relationship to his world, there
is a real question as to whether or not man has a fixed nature.
This is because the world and the ideal which man faces both entail
limitless change...The discussion of the human xing
in Chinese thought has had as its one common feature the reference
to this locus for boundless change in which it locates the special
xing of man. This then is man's spiritual xing (ling
xing) which differs from the fixity and lack of spirituality
of the xing of other things."
ling fu: the inner mind, one does
not allow it to be disturbed by circumstance.
Jie is a character whose sinograph pictures the butchering of an ox. Jie means release, liberation, freedom. It signifies release from the habitual customs the mind has acquired through its unifocal view of the world. Taoist liberation allows the psyche to expload beyond its self-created limits and experience the world from a multi-focal perspective. This perceptive, called "da fang," allows transparent perception (qing), increased flexability (ruo), accuracy (zheng), and thereby remarkable effectiveness (de).
Xiong ci is the lower chest. Zhuang Zi seems to indicate that this is the place where the world of phenomena are experienced as a unified field: "All this world's ten thousand things are taken as one." The "One" (yi) is not a metaphysical entity, but rather a psycho-visceral (alchemical) method of processing and responding to the immediate world.
The same contentment is found under all circumstances,
thus there is simply no distress.
Zhuang Zi, end of chapter 16
Zhong zheng This phrase appears in the I Ching. Zhong: center, centered. Zheng: accurate, fully compliant, correct, at the limit of perfection. Thus "zhong zheng" is "centered (thus spontaneously) perfected." Or: "When the heart/mind is centered the perceptions and actions are exact."
zi hua: self-transformation.
The concept expresses the ability of a being
to grow according to the principles of an inherent logic. Wisdom
is attained under the guidance of a natural system of inter-responsiveness
which operates within the being, and also between it and the world
outside.
A human being must be fully awake to the presence of this system
in order to take full advantage of it and complete her entire
potential for growth. Knowledge of this precious resource may
spontaneously occur to one who seeks wisdom, or its existence
may be learned from a teacher (or book). Usually a combination
of both of these two avenues has been followed.
"Collect your spirit in stillness and you will spontaneously become perfect." Zhuang Zi
Another translation of qing jing wei tian xia zheng:
Abiding in transparency and dynamic serenity will spontaneously cause all beings under heaven to reach perfection.
"Magnanimous even during mortal
combat."
wu hu wang er bu ke zai
Daoist attitude toward fate: "Where could I be sent that would not be okay?"
da fang
da fang means great perspective, seeing things from multiple points of view. E. g. thinking of picking a carrot from the carrot's point of view, boiling a lobster seen from its point of view, yelling at a friend or enemy as seen from her point of view.
"From the form we extract the spirit."
ping
Dismiss thoughts, abandon personal agendas, and just play what's in the cards. qi zhi qu ji er yuan bu de yi
Those who embody the tao are lackadaisical
and yet never fail.
Gu ti dao zhe yi er bu qiong.
"The mouth is not able to
speak it." Zhuang Zi
The character is "le:" contentment, satisfaction
Chu: "the beginning"
Ling qi
無聽之以心而聽之以氣。
Ming: Enlightenment
Honest selfishness
Qing jing wei tian xia zheng
jie
xiong ci