Tao Te Ching
I found this verse in Tao Te Ching:
Empty yourself of everything.
Let the mind become still.
The ten thousand things
rise and fall
While the Self watches their return.
I emptied myself of everything... I let my mind become still... and the ten thousand things which rise and fall each day are looked upon by my Self... and observed by it...
The Self observes the teachers, students, customers, pessers-by... fellow brothers and sisters... in the struggle to understand what emotions are, and cravings, passions, peace of mind, and contentment... I am taking a clinical counseling class at Pacific College and it is a very interesting class. Last week all the students in the class talked about what brought them to study acupuncture. There were different stories told and most of us got very emotional telling them. After I told my story I thought that because my road to understanding the reality as it is and stepping away from the path of delusion was so long and bumpy, I will understand the struggle of my future patients, and how difficult it is to abondon old and wrong ways if one gets stuck in them... But if the time is not ripe for a change then the struggle is fruitless in any case... so maybe it's good just to realize that one should be patient with onself... Thoughts such as these are reflected in so many Eastern sources (Tao Te Chin being one of them) but one has to know where to look...
In my last entry I mentioned how Western logic made no sense to me. I just started reading another book we use for the fundamentals of Chinese medicine class and here's what the author, Giovanni Maciocia, says: "The concept of Yin-Yang, togehter with that of Qi, has permeated Chinese philosophy over the centuries and is radically different from any Western philosophical idea. In general, Western logic is based upon the opposition of contraries, which is the fundamental premise of Aristotelian logic. According to this logic, a pair of contraries (such as "The table is square" and "The table is not square") cannot both be true. This has dominated Western thought for over 2000 years. The Chinese concept of Yin-Yang is radically different from this system of thought: Yin and Yang represent opposite but complimentary qualities. Each thing or phenomenon could be itself and its contrary. Morover, Yin contains the seed of Yang so that Yin can transform into Yang and vice versa." Then the book continues the explanation of Yin and Yang principle. I spent countless hours in college preparing for logic class, pulling hair, biting pencils, gasping in despair while doing exercises such as "All women wear skirts. Ann wears a skirt. She is, therefore, a woman. John is a man. He, therefore, does not wear a skirt." But what if John likes to and does wear a skirt (was my question)? Is he a man? Is he a woman? Is he a woman in a man's body? Is he a transvestite or just likes to go against the current? In Ying-Yang theory it would always be possible to explain John, and who he is. According to Western philosophy John is a freak, or an exception in the best case. According to Yin-Yang John may be a Yang (masculine) with a touch of Yin (feminine) or vice versa. There's no contradiction or anything strange with John. The philosophy of Yin and Yang is extremally accurate and there are no exceptions to the rule because the rule is flexible, as flexible as life is. "Precedents" don't exist. It's such a simple concept that it encompasses everything and every possible situation. It's incredibly logical. So, although my former logic professor believed I was a freak since I didn't agree with the concepts he was so dead sure about (and questioned my reason and sanity for not accepting them as true), I am not a freak after all! The other half of the globe goes by a completely different concept. What a relief! However, regarding the sources... I want to say that even thouse Westerners who, like me, see the logic of Eastern theories are often so stuck in Western logic that when they translate Eastern works they do it from the perspective of the Western logic... it's like that school which I am attending now... it teaches Eastern medicine from the Western perspective. There are constantly workshops on "scientific (Western science) proof of benefit of acupuncture" (as if 5,000 years of proof was not enought and the 200 year old science had to proove it) and the admissions advisers ask students if they are interested in "acupuncture face rejuvenation on cruise ships and in spas." They are missing the whole point of Oriental medicine... they are as much money oriented as regular Western medicine medical schools. Many of the books I read on Eastern philosophies written by American writers are self-help books, so artificial in content that they resemble the Evangelists shows on TV... huge melodrama and public catharsis... but what to do? Learn Chinese, Hindi, Tibetan and read the originals? Maybe in the next life... My hunger for knowledge and wisdom will have to be satisfied by other means than just written, and translated, word. I will have to find a master and be his or her disciple... in my quest to help people heal themselves... if this is what I am destined to do... and if not I will take the school's advice and get on that Pacific Princess cruiseliner and just erase the wrinkles on the million-dollar faces... just kidding!
Empty yourself of everything.
Let the mind become still.
The ten thousand things
rise and fall
While the Self watches their return.
I emptied myself of everything... I let my mind become still... and the ten thousand things which rise and fall each day are looked upon by my Self... and observed by it...
The Self observes the teachers, students, customers, pessers-by... fellow brothers and sisters... in the struggle to understand what emotions are, and cravings, passions, peace of mind, and contentment... I am taking a clinical counseling class at Pacific College and it is a very interesting class. Last week all the students in the class talked about what brought them to study acupuncture. There were different stories told and most of us got very emotional telling them. After I told my story I thought that because my road to understanding the reality as it is and stepping away from the path of delusion was so long and bumpy, I will understand the struggle of my future patients, and how difficult it is to abondon old and wrong ways if one gets stuck in them... But if the time is not ripe for a change then the struggle is fruitless in any case... so maybe it's good just to realize that one should be patient with onself... Thoughts such as these are reflected in so many Eastern sources (Tao Te Chin being one of them) but one has to know where to look...
In my last entry I mentioned how Western logic made no sense to me. I just started reading another book we use for the fundamentals of Chinese medicine class and here's what the author, Giovanni Maciocia, says: "The concept of Yin-Yang, togehter with that of Qi, has permeated Chinese philosophy over the centuries and is radically different from any Western philosophical idea. In general, Western logic is based upon the opposition of contraries, which is the fundamental premise of Aristotelian logic. According to this logic, a pair of contraries (such as "The table is square" and "The table is not square") cannot both be true. This has dominated Western thought for over 2000 years. The Chinese concept of Yin-Yang is radically different from this system of thought: Yin and Yang represent opposite but complimentary qualities. Each thing or phenomenon could be itself and its contrary. Morover, Yin contains the seed of Yang so that Yin can transform into Yang and vice versa." Then the book continues the explanation of Yin and Yang principle. I spent countless hours in college preparing for logic class, pulling hair, biting pencils, gasping in despair while doing exercises such as "All women wear skirts. Ann wears a skirt. She is, therefore, a woman. John is a man. He, therefore, does not wear a skirt." But what if John likes to and does wear a skirt (was my question)? Is he a man? Is he a woman? Is he a woman in a man's body? Is he a transvestite or just likes to go against the current? In Ying-Yang theory it would always be possible to explain John, and who he is. According to Western philosophy John is a freak, or an exception in the best case. According to Yin-Yang John may be a Yang (masculine) with a touch of Yin (feminine) or vice versa. There's no contradiction or anything strange with John. The philosophy of Yin and Yang is extremally accurate and there are no exceptions to the rule because the rule is flexible, as flexible as life is. "Precedents" don't exist. It's such a simple concept that it encompasses everything and every possible situation. It's incredibly logical. So, although my former logic professor believed I was a freak since I didn't agree with the concepts he was so dead sure about (and questioned my reason and sanity for not accepting them as true), I am not a freak after all! The other half of the globe goes by a completely different concept. What a relief! However, regarding the sources... I want to say that even thouse Westerners who, like me, see the logic of Eastern theories are often so stuck in Western logic that when they translate Eastern works they do it from the perspective of the Western logic... it's like that school which I am attending now... it teaches Eastern medicine from the Western perspective. There are constantly workshops on "scientific (Western science) proof of benefit of acupuncture" (as if 5,000 years of proof was not enought and the 200 year old science had to proove it) and the admissions advisers ask students if they are interested in "acupuncture face rejuvenation on cruise ships and in spas." They are missing the whole point of Oriental medicine... they are as much money oriented as regular Western medicine medical schools. Many of the books I read on Eastern philosophies written by American writers are self-help books, so artificial in content that they resemble the Evangelists shows on TV... huge melodrama and public catharsis... but what to do? Learn Chinese, Hindi, Tibetan and read the originals? Maybe in the next life... My hunger for knowledge and wisdom will have to be satisfied by other means than just written, and translated, word. I will have to find a master and be his or her disciple... in my quest to help people heal themselves... if this is what I am destined to do... and if not I will take the school's advice and get on that Pacific Princess cruiseliner and just erase the wrinkles on the million-dollar faces... just kidding!
posted by Asia Kabat at 8:36 PM
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