Observing the Profound and the Manifest

Xuefeng

To understand the essence and scope of the Tao, the celestial Laozi provides an ingenious approach: "Hence always rid yourself of desires in order to observe its mysteries; but always allow yourself to have desires in order to observe its manifestations."

Laozi's meaning is that to observe and comprehend the existence of the Tao, its characteristics, and the profound laws of its evolution, one must first transform oneself into a state of formlessness—completely letting go of oneself, without any personal opinions or perspectives, achieving a state of being without self. To understand the mysteries of the Tao’s operations and transformations, one needs to immerse oneself in the movement and changes of things, using personal insights and perspectives to interact with the Tao. This statement also implies that by freeing oneself from the constraints of material phenomena and perceiving the world as though nothing exists, one can grasp the essential mysteries of the Tao. Conversely, to comprehend how the Tao governs and transforms the universe, one needs to observe and understand it through the development, changes, and decline of tangible things in the vast world.

Buddha's teaching, "Only by not clinging to the forms of the tangible world can one see the true nature of the Tathāgata," essentially shares the same meaning as Laozi's guidance. From this, we understand that what is called the Tao is the Tathāgata; what is called the Tathāgata is the Tao.

Laozi's teachings serve as both an epistemology of the Tao and a methodology for spiritual practice and cultivation. For example, to understand the current state of Chinese society and its future trends, we should apply two opposite yet unified methods: one is to place oneself outside, stepping out of its sphere, perceiving oneself as a non-existent, unrelated entity, and examining it without any personal viewpoint; only in this zero state can one clearly see its true nature and grasp its essential attributes. The other method is to involve oneself in its development and changes, experiencing each phase directly to sense and understand its evolutionary trends and direction.

This approach applies to the Tao, to countries, to every religion, and to every family, and should especially be used to understand and know oneself. In a state without self-conception, without the notion of others, without the perception of sentient beings, without the fixation on longevity, without the view of phenomena, without the view of non-phenomena, without the view of reality, and without the view of illusion, observe who you are. At the same time, live in the real world, leaving tangible footprints to verify the distance between the reality of oneself and the Tathāgata nature. Go up the mountain to observe, come down to verify, and repeat this process to grasp the profound mysteries.

Being able to enter and exit freely prevents confusion, entering without being able to exit leads to confusion. Always remaining aloof without engaging also leads to confusion. One must not always dwell in emptiness, nor always in form; one must not always be in illusion, nor always in reality. Constantly being and constantly non-being—“ These two are the same but diverge in name as they issue forth. Being the same they are called mysteries, Mystery upon mystery—The gateway of the manifold secrets.” This aligns with the principles of the Taiji and the rules of spiritual cultivation and practice.

From this, we can conclude that purely shutting oneself in for cultivation or solely immersing oneself in reality leads to a muddled life; both are signs of not truly understanding life. Purely obsessing over a particular religion, political party, or movement is also a sign of not understanding the principles of the Tao. Only by oscillating between being and non-being can one avoid being misled by phenomena and mystical insights.

Many who suffer in adversity or feel frustrated in love, and many who feel content in favorable circumstances or relationships, are prone to making mistakes, sometimes even severe ones. This is mainly because they see only being without seeing non-being. Some end up in prison, some are killed, some commit suicide—all because they fail to grasp the principles of the Tao. They go in but never come out; how could they not err?

In the eyes of an employer, neither overly clever nor overly naive people make good employees. If we assume that the Greatest Creator is our employer and we are the employees, then we should avoid being too naive or too clever. Those who are too naive suffer losses, while those who are too clever invite trouble. We must constantly balance having and not having to be good employees of the Greatest Creator.