Getting re-acquainted with an old friend…

Recently I pulled out an old copy of the Tao Te Ching, the one translated by David Mair, and have been enjoying its wisdom all weekend. I don’t read much at a time, but I open it up, read a passage and put it back down.

My first experience with the Tao was back when I was 16, and was first turned onto Asian philosophy after watching the movie Kung Fu. I asked my mother to buy a Buddhist book, and she gave me the Tao Te Ching…a little off, but she certainly tried her best. That copy of the Tao Te Ching (same as above) stayed with me for many years until I lent the book to someone who never returned. How often does that happen?

Anyways, the Tao has stayed with me longer than any other philosophical book. I couldn’t find any really good Buddhist books as a kid, save for a couple Zen books, Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind* and Zen Flesh, Zen Bones, which I lost interest in as I got into college. Neither book at the time could offer me much information other than some witty “zen-like” one-liners. I just didn’t understand them and I didn’t have any access to teachers or (reasonably priced) Zen centers. My subsequent experiences with Zen Buddhists have often been negative as well.**

However, the Tao stayed with me into college, when I dabbled in philosophy courses and general East Asian courses. For a time I really thought myself a true Taoist, but this too was youthful arrogance followed by well-meaning, but flawed, concepts of what a religious path really was. So, later years, I forgot about the book and set it aside as I began a serious study of Buddhism in the last three years (which is around the time my original blog started, of which this is a descendant).

Lately, I feel like I’ve studied Buddhism all I can, save for reading more of the same types of texts. I’ve learned a lot, but don’t feel a whole lot wiser or much better as a person. I am certainly no closer to being an Enlightened person. So, it was nice to open up the Tao Te Ching again, and read another side to Asian wisdom for a change. Simple words like:

Hearing too much leads to utter exhaustion;
Better to remain in the center.

Are refreshing after reading difficult Buddhist sutras or “feel-good” Buddhist books. The Tao is timeless because its words are simple, but profound, and observable in daily life. Few can truly put these words into practice, but in the craze of modern life, even a few sentences can be a wonderful ray of light.

The beginning of the edition I have has a German proverb that goes like so:

Was hilft laufen, wenn man nicht auf den rechten Weg ist?

What is the use of running when we are not on the right way?

This last week, I often think to myself that I might have been running along the wrong path for the last few years, and that I got off track sometime at a younger age. Or perhaps I never left the path in the first place. I don’t know.

P.S. Looking back, I think this last part might have been some of the reason for deleting the last blog: uncertainty.

* – Actually, I got this book again for my birthday, and I have enjoyed it far more than I did when I was younger. I think in all truthfulness, I just wasn’t at a point in my life where I could understand what Suzuki was talking about, but now appreciate it 14 years later. Better late than never.

** – Contrary to what I am implying here, I actually think Zen is a beautiful fusion of Taoist and Buddhist thought. What annoys me is the way it’s been romanticized here in the West, commercialized, and idolized by hipsters and anti-intellectuals who have plenty of witty one-liners, but no deep substance in their understanding of life. Then again, as mentioned in the post, I’ve come to realize how much I’ve studied and how little I understand.