This first chapter in Chop Wood Carry Water has been very confusing, teeming with paradoxical phrases. I think the essence is to acknowledge, to just experience and not plan or expect anything. Easier said than done I must say.
Who am I really?
This is not a question I know the answer to. I doubt I will find the answer by the end of the semester, but who knows, maybe I will be able to catch a hint here or there. At one point the book describes the “end point” (if there is one) of the spiritual practice is to be “nobody”, but it also states that “You have to be somebody before you can be nobody”. Perhaps it means that you need to know what is there before you can remove or be free from it. It is very confusing, and the more I think about it the more confused I become.
The chapter also talks about recommended readings, with the Tao Te Ching being one othe the first. Fortunately I have the advantage of being able to read the text in its original language, and I would like to make it a goal to read one passage from it every week, even though I may not understand its content.
The first entry in the Tao Te Ching is:
“道可道，非常道。名可名，非常名。无名天地之始。有名万物之母。故常无欲以观其妙。常有欲以观其徼。此两者同出而异名，同谓之玄。玄之又玄，众妙之门。”
Ancient Chinese is very convoluted, much information is condensed into single characters. I can see that this is where Lao Zi is introducing his vision of Tao, or as the English version translates, the “Way”. But the way in introduces it is very similar to the first chapter.
From what I understand, he describes Tao as a very abstract thing, that can not be spoken of or named. If it is named or described in words, then it is not the real or whole Tao, but only a snippet or instance. Before the beginning of the earth and sky, there was no name (I believe he means “nothingness”), and the “name”, came to birth with everything else in existence. He even states that this concept of Tao is “玄之又玄”, which means it’s mysterious beyond mysterious (basically means, very, very hard to grasp), but at the same time, this Tao is the way to understand all the mysteries.
There is a common theme to both the book chapter and the first introduction entry of Tao Te Ching, in that this concept of mindfulness, or Tao, is very multi-layered, hard to put into language, and when it is put into words, extremely difficult to comprehend and understand.
✺Due Yesterday☾ 