TAO has always been considered the Way. But the Way to what? TAO has no destination, because it is eternal and infinite. TAO is the Way neither to avoid or to get out of something, nor to get or accomplish something. TAO is the Way through anything and everything in life. TAO is inexplicable and inexpressible in words. TAO is the profound human wisdom that has to be self-intuited.
The following may shed some light on TAO wisdom:
The Noble Truths
The Four Noble
Truths are the backbone of the Buddha’s teachings that may help you understand TAO better.
The First Noble
Truth is about human suffering.
The Second Noble
Truth is about ignorance—not knowing why there is suffering.
The Third Noble
Truth is about the healing process of human suffering, which involves giving up
the desire that causes the suffering.
The Fourth Noble
Truth is about embodying the reality of suffering in your everyday life.
The Noble Paths
Right view: keep
your perceptions from becoming cloudy.
Right thinking:
develop a road map for right view.
Right speech: be
aware of suffering caused by unmindful speech.
Right action: do
everything in mindfulness: actions cause reactions.
Right livelihood:
be concerned about how you earn your way through the world.
Right diligence:
use consciousness to foster wholesomeness in your mind.
Right mindfulness:
be fully present to the moment
Right
concentration: cultivate over time full awareness of being present to self,
world, and others.
Meditation
Meditation is the way to understanding all of the above. It is not
about striving to achieve ecstasy, spiritual bliss, or even tranquility of
mind. It is not even about making you become a better person. Meditation is
about creating a temporary state of mind, in which you clearly see your own self-deceptions,
your hidden hopes and fears. Meditation makes you completely break away from
how your mind ‘normally’ operates through a brief state of mind that frees you
of all cares and concerns. Meditation gives you brief moments of acute
awareness and deep discernment of what is real and what is pseudo-real.
Meditation quiets
your mind; in your everyday life, consciousness is seldom, if ever, quiet.
Therefore, it puts you on a journey of self-discovery and discovery of the true
nature of existence. Through this discovery, you are able to communicate with
the external or universal concept of God. This is how medication can bring
about psychological and spiritual healing.
Meditation allows
you to observe yourself without judgment; it is observation without struggling
with right or wrong.
Meditation can be
achieved through laborious training with perseverance, patience, and
practice—just like training a puppy to sit.
Acceptance
of suffering: To deny suffering is ignorance. Refusal to acknowledge and face
pain only keeps you trapped in your own pain.
Courage
to confront the truth of human suffering: It is easier to avoid suffering by
denial than to face it. But feeling the pain is necessary for healing. Learn
how to be fearless instead of fearful.
Enlightenment:
The opposite of truth is illusion. Enlightenment is awakening to the need to be
fearless to embrace the truth in order to dispel the self-illusions that
perpetuate the suffering.
Compassion:
Compassion and life are interrelated through suffering. Meditation can heal the
mind, but not the heart, unless there is compassion. Only with compassion can
one become a complete human being.
Attachments:
Desires and the reluctance to relinquish the desires are obstacles to
enlightenment. They not only cause human sufferings but also perpetuate them.
Letting
go: Understanding the impermanence of all things enables the letting go of
attachments, and hence the attainment of enlightenment.
Stephen Lau
Copyright© by Stephen Lau
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