My personal practice these days consists, in a large part, in something I call Looking Up. By Looking Up I mean to, number one, physically look up. It is amazing how often we travel down the road or even across our yard or across the street, all the while looking straight ahead, if not down at our feet. When we look up we see the blue, blue sky above us, with the bright shards of sunlight flowing down to us. Or else we see the great billowing clouds, all full of the promise of rain to make all things on our planet grow and flourish. Or else we might see the rain itself, falling down into our open eyes and perhaps, open mouth. Or we might see the tops of the trees swaying slowly in the breeze, reaching into the sky, connecting from their deeply entrenched roots down in the great yin of mother earth and then stretching up higher and higher into the great yang of the heavens.
It is just a wonderful practice to notice what we don’t usually see when we are walking or driving along. The tops of old buildings in many cities are covered with wonderful designs. Even just the sight of the rooftops of the buildings around us, as they blend in with the line of the sky behind them can be beautiful. We might see birds swooping around in the tops of the trees or on the rooftops or even on the tops of electrical lines.
And, of course, as with all real practices, we can take it a step further and use the concept of looking up in our own lives. It is often when we become obsessed or distraught by the small details of our lives that we lose the big picture. If we can, in our moments of stress or depression, we need to take a look up to become more aware of our lives in all their grandeur. When we are looking at a more objective view from on high we can see how each little moment comes together to form the amazing and beautiful mosaic of our lives. And while it is true that many of these moments contain lots of pain and suffering, we can also get a grander view if we only practice looking up. In that looking up, we can perhaps see the pattern more clearly and in this way we can learn to let go of the small stuff and focus on the whole journey rather than each individual step.
Laozi says we suffer because we have a limited sense of self. The Buddha also said life contains suffering because of our attachment to having things the way we want them to be rather than of the way they are. By using the teachings of these two great masters we can, perhaps, take this long and high view of our selves and of the world we find ourselves in. And in that way we can free ourselves from our earthly-bound material body selves and find ourselves soaring and swooping through the blue, blue sky like a bird on the wing.
Looking Up also means looking at the big picture, something we are not trained to do in our modern fragmented society. Most of us are stuck in our own extremely narrow worldview. We are more interested in what is happening in our own small part of the universe.
Summer comes slowly to us here in rainy Oregon. It often rains right up til the fourth of July. Everyone wonders, sick of the dark rainy days and wishing for the sun, when and if it will ever happen. Yet it always does.
Lots of death coming to lots of people we know – partners having major strokes, dads dying of cancer one week after diagnosis, old friends on their way out into the great void. It reminds us that things can change in a moment. One moment we’re riding high, the next we are on our knees. It happens to everyone. As the famous country singer Hank Williams sang, “No one gets out of here alive.” But really, we would rather it come another day, another moment.
Laozi says:
Heaven and earth or not benevolent.
They treat all things as straw dogs.
The sage is not benevolent.
She treats all other beings as sraw dogs.
The space between heaven and earth
is like a bellows.
It is empty yet never exhausted.
Always in motion,
yet always producing more.
Fewer words are better than many.
It is best to abide in our true nature.
5
As Daoists, we don’t believe in a personalized godhead who will take care of all our troubles if we just go down on our knees to him/her. We realize that Dao is deeply impersonal while we live in a deeply personal world. Nature is impersonal, it doesn’t really get too worked up when it delivers a flood or a tornado. Straw dogs were used in ancient Chinese ritual, thrown into the fire to take away the negativity of the people. All that negativity going up in flames, leaving behind the positive clearness of the now. Of course the next moment can be filled with negativity yet Dao is always in motion, never exhausted. Our lives are but small drops in an infinite sea but when they are over we are the sea.
Don’t talk too much, says the Old Boy. Use fewer words, less energy, long and deep breaths, no sense in asking for more than we can handle, no sense in trying to control every minute of every life. Best to abide in our true undying nature. That way, we never suffer loss but embrace it willingly.
In Chapter 9 of the Daode Jing Laozi says,
Overfilling a vessel is not as good as stopping before it is filled.
Oversharpen a blade and it will lose its edge.
Pile up gold and jade
and it will be impossible to guard it.
In going after rank and titles
in an arrogant and haughty way
you will bring about your own downfall.
Withdraw when the work is done.
This is the way of Dao.
It is so easy to overdo things in our modern fast-paced world. Whether it is food, drink, sex, work, exercise or even meditation – these are all opportunites to over do. It is the opposite of what Laozi teaches – the Way of wu wei (not doing). Of course, what one person experiences of overdoing may not be too much for another person. In order for us to really follow the Way of wu wei we need to learn just what are our limits and how not to go beyond them. This takes time and attention, two things that are also problematical for modern people.
There is a famous passage from Laozi that says:
A journey of a thousand miles
begins with the first step.
That first step is a big one however!
He also says:
Those who stand on tiptoes
cannot balance themselves.
Those who take too long a stride
cannot walk far.
Those who show off
are not enlightened.
Those who are too aggressive
will not accomplish anything great.
Those who boast too much
will not endure.
Those who follow Dao call these things
over-consumption and useless activity.
Solala’s Blog for week of 3/11/13
The Daphne is blooming, sending its magical fragrance into the air, flowers are popping up in the middle of the lawn and our beloved grandmother willow tree is greening more each day. It seems that winter is transforming into spring, always miraculous, tho I have seen it happen countless times (well, 62 anyway)! I love the changing the seasons, as many of us do. What is it that makes us so happy and excited about each round of the year? Winter in the Pacific Northwest is pretty cloudy and rainy, even dark. Many people around here go into a deep funk when the sun goes away but I guess I am just used to it and it doesn’t really bother me. Yet I am always overjoyed when spring comes round again and things begin budding and blooming.
The path of Dao is at once the universal pageant of the constellations and the budding of each new leaf in the spring. It is the constant round of life and death all that falls in between. It resides in us and we reside in it. It is the source as well as the end of our being. It neither judges nor condemns but continually blesses, in all moments – an unending cycle of change and renewal.
I just found out yesterday that my book on spiritual relationship, Sacred Union, will be published by Sounds True, the home of many fine authors, teachers and musicians! I feel my own inner spring buds beginning to unfurl and push their way up to the sun!
It will soon be time to begin getting the garden ready for planting. Of course, as Daoists, our own internal cultivation is a steady and ongoing project. Our spiritual seedlings need to be take care of carefully so that they may grow to become great and beautiful flowers. Yet too much interfering and things may not grow well at all.
Laozi says,
Those who desire to control heaven and earth
will not succeed.
The universe is sacred.
One cannot grasp it or control it.
Those who attempt to control it
Would ruin it.
