Tao Sutra "Attain the utmost in Passivity" - your understanding?

[JazZen]

Attain the utmost in Passivity,

Hold firm to the basis of Quietude

 

The myriad things take shape and rise to activity

But I watch them fall back to their repose.

 

Like vegetation that luxuriantly grows

But returns to the root from which it springs.

 

To return to the root is Repose:

It is called going back to one's Destiny.

Going back to one's Destiny is to find the Eternal Law, "Tao"

To KNOW "Tao" is Enlightenment.

And NOT to know the Eternal Law, "Tao"

Is to court disaster.

 

 

These are my notes and understanding while working on above sutra, from the book "Living Tao" by OSHO. Please read and comment on your understanding.

 

"Attain the utmost in Passivity":

 

We are always active, doing something! this is how we work or how our mind works and stays alive. If there is a thought, there is mind. To be PASSIVE is to not do anything, to give in surrender, to observe, to be a witness - Mediate. 24 hours we are doing things and things.... if one hour we can be passive and stop. Let things happen and we simply watch.

 

Utmost Passivity: simply being passive is not enough. In being passive, we are trying, making effort to be passive. As we are trying we are still doing something and mind is still working... Meditation happens when we stop being active, surrender or forget about it being passive we simply observe. Its like trying to sleep, If you try to sleep it dosent happen. The moment you forget about sleep, you somehow sleep. Till you are excited, you cant sleep. The moment mind dosent have anything to do, we go to sleep. If we are trying to relax, it goes against relaxation as we are still doing something. Relaxation happens when we are not doing anything. Utmost in Passivity is when there is no effort to be passive.

 

Beautiful things happen, they are not done. Love happens, meditation happens, relaxation happens. We cannot make it happen. No one can force us to love, we could pretend but it wont be love. Material world is a world of doing, and Spiritual world is a world of happening.

 

Another way to look at Active and Passive is as Male and Female temperament. Males are more active; doing, women passive; waiting. Greatest thing happens to women, not men. She becomes pregnant, gives life! A god is to be born, women becomes a temple. Man simply remains a doer, outsider. To receive ultimate, we need to be feminine, witness, non-doer, utmost passive.

 

Ying - fire energy, Yang - water. We need to be more like water, flowing and less like fire, rigid.

 

 

"Hold firm to the basis of Quietude":

Mediate to reach the core of ourselves, in the stillness find the center. It is there! hard to find with all the thinking going on, but only matter of time if we keep trying. Once we find it, hold on to it.

 

 

"The myriad things take shape and rise to activity

But I watch them fall back to their repose.":

From the center and stillness we can watch things take place and they come back to stillness. When we meditate, we watch our mind and the thoughts go from one thing to other. Sometimes one thought leads to another, and on and on, and we realize and we come back to center. If we are centered or grounded, we watch things happen around us, people acting, but not being affected, we can simply watch without being affected.

 

 

"Like vegetation that luxuriantly grows

But returns to the root from which it springs.":

Everything goes back to origin. Spring comes seeds becomes plants and trees, then one day day they fall and go back to ground. Child is born, becomes old and dies back to origin.

 

 

"To return to the root is Repose:"

In west progress is seen as linear. In east its seen as circular.

 

In linear, everything moves in a line, and keep moving in a line, things are happening.... on and on, one thing to another. History is important, historical facts are important.

 

In circular, everything moves in a circle, things happen then they go back to the root, history is not relevant as its a circle. 'Sansar' the world for world literally means a Circle. History becomes less important, and is substituted by Mythology 'Puran'. In Puran we are concerned with the essential, in History we care of the facts. Who cares about when Buddha was born, what matters more is what he said. Buddha becomes a symbol of all Buddhas and what happened.

 

We are born and then we die, we return back the root. Life is a circle, death is repose. When we understand this, there is no struggle, there is acceptance.

 

 

"It is called going back to one's Destiny.

Going back to one's Destiny is to find the Eternal Law, "Tao" ":

This is the Eternal Law, to understand the circle.

 

 

"To KNOW "Tao" is Enlightenment.":

Once we know, we dont fight it, we live with it. A wise man moves with the law, a foolish man suffers. If we go against the law we suffer, no one is needed to punish us. You put your hand in fire, it will burn.

 

In our moments of happiness and bliss, we are with the law.

 

 

"And NOT to know the Eternal Law, "Tao"

Is to court disaster.":

To not be with the law, to go against the law, we cause our own suffering.

 

We create our own Heaven and Hell.

Edited May 25, 2008 by JazZen

[Anette L]

Thank you for sharing your notes JazZen, this was an interesting read

 

I find it funny how much this goes against the european way of living, where you`re supposed to achieve to be accepted and where everyone fights like dogs for attension. I wish thoughts like those in your post would hit some of my fellow norwegians, cause it`s easy to become invisible to others when you`re passive. That`s ok in a way, but I so enjoy being with people who are calm and at peace (and doesn`t feel the need to speak the loudest and laugh the most all the time)... I truly miss that sort of company.

 

I`ll probably need to read this again.. and maybe again.

I think I really like this taoism, what I`ve crasped of it so far... fits into my puzzle of everything in some way

[cheya]

Hi JazZen,

Osho has been huge for me, but I don't remember what he said about Tao. I've got to get that book. Thanks for bringing it up.

Question: Would passive on the inside always look like passive when viewed by others from the outside? Is there a passivity of "not doing" where there is actually a lot of action going on, but it is not a "doing," rather an allowing of what is flowing through? How about utmost passivity inside while Tao animates the body's action in the world?

 

Attain the utmost in Passivity,
Hold firm to the basis of Quietude

The myriad things take shape and rise to activity
But I watch them fall back to their repose.

Like vegetation that luxuriantly grows
But returns to the root from which it springs.

To return to the root is Repose:
It is called going back to one's Destiny.
Going back to one's Destiny is to find the Eternal Law, "Tao"
To KNOW "Tao" is Enlightenment.
And NOT to know the Eternal Law, "Tao"
Is to court disaster.
These are my notes and understanding while working on above sutra, from the book "Living Tao" by OSHO. Please read and comment on your understanding.


"Attain the utmost in Passivity":

We are always active, doing something! this is how we work or how our mind works and stays alive. If there is a thought, there is mind. To be PASSIVE is to not do anything, to give in surrender, to observe, to be a witness - Mediate. 24 hours we are doing things and things.... if one hour we can be passive and stop. Let things happen and we simply watch.

Utmost Passivity: simply being passive is not enough. In being passive, we are trying, making effort to be passive. As we are trying we are still doing something and mind is still working... Meditation happens when we stop being active, surrender or forget about it being passive we simply observe. Its like trying to sleep, If you try to sleep it dosent happen. The moment you forget about sleep, you somehow sleep. Till you are excited, you cant sleep. The moment mind dosent have anything to do, we go to sleep. If we are trying to relax, it goes against relaxation as we are still doing something. Relaxation happens when we are not doing anything. Utmost in Passivity is when there is no effort to be passive.

Beautiful things happen, they are not done. Love happens, meditation happens, relaxation happens. We cannot make it happen. No one can force us to love, we could pretend but it wont be love. Material world is a world of doing, and Spiritual world is a world of happening.