Zen Roshi, Lola McDowell Lee, continues a discussion of Lao Tsu’s Tao Te Ching. Today, Chapter 16 (Suzuki translation) By attaining the height of abstraction we gain fulness of rest. All the ten thousand things arise And I see them return. Now they bloom in bloom But each one homeward returneth to its root. Returning to the root means rest. It signifies the return according to destiny. Return according to destiny means the eternal. Knowing the eternal means enlightenment. Not knowing the eternal causes passions to rise; and that is evil. Knowing the eternal renders comprehensive. Comprehensiveness renders broad. Breadth renders royal. Royalty renders heavenly. Heaven renders Reason-like. Reason renders lasting. Thus the decay of the body implies no danger. — Lola explains the rather harsh reality that we are not as important as we make ourselves out to be. Desires need the Self to exist. The Self, however, can exist without desires. The sky can exist without clouds, but clouds cannot exist without the sky. When clouds cover the sky, only clouds can be seen. When Self is covered by desires, the Self cannot be seen. And the same thoughts and desires cloud us over and over again. The sky doesn’t care if there are clouds or not. Clouds come and go. What is your image of your Self? The True Self has no purpose. “The True Self leaves no trace,” says Lola. “I will leave no trace.” Lola recounts the tale of the teacher and the monk. The teacher tells him to open just one eye, which he does. Then the teacher says, “Who taught you how to open one eye?” Lola recounts her time in a Japanese monastery. What is inaction? Any method implies an action. How to meditate. There is no action required—simply a shift in consciousness. Don’t make it so difficult. There’s a physical eye. A dharma eye. And a Buddha eye. Each has its own domain. Lola recounts the tale of the emperor who, with all his soldiers and all his palaces, was still frightened about dying. Then a wise man gave him an amulet with a message inside. Jul 3, 1988
