Day 21: Skills

Day 21

Zither, chess, book, painting, sword.

These symbolize classical skill.

-Deng Ming-Dao

Skills are an extension of ourselves. How do extend yourself everyday? What skills do you want people to see and which do you keep private for yourself? Do you hesitate to develope new skills? Or, do you enjoy it? Creativity and criticism are two sides of the the same mind coin and need to be kept that way so that you can enjoy how you develop as an individual. Each skill has a place in your life and somehow we must cultivate them and give each time and space to develop a true sense of being and expose the inner aspects of the Self.

I have recently enrolled in a Beginners Writing course. Even though I've been writing lyrics, poetry and short stories over the years this is the first time in my life that I've committed to writing as a skill. It's important to practice any aspect of yourself, just as long as it doesn't become a job. I once taught yoga classes because I had the skill. However, teaching yoga and practicing yoga are very different. I didn't like teaching yoga because it took away the love I'd developed for the practice that was mine. Suddenly, what I'd been in love with became a job. So, there is a level of discernment that must take place when you're developing a skill - is it for you? Are you expecting anything back from it - money, acknowledgement, etc. It must be for the desire to do it and expose yourself to the reflection in the mirror that you dedicate yourself to acquiring a skill. Otherwise, you are dealing with ego and that can just be nothing but trouble. 

Extend the sword,

but not the point.

-Demori

Day 20: Happiness

Day 20

Let us not follow vulgar leaders

Who exploit the fear of death,

And promise the bliss of salvation.

If we are truly happy,

They will have nothing to offer.

- Deng Ming-Dao

Happiness is harnessed by the wise individual who invites death into each day and allows life to flow towards it - the path of least resistance. To battle against either is a waste of time and energy. Free yourself from rules devised by man and his so-called gods. Live based on your own spirituality and your own truth. The only salvation is yourself. - Demori 

Day 19: Initiative

Day 19

Let us not be confused

With kaleidoscopic reality.

Using wisdom and courage to act,

Let not add to the confusion.

Deng Ming-Dao

In western culture it is supposedly a "compliment" to describe someone who shows intiative. It's assumed to be a postive trait and in connected with success. It doen't seem to matter how the initiative is directed, as long a you have it. However, initiative can become a negative action or reaction if an individual is not acting in the "right" way. Defining "right" and "wrong" goes back to dualistic thinking. What appears right to one person is wrong for another - life is a double-edged sword no matter what initiative is being targeted.

Deng Ming-Dao emphasises "Action must be guided by both intellect and expereince. We learn from teachers, elders and others. But we must also test what we learn in the world. It is not enough to simply meditate, adn it s not enough just to have theorectical knowledge. We need both in order to be wise."

I agree. Just as one practices meditation, one must also practice a basis for initiative - ensuring  little or no ramifications. Using a logic devised from teachings and experience to envision the possible causality of a decision, or in this case initiative. Do the positives outway the negatives? What are the possible end results? In the end will it all be worth the effort? Sometimes you just don't know how the entire situation will go down. You hope that the initiative you take is the right action for your life and for those around you. Even when moving with awarenss, you cannot possibly consider how deterministic situations can influence a direction that appears well considered and clear. Even with the best of intentions, there may be guilt and regret.

Deng Ming Daos writes, "The action must be burn clean; it cannot leave any bad ramifications or lingering traces. An act that leaves destruction, resentment, or untidiness in its wake is a poor one. Then initiative is insufficient, and Tao has not been attained."

Joseph Campbell wrote, " If you want to help this world, then you must teach how to live in it." There is no better way to do this than to take initiative in your life and live it in the best way you know how. From this you will hopefully gain wisdom and perspective about what is important in this life. If you can help others see how to live with awareness, even better.

The truth is that most people don't have 20/20 vision. They need glasses or contact lenses to see clearly, whether they be farsighted or nearsighted. We each see the world through different lenses, even the one's we are born with are not perfect throughout our life, the view alters based on age and exposure.

Intitiate  

a life path.

Response,

based

on inner truth,

will identify

 direction.

-Demori

Day 18: Spectrum

Day 18

Pure light is all colors.

Therefore, it has no hue.

Only when singleness is scattered

Does color appear.

-Deng Ming-Dao

The author writes, "That is why those who follow Tao constantly speak of returning. They unify all areas of their lives and unify all distinctions into a whole. There cannot be diversity within unity. When our consciounes rejoins the true Tao, there is only brightnesss, and all color disppears."

I have seen a double rainbow one time in my life - April 2009. The colors united and eventually they disappeared. It is the way of things. Between the beginning and the end it was a spectacular sight. In Tibetan Buddhism it is believed that such a sight means that someone, like a Rinpoche, has reached enlightenment.

Day 17: Cooperation

Day 17

Cooperation with others.

Perception, expereince, tenacity

Know when to lead and when to follow.

Deng Ming-Dao

Do you think Haitian Government has read this meditation? This approach apparently doesn't apply if chaos exists in the streets after a 7.0 earthquake. The Haitian Government seems to show no initiative or influence in this particular situation, let alone a resonsibility to their country. They've decided to let other countries take responsibility (ranging from the U.S. to Turkey), to support the people of Haiti. These people have been foresaken by their "God" and "Government". 

Deng Ming-Dao writes, "The best leader remains obsure..." Based on this description, the Haitian Government  is  a great example of taoists leadership (they probably practice Tai Chi in the local park every morning).  "As long as the collective has direction (Even the people of Haiti deny direction and cooperation amongst themselves - looting, killing, stealing, etc.), the leader is satisfied. Credit is not taken, it will be awarded when the people realize that it was the subtle influence of the leader that brought them success."  I think the Haitian Government is well satisfied and are willing to take credit for whatever the other countries do for them in this situation.

To be passive in a situation can lead to upheaval and chaos. However, leading is not always the best option either. Standing back to see what the situation is really about, to get a true perception of the isssue is a great way to make a determination. Joseph Campbell explores an Irish saying that goes something like, "Is your fight or can anybody join?"  It looks to me like the Haitian Government is doing just that - letting these territorial countries who want to fight over "I helped save Haiti the Most" button, to just do it. They're just standing back and letting it all unfold.

Hmmm.You know what? I think they are being taoists.  They see the situation for what it is and they are just letting it be.  Day 10: Disaster: "Disaster may well change us deeply, but they will pass...Whether we remain ash or become the phoenix is up to us."  Maybe, (this is a big maybe) the Haitian overnment is not cooperating with other countries because they are very use to death, destruction and eventually, some type of resurrection in whatever form that it takes. On the other hand,  the heroic countries with a  "Superman" mentality may be obstructing the natural course of things due to their own agendas. I'm not saying that there aren't people from these "Superman" countries (First Responders, etc.) that really want to help. But, I think there is a much larger picture here about human action and reaction than most people are seeing, such as Day 14: Positioning - "If we are not in the right place at the right time, we cannot possibly take advantage of what life has to offer to us."  In this particular case, perhaps a military advantage. Russia and Venezuela have been playing little war games, but the United States has not been invited to play.

Why does anyone cooperate?

Is it for bettering the world,

our business, or ourselves?

-Demori

Day 16: Ordinary

Day 16

Umbrella, light, landscape, sky-

There is no language of the holy.

The sacred lies in the ordinary.

-Deng Ming-Dao

Once you stop personalizing your "God" and following the doctrines and dogma of religion, only then you begin your freedom toward the truth and away from the conceptualization of "God" and "Heaven". In most religions the teaching is all metaphor, anyway. It's not about what you're reading, but reading between the lines and acknowledging the symbolic aspects of the teachings.

Jesus is quoted as teaching, "Heaven is here upon the earth, but man does not see it." What he's describing is life without identifying the divinity of self and your connection to all things. Hell is here upon the earth, too and it's exactly the same thing but the opposite. Both exist in a dualilty mode whenever you want to tap into them. The difficulty is practicing being in balance with neither and both simultaneoulsy. Then you learn to flow with moments as they come. I know, it's just so difficult, but that is what spiritual practice is - some days you get the teachings and it's crystal clear, other days not so much.

Walking in the path of least resistance seems to be the best mode to attain such a space/place. It is here that one can begin to understand what William Blake was communicating when her wrote,  "If the doors of perception were cleansed every thing would appear to man as it is, infinite. For man has closed himself up, till he sees all things through narrow chinks of his cavern."

Deng Ming-Doa writes, "If you constantly regard Tao as extraordinary, then it remains unknown and outside yourself - a myth, a fantasy, an unnameable quantity. But once you know it, it is yours and part of you daily life."

I find that with each passing day the meditations presented in 365 Tao are supporting my journey in seeing the ordinary as spiritual and the spiritual as ordinary. It took me a very long time to get to this simple point of spirituality and insight, considering not all that long ago (4 years ago) I was about to start the process of  100,000 prostrations for the sake of Tibetan Buddhism. Whew! That was a close one. I saw pilgrims doing this practice in Tibet with knee pads and mittens - very committed to their religion while the Chinese soilders stood with guns 10 feet away or pushed through the crowd and practically walked on them. But that's the way it is.

I know that seeking the sacred comes with stopping the search the the extraordinary and just walking in it and through it, allowing it to be and not you straining yourself to fit into a mold of some doctrine/dogma. Tibetan Buddhism - you read and you practice, you chant, you prostrate and some how you get more attached to the teachings, which you're not suppose to do, but it's very human to do so. In the end I just knew it wasnt' right for me. So, here I am at Taoism and it seems to me this has always been more of my innate sense of "spirit", afterall. As simple as a sunset.

Ordinary -

brook flows

 moss grows

wind blows.

-Demor

Day 15: Time

Day 15

The river, surging course,

Uninterruped current.

Headwater, channel, mouth.

Can they be divided?

-Deng Ming-Dao

Today's meditation is about time: past, present and future. It also concerns how each impacts the other - the only division them being the present moment.

The trinity of time flows -

past, present, future - 

one into the other.

- Demori

Deng Ming-Dao writes, "We must understand how the past affects us, we should keep the present full of rich and satisfying experiences, and we should devote some energy each day to building for the future. Just as a river can be said to have parts that cannot be clearly divided, so too shold we consider the whole of our time when deciding on how to spend our lives."

It is not always easy to see the direction we are taking while in the present moment. Joseph Campbell writes about "invisible hands" that guide you. But, most importantly he emphasises to "follow your bliss". We can't always identify our bliss, but we can be true to our spirit's call.

In retrospect we see how our lives have moved us to the very moment at which we stand in its reflection. It has been said by many that this life is not about the final destination, but the journey. The older one gets in life, this statement becomes more true. By the time you are 40 years old, there have certainly been some twists and turns in the river of your life, carving through and shaping the landscape of your being. Time has been there wandering along side of you the entire way. 

For in that sleep of death what dreams may come

When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,

Must give us pause...

- Shakespeare