While pulling myself into an odd yoga shape this morning, I thought, this is nuts! No normal animal on the planet would do this. In fact, no other animal does most of the things our species does. Working, resting, and engaging in the basic biological functions is all that we have in common with other […]
Continue reading…Buddha
Fear Is The Bottom Line
There is much more to fear than meets the eye. We often associate the symptoms of fear (i.e., the outer reactions fear instigates) as the fear itself. These reactions span a range from ‘flight’ to ‘fight’, although screaming and fleeing are the images that usually come to mind. Actually, pure fear is profoundly more subtle […]
Continue reading…Desire and Contentment
Chapter 46 puts forward a curious dilemma. According to that chapter, when the way prevails in the empire, fleet-footed horses are relegated to plowing the fields; when the way does not prevail in the empire, war-horses breed on the border. However, chapter 34 holds that, The way is broad, reaching left as well as right. […]
Continue reading…The Worry Gene
Have you noticed how something always seems to be wrong no matter how right things appear initially? There is an apparently endless supply of issues to fret over. After we resolve our pressing life and death issues, you’d think we could relax and appreciate that victory. Alas, no sooner is one problem solved than we […]
Continue reading…Bathtub Tai Chi
I finally realized multitasking was a waste of time. Taking this shortcut fooled me into feeling I could really accomplish more. Paradoxically not so, as chapter 48 hints, One does less and less until one does nothing at all, and when one does nothing at all there is nothing that is undone. More importantly, the […]
Continue reading…How the Hoodwink Hooks
Chapter 65 begins with, Of old those who excelled in the pursuit of the way did not use it to enlighten the people but to hoodwink them. Initially, I thought of old referred to people, e.g., parents, politicians, preachers, gurus. On the other hand, these people are often?… usually?… always?… hoodwinked by their own set […]
Continue reading…The Glare Hides ‘Out There’ From View
The glare of emotion, “the flames of desire”, as Buddha put it, obscures our view. All we can see are the objects of our passion. As those flames die down and the glare subsides, we are gradually able to see what is truly ‘out there’. Peering through the darkness what do we see ‘out there’? Strain […]
Continue reading…Right Mindfulness, Attentiveness, and Concentration?
Right Mindfulness, Attentiveness, and Concentration (1) are three folds in Buddha’s Eight Fold Path. Just what is the difference between these approximate synonyms? Over the years, I’ve split many hairs trying to resolve this issue. Don’t they all refer to closely related states of mental awareness? Google [Specialis Revelio! It’s Not Magic, It’s Neuroscience] for […]
Continue reading…The best tao? (road, way, principle, speak, think)
Waking up following a pleasant afternoon’s nap, I found myself reflecting on the best way to approach life. By “way” I mean tao, and tao (道 dào) translates to road, way, principle; speak; think. Why do we have endless debates over the way to approach life, what to do and how to do it? This […]
Continue reading…Understanding Understanding
I’ve been reviewing Buddha’s Four Noble Truths (p.604) for decades while doing my daily yoga headstand. Understanding these appears easy—they are short and straightforward enough. Even so, I plumb deeper meaning from them as the years pass. For example, some years ago the second truth, “The illusion of self originates and manifests itself in a […]
Continue reading…Is Enlightenment Something or ???
Enlightenment is an interesting illusion. Just as chapter 2’s Something and Nothing produce each other, so do ignorance and enlightenment. The question is, what does enlightenment Correlate to, Something or Nothing? (See Tools of Taoist Thought: Correlations, p.565.) If enlightenment is Something, it correlates to obvious, bright, light, life, full, sudden, special, etc. If enlightenment […]
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