No 862 of Living Life Series 1
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29.1 If you want to take over the World by manipulation, I do not see you succeeding.
29.2 The World is the Vessel of Spirit, which cannot be manipulated. If you try to own it, you will lose it.
29.3 One will lead, and one will follow.
One is hot, and one is cold.
One is strong, and one is weak.
One will rise, and one will fall.
29.4 Therefore, the Sage avoids all extremes, excesses and extravagances.
In lines one and two, the sage reminds us that matter is as important as spirit. We must pay attention to body and spirit. The physical World is the container or vessel for the Spirit - Divinity. The two lines spell out the problems for mankind. Man cannot manipulate the World and Divinity. Men must flow along with Matter and with Spirit.
This is of course another way of saying philosophically as “Action through less or no action” (无为无 wei wu wei). It is more literally translated as "Action through no action". We do not perform any action that creates problems but do less to have peace.
This is how we can arrive at fruitful life and have results through flowing along with Matter and with Divine Spirit. We cannot fight and we cannot avoid. We can be at peace and have more of non-action than action. Action can at times be somehow futile and create problems. Non-action is at times the optimal action.
Line three and four of chapter twenty nine elaborate on this. There is need to balance the extremes and polarities. We must not mount and go for any extreme but stay clear of extremes or polarities. Often actions may make us mount the extremes or polarities and we will have little or no peace. It is better to have that wei wu wei 为无为 "Action through (less or) no action."
Line three contains a list of opposites or polarities. It refers to the Pa Kua (eight trigrams) of I Ching 易經.
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| please note that there are many variations of Pa Kua |
Change is constant and this applies to all. All beings anywhere have to go through these eight phases at one time or another in various patterns.
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Heaven (Chien) leads and Earth (Kun) follows like the seasons - summer and winter. Fire (Li) and River (Kan) reflect the hot and cold of life. Mountain (Ken) stands up towering and strong above the relatively weak water of lake (Tui). Thunder (Chen) reflects rise in life and Wind (Sun) can bring fall - reflects fall in life.
We need to moderate life and be at peace with life and its changes. There is no way we can avoid the changes. There is no way we can control life and nature. We can only mitigate the effects of the changes and the man of Tao is at peace with Change and with Life and the World - with Spirit and with the World as some would put it in another way.
The image of Lord Bo Tien 武天菩萨 embodies the teachings of Tao Te Ching on need to be atop and balance the change in life - the polarities. This is depicted by the good lord being seated and at rest with feet above the opposites. We need to be above and not be affected by change and the opposites in life and in nature.
We need to moderate life and be at peace with life and its changes. There is no way we can avoid the changes. There is no way we can control life and nature. We can only mitigate the effects of the changes and the man of Tao is at peace with Change and with Life and the World - with Spirit and with the World as some would put it in another way.
The image of Lord Bo Tien 武天菩萨 embodies the teachings of Tao Te Ching on need to be atop and balance the change in life - the polarities. This is depicted by the good lord being seated and at rest with feet above the opposites. We need to be above and not be affected by change and the opposites in life and in nature.
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We do not possess life. We do not disown life. How do we do so? We go for peace and for this we go for less of actions - economy of actions.
We are not wasteful or frivolous with actions. We adhere to frugality or parsimony of resources and resources include actions. We are wise with actions. It must be pointed out that we also do not end up doing nothing. We do what are needed and appropriate to moderate life. This is so that we will as far as possible be at peace with the polarities or contingencies of life.
We do not fight. We do not run away. We go for actions that will make us at peace with life as it unfurls. We do not add to the confusion and create need for more actions. We go for near no action though this is an overstatement.
Even fools they say are wise if they do not act or open their mouths. Empty vessels make the most noise and disturb the peace.
We must end up doing less or no action to have more - more of peace in life for the higher calling. We stay atop the actions that go round around us and do not end up contributing to the actions - yet we are still part of the actions in life and in the world around us.
We do not let the actions around us determine us. We determine that the actions will not disturb our peace - inner peace. We achieve this through minimalism of actions - "Action through less or no action" - wei wu wei 无为无.
We are not wasteful or frivolous with actions. We adhere to frugality or parsimony of resources and resources include actions. We are wise with actions. It must be pointed out that we also do not end up doing nothing. We do what are needed and appropriate to moderate life. This is so that we will as far as possible be at peace with the polarities or contingencies of life.
We do not fight. We do not run away. We go for actions that will make us at peace with life as it unfurls. We do not add to the confusion and create need for more actions. We go for near no action though this is an overstatement.
Even fools they say are wise if they do not act or open their mouths. Empty vessels make the most noise and disturb the peace.
We must end up doing less or no action to have more - more of peace in life for the higher calling. We stay atop the actions that go round around us and do not end up contributing to the actions - yet we are still part of the actions in life and in the world around us.
We do not let the actions around us determine us. We determine that the actions will not disturb our peace - inner peace. We achieve this through minimalism of actions - "Action through less or no action" - wei wu wei 无为无.
Thus for example in the temple of a lord saint, if there be storm among men, people of Tao 道 should not contribute to the storm but be peaceful and pleasant through no or less actions when others go crazy and are making a mess for the temple whatever their intentions - be it good or not-so-good.
The good lord Lord Bo Tien 武天菩萨 reassures that storm will not last forever and there will be calm after the storm. But it is common sense that all should be weary and mindful not to prolong storm by contributing to the storm.
The wise one with Tao 道 will go for minimal action and often this is no action - wu wei 无为. He will not join the fray and the mess. He will just seek the shelter of God and saints. Then big issues will end up as small issues even if they cannot be no issue as pointed out time and again by saints like Lord Bo Tien 武天菩萨.
Even the lord saint of the temple where people make a mess through their actions will often go for "Action through (less or) no action." The heavenly saint will keep his silence. Perhaps this is divine silence through no action - wu wei 无为.
As with chapter twenty nine of Tao Te Ching 道德经, one may wish to dwell on related translation from the Tao Tê Ching 道德经 by Priya Hemenway, Chapter II:
The good lord Lord Bo Tien 武天菩萨 reassures that storm will not last forever and there will be calm after the storm. But it is common sense that all should be weary and mindful not to prolong storm by contributing to the storm.
Even the lord saint of the temple where people make a mess through their actions will often go for "Action through (less or) no action." The heavenly saint will keep his silence. Perhaps this is divine silence through no action - wu wei 无为.
As with chapter twenty nine of Tao Te Ching 道德经, one may wish to dwell on related translation from the Tao Tê Ching 道德经 by Priya Hemenway, Chapter II:
2
The Sage is occupied with the unspoken
and acts without effort.
Teaching without verbosity,
producing without possessing,
creating without regard to result,
claiming nothing, the Sage has nothing to lose.
It is indeed amazing that Gautama Buddha belonging to different era echoes the same teachings "Action through no action." 为无为(wei wu wei) in the Tao Te Ching 道德经 by saying that we strive not to have volitional actions, that is, actions based on ill-will, greed and false views. False views refer to no life after death and to eternity of heaven or hell after death.
As long as men have no-action based on the three roots, they will not create karmic reaction and be sucked into throes of worldly contingencies or polarities like gain loss, praise blame, health ill-health ...
There is need to have no actions that promote polarities. Then we can have more of inner peace or equanimity while living in life of polarities.
We must not be into the polarity of life. We must not overindulge in life. We must not deny life for that will also be creating suffering for self and there will be no peace. There must be the middle ground for peace while living in the midst of polarities.
It is appropriate to remind that it is obvious that the same teachings are common to the cultures of India and China though in differing locations, context and era. All cultures are based on the same goodness of humanity.
But when we use the term religion in place of culture, we tend to see the differences instead. Incidentally, we do not expect people to covert to another culture or race but we do when we refer to religion. Culture simply takes on aspects of other cultures. Religion is less likely to do so. This is ironical. Well that is life.
Won't the commonality of basic teachings reinforce the message by the good lord Lord Bo Tien 武天菩萨 of the oneness of religions? All religions have the same inner truth but somehow or other elaborated and propagated by men of religions differently.
Truth or rather inner truth exist long before any religion. This is for sure. "Action through no action." wei wu wei 为无为 teaching was there in time waiting to be propounded by religions.
It is indeed amazing that Gautama Buddha belonging to different era echoes the same teachings "Action through no action." 为无为(wei wu wei) in the Tao Te Ching 道德经 by saying that we strive not to have volitional actions, that is, actions based on ill-will, greed and false views. False views refer to no life after death and to eternity of heaven or hell after death.
As long as men have no-action based on the three roots, they will not create karmic reaction and be sucked into throes of worldly contingencies or polarities like gain loss, praise blame, health ill-health ...
We must not be into the polarity of life. We must not overindulge in life. We must not deny life for that will also be creating suffering for self and there will be no peace. There must be the middle ground for peace while living in the midst of polarities.
It is appropriate to remind that it is obvious that the same teachings are common to the cultures of India and China though in differing locations, context and era. All cultures are based on the same goodness of humanity.
But when we use the term religion in place of culture, we tend to see the differences instead. Incidentally, we do not expect people to covert to another culture or race but we do when we refer to religion. Culture simply takes on aspects of other cultures. Religion is less likely to do so. This is ironical. Well that is life.
Won't the commonality of basic teachings reinforce the message by the good lord Lord Bo Tien 武天菩萨 of the oneness of religions? All religions have the same inner truth but somehow or other elaborated and propagated by men of religions differently.
Truth or rather inner truth exist long before any religion. This is for sure. "Action through no action." wei wu wei 为无为 teaching was there in time waiting to be propounded by religions.
