Chinese Philosophy - PART IV

In being unaffected, one will be tranquil. Tranquility brings clarity. Clarity provides direction towards Truth and Truth is the answer that we are all ceaselessly seeking. In Lao-zi’s book of the Natural Way he argues that, “He who takes an action fails. He who grasps things loses them… He learns to be unlearned, and returns to what the multitude has missed (Dao)”(Chan 170). For many, the idea of living in accordance with the “Dao” or “Nature” seems strange. In modern day, this concept would be considered an “Ancient” viewpoint. Nature, however, is eternal and knows no Time. Time is a human construct that disables us from noticing that past, present and future are not separated, but instead, that they are in flux with the eternal Now. By noticing this, Now one will recognize that what was once modern is Now Ancient and what is Now Ancient was once Modern, and in the future today’s ideas will seem Ancient. Ideas, however, are eternal. How?
Well, in the words of the Buddhist school of Hua-Yen, “Because all these periods are originally formed from an instant. Since they establish each other, both lack substance or nature. Because an instant has no substance, it penetrates the infinitely long periods, and because these periods have no substance, they are fully contained in a single instance. Since both the instant and the long periods have no substance, the characters of length and shortness are naturally harmonized”(Chan 423). From the instant of birth we begin moving forward chronologically until the instant we die. Each instant that is lived is lasting a lifetime, even within the moment that is instantaneous death. By living for the future and relating to the past we lose hold of what exists within this present moment. Right now, you are reading. You are still reading. Keep reading and try not to stray away into thinking about life and death. For, life and death are things of Nature and Nature is in a constant, impenetrable flux.