IKURI

Tao Thought: Totality and Tao Te Ching Verse Fifty One

51

The Way begets them
Virtue keeps them
matter shapes them
usage completes them

Thus do all things honour the Way
and glorify Virtue

The honour of the Way
the glory of Virtue
and not conferred but always so
The Way begets and keeps them
cultivates and trains them
steadies and adjusts them
nurtures and protects them

But begets without possessing
acts without presuming
and cultivates without controlling

This is called Dark Virtue


— RED PINE


51

Tao gives life to all beings.
Nature nourishes them.
Fellow creatures shape them.
Circumstances complete them.
Everything in existence
respects Tao and honours nature
not by decree, but spontaneously.

Tao gives life to all beings.
Nature watches over them,
develops them, shelters them,
nurses them, grows them,
ripens them, completes them,
buries them, and returns them.

Giving birth, nourishing life,
shaping things without possessing them,
serving without expectation of reward,
leading without dominating:
These are the profound virtues of nature,
and of nature's best beings.

— BRIAN BROWNE WALKER


51

Every being in the universe
is an expression of the Tao.
It springs into existence,
unconscious, perfect, free,
takes on a physical body,
lets circumstances complete it.
That is why every being
spontaneously honors the Tao.

The Tao gives birth to all beings,
nourishes them, maintains them,
cares for them, comforts them,
protects them,
takes them back to itself,
creating without possessing,
acting without expecting,
guiding without interfering.
That is why love of the Tao
is in the very nature of things.

— STEPHEN MITCHELL



--
Those who consider their path superior are condescending.
A parrot who speaks of the totality of the self is absurd.
Many paths lead to the summit,
But it takes a whole body to get there.

Once I met a woman who was a lifelong Christian. She had two sons who practiced yoga. She thought that was wonderful, but they arrogantly considered their beliefs to be superior to hers and told her that she was not doing enough for her spiritual salvation.

No one has a right to condemn another person's spiritual beliefs. No spiritual system is superior to another. Each one of us should have the philosophy and practices that work for us. We should be happy once we find it, we should help those who are interested in the spirituality we represent, but none of us should behave condescendingly toward others' spirituality.

We are all trying to get to the summit of spiritual realization, and there are many valid paths leading to the top. Of course, the view and terrain on one side of a mountain will differ from the other, but the summit is identical no matter what your approach.

Whatever your path, all that matters is that you commit yourself totally to following it. Others will do the same. As long as we all climb, each from our own direction, and reach the summit of human spirituality, we can achieve complete totality in our lives. Then all the fracturing discussions of sects and different religions become unnecessary.

totality
365 Tao
Daily Meditations
Deng Ming-Dao (author)
ISBN 0-06-250223-9

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Tao Meditation: Unexpectant

Here's a view of the focus of my energy for the past week or so. GongGong (the mother) has tried to hatch a brood so many times I have lost count, and I have "midwifed' her through it all. (Ensuring that she get food, water, time away from the nest, doesn't try to sit in the winter, etc.) This is our very first brood in all the years we have kept fowl, although the mallard is really working on it this year. I have enclosed a photo of mom and dad - my banty frizzle and the funniest looking rooster in the world! His crow is just as loud as them all; we have to bring him indoors on harsh winter nights or he would freeze trying to guard all his hens. Meditate with no thought of gain. Expect no ambitions to be fulfilled. Only then will the inner force manifest. In the competitive world, we give expression to our ambitions, shrewdness, and aggressiveness. We must do this to survive. In the meditative world, we cannot use these attitudes. What works well on the outside will not serve us on the inside. When we meditate, we must expect no gain. If we look for results, then those results will elude us. In contrast, if we suspend our ambitions, then the results will manifest very quickly. It may sound like absurd mysticism, but it is an undeniable, empirical truth. If you have no expectations, you will feel the divine. If you strive and have selfish desires, then you will feel only frustration. When the mind is occupied with meditation for gain, it creates a barrier to precisely the results that you want. Spirituality is a mode that is far beyond the machinations and imaginations of the rational mind. It is created by an aspect of the mind that is not a part of everyday thought. In fact, the part of the mind that brings spirituality is very nearly antithetical to the common ways that we think. Therefore, we can only reach this type of spirituality by suspending our everyday thinking. unexpectant from the book 365 Tao Daily Meditations by Deng Ming-Dao ISBN: 0.06.250223.9 "Six Babies" © 2007 lisbethwest hatched in the elizabeth ann kibben memorial garden to subscribe to daily Taoist meditations send an email to duckdaotsu write SUBSCRIBE TAO in the subject line click below to email this to a friend archived at http://www.duckdaotsu.org/july07/unexpectant.html Please consider the environment before printing this email or web page.