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Posted by Steve on 2/8/2009, 5:00 pm, in reply to "Re: Tao Te Ching #1 Chuang Tzu's Way."
69.138.195.x
: Steve,
:
: You would have us believe you do not
: priviledge anything. It is all good, the
: good and the bad. Don't feel like the
: lonesome stranger. Others would have us
: believe Chuang Tzu does not priviledge
: anything either. That he is a
: moral-relativist. Anything goes. But this is
: not the case. He does make exceptions to his
: perspectival stance.
:
: Chuang Tzu advocates a mental state of
: clarity. The ability to discern subtle
: distinctions without necessarily evaluating
: experience in terms of a preferred
: alternative. Chuang Tzu does not advocate
: the removal of distinctions due to an
: understanding realized by mystical oneness.
: He is not a monist. Nor is he a solipist. He
: is a synergist. As are all the truly great
: sages.
:
: Chuang Tzu also priviledges
: "wu-wei", right action. So right
: that it is often described as effortless
: action. Going with the grain is the easy
: way. The middle way. The best at what they
: do make what they do look easy. Smoothness
: is not in-action. It is a highly refined and
: cultivated action. Practice makes perfect.
:
: The impact of the unavoidable can be
: minimalized through going with the flow that
: brought it into a person's life. Think Judo.
: The goal is not to accept everything but
: that through acceptance pain and suffering
: that does come into our lives is minimized.
: Not done away with. Life is hard. Especially
: when we hold onto the past and dread the
: future. Friction burns us up. Roll with the
: punches.
:
: Butcho
-----------------------------------
Nice post, Butcho. You state your case well.
Just two points that are important to me and no one else in the universe...
(1) "Anything goes" sounds like the hedonism thingy again. Perhaps I'm just being paranoid, but that's what it sounds like to me.
(2) I don't think the wise Chinese dead ones privileged anything, including wu-wei.
In the Laozi, for example, the way is laid out before us. The good. The bad. The soft. The hard. The easy. The difficult.
Not..."Here's what you need to do," but "Here's how it works."
Steve
410
"The Tao is basically utterly open. Utter openeness has no substance. It ends in endlessness, begins in beginninglessnes".
-Li Daoqun
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