Reference no: EM133382847

Case Study: In the Sixth Century, BCE, so the legend goes, Lao-tzu who had grown tired of being an archivist and weary of city life, decided to go off and live as a hermit. When he arrived at the city gate, the gatekeeper supposedly begged Master Lao to write a guide for living before leaving the city.

The result was the 5,000 characters of the Tao Te Ching [The Book of the Way and its Power], the primary text of Taoism. In the eighty-one chapters -- each a page or less in length -- there are instructions for achieving greater ease in life, for living spontaneously and naturally, for ruling a city with wisdom and grace.

Taoists believe that everything we need to know about living our lives and even about governing a large state may be found in the natural world, where we can see the Tao at work/play, effortlessly changing the seasons, shifting day into night. There is no apparent effort because this is spontaneous, ego-free action -- pure efficiency. Everything in the natural world has a lifecycle. It begins life, matures and declines, and dies. So it is with us as well, and with our empires.

Unlike trees that know to bend with the wind and rivers that know to flow around obstacles, we tend to waste our vital lifeforce energy or ch'i trying to metaphorically swim upstream. There is greater ease, the natural world teaches us, in blending our efforts with the way things are going at the moment. Yin slips into yang as morning breaks; yang slips into yin at twilight. Thus, it has always been. Thus it ever will be.

What can we say about the Tao? It is wholeness, and we have no words large enough to encompass it. As the first chapter of the Tao Te Ching reminds us: "The Tao that can be spoken is not the eternal Tao." Everything comes from the Tao and to it everything returns. It is the matrix in which everything happens. One of its secrets is: "The Tao cannot be benefitted or harmed, honored or brought into discrace. It gives itself up continually; that is why it endures."

This is the path of spontaneous, ego-free action. Since the Tao is indifferent to our judgments about it and makes no judgments itself, it wastes no precious ch'i. Like a bubbling spring, it is continually present and limitless in its ability to provide. By seeing and following the course of least effort for maximum results, the Tao is never depleted.

Compassion and Wisdom in the Buddhist Tradition

Around the same time as Lao-tzu, in a different country [India rather than China] Siddhartha Gautama realized that life contains elements of potential suffering -- sickness, old age, and death -- that affect every being. How, he wondered, could anyone be happy in the face of these "three terrors?"

Leaving the palace of delights his father had constructed at Siddhartha's birth to keep him at home, kissing his beautiful wife and infant son goodbye, this young prince went into the forest and joined a group of Hindu ascetics. They fasted and meditated, seeking to leave the world and its terrors behind. Indeed, while he was deep in meditation, Siddhartha did feel free. However, once he came back to ordinary reality, all the suffering was there waiting for him again.

Realizing that neither of the extremes -- the palace of indulgence or the forest of deprivation -- provided a true answer, Siddhartha vowed to sit under the bodhi tree until he understood life's mysteries. When the morning star appeared, he "pierced the world's bubble" and understood everything. From that moment, he vowed to bring his wisdom and compassion to all beings. Enlightenment is seeing "what is" -- and that is the oneness that connects everything together.

In a previous lifetime, Buddhist scriptures tell us, this young man who would become the Buddha, or the Awakened One, was walking through a forest, along with his friends in a hunting party, when he came upon a mother tigress who had given birth but was sick and too weak to find food for herself and her kittens.

His compassion awakened, he wondered what he could do to help. With no assistance, it was clear, the tiger family would all die. Realizing the essential oneness of all beings, he knew that he was neither superior to nor inferior to the tigers. And, believing in reincarnation, he knew that death is not the end. What better use for his body could there be, he thought. And, slitting his throat, he laid his body down as food for the tigers.

Not every call to oneness requires so radical a response. However, there are many instances in the modern world that call us to wise and compassionate action for the sake of all beings. Consider responses to the Global Pandemic, as well as gifts that respond to natural catastrophes and to to human-created wars. You will also find short video excerpts in Module III/For the Love of Wisdom/Long Catalog 1.3 and 5.3 that can be helpful.

Buddhism emphasizes a radical notion of oneness. We are all held in a web of interconnectedness and interrelatedness. Whatever we do to one part of the web will be felt throughout the entire web. Hence, the idea of karma. My actions go out and return --ultimately to me. They may not return immediately, perhaps not even in this lifetime, but they will inexorably return.

Discussion Prompt

Now that you have read about both the Taoist Sage and the Wise/Compassionate Buddhist, answer the following questions about the "self" and cosmic "reality"::

1. What are the core beliefs and core values in each of these traditions? What assumptions in the worldview of each tradition lead you to name these values?

2. In what specific ways are these two traditions more alike? In what specific ways are they more different?

3. Based on the beliefs and values these two traditions share, how do they [taken together as one worldview] differ from the core beliefs and core values of the Western tradition we have been studying, our heritage from the Greeks?