Human development (Taoism)
- Tao
- Michi
Description
Tao is literally the [path]
or [way]
, in Japanese [michi]
, and in many ways equivalent to the Buddhist [dharma]
. Tao is also ultimate reality, the unity underlying plurality. It is the motive of all movements, the mother of all substance. Its nature or virtue is referred to as [teh]
, harmony or strength, whose presence indicates health and strength of the body and harmonious relations with all. With [Tao]
as the source and natural way of things at all levels, from the physical to the spiritual, Taoism sees all misfortune as deriving from separation from this source and deviation from this way. Returning to the source means the cultivation of simplicity, and becoming child-like by mortification of the will, by recollection and meditation. Only by obedience and study can spontaneous, "unstudied" action - [wu wei]
- truly arise, as naturally as water finds its own level. Although deliberate right choice and obedience to ethical codes have merit, they are very much "second best". Unitive knowledge of Tao - the ground and the logos - is true charity, achieved at the spiritual level by means of morality and kindness. Enlightenment - [ming]
- arises when the truth of the return of all things to the Tao as a universal law is known and experienced. Such understanding cannot come from learning or intellectual reasoning but only through realization within one's self of unity with Tao and its emptiness.
Basic to the principle of Taoism is the relativity of attributes - there is no ultimate attribute, a thing is only long in comparison with something which is shorter and which has been taken as standard. Such a standard cannot be absolute or objective although it may be thought of as such. In Tao, opposites are blended and contrasts harmonized.
Despite this description, Tao is in fact said to be the wordless doctrine, being beyond words, which are irrelevant to the deep experience Tao brings. The Tao that can be expressed is not the Tao. This may perhaps be compared with the mystical [nada sound]
of Hinduism, that which brought creation into existence, unhearable, unpronounceable, of which the audible manifestation is [Om]
. One does not worship the Tao, one harmonizes with it. All forms and names, all external characterizations are simply mental gymnastics. It is through silence and nothingness that Tao is approached, not only no speech but no thoughts and no reflections, simply "resting in nothingness". One returns to the Tao, the source of all, by letting go of everything else.
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Reference
Metadata
- Theology » Buddhism, hinduism