The Greatest Treasure

Every moment is sacred
Each breath we take is a gift from Heaven
Be love in action; transform all energy into love

One source, one energy, one love fills the universe

The One Peace, clear as a mountain stream, calm like still water…
Feel the light from Heaven, it nurtures all things

Allow the energy to flow through you with no resistance and no attachment

Radiate the essence; share the pureness of unadulterated healing love that moves through you

Reflect the light to others as it was given unto you; the limitless source remains abundant

From where all things come from, so shall they return; this is the Way of Heaven

Nature follows the Way of Heaven, all things return to the primordial…to the peace where they came from…

The wellspring of all things is the beginning and the end

All things are connected, all come from the “One Source” with no beginnings and no end…Nothing is apart from the whole

The universe is all things, nothing more and nothing less, nothing is created or destroyed only transformed.

Transform yourself into love and be one with all things…

And realize, the greatest treasure
In the universe
Lives in
You

‘Be content with what you have; rejoice in the way things are. When you realize there is nothing lacking, the whole world belongs to you.’ ~Lao Tzu

Copyright Cory Williams 2012

The Immortals, Ancestor Lu Part #1

The Taoist Eight immortals are a huge part of Taoist folk lore. Many of the immortals have contributed much to the world at large in the way of enlightened thinking, including everything from meditation, martial arts, politics, and philosophy and helping the human condition in general.

Lu Dong Bin is my favorite “Immortal.”  He was a neo-Taoist from the Tang dynasty (618-905 C.E.) believed to have been born about 646. Taoism was originally a philosophy but later it became adulterated with Confucianism and religious Taoism. Neo-Taoists came later on and endeavored to return Taoism to its core values studying the old classics and resurrecting Taoism.  It is because of Lu Dong Bin (and other neo-Taoists) that we have the Complete Reality School of Taoism. This sect has produced some my favorite books, paving the way for modern Taoist thought; books like Understanding Reality, The Book of Balance and Harmony, and one of the greatest classics in the Taoist cannon, The Secret of the Golden Flower. Ancestor Lu’s work had a huge influence on Taoist and the integration of Buddhist, Confucian and Taoist thought.

A very colorful man, he is always depicted with his sword and usually wearing a “Taoist blue” robe.  Ancestor Lu earned an interesting reputation as a wise sage yet being somewhat of a rascal, he was known to have pension for wine and women. Lu Yen (his given name) was a brilliant man born to a scholarly family and had plans of taking the very difficult civil service exam and entering into government as a Confucian scholar.  Thankfully, fate intervened and he was directed towards Tao.

Back in those days, there were many inns along traveling routes like today, but back then, these were actually fairly enlightened places. Travelers are generally open to meeting people and exchanging ideas and so these inns became famous as networking hubs for different people and philosophies. Many fascinating people would hang out in these places like the Taoist wizard Chung-Li Ch’uan.  Spiritual Alchemy was a high level Taoist practice and Chung-Li was an adept.

So here comes this man Lu Yen with his brilliance in full bloom, passing through town, with dreams of getting a cushy government job and he runs into this Taoist “wizard” in a bar…  Now Master Chung-Li is always looking for an enlightened protege, and when he meets Lu, he sees a look in his eyes that he knows is the root of something special. After using a poem as a riddle to test Lu, he decides he has found a potential disciple. Master Chung-Li gets Lu off alone and after some conversation, they put on a pot of millet to cook and he offers Lu a pillow so he can get some much-needed rest. This famous encounter is a perennial Taoist tale of how they met.

The story goes that Lu has a dream, in the dream he goes to the capital, passes his test, and becomes a successful scholar and over time moves up into a coveted government job. He works his way up over decades, and marries a woman from a wealthy clan and he raises a large and prosperous family.

After forty years, he reaches the pinnacle of his career, is appointed prime minister, and holds this office for ten years amassing much wealth and power. Then at the very zenith of his life he is charged with a crime, is defamed and stripped of his rank and all his property. He then looses his wife and children (in some stories they are killed) and finds himself wandering in the mountains starving and alone.  Eventually he find himself knee deep in snow, freezing to death in the frozen windswept wilderness. Finally, he lets out a sigh that may be his last exhalation…then he awakens.

Dazed and confused he looks up to see the mysterious stranger Chung-Li at the inn waiting for the millet to cook. Chung-Li says, “The cereal isn’t even done and you have dreamed your way to paradise”

Lu looks at him and asks him, “You know what I dreamed?”
Chung-Li says, “In the dream you just had, you experienced fifty years of up and downs, all in a short while. Whatever you got is not worth rejoicing over, and whatever you lost is not worth regretting.” These words left Lu stunned. Chung-Li continued, “There is also a great awakening, after which you realize this human world is one big dream.”
After hearing all this and reflecting on his dream Lu Yen, a Confucian scholar, was ready to quit his ambition for everything he has imagined his life would be. He realized he has just met a Taoist adept, a master of spiritual alchemy, and immediately asked the stranger for guidance in Tao, to be taught “the art of transcending the world.”

Chung-Li could tell that Lu was still not ready to receive the teaching as he had only just now awakened from his dream, telling him that it would take “several generations to transcend the world.” Lu begged for even the smallest lesson to get started on the way but Chung-Li refused. Lu was devastated and the two went separate ways and Lu began to find his Way alone. Some say he went into isolation and abandoned his career. It would be several years before the two would cross paths again, and when they do the next part of the story evolves.

Check back soon for Part 2

Don’t Feed the Wild Animals

Birds, Humans, Rats.... are all part of nature

I used to feed the birds at work…They were so cute as they would mill around and eat the food I doled out. Occasionally they would get into minor fights over the food but I thought that was amusing. After just a few days they would come so close as to eat out on my hand. Almost immediately they found out that if they attacked my hand I would recoil and drop the food. A huge brawl would ensue as they all fought for the dropped food and of course the larger more aggressive ones got the lions share and the poor, sickly, needy ones got nothing.

Even if they were dolled out the food it still has the negative effect of teaching them something psychologists call: “Learned Helplessness.” Google that! Trust me, it is a cruel thing to cause a mental illness in a society. Another major problem with artificially increasing the food supply is that animals will over reproduce if more resources are available with the inevitable famine occurring during lean times. Anyway you look at it, whether from ignorance or an attempt to control and manipulate, feeding and coddling any wild (free) animal is wrong.

Bite the hand that feeds you….. Well well… what about humans? Are they so different? Isn’t that exactly what they do… give out all these entitlements and soon they realize that if they bite you, or threaten to bite you, that you will give it all to them. Humans can be turned into animals in this way. Humans can also become “pets” to those that feed them, with a subsequent loss of freedom.

Taoists and Boy Scouts both know that it is wrong to interfere with nature and if you do, eventually it will “bite you in the butt.” There are plenty of real charities that help starving children and such. Taoists are charitable and compassionate. They give freely of their time and money to the truly needy but helping people and animals that can help themselves is wrong. It is wrong on so many levels, that I am amazed that some people do it just for their own need to feed good without any concern for the larger cruelty that they are perpetrating.

Bailing out these huge banks and other businesses like Solyndra that nature “selected” for failure was totally wrong. Caving in to huge exorbitant entitlement programs is also wrong,  as is bailing out states that wasted all their money on frivolous programs. Americans (the 53% of them that are actual taxpayers) are borrowing forty cents on the dollar from China to pay for these programs. Billions more are lost because the government is very inefficient. All of this money will need to be paid back in the future by our children and our children’s children.

This the reason Taoists have always had a political philosophy advocating small limited government and non-interference towards things in general.  Politicians that promote these bailout and handout policies are training people to become animals, (“pets”) and using them to protest and contribute to their re-elections. Anyone that cannot see that this is wrong should investigate this topic more. We can not help the people that are truly in need with all these bail-outs and hand-outs, all they do is hurt our society and drive the middle class towards poverty.

Encourage real charity, contribute your time and money to real solutions.

Vote out politicians that make “pets” out of our citizens, destroying freedom and running up our national debts for their personal gains.

Wake up America. Stop feeding the wild animals!

“Social Justice” What would a Taoist do?

HAPPY SERENITY The three vinegar tasters are representative of 'the Three Teachings of China'. The three teachings are one, the three jewels, love, moderation and humility are one, Buddha saw life as bitter, Confucius saw life as sour, Lao Tzu saw life as it is in its natural state. Life can be sweet when utilized for what it is, nature is not a setter of bitter traps (Buddhism) and sour rules (Confusianism). Life may be bitter or sour, how can we be anything but sweet and kind. Lao Tzu's inner peace starts with a sweet smile, he simply accepts vinegar for what it is : it's vinegar. He has no expectations. Most people go trough life expecting certain things, but it is a most liberating experience when we are able to live life with an attitude of no expectations and no regrets. The best things in life are unexpected because there were no expectations. In the beginners mind, there are many possibilities, so many expectations. In Lao Tzu's mind there are very few. The vinegar dilemma is a well known bitter-sour/sweet yin-yang dilemma. Finally it's a koan. So what, the Supreme Ultimate Tao is indifferent to human affairs, possibilities, expectations and desires. Expectations are simply another form of false hope, and no one should give up hope.

The other day someone asked me what I thought about “social justice.“ I don’t think he liked the answer I gave him.  I often get asked such questions and yet my answer is always quite simple.  What would a Taoist do?  Well I can only tell you what this Taoist would do.  When it comes to Tao, I guess you might say I’m sort of an originalist.

Understanding Tao is all about natural action or non striving, we say “wu wei” which means sometimes the best option is no action. Everything in nature finds balance within the system, and people are part of the system.  The Taoist leads by example, he doesn’t fret about conditions and neither does he contribute to negative conditions.

For thousands of years man has tried to help things along and yet they fail as often as they help, often making matters worse.  I don’t fight wars, I don’t fight anyone.  I show people how to heal the wounds caused by war and suffering.  If humans fight wars and kill each other that is just the way it is.  If you were on a walk in the woods and you came across two tigers fighting, would you intervene? Or would you avoid it and help those that may be injured through no fault of their own?

Oh, we’ll go into this country to help….we’ll ban this life saving insecticide…we’ll steal from the rich and redistribute to the poor… we’ll hate this person for being rich and be just as greedy coveting what he has….lets support the “Arab Spring”…. Let’s back this dictator or promote democracy even if the people there don’t want it…let’s feed the wild animals…kill the wolves…. Don’t kill the wolves…. Oh my GOD the planet is heating up… no its not, its cooling down, somebody do something!… The Jews caused the problems… no it was the Republicans…no it wasn’t, it was the socialist Democrats…

Pour ice in it.. No no no… put heat on it…Make everyone use light bulbs that contain deadly mercury, what are you crazy?  Blame George Bush for spending too much…. Blame Barrack Obama for spending four times what Bush spent…. Invade Iraq… send drones into Pakistan…. Invade Afghanistan…. Use Drones in Yemen… Bomb Libya…Don’t support the people in Syria… Support the people in Egypt… Send troops to Sudan… Don’t support the people in Iran… Bush was a wimp, Obama is a tyrant… Don’t protect our border just other countries borders…WTF?… Don’t let citizens own guns; Give guns to Mexican drug dealers instead…. Force people to pay for services they don’t want…. don’t help them get what they need…Bail out the banks, then tell everyone banks are evil, then take campaign money from them….. Be a feminist and hate men… be a misogynist and hate the women for hating men… if you would be a damn man she wouldn’t hate you…Hate this, Love that… Argue argue argue… Hate hate hate… bla bla bla…Whine and complain… Occupy Wall street…. be indignant…Oh no, we must not anger those people… don’t say that!  Be a people pleaser… go along to get along… do this, do that… Enough! Hog wash!

I say… “Oh Well“… “Big Deal”… “So What”… “Who Cares?”… It really doesn’t mater anyway.
Keep life simple:
Stop making all these rules and laws
Stop making Government bigger
Take responsibility for you own life
Stop complaining and protesting about what you don’t have
Don’t hassle those that have what you want
Stop trying to save the world
Avoid military action
Take care of your homeland
Take care of your health
Love your neighbor
Be peaceful, compassionate and content
And all the world will benefit

I know this may sound cold or indifferent but is it not wrong to tell others what is right or wrong?  Who are we to judge and abridge other peoples liberty? Why should I care what you smoke or do in your bedroom or what kind of light bulb you use or what car you drive or food you eat? Is it right to steal from those that work hard to give to those who do not? Its nobody’s business how much money someone else makes. Why tax people on what they make instead of what they spend?

I do what nature tells me to do. If we all would follow natural law everything would work out fine. I know we need laws and government and on rare occasions even war, but we must also understand that these things are necessary evils and should be kept at the most limited levels.

A Taoist sees that nature will always balance everything out, it is a spiritual thing to look away as the two tigers fight and have faith in the process.

What would a Taoist say about war, global warming, economic inequality, and a whole host of other social issues?  What would I do?  Nothing!
Tao knows what to do…

Lao Tzu was right…

About so many things;

“Those who assist human leaders with the Way do not coerce the world with weapons, for these things are apt to backfire…The unguided soon come to an end” Verse #30

and so the world turns and life goes on.

“Weapons are instruments of ill omen…and are not the tools of the cultured…” Verse #31

“Use straight forwardness for civil government…use non involvement to take the world…the more taboos there are in the world: the poorer the populace is…the more laws you make, the greater the number of thieves..  “Therefore the Sage says: I take no action yet the people transform themselves, I favor quiescence and the people right themselves, I take no action and the people enrich themselves….” Verse #57

“When the government is unobtrusive, the people are pure, when the government is invasive the people are wanting. Calamity is what fortune depends upon, fortune is what calamity subdues. Who knows how it will end?”  Verse #58

“To govern humans and serve the divine nothing compares to frugality, only frugality brings early recovery…” Verse #59

“To best way govern a great nation is the same as frying a small fish…the less you poke it the better…”  Verse #60

“When people are starving, it is because their governments take too much, causing them to starve. when people are hard to control, it is because of the contrivances of their governments.” Verse #75

“…so sages manage effortless service and carryout unspoken guidance…without possessiveness, not dwelling on success…” Verse #2

“Not exalting cleverness causes the people not to contend…” Verse #3

“…Sages put themselves last,and they were first…” Verse #7

“…goodness in words is trustworthiness, goodness in government is order…” Verse #8

“…producing without possessing, doing without presuming, growing without domineering, this is called mysterious power” Verse #10

“…those who embody nobility to act for the sake of the world draw the world to them, while those who embody love to act for the sake of the world seem worthy of the trust of the world.” Verse #14

“Skilled warriors of old were subtle…unknowable, wary, cautious, their gravity was as that of a guest, simple, open, inscrutable…” Verse #15

“Impartiality is the highest nobility…the highest nobility is divine,and the divine is the Way…” Verse #16

“Very great leaders are only known to exist… Great things seem to happen spontaneously…” Verse #17

“When people lose the Way, there is humanitarian duty…” Verse #18

“Eliminate humanitarianism, abandon duty and the people will return to familial love”  Verse #19

“Be tactful and remain whole…economy is gain, excess is confusion…not asserting themselves they are outstanding, not congratulating themselves they are meritorious, not taking pride in themselves they last long…it is just because they do not contend that no one in the world can contend with them” Verse #22

“To speak rarely is natural…” Verse #23

“…Those who glorify themselves have no merit…” Verse #24

“…What can be done about heads of state who take the world lightly in their own self interest? Lack of gravity loses servants of state; instability loses heads of state” Verse #26

“Know the male, keep to the female; be humble toward the world…The great fashioner does no splitting” Verse #28

“Should you want to take the world and contrive to do so, I see that you will not finish…those who contrive spoil it…therefor sages remove extremes, extravagance and arrogance” Verse #29

“The Way plays no favorites, it treats all things as straw dogs” (Sacrificial offerings)

No doubt about it, Lao Tzu  is clear, our world leadership is going the wrong Way.  It sure seems like Lao Tzu got it pretty right-on for book written over two thousand years ago… His writings show us how a “cultured” leader should govern by use of “The Way” and it shows a certain level of “class” that is rare in the world today.  The situations were comparable then, when this book was written and with modern times, and yet the advice given is so sagely it is prophetic.
Consider this observation by Lao Tzu’s contemporary, Chuang Tzu: 

“A petty thief is put in jail. A great brigand becomes a ruler of a State.”

The Way of nature is definitely a free market system, based on individual responsibility, balanced with compassion.  A system where “doing the right thing” means to take care of yourself, your family, friends and neighbors.  The more power you give up to the  “government “ is to submit to tyranny and to subjugate your liberty.

History is full of hard times, with world leaders destroying liberty and the looming “new world order” that promises an authoritative totalitarian “Utopia” for all.   One thing is certain; we need to learn to be independent thinkers.

Tao harmonizes extremism, be it political, religious, or whatever, balance is the way of moderation, and yet Lao Tzu says also:

“What is a good man but a bad man’s teacher, and what is a bad man but a good man’s teacher” Verse #27

My suggestions for anyone reading this is simple;

• Learn to take care of yourself.
• Study the Tao Te Ching.
• Be a free thinker
• Forget the garbage coming out of the government controlled media.
• Learn to meditate and to be in control of your thoughts.
• Do not rely on the health care system
• Do qigong and Taiji and eat healthy food.
• Do not be resentful or blame others for the ills of the world
• Be discerning but not judgmental

Lao Tzu would not be surprised. He was a prophet of such things. Taoism is a libertarian philosophy, that believes in individual rights, you might say “inalienable rights bestowed by their creator.” I think Lao Tzu could have helped write the US constitution and the ten commandments and which are both based on natural law.  Natural law, freedom, frugality, survival of the fittest, with the compassion that nature provides by giving all things an equal opportunity to thrive, should prevail.

Keep your compassion, put your lives in order, remain unattached from the events depicted in the media. Have faith that all these things are natural, yes, even war and tyranny and therefore do not resent these things or other people.  All these things are part of the human learning experience, and yet, haven’t we been here before?  Like the movie “Groundhog Day”, we humans keep getting chances to redeem ourselves, the question is….. Will we get it right this time?

The answer is… It is up to all of us!

Alone in the womb…

…Adrift in the fluid that sustains us

Alone and yet not alone, contained within the mother, within which is the primordial soup of life.  Life starts as the egg and sperm come together, Yin and Yang merge into Taiji. This life is fragile and has no self-awareness.  Over time the cells connect, energy pathways are formed and soon consciousness becomes manifest. Cells divide, forming organs and bones all the while adrift in a sea of Qi carried within the mother.  The mother nurtures without “doing” anything, she asks nothing in return for the energy she shares; the developing human within knows nothing of her and yet it grows and receives life also without effort or desire.

Alone in the world…Adrift in a sea of Qi that flows everywhere in the universe, Alone and yet not alone, contained with in the Great Mother Tao, filled with universal energy.  The two energies build us and strengthen us as we learn to survive in the world. This new life is fragile and has little self-awareness. Hopefully, overtime, we learn the ways of the world as the lessons of life accumulate. As we grow we learn to nurture ourselves, always getting what we need from the energy that is around us. We receive most of the life-sustaining energy we need without effort. The developing human knows nothing of how or why things are the way they are, and yet they start to strive after desires, taking and grabbing all they can.

I walk the Way alone…Adrift in time upon an endless sea…
Alone and yet never alone, I am always accompanied by the Great Mother.  Embracing Yin and Yang as Yin/Yang, always filled with Qi that flows from Tao, no longer a fragile human wandering along without self-awareness. Having gained a sense of self I let go of that attachment and discover the bliss that comes from realizing “non-self awareness.”  Aware of my non-self I follow the Way of the Great Mother, to nurture without doing, to give without expectations, having faith that I am sustained  by nature.  To find my way, doing by non-doing with my non-self self…..

Forgetting excess desire, letting go of all I can, always growing and receiving life, becoming one with Tao, learning to live without effort, forever contented.

Safe within the womb again

My Taoist Path

I follow the Way, and yet as fulfilling as it for me, I choose to forgo the nirvanic journey and descend into hell to be with my fellow humans, practicing the Way of “being in the world but not of the world”.

To embrace the silence and the blindness to become one with energy and in so doing learning to be objective in dealings with daily life. To untangle minds from thoughts, bonding to a higher sense of self that gives the power to release oneself from the matrix of slavery and control, arriving at a state of non-self-realization, allowing the subconscious mind to carry on unimpeded.

I choose this path that all sentient people may unite away from the illusory constructs that imprison us and so that we may have friends on the other side of reality. A place of peace and self-control, full of real humans that need not make excuses for the impulses that draw us away from who we are, displaced from our energy and truth, leading to conflicts of ego, and unhappiness.

I call this, the Way of letting go of knowledge to find the understanding that brings one into the light of heaven.