Weblog von Hans-Wolfgang

Out of your awareness you cannot become soldiers in a war because you will be able to see, with clear eyes, that you are going to kill people -- people who have done no harm to you personally, people just like you. They have their children, their wives, their mothers, their old fathers to take care of -- and you are killing the person just to get a gold medal. Your gun will slip out of your hand, and that will be an act of awareness. And you will feel tremendously blissful that it happened; even if you are being shot your death will be a glory, a peace, an adventure, a journey into a new world. All dualities are part of the materialist world, part of the mind of man. But unless you get a little higher than matter and mind -- which is again a duality... So Taoism doesn't teach materialism, Taoism doesn't teach spiritualism. Taoism teaches a synthesis, something which is higher than both and which has no opposite to it. And this is the criterion: if you reach to a quality which has no opposite to it, then you can be certain you have attained something in your life. Traditional gurus everywhere are against progress. The reason is that every progressive statement, every new discovery challenges their scriptures. And the problem is, even if one thing in their scriptures -- which they are calling holy, written by God himself -- is wrong, that creates great problems. That means God can write wrong things. That also means that if one statement is wrong, perhaps other statements may also be wrong. It creates suspicion -- and the traditional priests depend on faith: any doubt is dangerous. And all progress depends on doubt, all science depends on doubt. So there is no meeting ground between doubt and faith.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GlI8qrwFYRw

A classical chinese garden reveals as a intimate „garden of ease“ the Taoist symbolism behind the placing of gnarled pine trees, winding covered pathways and ancient limestone formations.

A youth came to the Zen Master Huang Po and said: "I have attained serenity." "Why have you come here then?" Huang asked. "Go, away, for here I treat only those who are untranquil." The youth found it impossible to leave for he felt Huang Po to be serene in quite a different way. He said, "No. I not go. Allow me to stay here a few days. Huang Po said, "There is no permission for tranquil people to stay here. Go, ponder -- are you really tranquil? I do not feel you could have undertaken this long journey of 200 miles, just to tell me that you have become tranquil; and if you have, the matter is finished. May you really become tranquil! But I suggest you go outside and ponder over the question." The youth began to step out of the room but Huang stops him: "Stop! There is no need to go out. Come back. If you have to ponder whether you are serene or not, then you better come in. Your hesitation has given you away. The fact that you are going to ponder whether you are restless or not, is restlessness enough. Wherever there is choice, there is restlessness. You are definitely restless and I can be of use to you. But only when you understand your mind's clever deception, can I be of any help to you."

There are always two ways to any problem. Now for instance, it is sunny outside. One way is, that I use the Umbrella to keep the sun away. In that case, I treat the sun as my enemy and I prevent its rays from reaching me. There is another way also -- I can make my body so strong and healthy that it can withstand the rays of the sun. Lao Tzu would say: "Make your bodies strong. Then you will feel the sun to be your friend for it is never so sunny as to be unbearable to a healthy body. The sun seems a foe only to weak and unhealthy bodies." A new Science will be born -- in accordance with Lao Tzu's way of thinking. And if we understand Lao Tzu thoroughly Lao Tzu implies the Eastern mind -- the Eastern way of thinking. Aristotle means the Western mind -- the Western way of thinking.