Friday

taoist thought: soaring


Those who seek learning gain every day
those who seek the Way lose every day
they lose and they lose
until they find nothing to do
nothing to do means nothing not done
who rules the world isn't busy
if someone is busy
he can't rule the world

daodejing #48
translated by Red Pine


Chinese characters for teh word "soaring"

shadow chicken


For years, I've practiced ritual.
It's dead now.
For years, I've practiced meditation.
It's dull now.
Finally, there is only soaring
Like an ectoplasmic ribbon
Floating over the sea.
When one is mature spiritually, one no longer needs the structure of ritual or formal meditations. This is not to say that structure was unnecessary, for without it one could not stand at this vantage point. But once one attains a level where one has completely internalized the lessons of structure, one can freely improvise in fresh and valid forms.

In spirituality, one can soar, free of ordinary restrictions. Imagine yourself on a high cliff overlooking the ocean. Slowly your body elongates like a ribbon. Longer and longer, undulating up into the sky. Before you is the limitless vastness of the ocean and sky. You feel drawn forward, and you can glide and soar over that expanse like a ribbon. That is spiritual freedom.

Autumn is about to pass into winter. Spring is on the other side, just as spiritual soaring is on the other side of stiff ritual. Devotions have their own seasons. When you first learn them, they are magical. Then they yield their harvest and wither. On the other side of the withering is a new spring and a new spiritual vista. Wherever you are in your spiritual years, cooperate with the cycle of the seasons, until you emerge like a design, soaring in the sky.


soaring
by Deng Ming-Dao
from the book 365 Tao
Daily Meditations
ISBN 0-06--250223-9

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"Shadow Chicken"
© 2006 by lisbethwest

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