Tao Te Ching Verse 5 (translated by Hu Xuezhi in Revealing The Tao Te Ching)
Heaven and Earth could not be called benevolent,
letting all things emerge or perish by themselves;
Sages could not be named benevolent,
letting all people live and die by themselves.
Does it not resemble a bellows for the space between Heaven and Earth?
While vast and vacuous, it is inexhaustible,
The more it is in motion, the more things it gives rise to.
Much talk is doomed to fall short of perfection.
It is not better than cherishing the emptiness in the Dantian.
Entering into conversation with Lao Tzu’s verse, line by line, with commentary first by Hu Xuezhi, followed by my own wonderings/wanderings:
Heaven and Earth could not be called benevolent,
letting all things emerge or perish by themselves;
Hu Xuezhi’s commentary:
”We cannot use some words such as ‘benevolent’ to define the action committed by Heaven and Earth, for they are free of any desires and passions. Heaven and Earth give rise to endless things not due to kindness, and they kill things not due to hatred, for they are void of sentient feelings and consciousness. It is just Nature’s own revolving and transforming course, rather than any previously cherished purpose.”
Elizabeth responds:
Hu Xuezhi’s commentary here brings to mind differences, at least in emphasis, between Taoist and Buddhist ways of looking at emptiness and dependent arising. In a Taoist worldview, what accounts for change is simply “Nature’s own revolving and transforming course,” i.e. the elemental dance, unfolding spontaneously. In a Buddhist view, conceptual designations -- aspects of “sentient feelings and consciousness/perception” -- (both inherent/habitual and volitional/proactive) are understood to be included within the “causes & conditions” giving rise to self and world. And, for human beings at least, these are of foremost importance, in both generating suffering and in laying out a pathway to freedom.
In Naked Awareness, Gyatrul Rinpoche writes:
”Are the myriad thoughts purely subjective, or are they both subjective and objective? Thoughts create both the subject and the object, and if you recognize the nature of thoughts, you will see them to be of the very nature of awareness. All phenomena are both designated by thought and are creative expressions of awareness.”
Taoism strongly emphasizes phenomena as “creative expressions of awareness” (aka Tao). Buddhism includes, in a more-or-less strong way (depending upon lineage) an exploration of phenomena as “designated by thought.”
Sages could not be named benevolent,
letting all people live and die by themselves.
Hu Xuezhi’s commentary:
”Sages follow the example set up by Heaven and Earth. They never have the intention to be benevolent, nor do they force other people to accept their ideas. They remain selfless and humble always. They seem to be doing nothing at all, yet they always act by following Tao’s Natural Way. When sages manage a country, the subject people will respect them highly.”
Elizabeth responds:
In the same way that adjectives such as “benevolent” or “cruel” or “kind” or “hateful” cannot be applied to the impersonal functioning of Heaven and Earth -- to the continuous arising and dissolving, birth and death of phenomena -- so it is that these adjectives cannot be applied to sages, who have realized themselves to be not-separate from this transpersonal functioning. No longer imagining themselves to be a personal “self” -- no longer an object -- no longer a noun -- “good” and “bad” and all such adjectives requiring a solid landing place cease to be applicable.
Does it not resemble a bellows for the space between Heaven and Earth?
While vast and vacuous, it is inexhaustible,
The more it is in motion, the more things it gives rise to.
Much talk is doomed to fall short of perfection.
It is not better than cherishing the emptiness in the Dantian.
Hu Xuezhi’s commentary:
”The content of a bellows is emptiness. The book Chuang Tzu carries the following message: A flute, like a bellows, sends forth much sound when it is in motion, and keeps silent when it is in stillness. This is the same with the space between Heaven and Earth: all seems to come to a complete stop when in stillness, but when in motion, it gives birth to endless things. Such is the unlimited function of emptiness. People should follow the example of Heaven and Earth to cultivate Primeval Qi in the lower dantian.”
Elizabeth responds:
In White Sail, Thinley Norbu writes:
”From the beginningless beginning, the essence of nondualistic wisdom mind is pure and stainless like a mirror. All measureless phenomena can arise through this unobstructed, mirrorlike quality without causing divisions between subject and object. Without division between subject and object, there is no grasping or clinging and there are no temporary circumstances, so all manifestation is wisdom display.”
And Gyatrul Rinpoche writes:
”While emptiness cannot be grasped as a thing, it is self-illuminating, and is experienced without grasping; so that is the experience of perfect enjoyment of the primordial wisdom of awareness.”
Given all this, doesn’t it seem paradoxical, in the extreme, to suggest focusing on a specific space/time location -- viz. the lower dantian, in order to “cultivate Primeval Qi” -- as a portal into nondual awareness? Though it seems to work, at least for some people, some of the time. And I suppose a sage also, at least potentially, functions as such a portal -- as a kind of irresistibly-magnetic and vibrant absence; a black hole into which separate-selves are drawn, never to be seen again; a flame to which the moth is drawn, destined never to witness (as a moth) its own blissful annihilation, the fulfillment of its deepest desire -- until we're able, somehow, to relate to each and every manifest phenomena as our guru: as a portal to the tremoring, boundless Unborn.
In any case, I do love Lao Tzu’s final two lines of this verse:
Much talk is doomed to fall short of perfection.
It is not better than cherishing the emptiness in the Dantian.
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