awareness, tranquility

“Tree Dreams in Winter” by Ren Adams

http://www.etsy.com/shop/plasticpumpkin

I’ve been reading Alan Watts’s book Tao: The Watercourse Way and came across his wonderful description of a way of practicing awareness, of practicing being present in this moment—a very Taoist way of being:

“You are asked—temporarily, of course—to lay aside all your philosophical, religious, and political opinions, and to become almost like an infant, knowing nothing.  Nothing, that is, except what you actually hear, see, feel, and smell.  Take it that you are not going anywhere but here, and that there never was, is, or will be any other time than now.  Simply be aware of what actually is without giving it names and without judging it, for you are now feeling out reality itself instead of ideas or opinions about it.  There is no point in trying to suppress the babble of words and ideas that goes on in most adult brains, so if it won’t stop, let it go on as it will, and listen to it as if it were the sound of traffic or the clucking of hens.

“Let your ears hear whatever they want to hear; let your eyes see whatever they want to see; let your mind think whatever it wants to think; let your lungs breathe in their own rhythm.  Do not expect any special result, for in this wordless and idealess state, where can there be past or future, and where any notion of purpose?  Stop, look, and listen…”

Alan Watts, Tao:  The Watercourse Way, 1975, chapter 2, p. 36

Later in the book, Watts quotes Chuang-tzu, a quote that Watts describes as the closest that Chuang-tzu came to outlining a method of attaining the Tao.  In this passage, Chuang-tzu writes in the voice of Nu Chu, a sage who is teaching another sage, Pu Liang I, about the Tao:

“There was Pu Liang I, who had the genius of a sage, but not the Tao.  I have the Tao, but not the genius.  I wished to teach him, so that he might really become a sage.  To teach the Tao of a sage to a man who has the genius, seems to be an easy matter.  But no, I kept on telling him; after three days, he began to be able to disregard all worldly matters [i.e., anxieties about status or gain and loss].  After his having disregarded all worldly matters, I kept on telling him; after seven days, he began to be able to disregard all external things [as being separate entities].  After his having disregarded all external things, I kept on telling him; after nine days, he began to be able to disregard his own existence [as an ego].  Having disregarded his own existence, he was enlightened.  Having become enlightened, he then was able to gain the vision of the One.  Having the vision of the One, he was then able to transcend the distinction of past and present.  Having transcended the distinction of past and present, he was then able to enter the realm where life and death are no more.  Then, to him, the [end] of life did not mean death, nor the prolongation of life an addition to the duration of his existence.  He would follow anything; he would receive anything.  To him, everything was in destruction, everything was in construction.  This is called tranquility in disturbance.  Tranquility in disturbance means perfection.”

I love this quote.  It reminds me of the John Blofeld quote toward the end of my earlier post, Liberation from the fear of death.

 

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