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unable to describe the sun to a blind man.
If Tao can be describe and defined clearly in words,
then it's not Tao.
Tao cannot be described
It cannot be defined.
Tao is the source of all things.
It is forever constant. Tao is to all creations.
It's not something that can be explained
or understood by language or words.
The finger pointing at the moon
A learned nun asked Sixth Zen Patriarch Hui Neng:
Please explain this scripture to me.
Sorry but I'm illiterate.
Please read out the scripture to me and I'll be able to comprehend it.
You can't even recognise the words,
how can you comprehend the meanings of the scriptures?
Truth and words are two different things.
Words can be likened to a finger.
We can point out where the moon is with the finger
but the finger is not the moon.
To look at the moon, it is necessary to gaze beyond the finger.
Words are like a finger which points to the truth,
but people in general only see the finger.
They do not see beyond the finger to find out the truth.
The wisdom of the ruler
One time, Wu Cheng was asked to give advice.
He tried to explained it.
He said the best system in the world,
In an ideal age, people do not realize the existence of the ruler.
Chiang Shih Zhang tried to
defined the word ideal too,
“The ideal is, attack Chun,
then, befriend with her...
“so the ideal choice is to attack it."
In ancient time, they talked about ideal.
Meaning the best, the highest.
It was mentioned in the history books,
“The ideal way is to attack Chun, then to befriend with her.
Then, join with other countries...”
So, the best is to attack Chun.
Yang Zhu paid a visit to Lao Zi.
If a man is shrewd, sharp and strong,
is he considered a good ruler?
Once a person like him possesses ability, he will be in the service of others.
He will be tied down and burdened by his own skills,
thereby vainly exerting himself and drifting further away from Tao.
Tigers and Leopards are hunted for their beautiful fur.
Monkeys are caught because of their agility as pets.
Do you think they are really wise?
So what's a good monarch?
An intelligent monarch does not claim credit in ruling his country.
His rule benefits all strata of life and yet his subjects do not realise it.
This inscrutable monarch is considered a good one!
In an ideal age,
people do not realise the existence of the ruler.
As there is no pressure from the administration,
people lead a carefree and peaceful life.
Tao follows nature
The birth of universe.
I don't know its name, I just called it Tao.
Tao is the biggest.
People is as big as Tao.
Tao follows nature. The characteristic of Tao is to be natural.
It formed long before the universe,
I don't know its name, so I just gave it a name.
It's Tao, or you can call it Big.
Tao is as big as heaven, earth and people.
People is one of the four Bigs.
Anyone of them is very powerful,
but they have to follow nature.
Tao in this chapter has a solid meaning.
From the quotes,
it means Tao follows nature.
One day, Si Chengyi paid Lao Zi a visit.
I heard you're a sage of great wisdom,
so I came to see you, despite the distance.
But after seeing you, I'm totally disappointed
When he reached home,
he thought he would have the feeling of being superior
but there was only emptiness in his heart.
I scolded you yesterday and I thought I'd won
but instead there is emptiness in my heart.
Could you please tell me why?
You came here yesterday with an air of haughtiness,
as if you were going to fight with someone.
You were like the wild horse at the border.
When it was caught suddenly,
it became agitated and lost its original nature.
Yes! Yes! But what shall I do?
A person who has lost his own original nature is called
a thief of nature.
If you want to follow the Tao,
you must regain your original nature.
Tao follows nature.
The characteristic of Tao is to be natural.
Chapter Nine
Lao Zi's a great wise man
But he didn't teach like Confucius so as to spread his wisdom.
In the book of Zhuang Zi,
he quoted 3 of his students.
They were Pek, Ken and Yang.
Three people consulted him,
Including Sze, Confucius and Wen.
In this chapter, Lao thought that
one must not have the intention of winning merit.
Then there's no merit to speak of.
If one acts with
the intention of winning merit,
that is inferior deed.
To be superior,just to be natural.
A good person is tactful, retiring and does not show off.
If not, he is inferior.
The result is losing Tao.
Losing Tao means not to be natural.
It's what Lao Zi said about
to follow nature.
Emperor Wu of the state of Liang had a strong liking for Buddhism.
He often ore Buddhist robes, ate vegetarian food and prayed to Buddha.
One day, a monk named Bodhidharma met Emperor Wu.
Ever since I ascended the throne, I supported many monks and nuns,
built temples, copied Buddhist scriptures and
erected sculptures of Buddha.
How great is the merit for doing these things?
None whatsoever!
How can there be no merit at all?
These are inferior deeds which
were done in a moment of exuberance.
It's just like a person's shadow,
which is without real substance.
One must not have the intention of
claiming credit before performing a good deed.
If one acts with the intention of winning merit,
then there's no merit to speak of .
Rulers create disasters
Most rulers like to create trouble,
invade other countries,
kill innocent people
and bring endless catastrophes.
Lao Zi pointed out the disaster of it,
he reminded the rulers
to be self-content and be natural.
“The tinkerer who applies force will spoil things”
Rulers ought not interfering with people's inner development
it thus brings wars,
even the horses have to give birth in war field.
It reflected the unstable political situation
of that period of time.
Bo Ji is learning Tao from an old sage.
Where would you like to go first?
I'd like to go to the state of Qi first.
On arriving at the border of the state of Qi,
Bo Ji bumped into some corpses.
Oh! How pitiful!
The worst calamity on earth.
That's the first thing I've encountered.
The law of the nation says,
“Don't be a thief. Don't kill."
But who are the people who steal and kill?
Most rulers like to create trouble,
invade other countries,
kill innocent people and bring endless catastrophes.
Empty display is not wisdom
“Zhi” means wisdom.
It can be found in many scripts and
many ancient books.
“Zhi” means wisdom.
From Leng's book, it explained the word of Zhi as wisdom.
It's knowledge and wisdom.
Liu Tek-ming explained that word too.
In He's book, it gave similar meaning.
In ***'s book, it said it's because of nature.
As explained by ***, it means the cause of problems.
As explained by ***, it means the cause of problems.
In *** Pei's books, it gave similar meaning.
A sage paid Lie Zi a visit.
He noticed a lot of shoes outside Lie Zi's house.
Sir, someone is looking for you!
Sir, since you've already come,
why don't you come in and instruct me?
Forget it! I've told you before that you must conceal your brilliance
and not make a display of it.
Now you've let people submit to you
and yet you're unable to make them not submit to you.
This is where you inadvertently expose your unique character.
A good person is tactful,
retiring and does not show off.
Yet Lie Zi displayed his glory,
thereby attracting many people.
This is a petty show of cleverness and not wisdom.
Chaos in the world
"The more restrictions there are,
the poorer the people become."
This quote is explained that
the greater the government's power,
the more chaotic the nation would become.
We can tell how Lao Zi was
against straight laws,
and we can tell that period of time...
was governed by rulers who abused violence.
So we can tell Lao Zi's theory was not bluff.
It was the only way
to solve the unstable political problems of that age.
When there are many methods of shooting at birds,
the flight of the birds becomes haphazard.
Because of the diverse methods of catching fish,
the fish no longer swim smoothly.