Theophile the Younger decided to ponder over Taoism; he knew that the Elder was an expert in that domain.
Theo. – I know you have taught Sahaj Marg meditation for over forty years, and you also taught Taoism to your students in traditional Chinese Energetics. Could you, please, tell me something about Tao?
The Elder – Whether we have to do with Christian mysticism, Sufism, Kabbalah or Taoism, note that all these traditions have a fixed value: the heart. Each of them is taught in accordance with the times and culture, but the heart, i.e. Love, reigns over all of them. I have always adapted to whomever I met, putting myself at the service of their hearts, whilst respecting their beliefs, their religion. When dealing with the others, those who say they are non-believers, I’d rather use the wisdom I drew from Chinese medicine and Taoism.
Theo. – Why?
The Elder – The Taoists do not speak of God but of an essential principle, of a universal energy, of Ying and Yang, of inner balance, of a life in tune with Nature, in tune with oneself. They have adopted a neutral language, appropriate for people who consider themselves as atheists, but who are deeply sensitive and humane. The Taoists live an unrestricted life.
Theo. – Rather like the Buddhists then.
The Elder – That’s right, but I know Taoism and the Taoists’ canonical books better: the Su Wen Ling Shu and the Yi Jing. They contain a revealed knowledge, and are a key part of the knowledge required for practicing and teaching traditional Chinese Energetics. The Taoists draw a distinction between the organ the heart is, ‘xin’, and the Heart-Mind, ‘Shen’. Shen is considered as the centre of the Being. It manages, dispatches blood (xue) and energy (qi), and also rules over the mind, which it helps balance and harmonize.
Theo. – Do their books speak of Love?
The Elder – No, they are about benevolent neutrality.
Theo. – So the Taoists are more akin to the shamans who teach Ho’oponopono.
The Elder – More specifically, they connect themselves to the median vacuum in the heart and they let happen what must be done.
Theo. – Hence the benevolent neutrality of the observer.
The Elder – And his own benevolence, too, which is related to Love, though they don’t say so. The Taoists let all breaths and virtues from the Tao act by themselves, for fear of interfering with Nature or with the life of any other living being.
Theo. – They have a reputation for being free persons, and they are not subject to any authority, is that right?
The Elder – The notion has generally been misunderstood. The Taoists also disregard the demands of their egos. They let the winds go through them and guide their lives. This requires a great sense of discipline and permanent alertness, so as to let Tao keep control.
Theo. – Could you explain what Tao is exactly, please?
The Elder half closed his eyes and started uttering:
“Tao means What is nameless …
Nothing is apart from the Nameless …”
After a short pose, he continued:
“Since I do not know the Nameless I call it Tao.
I try to call it Greatness.
Geatness entails expansion,
Expansion entails remoteness,
Remoteness entails Return.”
This approach is similar to the approach of the ways and religions we know, Theo commented.
The Elder – Knowledge is universal. Reality is One. The Taoists speak about that Unity, about Zero that equals Infinity, and above all, they live that Unity. The Nameless also appears in the Torah, in the Koran, and in many other sacred books.
Theo. The solution is always that Infinite Zero; so, nothing within us may be disturbed or unsettled.
Go on, the old attentive man advised.
Theo. – Well! When I am the Infinite Zero, Divine Love is totally freed within my Self and nothing but It is now acting. All the rest appears as illusory, deprived of any real existence, and cannot affect me.
Amused, the Elder approved with the following poem:
“Being Nameless, It represents the origin of the Universe;
With a name, it is the Mother of all beings.
Through Non-being, let us seize its secret,
Through Being, let us approach its access.”
This poem by a Taoist thinker gives us the direction towards the Self Realization, the old man explained. We could as well replace ‘Nameless’ with the name ‘God’, or ‘The Divine’. Some people object it, or even reject it. So, we talk about ‘Nature’, about ‘Universal Energy’, using the Tao rules and the writings of the Taoist Masters as a means of communication.
Theo. – But Tao is the Uncreated God, the Centre Babuji mentions, saying it has no name, no mind and no attribute!
The Elder – Of course it is! But whatever you call it, the approach of the Divine is one and unique. Even by calling it ‘Nameless’ or ‘Tao’, you can turn it into a dogma if you are not careful.
Theo. – Like some religions that consider any pictorial representation of God is blasphemy and is totally forbidden, when in fact representing Him is absolutely impossible. Whoever tries to do it is therefore mistaken. Yet, it does not prevent us from invoking God through prayer, poetry, or any other means such as identifying the Divine within some great spiritual beings.
The Elder – And within everyone and everything of course. Such visualization brings about an immense joy dogmatic mentalities cannot experience. We can feel a definite reverence, when facing Beauty and diversity in the divine creation. Man totally carries what is created, the universe, the Divine. There is no denial of it. All the rest is only a cultural issue. Taoism invites us to access that vacuum within us and perceive the Nameless.
Theo. – How do they proceed?
The Elder – They meditate on the median vacuum. Two poems evoke the Tao.
“Tao is attributeless.
It exists by itself, undifferentiated,
and vast beyond what is conceivable.
Yet, it is wholly present in the tiniest seed.”“The thousand beings all emerge from Tao.
The illusion of their falling apart is but the mutual effect
of the Ying and the Yang.”
Letting Theophile the Younger savour the deep signification of the poem, The Elder stood up to welcome a visitor he introduced to his young friend:
– Here is my friend Tseu, who can answer your questions and tell you about Tao or Ying and Yang much better than I could.
The Elder let them in order to go and prepare tea.
Tseu stared at Theo and said quietly:
– We consider tha, as a whole, a human being’s work during his or her lifetime consists in getting in tune with Tao. The Tao Way is called ‘the heavenly path’. Following it will help us be in tune with Nature and with Time.
Theo. – Why do you mention Time?
Tseu – What characterizes the flow of time is that it keeps changing. Such variations can be spotted in a game of ‘opposite complementary forces’ we call ying and yang. Terrestrial Time can be identified in the four seasons. Man seeks for his way within all these movements and balance arises from harmony.
He paused. Then, Theophile the Younger asked:
– How do we search for that Time?
Tseu – By resorting to one’s inner peace and silence in order to perceive the right moment:
“Motionless, the being is attentive to the Ying-Yang movements
and to the five actions of the elements.
The sage observes all the inner and outer movements
through the practice of Action and Non-action,
in the rightness of time.”
But Theophile wanted to go ahead, and to get him into a corner, so he asked:
– How to approach Tao? If I have understood properly, it has no beginning and no end, it is undetermined and formless. It is nothing and contains nothing. How to do, then?
Tseu quietly put down on the table the cup of tea the Elder had served him and he closed his eyes. Like a motionless mountain, impassive, he stood upright and silently breathed deeply. A soft power emanated from him. His whole being was sort of shining. Around him, every single thing, every being, seemed to be at the right place, in complete harmony with the instant. Silence itself was given a very special feel and filled the room that was bathed in light in that end of the day.
Theo of course recognized the internalization signal and he let his mind totally be absorbed into his heart while observing closely such a mesmerizing character.
After a long moment of peace and deep balance, Tseu quoted Laozi again:
“Thirty rays converge at the hub,
but the median vacuum is what makes the chariot go.
The clay has been moulded into pots,
but how the pots are used depends on their inner vacuum.
The house is fitted with doors and windows
but again vacuum is what allows housing.”
– I see, Theo said. I treated the issue from the notion of “absolute vacuum” and I can see now how it is that vacuum that will let energy and life settle within that inner space the vacuum created.
Tseu – That vacuum constitutes the link between the Ying and the Yang. It always comes together with fullness, with the inner and the outer. In order to be in tune with Heaven and Earth within ourselves as well as with the environment, we only have to go to that original vacuum for a refill.
Theo said nothing, but he immediately remembered the Sufi notion of the original nature called ‘fitra’ he had been told about. (http://theophilelancien.blogspot.fr/search/label/fitra).
Though Theo had kept his idea silent, Tseu approved it with a discreet nod and looked at him with a smiling face.
– So, he too can read my thoughts, Theo said, laughing.
– Being attentive to the subtle hints that egress within him, a wise man puts himself in tune with the breaths of Heaven and Earth in order to progress on the path without going astray, Tseu said sententiously.
– What about the Taoists’ Action and Non-action I have been told about? Theo asked, demurely.
Tseu – The wise man spontaneously tunes up with things. We practice a ‘non-method’ which consists in going back to the natural order of anything through the median vacuum of the heart-mind.
Theo. – Doesn’t that compare with the clarifications quantum physics would give?
Tseu – It does. But we steer for spontaneity and innocence, rather than for intelligence. We comply with the instant. There is no strategy of any sort.
Theo. – OK, but it has been proved that an observer changes the nature of his experiment just by the mere fact that he is observing it. You are aware of the butterfly effect, aren’t you?
– Quite aware, Tseu replied maliciously, thanks to our great ancient friend Zhuang Zhou, who was busy writing when he dreamt he was a butterfly flitting and fluttering about, happy with himself, ignoring he was Zhuang Zhou. Suddenly he woke up and there he was, solid and unmistakable Zhuang Zhou, who didn’t know whether he was Zhuang Zhou who had dreamt he was a butterfly, or a butterfly dreaming that he was Zhuang Zhou (Zhuang Zhou II-6).
Undisturbed, Theo replied:
– Babuji used to evoke ‘actionless action’ and Lord Krishna’s advice was that we should not worry about the results of our actions.
– They were true Taoists, Tseu exclaimed.
The three men laughed wholeheartedly.
Theo. – Could you give me another practical example concerning Taoism?
Tseu – I can offer a metaphor, if you want. Non-action means rigidity is excluded; it implies flexibility, which allows bending and rising. See the willow-tree and how it can bend very low under the weight of snow, going as far as touching the ground. Its strength lies in its flexibility and its quiescence, whereas another tree will risk breaking down as it contends with the weight of the snow.
Theo. – By bending down to earth the willow develops humility, like in ‘the oak and the reed’ fable.
Tseu – I suppose so, but when you make one with the breath of the instant the idea of ‘I’, of the ego, doesn’t exist any more. There is a flow you immediately ride just as an innocent child would do.
– Oh! Is that another way of subduing the ego? Theo asked.
Tseu – The first manifestation of Tao is in Ying and Yang, which combines with the Infinite in a space situated between Heaven and Earth. Man stands in the middle, getting that flow which is mixed with the heavenly and the worldly breaths. In order to receive that flow, the human beings must first have freed and opened all their openings. Once their openings are empty, they will let all the energies circulate freely and mix harmoniously within them.
Theo. – That’s what we do with the heart, the heart chakra at least: we purify it, we clean it so as to rid it of all the impressions and complexities obstructing the way so that the yogic transmission may flow into it.
Tseu – Everything would eventually meet of course, whatever the times, places or traditions. Differences are only in people’s separatist minds. For instance, the Hindi are said to be polytheistic because they call ‘devas’ what monotheistic religions call angels and archangels. There is a lot of prejudice and xenophobia among people worldwide. They dread differences and since they are not united themselves, they believe they can protect themselves by advocating a separation from others, from all foreigners.
Theo. – A stranger will be strange and people will shun whatever looks strange to them.
Tseu continued:
– The more separatist people are, the more we must sympathize and send them all our love. Separation is the sign that the persons don’t like themselves very much and therefore receive little love from others.
Theo. – And what of the primitive people who resort to magic and superstition?
The Elder – Magic is nothing but a wrong way of using laws and principles for personal purposes. Besides primitive magic, there is a modern magic that advertisers and politicians resort to. They manipulate potential customers to entice them into buying their product or into voting for them. They have acquired an obvious know-how based on psychology. That is a modern form of magic, which consists in manipulating illusion for self-centred purposes.
Theo. – Is it that easy to manipulate us?
Tseu – It is not today’s topic, but here is some food for thought: a curse will work only if within yourself something is letting it work and if it happens to be in accordance with the emitted intention; otherwise, it is inefficient.
Theo. felt mischievous:
– What a shame! I love it when Gandalf the Grey fights evil forces. The fights are memorable moments.
The Elder, corrected him:
– But he who bears the ring is the real hero, whose innocence will help him save the world. Power has practically no power over him. Even Queen Galadriel, the Lady of the Elves, guards against the power of the ring for fear of being corrupted.
Then Theo claimed emphatically:
– Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely!
– That is enough for fantasy. Let us be back to our Taoists, the Elder challenged him gently.
Theophile the Elder
An excerpt from Dialogs with Theophile the Elder
Theophile the Younger’s initiation