The Search Is On

     When I was nineteen and in India, I worked myself into a state where it seemed impossible for me to go on, even for another moment. I did not see how I could survive, either as the particular human "person" named on my passport or as a pure, impersonal spirit. In a moment of overwhelming anguish, I heard some kind of "higher power" break through and advise me in a tough, familiar tone, "You'll get by on your looks, kid." In spite of myself, I had to laugh — though I had a long way to go before I understood what I was laughing about.
     Since I now know that my whole life has been dedicated to the discipline of clear seeking, I can put it in the most easygoing way, inconceivable to me back when I first got that odd, jarring message: Good seeking leads not only to finding, but onward to better and better looking. So the ultimate goal of all seeking is to become more and more good at looking. Whatever we may find through seeking does not end the search, but leads us to become better and better at good looking.
     We all get by on our looks, on how good we look....
— John Lash, The Seeker's Handbook, p. xii.

47. Without Even Going Out the Door

They know the world
without even going out the door.
They see the sky and its pattern
without even looking out the window.
The further out it goes, the less knowledge is;
therefore sages know without going,
name without seeing,
compete without striving.
— From the Tao Te Ching, in The Essential Tao, Thomas Cleary, p. 37.

56. Those Who Know Do Not Say

Those who know do not say;
those who say do not know.
Close the senses,
shut the doors;
blunt the sharpeness,
resolve the complications;
harmonize the light,
assimilate to the world.
This is called mysterious sameness.
It cannot be made familiar,
yet cannot be estranged;
it cannot be profited,
yet cannot be harmed;
it cannot be valued,
yet cannot be demeaned.
Therefore it is precious for the world.
— From the Tao Te Ching, in The Essential Tao, Thomas Cleary, p. 43.

63. Do Nondoing

Do nondoing,
strive for nonstriving,
savor the flavorless,
regard the small as important,
make much of the little,
repay enmity with virtue;
plan for difficulty when it is still easy,
do the great while it is still small.
The most difficult things in the world
must be done while they are easy;
the greatest things in the world
must be done while they are small.
Because of this sages never do great things;
that is why they can fulfill their greatness.
If you agree too easily, you'll be little trusted;
if you take it easy a lot, you'll have a lot of problems.
Therefore it is through difficulty
that sages end up without problems.
— From the Tao Te Ching, in The Essential Tao, Thomas Cleary, p. 48.

     Yen Hui inquired, "May I ask about mental fasting?"
     Confucius replied, "You unify your will: hear with the mind instead of the ears; hear with the energy instead of the mind. Hearing stops at the ears, the mind stops at contact, but energy is that which is empty and responsive to others. The way gathers in emptiness; emptiness is mental fasting."
     Yen Hui said, "The reason I haven't been able to master this is that I consider myself really me. If I could master this, 'I' would not exist. Could that be called emptiness?"
     Confucius answered, "That's all there is to it. I tell you, you can go into that corral without being moved by repute. If you are heard, then speak; if not, then stop. Let there be no dogma, no drastic measures; remain consistent and abide by necessity. Then you'll be close.
     "It is easy to obliterate tracks, hard not to walk on the ground. It is easy to use falsehood in working for people; it is hard to use falsehood in working for Nature.
     "I have heard of flying with wings; I have never heard of flying without wings. I have heard of knowing with knowledge; I have never heard of knowing without knowledge.
     "For those who gaze into space, the empty room produces white light; auspicious signs hover in stillness. But if one does not stay here, that is called galloping even while sitting.
     "If you have your ears and eyes penetrate inwardly, and are detached from conceptual knowledge, then even if ghosts and spirits come after you they will stop; how much the more will people!
     "This is the evolution of myriad beings. This is what Yü and Shun [the sage kings] were rooted on, what Fu Hsi and Chu Chi [prehistoric cultural leaders] practiced all their lives. How much greater is the need of those who have already lost it!"
— From Confucius, in The Essential Tao, Thomas Cleary, p. 87-88.