Tao of Meditation

Look, it cannot be seen.

Grasped, it cannot be felt

Listening, it cannot be heard.

Seek beyond the senses to the Tao.

This is the way of the Tao and Meditation.

What on earth does this mean? It all sounds very paradoxical. Look, it cannot be seen? What's up with that. Either you see it or you don't, right! Well, no. Tao points to the fact that everything is an illusion on this plane or plane-it. What it means is that you cannot trust your five senses to tell you what is real. And that there is a reality that underlies everything beyond the senses. How do you get beyond the senses? By not paying attention to them! Which takes practice. It takes practice because everything we have been taught is all biased. Biased by culture, philosophy, religion, politics, education, sociology and our belief systems. There is nothing wrong with learning about these things, but it does not get you any closer to truth or wisdom. Our world is constantly directing us away from this, through the lastest news and current poop. While we race around in circles, moving through the universe at break-neck speeds. The Truth sits quietly in the center at perfect peace and harmony. And will always do so!

The Search for Peace

Lao Tzu was a quiet mystic who lived in China back around 6th century B.C. He was a contemporary of Confucius and wrote the Tao Te Ching. He also had a few things to say about attaining peace. He said:

"Tao abides in non-action,

Yet nothing is left undone.

If kings and lords observed this,

The ten thousand things would develop naturally.

If they still desired to act,

They would return to the simplicity of formless substance.

Without form there is no desire.

Without desire there is tranquillity.

And in this way all things would be at peace"

Lao Tsu's teachings are hard to comprehend for the western mindset. He advocates returning to the state of the "uncarved block" or the center of your being to find peace. In other words, there is nothing that you need to do, there is no action you need to perform. You just need to go to that simple awareness that exists within all of us. It is an awareness without prejudice, without discrimination, without desire that just exists. And it is so simple that a baby can do it, naturally. And yet it is so difficult for us to attain. We have been so shaped by our culture, our schools, our parents, our desires that we have forgotten the state of the uncarved block.

"Look, it cannot be seen--it is beyond form.

Listen, it cannot be heard--it is beyond sound.

Grasp, it cannot be held--it is intangible...

From above, it is not bright.

From below, it is not dark:

An unbroken thread beyond description

Stand before it and there is no beginning.

Follow it and there is no end.

Stay with the ancient Tao,

Move with the present.

Knowing the ancient beginning is the essence of Tao."