Enlightenment and Taoism - a brief description of both.

Some further thoughts on Taoism, the religion from ancient China.

This religion is similar in its core philosophy to almost all the other eastern philosophies and religions. The core message is that it is the well being of the whole that is important and not the well being of any individual being. In Quantum Physics scientists have reached the conclusion that the Universe is one organic whole. Just as the human body is an organism, the Universe too is one being. The ancient Taoists seem to have come to this same conclusion a long time ago through mystical insight. Their philosophy of Taoism reflects this conclusion.

Taoism is different from other eastern religions in that it lays no stress whatsoever on meditation exercises to gain enlightenment. In this respect it is different from Hinduism, Buddhism, Zen and other eastern religions that have a venerable tradition of meditation exercises.

I am not very clear as to exactly what method Taoists or Taoism recommends to gain enlightenment or mystical insights. If I find out I will let you know through this website and my newsletter. It is entirely possible that the original Taoist sages – Lao Tzu and Chuang Tzu – considered all methods to be useless and unnecessary. In this respect they seem to be similar to J. Krishnamurti – another enlightened master – who prescribes no meditation practices whatsoever.

That is not to say that Taoism forbids you from meditating. If you wish to meditate please do so by all means. But do it in the same spirit as you would listen to music, or read a good book, or lose yourself in some engrossing hobby. Do it for the sake of doing it – and not because you expect or want to grow spiritually or gain anything through your meditation practice. As Thich Nhat Hanh says The Miracle of Mindfulness we need to learn to wash dishes for the sake of washing dishes.

It is only by losing yourself that you find yourself. If you meditate because you want to change yourself or gain mystical insights then that is the ego that is working, and that is no way to lose yourself.

That said I would like to add that I started my Vipassana meditation practice because I wanted a certain result and to grow spiritually. And despite everything that Taoism says I have certainly benefited from my meditation practice and intend to continue. There is clearly more than one way to skin a cat.

The Taoist sage – Chuang Tzu – has described the process and stages of being enlightened in the following passage. I have sourced this passage from the book Tao, The Watercourse Way by Alan Watts. This passage is put in the mouth of a sage named Nu Chu, presumably a woman:

"There was Pu Liang I, who had the genius of a sage but not the Tao. I had the Tao but not the genius. I wished to teach him so that he might really become a sage. To teach the Tao of a sage to a man who has the genius seems to be an easy matter. But no, I kept on telling him; after three days he began to be able to disregard all worldly matters (i.e. anxiety about status or gain and loss). After his having disregarded all worldly matters, I kept on telling him; after seven days he began to be able to disregard all external things (as being separate entities). After his having disregarded all external things, I kept on telling him; after nine days he began to be able to disregard his own existence (as an ego). Having disregarded his own existence, he was enlightened. Having become enlightened he was able to gain the vision of the One. Having the vision of the One he was able to transcend the distinction of past and present. Having transcended the distinction of past and present, he was able to enter the realm where life and death are no more. Then, to him, the destruction of Life did not mean Death, nor the prolongation of Life an addition to the duration of his existence. He would follow anything; he would receive anything. To him, everything was in destruction; everything was in construction. This is called tranquility in disturbance. Tranquility in disturbance means perfection."

There are two comments that I can make about this passage. The first point – on a lighter note – is that these words were certainly spoken by a woman. Only a woman could nag a sage – as in the repeated words, "I kept on telling him" – to enlightenment.

The second point is that once we begin to disregard the external aspects of our being and the external form as regards ourselves we have a better chance of gaining mystical insights and becoming enlightened. We simply need to disregard our name, age, sex, body, mind, intellect, feelings, wealth, possessions, relationships, reputation, family etc. If a wave in the ocean starts to ignore and treat as of little account the external aspects of its existence (as a wave), it is possible that it will come to the simple insight that it is water.

There may be further insights that we could gain from the above passage but frankly these insights are beyond my ability and understanding at this point in time.

I hope you enjoyed this article and that it will be useful to you.

Stay tuned for more in this continuing series.

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