| 上○二○ ○二年五月十一日 | 矣○說道理○自治治天下○ | 已矣○吾所謂明者○非謂其見彼也○自見而已 | 八駢拇○吾所謂聰者○非謂其聞彼也○自聞而 | 道理○ | ○不將不迎○應而不藏○故能勝物而不傷○說 | 乎天○而無見得○亦虛而已○至人之用心若鏡 | 任○無為知主○體盡無窮○而遊無朕○盡其受 | 齋○應帝王六○無為名尸○無為謀府所無為事 | 是終○修道就是這樣○豕是說華人不往重吃長 | 彫豕復朴○塊然獨以其形立○紛而封哉○一以 | 年不出○為其妻爨食豕如食人○於事無與親○ | 應帝王五○然後列子○自以為未始學而歸○三 | 而無容私焉○而天下治矣○說禪定治天下○ | 應帝王三○汝遊心於淡○合氣於漠○順物自然 | 去知○同於大道○此謂坐忘○說禪定○ | ○說禪定○大宗師八○墮肢體○黜聰明○離形 | 及笑○獻笑不及排安排而去化○乃入於寥天一 | 大宗師一和二○這理說道○大宗師六○造適不 | 遷命物之化○而守其宗也○這是道聖佛神○ | 地覆墜○亦將不與之遺○審乎無假○而不與物 | 德充符一○死生亦大矣○而不得與之變○雖天 | 盡年○這是修道的道理○ | 為經○可以保身○可以全生○可以養親○可以 | 養生主一○為善無近名○為惡無近刑○緣督以 | ○是旦暮遇之也○說一聖人會出現○就是我○ | 齊物論十○萬世之後○而一遇大聖○知其解者 | 而為鳥○鳥就是我們的眉○ | 逍遙遊一○北冥有魚○魚就是我們的鼻子○化 | 書○ | 兩千年了○往重四書○我們要用中立心理看這 | 莊子書很重要○修道修身者必讀○華人輕忽他 | 論莊子 |
24th September 1999
The whole book of Chuang Tzu is in my website. You can refer to it. Three important factors can be deduced from the book.
1. Taoists are anti-traditions.
2. They decline high posts.
3. They lead a simple life.
One factor I would like to mention here is those who committed suicide. They are Taoists who had not reached a high standard of perfection or not sealed on the mark.
Compare the Taoists with those who called themselves Taoist. Modern Taoists just go to temples and pray to the statues of deities. This I call hero worship. They are not true Taoists. Mao Tse Tung was against hero worship, but now the Chinese in China are building temples to pray to him. Are the present Chinese leaders becoming superstitious?
Confucius always mentioned Yao and Shun as sage-kings. He was glorifying and glamorizing them in the positions as kings. But you have to know after Yao abdicated to Shun, he lead a commoner's life in order to seek the truth and the seal. How he behaved was written in 'Chuang Tzu'. He was not a sage when he was king. After he got the seal, then he can be said to be a sage, but a commoner. So Confucius's saying about sage-king is wrong.
So what is written in books can not be the true picture of what is really the truth. Writers like to beautify certain people so the bad things about those people are undisclosed. In 'Chuang Tzu', Confucius was said to receive the truth from Lao Tze when he was sixty years of age. So what he had spoken in his fifty nine years can not be compared to what he had spoken after he had received the truth. I glance through the Analects and do not want to mention them because I find most are secondary in importance.
The book 'Journey To The West' was written during the Tang dynasty. So 500 years back, it should be the period after the time of Lao Tzu and Confucius. In Chinese history is there record of a talking monkey in that period and possessed magical powers and fighting skills?
The writer of 'Journey To The West' intended to belittle Taoism. Chinese at that time are mostly ignorant, so most believed the story. But now many Chinese are able to read the book and can think for themselves. Is 'Journey to The West' true or false?
The book is about Buddhism, but why Chinese pray to 'Monkey God' in Taoist temple and not in Buddhist temple? Are Chinese stupid?
True Taoist stays at home to help the wife feed the pigs and grow vegetables as written in 'Chuang Tzu'. The present day Taoist temple is not Taoist in origin but more to the Yin and Yang doctrine. The practitioners at temple depend on donation by devotees coming to the temple to pray. They provide means of divination and fortune telling. In 'Chuang Tzu' the Taoists stayed at home to cultivate farms. They mostly feed themselves, not relying on others for charity.
Chuang Tzu CH IV : Man Among Men -- Were this not so, we should have an exemplification of sitting still and running away at one and the same time. In this sense, you may use your ears and eyes to communicate within, but shut out all wisdom from the mind. And there where the supernatural can find shelter, shall not man find shelter too? This is the method for regenerating all creation.
This is meditation instruction.
Chuang Tzu CH VII: How To Govern -- Resolve your mental energy into abstraction, your physical energy into inaction. Allow yourself to fall in with the natural order of phenomena, without admitting the element of self, -- and the empire will be governed.
Another meditation instruction. This is mainly for the Sage King. Meditate and the empire is governed.
Chuang Tzu CH XI: On Letting Alone -- The essence of perfect Tao is profoundly mysterious; its extent is lost in obscurity. See nothing; hear nothing; let your soul be wrapped in quiet; and your body will begin to take proper form. Let there be absolute repose and absolute purity; do not weary your body nor disturb your vitality, -- and you will live for ever. For if the eyes see nothing, and the ears hear nothing, and the mind thinks nothing, the soul will preserve the body, and the body will live for ever.
Another meditation instruction. The mind should think of nothing good or bad -- even Taoist yoga book is wrong to ask meditators to think about the vital points; see Taoist Yoga by Lu Kuan Yu.
Chuang Tzu CH XI: On Letting Alone -- And if I can refrain from injuring my internal economy, and from taxing my powers of sight and hearing, sitting like a corpse while my dragon-power is manifested around, in profound silence while my thunder-voice resounds, the powers of heaven responding to every phase of my will, as under the yielding influence of inaction all things are brought to maturity and strive, -- what leisure then have I to set about governing the world?
Another meditation instruction. It was not his time so the speaker did not set to govern the world. True Taoist does not act unless he has the mandate from heaven to rule the world. He idles until dead.
Chuang Tzu CH VII: How to Govern -- Upon this Lieh Tzu stood convinced that he had not yet acquired any real knowledge, and at once set to work in earnest, passing three years without leaving the house. He helped his wife to cook the family dinner, and fed his pigs just like human beings. He discarded the artificial and reverted to the natural. He became merely a shape. Amidst confusion, he was un-confounded. And so he continued to the end.
A true Taoist must be like this. The pigs mentioned give the impression we can eat meat. This is wrong. So the Chinese have to learn from Buddhism about vegetarian food.
Chuang Tzu CHXXII: Knowledge travels North -- The latter said, "Keep your body under proper control, your gaze concentrated upon ONE -- and the peace of God will descend upon you. Keep back your knowledge, and concentrate your thoughts upon ONE, -- and the holy spirit shall abide within you. Virtue shall beautify you, Tao shall establish you, aimless as a new-born calf which reckons not how it came into the world."
While P'i I was still speaking. Yeh Ch'ueh had gone off to sleep; at which the former rejoiced greatly, and departed singing, "Body like dry bone, mind like dead ashes; this is true knowledge, not to strive after knowing the whence. In darkness, in obscurity, the mindless cannot plan; -- what manner of man is that?"
Another meditation instruction. The ONE is the mark on the forehead.
You can refer to Chuang Tzu (book) for more information. I highlighted those important sentences. The book is in this website. Another is Legge's translation.
(6th December 1999 - There is a flaw in the book. It is about the household gods. I criticized Confucius in Comments on Confucianism, so now I am criticizing the writer of 'Chuang Tzu'. The household gods are the setback for China for so many years. I cannot understand why the Taoists practiced this tradition. This shows the writer was not 100% spiritual. Therefore China cannot be prosperous and strong. Christians don't pray to household gods, so they are prosperous and strong. If Chinese want to be strong and prosperous, you have to get rid of all your household gods and ancestors tablets.)
Edited on 8th June 2008