Equal in regards to the natural elements of being
and to the man made world,
the Tao of understanding is firmly rooted in the harmony of all.
Using the natural wisdom of the elements
leads a practitioner to the innermost core of the Tao,
whereas using the fault ridden wisdom of man
leads a practitioner to prematurely
die within the heart of the world.
You may be overly abundant in
the gains and losses of knowledge,
but that does not solve the problem of human existence.
Knowledge often being the product
of uncertainty and intellectual doubt,
human knowledge is as passing
as the flowering and wiltering of one season to the next.
Only a person who is imbued with the reality of reality
can harness knowledge that is really real.
The ancients who were as real as the Tao
were not against the will of minority groups
and they did not roar with the
confidence of a lion when they succeeded.
Not plagued by the hardships of success
and not pulled in all directions
by the easiness of failure,
the seemingly bright element of mind
did not scorch their sense of internalized dignity.
The ancients went directly to bed
and did not have to worry over
the dream of dreaming.
When breathing, their heels jumped for joy.
Craving after the propensity to crave,
the shallow realizations of the masses
keeps so many from more easily
finding their ultimate purpose in the Tao.
Unbiased towards the growing and diminuation
of any and all bodies, they rejoiced without rejoicing
and beamed with joy for no reason other than being alive.
The ancients thus decided to celebrate the Way of ways
by not directly trying to know the Tao in a linear fashion.
Focused on nothing but the quiet peace of a winter's day,
their hearts were as animated as the varying
phenomena of the four seasons.
When in charge of the world,
sages think of the necessities of ten thousand future generations.
Wishing to be ahead of the times,
stay focused and remain in the serenity of the Tao.
Acting for reputation,
become a silent gentleman.
Withdrawing from nothing,
withdraw into yourself.
Real sages in ancient times possessed nothing,
yet they had everything.
Alone while in the company of others
and while retiring at night,
their openness to change knew no conceivable limit.
Behaving in accordance with the social pressures of the nation,
the transcendence of their silence
amazed enough persons to no longer want to speak.
Acting only when the Tao demanded it of them,
they used their bodies as instruments of unutterable laws.
Not distracted by liking the process of disliking things and places,
Nature's Way was their long awaited friend
on the trail of Authentic Human Strivings.
Powerless in being powerful
and surrendered without having to outwardly surrender,
life and death flickers in the eyes of real sages
as the sun and moon flickers throughout
the passing of unending days and unending nights.
In love with filial devotion,
devote yourself to the transcendence of Reality.
Like fish out of water,
forget about the impediments of the Way
and become the Way out of suffering for others.
This universe weighs us down with a form
that is subject to growing tall like a candle's flame
only to evaporate into the thinest of airs.
What is truly good in life
is also supposed to be truly good when dying.
Hiding the real in the real,
the Tao is in the Tao.
The Way is the reality of the truth
of no form and of no constructed mind.
Rooted in Nothingness,
heaven and earth are its most minute byproducts.
Alchemizing ghosts and gods into sages,
the birthless birth of this universe
is a testimony to its subtle greatness.
Ancient beyond years and young beyond growing,
mountains, rivers, planets and emperors
are nothing in comparison to it.
Ascending to the stars and leaving the empire
and nation behind is he who has attained to the Way.
Approaching a master of ancient years,
the young man asked him how he still could look so young.
Having heard of the Way,
you begin to greatly resemble the Way.
Excited after hearing this initial statement,
the young man wanted to be his disciple.
Wanting to make him into not only a learned teacher
of the Way but into a master of the Way,
the ancient one told the young man to simply sit next to him.
Slowly detaching his mind from the burdensome
memories of peoples and past events,
the young man eventually reached the state
of renouncing the consciousness of the masses.
Once there, he then proceeded to see the clarity of being clear.
After even that stage of disciplined awareness,
he could see the uniqueness of transcending space and time.
Above the humdrum of an incessantly busy world
of traitors and exchangers, he went into
the emptiness of the immortal Tao.
Breaking everything down into its component parts
and re-building the universe one piece at a time,
the peace of a freed consciousness is all that is understood.
From the uncertainess of a writer
to the Void of voids,
the infinite Tao recognized its own luminosity.
Four sages, meeting on an evening walk,
began to speak in riddled tongues.
Having the Tao as my head
and Nature for a spine,
the unity of life and death
is the same for all four corners of this earth.
One day falling sick,
one of the sages lamented for the dire condition
of his body but remarked that he was in a good condition
since his mind was no longer disturbed by the ways of the world.
Looking into the waters as a mirror,
the sick sage saw all of the creative aspects
of the Tao as it was expressing itself
through his formed image of a self.
Gain being the result of the passing of time
and loss being the result of having to live in the Tao,
adapting to the balance of the moment is my way of being happy.
Why be concerned over our dilemmas when these
dilemmas are what fix the mind on negativity and impious situations.
Taking his last breath, the sick sage told his family
of the lasting power of the cosmic energies of yin and yang.
As the universe was forged like a piece of fine jewelry,
this human form will be re-made into
the peacefulness of a silent and majestic mountain.
Going to sleep in this world,
I calmly awaken in the next.
Gladly singing and dancing
over the death of the sick sage,
one sage in particular makes an observant remark
about this seemingly crazed behaviour.
Outside of the realm of social conventions,
sages can see the humor of the Tao in everything
and can make heaven and earth dance with them.
Considering life as a recurring extension of death
and death as a recurring extension of life,
the Tao is most important to abide in.
Mixing eternity with the finite,
the rituals of normality
and the customs of learned decency
do not interest them at all.
The happiness of heaven having the better of me,
we lose ourselves in the performance of the Way.
Out of the ordinary, the Tao of Nature
leads great men into being small men
and small men into being great men.
To such persons, the Way is the Way
no matter how it appears to appear.
Sitting in the forgetfulness of emptiness,
real sages are on an equal footing with the creations of the Tao.
by Julian Colgan (Copyright)
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