Kirpal Singh

Taoism

Excerpt from the Book ‘The Crown of Life’

Turning to China, we find the best in Buddhist thought passing into the religious traditions of the Chinese. But along with this, we may note the message taught on his own by Lao Tze, the father of Chinese Mysticism (Hsuanchiao) or Taoism. The term Tao meaning road or way, denotes the hidden principle of the universe.

Lao Tze speaks of Tao as Absolute Tao which is the Essence and Quintessence (the Spiritual Truth) quite apart from and yet immanent in its manifestations. Just as Indian mystics had distinguished between the Aum that we chant and the Aum that is the Indescribable, Inexpressible, Wordless Word, so too Lao Tze tells us:

The Tao that can be told of is not the Absolute Tao; the names that can be given are not Absolute Names.

Of the character of Tao, it is further said:

Tao is all-pervading and Its use is inexhaustible! Fathomless! Like the fountainhead of all things.

Again:

The Great Tao flows everywhere, (Like a flood) It may go left or right. The myriad things derive their life from It, and It does not deny them.

And again:

The Tao never does, yet through It everything is done.

In Book II, dealing with the application of Tao, is given the Principle of Reversion:

Reversion is the action of Tao, gentleness is the function of Tao, the things of the world come from Being, and Being comes from Non-Being.

Tao is the source of all knowledge:

Without stepping outside one’s door, one knows what is happening in the world. Without looking out of one’s window, one can see the Tao of Heaven. The further one possesses knowledge, the less one knows. Therefore the sage knows without running about, understands without seeing, accomplishes without doing.

The Grand Harmony of Tao, the mysterious secret of the universe, becomes manifest when:

When the mystic virtue becomes clear, far-reaching, and things revert back (to their source), then and then only emerges the Grand Harmony.

Of his own teachings (as of the great sages), he said:

My teachings are very easy to understand and very easy to practice, but no one can understand them and none can practice them. In my words there is a principle, in the affairs of man there is system, because they know not these they also know me not. Since there are few that know me, therefore I am distinguished. Therefore the sage wears a coarse cloth, but carries jade within his bosom.

And finally, speaking of the Way to Heaven, he says:

True words are not fine sounding, fine-sounding words are not true. A good man does not argue; he who argues is not a good man. The wise one does not know many things; he who knows many things is not wise. The sage does not accumulate (for himself). He lives for other people, and grows richer in himself; he gives to other people, and has greater abundance. The Tao of Heaven blesses, but does not harm. The way of the sage accomplishes, but does not contend.

From the above, it would be clear that Tao is the Way; the Way to Reality, the ineffable and transcendent, the very ground of all existence, the womb from which all life comes into being. It comes only through the cultivation of stillness, or ridding the mind of the mind-stuff, a stillness which but a few can practice, enjoy and radiate to others. The process of approach to inwardness lies through reversion and purification of the spirit by putting the 'self' aside.

Bide in silence, and the radiance of the spirit shall come and make its home.

It is by the alert watch-and-wait method that the mind becomes blank and still. It is to such a mind, that Nature yields her secret. We Wei or Creative Quietude, which comprises and connotes at once supreme activity and supreme relaxation, is vitally necessary for the realization of Tao. It is life lived beyond tension, that acts as a magic spell. Tao works without working and can never be learned and so a sensible man prefer the inner to the outer eye. The Way to Tao is ever in concord with nature and comes by a drive toward simplicity. It is a way of life to be lived that brings in the all embracing continuity of Tao.

But now, Taoism without Lao Tze has lost its original deep meaning and has acquired a secondary sense, denoting just the way of Universe, or the Way according to which an individual may order his life, and it is difficult to see how far one can by himself come to Tao by ordering his life without a Master-Soul to put him on the Path.