This document can be acquired from a sub-directory coombspapers via anonymous FTP and COOMBSQUEST gopher on the node COOMBS.ANU.EDU.AU Date of the document's last update/modification 03/09/93 -------------------------------------------------------- THE TAO OF THE SELF original filename: taoself.txt -------------------------------------------------------- This file is the work of Stan Rosenthal. It has been placed here, with his kind permission, by Bill Fear. The author has asked that no hard copies, ie. paper copies, are made. Stan Rosenthal may be contacted at 44 High street, St. Davids, Pembrokeshire, Dyfed, Wales, UK. Bill Fear may be contacted at 29 Blackweir Terrace, Cathays, Cardiff, South Glamorgan, Wales, UK. Tel (0222) 228858 email fear@thor.cf.ac.uk. Please use email as first method of contact, if possible. Messages can be sent to Stan Rosenthal via the above email address - they will be forwarded on in person by myself - B.F. NOTE: You may find and odd sentence or missing information every now and again in the files. Hopefully not to frequently. This is because the files were originally written on a machine using CP/M and had to be converted to dos format. Many of the 5.25 disks were very old and had bad sectors - thus missing info. ...............................Beginning of file............................... INTRODUCTION Early Taoist literature was written in an abstract and somewhat amorphous style, as a result of which it is sometimes thought of as being metaphysical. The same label may of course be attached to many ancient writings, produced as they were, in times when such abstract notions as thoughts, feelings and ethics were considered to be the 'heavenly attributes' of man. However, this does not mean that Taoist literature was intended for occult purposes. As Cheng Lin states "There is nothing in it which may be construed as encouraging the occult ... such as ... divination and alchemy." (1) In common with ancient Greek mythology it is probable that early Taoist writers employed alagorical techniques, and that, since psychology did not then exist as a subject, wrote of 'the heavens' in much the same way as we might write of 'the mind' as the 'seat of knowledge and wisdom'. We know from the work of Freud (2) that this was so in the case of the Greek writings but whereas the psychological models which initially developed in the West from Greek mythology represent a psychology of morbid states, the more recently developed psychology of individual development and 'wholeness' (humanistic psychology) is much closer to the tradition of Taoist teaching. Although Taoism has been known of in the West for over two hundred years, it is only recently that it has been recognised that much of what was thought to be Taoism is in fact Confucianism. Far from being a stoic philosophy (simply accepting the status quo) Taoism is in fact a dynamic system, emphasising an holistic approach to life, and the necessity of realising the significance of the changing interactions which take place between the individual, society, and the world of nature. The use of techniques developed from Taoist principles is by now well known. The dual symbol 'yin-yang' theory was adopted by western mathematicians over two hundred years ago as 'binary notation', and this century has seen its major aplication in computing. Even in orthodox medicine increasing numbers of practitioners recognize the value of acupuncture, even if they do not understand its underlying principles. Tai chi, the Taoist exercise system is widely practiced, and there are many scientific theories which have developed as a result of the application of Taoist principles. Although the 'behaviourists' have a strong foothold in psychology, there is evidence that in this area also, interest in Taoism is growing, and includes an interest in its associated method, 'Ch'an' (better known by its Japanese name 'Zen'). Although often presented in a somewhat commercial manner, the benefits of meditation are now widely acepted in the West, and such books as 'The Tao of Physics' (3) and 'The Turning Point' (4) have done much to capture the interest of physical and social scientists in Taoism just as Taoism and Ch'an painting fired the imagination of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century artists and designers of the Post-Impressionist and Art Nouveau schools. Whilst Taoism is manifesting itself in the West through a variety of media and disciplines, it should not be thought that its acceptance has been sudden, for, as will be readily appreciated, we who constitute western society prefer to understand before we experience. The Taoist sages of old would have acknowledged this hesitancy as a natural phenomenon, for Taoism did not sweep through the Far East like a flood, rather it was accepted 'a drop at a time'. It is an aspect of Taoist philosophy that enforced or sudden change is usually short lived, whilst the changes which occur in the fullness of time, or 'without contrived effort' (wu-wei) are likely to be both more benefitial and longer lasting. As I have (hopefully) indicated, the philosophy of Taoism has many wide ranging applications, but it is not my intention to examine this diversity here. As the title states, my concern in this work is to illustrate a particular application of that philosphy, its application to psychology. It must be emphasized however, that in Taoism, psychology is not only concerned with the individual, but also with the relationships between the selves who constitute a society, and the relationships between individuals, groups, and the world at large. Furthermore, its teachings on the significance of the process of change and factors which impinge on change, rather than only on the thing (or things) which change, is probably not easy for the Western mind (and especially the scientifically trained Western mind) to comprehend. This difficulty might be caused in part by the fact that Taoist psychology includes both individual and interactive (or 'social') psychology, whereas, in the West, these are frequently separate disciplines. The text is dividied into two parts. The first part contains the primary statements of the 'the tao of the self', these statements being psychologically orientated, (and most frequently) re- statements of texts selected from two classical Taoist works. The sources most frequently used are; a) The Book of Changes (BC) b) The Way of Reason and Virtue (RV) (The initial letters shown in parenthases are used in the text to indicate source references.) Part two consists of commentaries which explain and provide more detailed information on the text shown in part one. The initial statements and the commentaries are identically numbered for cross-referral. The sources of the original Taoist texts are referenced in part two. The 'Book of Changes' (I Ching) is virtually always described in terms of its sixty-four hexagrams, and it is therefore these numbers which are cited in the references. Since the 'wings' included in larger editions of the I Ching are Confucian, rather than Taoist, in origin, they have not been used in this work. Most English editions of the I Ching are designed primarily as aids to problem solving and forecasting, but the reader should be wary of those translations which are written for the purposes of divination. The numbers cited in this work refer to the numbers in 'King Wen's (World of Senses)' version of the I Ching, rather than the sequence shown in Fu Hsi's (World of Though)' version. The majority of English translations of 'The Way of Reason and Virtue' (Tao Te Ching) are divided into numbered 'verses' and the reference numbers employed refer to the paragraph numbers employed in the majority of translations. Since the numbering of the paragraphs is usually in continuous ascending order (verse two begins with paragraph five, and verse three with paragraph eight, etc.) the reader should have no difficulty in finding the appropriate source. The translation used for the compilation of this work is that of Cheng Lin, which is based on the text of Wang Bih (c.226 - 249). Other references are also shown in parenthasis. These include references to; c) The Gateless Gate (GG) d) A Time of Blossoming (TB) e) The Self as Process (SP) The first two of these are my own translations. 'The Gateless Gate' was first published in 1972, and 'A Time of Blossoming' in 1975. Both were originally published by the British School of Taoist Zen. The page numbers cited refer to the page numbers of the first edition in each instance; this is also the case with reference to 'The Self as Process', published by the Institute of Holistic Development in 1983. The sources of all other references are detailed in the reference section at the end of the book. The illustration shows Lao Tzu riding on an ox or water buffalo, on his way to retirement. Legend tells us that during this journey Lao Tzu stopped for two days, in which time he wrote the Tao Te Ching. In common with the 'ox-herding' pictures (or 'Ten Bulls' of Zen) the 'man riding the ox' symbolizes the enlightened man, or sage, having found his own true nature by taming the bull, which represents his 'ego self'. In this instance, the figure, Lao Tzu, holds bamboo strips, forming a scroll of the type on which the original Tao Te Ching was said to have been written. SOSAN ONE The Finger and the Moon A traditional Zen Taoist teaching session (called 'sesshin') consists of periods of quietness and the practice of tranquility, a short talk by the teacher providing the content of the sesshin, and a period of questions and answers. The talk rarely exceeds fifteen minutes in duration, and is considered by some to be the 'focal point' of the sesshin. It is at least an important reason for the participants gathering together. Because of its comprehensive nature, Zen Taoism is a complex subject. For this reason, and because its traditions are based only upon practices of proven value, the contents of this book are presented in the form of the short talks ('sosan') traditionally used in sesshin. Most of these sosan introduce specialist terminology which may be new to the 'novice' reader. I have used such terminology where I believe it to be important to a proper understanding of Taoist Zen concepts. Each of these terms is explained or translated when it is introduced, some sosan being concerned solely with the 'meaning' of a particulat term. In these instances it is not the term which is of importance (except for purposes of communication) but the underlying concept. It is common for the student of Zen Taoism (or of anything else for that matter) to think at a particular time, that he or she fully understands a given concept, only to later discover that his or her understanding was perhaps not so complete after all. The reader should not therefore consider it a personal failing if something which initially seemed to be clear, suddenly looses its clarity. It is during the question and answer period ('mondo') that learning is considered to take place (the saying is, "sosan is for teaching, mondo for learning") and since the writer and reader are 'once removed', the medium of print is but a poor sub- stitute for face to face teaching, and no real substitute for learning, particularly since it does not provide the opportunity for questions and answers. Even face to face teaching, relying as it does upon verbal communication and the pauses and inflections of speech, can provide only the verbal labels or words which describe the concepts it tries to communicate. The concepts themselves are entities of a different nature, not the words which are used to describe or define them. The reader is therefore warned that the expressive beauty of a Zen Taoist aphorism might all too easily hide its message. It is worth mentioning that these aphorisms come in many forms, and are usually teaching devices, used in order to provide the student with a means of gaining insight, regarding himself or herself, about 'the human condition', and about the 'meaning' of Zen and Taoism, which in essence, are so merged as to be one and the same. There are indeed many thousands of people who have never attended a formal sesshin, but who have in some way drawn comfort from or been aided in their personal development by reading or hearing one of these aphorisms which they found or believed to be pertinent to their particular situation. Such an aphorism, which concerns the danger of being 'carried away by words', reads, "Look not at the finger pointing to the moon, But to the moon at which the finger points, And remember that the finger would not itself be seen But for the light cast by the moon at which it points." SOSAN TWO "....and the Freedom to Grow." Zen Taoism is a combination of Taoist philosophy and Zen (or Ch'an) methods. It may be considered as either a philosophical system or a way of life, although having no deity or form of worship, it is not a religion. Nevertheless, it does have its own ideology, perhaps best expressed by its traditional 'gessho' (gesture of greeting and farewell) symbolising the wish that one's companion enjoys 'love and peace, and the freedom to grow'. At pragmatic level, Zen Taoism accepts that 'the freedom to grow' is often problematic, and much of its teaching is concerned with energising and sustaining personal development, to the mutual benefit of the individual and society. Although the central concepts of Zen Taoism are relatively few in number, the fact that they form a system by their interactions and interdependency creates a certain kind of complexity. It may therefore be validly described as both simple and complex. Whilst this may seem to be paradoxical, a brief description of 'Tai Chi', a popular form of Zen Taoist calisthenics, will illustrate that it is paradoxical only at verbal level. In Tai Chi the participant performs a set sequence of movements, but (unlike Yoga) the positions or postures are not 'frozen'; rather, the movement continues with fluidity throughout the sequence. Among Zen Taoists, Tai Chi is known as 'meditation in movement', implying that although the body is in movement, the mind is 'still' (calm or tranquil). Zen Taoism does not consider stillness and movement to be in opposition, but complimentary to each other. Although it is something of an over-simplification, Taoism may be described as a philosophy of change and therefore of movement (or process), whilst Zen teaches the importance of stillness. Taoism had already taught the significance of change for over two thousand years when, in the sixth century of the Christian era (CE), it adopted the Zen method of achieving stillness or tranquility of mind, this method being a form of seated meditation, known as 'za-zen'. A little while later, Taoism adopted the teaching system of Zen, whilst for its own part, Zen was by this time using the dialectic method of teaching employed by the Taoist sages and Classical Greek scholars. The result of these interactions has been the development of a unique and highly effective method of teaching and applying the concepts and themes of Taoism. This method has proven to be so adaptable that it has been successfully applied to many subjects and activities. The following examples are intended to illustrate only the diversity and range of some of these applications. In the visual arts we have the 'discovery' of Impressionism and recent developments in pottery; in the performing arts the teaching of music and movement now use Zen methods; in the martial arts we have Kendo, Judo and Karate; and in the 'helping professions' we have non-directive counselling. In sport there is a coaching movement called 'the inner game'; in mathematics, the binary system; in psychology, process theory; and in clinical medicine, the 'Balintist' school reflects its Taoist influence. Zen Taoism adheres to Chinese Zen (or Ch'an), which should not be confused with 'Japanese Zen', which is a sect of Buddhism. Zen Buddhism is spoken of as the 'brother' of Zen Taoism, but it must be appreciated that the Articles of Buddhist Faith are not binding upon the Zen Taoist, unless he or she is also a Buddhist. It is perhaps the fact that a Zen Taoist can follow any humanist or humanistic/religious path which has encouraged its following around the world. However, another reason is undoubtedly that Zen Taoism is unique in that it does not attempt to ignore complex issues, nor over-simplify them by treating them as 'absolutes'. It teaches that although there are some absolute values, there are many more instances where that which was a right course of action can become invalid because of changing circumstances, and that what is a 'right path' for one individual may not meet the needs of another. These prefactory remarks should not be taken to imply that Zen Taoism has an answer to every question, nor a solution to every problem. However, it does offer advice which has aided countless numbers of people in resolving, if not 'solving' many of the paradoxes of life. Its major teaching is that life is not a problem awaiting a solution, or a problem waiting to be solved, but a reality to be experienced. When applied therapeutically, Zen Taoism accepts that many of the situations with which life confronts us are of our own making, but that many more are not. It accepts also that in either of these cases the situation may be painful to us. It attempts to help the person in pain to bear that pain, and sometimes to grow as a result of it. In its developmental aspects it is applicable to both intellectual and 'everyday' situations. As a philosophical system it is often regarded as 'a microcosm of the universe', and therefore takes many years to 'understand'. It does not offer 'short cuts', nor promise 'instant enlightenment'. For many it is a lifetime's work, although those who accept it as worthy of such deep concentration consider it to be a way of life, rather than 'work'. Fortunately though, the Zen Taoist does not have to understand the entire system in order to gain from the benefits it provides, for Zen Taoism presents the opportunity of experiencing that which too many systems have ignored, forgotten, or become afraid to teach, namely,love and peace, and the freedom to grow. THE TAO OF THE SELF; 1 THE SHARING OF LOVE The flowers and trees have sun and rain to aid their blossoming. As human beings, we should have love to help us grow into self being. (TB 40) If we erect barriers to the giving and receiving of love, we may, in our folly, inhibit both ourselves and those who love us, from expressing that love. (TB 30) When we live in true being, self being, we realize our potential to love, and to be loved.(TB 42) We sometimes deny ourselves the experience of love because we fear that if we receive love we might be or become unworthy of it, and thus lose it. (TB 26) This fear can be caused by living in a society which values that which it terms 'success', and condemns that which it calls 'failure'. Such a society can breed success only at the expense of those whom it describes as failures. If we live this fear in our minds we fear even to develop our own potential, lest we fail. In this way we deny our own self being.(TB28) Only when we have true being, self being, and so no longer have a need of self centred thoughts and actions, then we are ready to share love with the one who is our counterpart, helping them to achieve their self being, and aiding the realization of our own self being. (TB 60) In the act of sharing love, we each accept that the other has the same rights as we have ourselves (TB 62), we are not jealous of the achievements or attainments of the other, but welcome and share them as our own, as the fruits of love. (TB 64) In the act of sharing love we do not look for the imperfections of the other. We look for our own imperfections, and welcome the help of our counterpart in overcoming those imperfections; in this way we help each other to grow (TB 66), for we change our primary function from that of satisfying our own needs to that of considering the needs of our counterpart, and giving them a priority equal to our own. (TB 68) In such an act as sharing love we may use our bodies to create a beauty which both may share, and so become a part (TB 70), for in this act there is no subject and no object, for both are made one through the union of the two. (TB 76) HUMAN DEVELOPMENT From the seed there grows the shoot, and then the bud appears, a tight but secure knot, providing its own protection. But the bud does not remain the bud for ever, for as the plant matures, the bud begins to free itself, and bursts open to become the flower. (TB 10) From the baby there should grow the child, secure in the environment which its parents provide. And the child should grow into the adolescent, who, through maturation, develops into the self actualized adult, secure in the knowledge of his or her own being. (TB 12) It is wonderful when society accepts that childhood is the time in which the shoot manifests itself and that adolescence is the time when the bud appears, and with the tremendous strength with which youth should be endowed, begins to blossom into the flower of self being. (TB 14) During the process of maturation, we become open to receive experience, just as the blossoming flower receives the summer dew, and so become free to accept ourselves for what we are, which is the birthright of every being, just as the life giving warmth of the sun is the right of everything that grows. (TB 16) Unfortunately, it is not common for society to allow us such freeedom. Indeed, it is often the case that the very nature of man prohibits such a society from ever existing. But this is not to say that we cannot blossom as does the flower, for if we live our lives to the full, complete in our self being, we do not deny that with which life presents us, but use our experiences to aid our maturation. (TB 18) PARENTAL LOVE As parents, if we can see that our offspring are not mere 'objects', and no less 'subjects' than are we, then we can cease to manipulate them. Thus, the child is allowed to become the adolescent, and the adolescent to become the adult, to the mutual benefit of all. (TB 54) In parential love, we should place the development of our offspring before our own wishes, and before our own self delusion. When, as parents, we do not inhibit the development of our offspring, then they may grow into adults, secure in their own self being, as a result of our act of love. (TB 56) Love between brothers and sisters may develop and grow where wise parents do not use one of their offspring as a goad or spur to the other. (TB 52) SELF DEVELOPMENT If we choose to use it for that purpose, life may become a time of blossoming. (TB 20) One of the major inhibitors of human blossoming is probably life itself, for in living our lives to the full, we are required to accept that much of what we will experience is neither beautiful or enjoyable. Because of this, we might erect barriers to the reception of experience, not realizing that if it were not for ugliness, beauty could not exist, and that if we cannot experience sorrow, then neither can we experience joy. (TB 24) We must each look into ourselves, and so find the courage to break free from those concepts of ourselves, which we have allowed to predetermine what we are, what we should be, or what we should remain. (TB 32) We should realise that there is no limit to the realization of human potential, other than those limits which we ourselves set, or allow others to set in our name. (TB 34) When we can accept that there are no limits to the realization of our potential, then we can begin to find that energy which changes the whole of mankind; for just as the parting of the petals which form the bud, allows that bud to blossom into the flower, and thus change the face of the earth, so the blossoming of one indiviudal into a self actualized being, changes the face of mankind. (TB 38) CREATIVITY Through the development of self being we may gain the ability to change the shape of things with our hands, and thus change the function of those things.(TB 42) When we have self being, we may gain the ability, by the use of our hands and minds, to produce things which have beauty, and whose beauty may be shared by those who are open to accept it. (TB 44) HUMAN FELLOWSHIP When we have true being, self being, we allow others their self being and so may become one with our fellow beings. This we may achieve only by ceasing to consider ourselves as the primary subject, and our fellow beings merely as objects which are there for us to manipulate. (TB 50) When we can see our own imperfections as readily as we can see the imperfections of others, and when we are as tolerant of the neutral imperfections of others as we are of our own, then it may be said that we love our fellow beings. (TB 46) When we can accept others for what they are, rather than try to change them into something which we would have them be for our own sakes, then we perform an act of love. (TB 48) .................................End of file...................................