THEPAGE HERE ARE SOME EXAMPLES OF WHAT TAO IS ABOUT THROUGH DEFINITIONS OF SOME FAMILIAR WORDS IN OUR LIVES.

TAO The ancients who first taught of TAO were simple, rustic people. They formed their view by walking in granite-bladed mountains, digging in grainy soil, and sailing down wide rivers. As they worked and traveled, they slowly discerned a grand order to life. They noticed the regular phases of the sun, moon, earth, and tides. They followed the seasons. They watched the births, lives, and deaths of people, as well as the rise and fall of kingdoms. In the nights, the ancients sat beside open firs and spoke to those who wanted to learn. As illustrations of their ideas, and to aid their students' memories, they drew pictographs in the dirt. They taught their lessons from what they had experienced: life was a movement supreme--greater than humans, greater than heaven and earth. Nothing was fixed, for everything--from the cycles of the sun and the moon to the making and destroying of empires--showed endless, cyclical transformation. All this they summed up by drawing a picture of TAO: a person running along a path. Those who want to study TAO can gain much from that simple image. It represents the organic movement of the cosmos as a great, balanced, and dynamic body in motion, just as it represents the path each of us follows through life. Sometimes intellectual definitions of TAO can be challenging. Returning to the image of TAO centers our contemplations.

EARTH "What is bountiful?" the ancients asked. True bounty was not the treasury of the emperor, but the generosity of the earth. The golden hills provided home, country, belonging. The rich, black, fertile-smelling soil gave grain, vegetables, and fruit. The blue-shadowed mountains gave shelter from wind and storm. And the seemingly endless plains and deserts provided ample room for exploration and adventure. Why worry about the abstruse, the ancients asked, when everything we require has already been given to us? If you want to follow TAO, the ancients said, first understand the perfection of heaven and earth. Wind, rain, and sun come to us through the sky. The earth gives us our home, our nourishment, jewels for our adornment, minerals for our use, places for travel. As the old saying goes, "Why look far away for what is close at hand?" You, like the young students of the ancients, may want to study TAO. Doing so may be as simple as bending down to pick up a clump of earth. So many of us look and look for TAO. The masters, it seems, are still pointing one hand to the sky and the other to the earth.

MUSIC There once was a zither student whose master, frustrated by his pupil's lack of musical progress for so many years, pronounced him unsuitable for learning. To understand how devastating this was to the young man, one must remember that playing the zither was considered a very high and demanding art, practiced only by refined and learned people. In addition, one's master was like a parent. He or she was usually as dedicated to teaching as a parent is to rearing a child. So to be rejected by his teacher was a great shock to the student. The master abandoned the young man on the shores of an island, leaving the student only a zither. Left to his own resources, the disappointed pupil provided first for his survival. The island, although uninhabited, had enough wild fruit and vegetables to sustain him. In the time that followed, he listened to the singing of birds, the chorus of the waves, the melodies of the wind. He spent long periods of time in meditation and musical practice. By the time he was rescued, several years later, he had become a virtuoso player and composer, far greater than his master: he had entered into TAO. And so it is with us. We need teaching. But there is a point beyond which teaching cannot provide for us. Only direct experience can give us the final dimensions we need. That means learning from nature, and learning from ourselves. As long as we remember that, there can be no mistake.

CHANGE The ancients observed that all life changed. Grain grew from seeds to tall, full plants. Deer were born in the spring and gradually learned to walk on their own. Human beings grew old, and died, and yet the generations succeeded one another. Observing the continual alteration of birth and death, the ancients therefore said TAO had no fixed points: its only constant is change. When something reaches its extreme, it changes to its opposite. Just after a rice plant reaches a sweet fullness, it begins to yellow, whither, and die. Just as the deer comes to full vitality, it soon becomes old and passes from the earth. And when people reach the apex of their knowledge and strength, they inevitably begin to decline. Thus it is that TAO is movement, and that movement is marked by constant change.

WRITE Is there any spiritual system without the word? In any number of spiritual practices-from the sacred syllables of tantric yoga to the mysticism of the kabbalah, from the word of the Christian God to the talismanic writings of TAOist magicians-the word is central. To write is a sacred act. All sacred calligraphers try with greater and greater effort to release the writing that is within them. This takes years of spiritual practice, like waiting for the perfect confluence of heavenly bodies. Only here the calligraphers are waiting for the confluence of skill, technique, and spontaneity to express their devotion. When they succeed, there is a state of euphoria that manifests itself in ink. This type of writing cannot be achieved by the mere normal, rational ways of a scribe. It must be inspired: one must give oneself over to a sacred feeling welling from deep within. It takes a strong person-perhaps even an extraordinary person-to stand by what he or she has written without doubt or eagerness for recognition. If you breach the spiritual in writing, it will transform you, not in a way that will bring you profit, but in a way that will instill a great and private faith. To feel that is to feel TAO. To feel that is worth all the words in the world.

LISTEN Just as we should be sparing and careful in speech, so too should we be careful in listening. The range of what life has to offer in listening is wide. For example, we can listen to gossip, trivialities, or obscenities. These are all words created to entertain and stimulate base sensibilities. By contrast, words of wisdom also exist, but these are too often overlooked. The words of the wise are not all written with invisible ink on sacred books hidden in impenetrable Himalayan caves. They are widely available all over the world, even on newsstands. The secrets of life are not obscured. The sacred words are very close. But do you hear them? Do you seek them out? Do you respect them? Listening takes time. You have to take the time to hear, but it also takes time for the words to penetrate into your heart. Just because you hear words of wisdom doesn't mean that you are instantly transformed. Therefore, those who seek TAO constantly seek words of wisdom and allow them to accumulate deep in themselves. That is why the ancients always said it takes a person of virtue to hear words of virtue. It takes a person of strength to want words of strength. It takes a person of learning to discern words of learning.

LEARN Describe something, and one quarter of the people will understand. Show something, and half the people will understand. Describe something while showing it, and three-quarters of the people will understand. Describe something, show it, and then encourage people to put their knowledge to immediate use, and nine people out of ten will understand. If our learning about TAO is this thorough, then we will advance rapidly in our knowledge. When we read the classics, we shouldn't regard them as mere theory. The classics of TAO were written to convey information, not obscure it. Therefore, we should indeed study long and hard, with the full intention of putting any understanding of TAO to immediate use and avail ourselves of all that learning has to offer. It is a great pity that so much false knowledge is taught to each generation. When this happens, people must spend a great deal of time undoing misconceptions and emotional conflicts inflicted by small-minded and ill-qualified teachers. That is why, from ancient times to the present, those who follow TAO take care to seek out the best teachers: by learning from the best, they enhance their chances of becoming the best.

SILENCE From ancient times to the present, people have worshiped gods. But from ancient times to the present, the tradition of TAO has taught us to look beyond the gods. What is beyond the gods? A wise person once said: "Beyond the gods is silence." But to say we must first seek the gods and then go beyond the gods to silence can be quite discouraging. How will we, with our faults and problems, ever get to the level of gods, let alone what is beyond the gods? Fortunately, the remark itself shows us the way. The state beyond the gods may well be silence, but can't we have silence right now? NO, lets not worry about spirituality and the classics and all the rituals and great methods. Let's put all that aside. Let's stop talking-oh, that is already a big accomplishment! -and let's stop thinking-tough, but a good challenge-and let's just try to be very quiet. Let's try to be quiet for just a second. Really and totally quiet. Try to extend that to two seconds. Then a minute, and then longer and longer. Let's not worry right now about how long that quiet is. We should not be competitive here. Let's just focus on that quiet. If "beyond the gods is silence," then in one moment of quiet, you have experienced TAO firsthand. Without a priest. Without a master. Without years of study. You have experienced for yourself the silence that is TAO.

WATER When the ancients and their students stopped to rest by a pure flowing stream, the teachers compared TAO to water. Water is flowing. Every drop is made of the same substance. Water never fears being divided, because it knows it will flow back together in time. It is eternal. Water is powerful. Although it can be soothing, comforting, and cleansing, it can also be enormous, mighty, and overpowering. Its nature is constant. It is true to itself and any extreme. Water is profound. In the depths of the lakes, in the darkness of the oceans, it holds all secrets. It is dangerous. It is mysterious. Yet life came form those depths. Water is unafraid. From any height, it will plunge fearlessly down. It will fall and not be injured. Water is balanced. No matter what the situation is, water will seek its own level as soon as it is left alone. Water will always flow downward to the most stable level. It conforms to any situation in a balanced way. Water is nourishing. Without water, no plant and no living creature could survive. Water is still. It can be completely still, and in its stillness, mirror heaven perfectly. Water is pure. It is transparent, clear, needing neither adornment nor augmentation. For all these features-to be flowing, powerful, profound, unafraid, balanced, nourishing, still, and pure-one who would follow TAO need only emulate water in every way.

TRAVEL Whatever you want to know of life you can learn by traveling. Whatever you want to know of people you can see by being with them. Whatever you want to know of nature is best known by being in nature. Whatever you want to know of TAO you can know by floating. As one floats on water, so too are we all sustained by TAO. As a swimmer must understand the current, so too will we learn about TAO by traveling in it. TAO has direction. TAO has consciousness and no consciousness. TAO has unlimited creativity. TAO is life, and death, and that which is neither. TAO is mighty. TAO is mystery. TAO is supreme. TAO is universal. TAO is everywhere. There is nothing that is not TAO. It is only that human beings imagine themselves separate from it. That is like a swimmer going out into the waters without checking the conditions. If she refuses to acknowledge the waters, she will be destroyed. But the swimmer who floats and moves according to the currents is not only sustained, but also enriched. All you need to do is to trust in TAO and travel in TAO and all knowledge will be yours.

ART The ancients sensed the enormity of TAO and wanted to accord with its rhythms. They saw TAO in everything they did, for any endeavor in life generated its own way-a TAO-and any endeavor was made better by having the knowledge to do it. Thus the ancients strongly emphasized skill. TAO was not to be followed passively. It was to be used, with artfulness. Those who followed TAO in ancient times often had the reputation of being magicians. They could heal people through herbs and massage. They could predict the coming of rain. They could direct the building of waterways and walls. They could farm with great efficiency. They could craft items of daily need out of ordinarily available materials. They could defend themselves against animal and human predators. They could travel without fear. They could read the most abstruse writings. They could converse with anyone, from the highest emperor to the simplest laborer. All these skills and more the people declared to be miraculous. But did the ancients possess some mystical secret? They did not. They only appeared to be magical, because they had skills others did not have. Given the opportunity, anyone can learn what they knew. Just as the ancients tried to master many arts so they could then follow TAO fearlessly throughout the world, we too should continue to pursue our learning and inner growth. Then, no matter what situation arises, we will have the art to face it

FRIEND Unless there is trust between friends, there can be no closeness. Once that trust is established, friends can unite to do things in common. Thus, the word for "friend" shows two people acting toward a single goal. It is said that there are three levels of friendship. The first is the level of casual acquaintance. The second is where there is sharing. The third, considered most deep, is the level where we trust friends to criticize us. Ulterior motives at any one of these levels ruin people quickly, and we cannot call such relationships true friendship. Cynics hold that we should look out for ourselves first. This may be superficially good, but ultimately it will impoverish us. Unless we have friends with whom we can share good times and bad, we will never know selflessness. And not to know the selfless trust of friendship is to miss an opportunity to understand our own best qualities.

HAPPINESS Like everything else in TAO, happiness comes from within. What minimal support we need from the outside-a bit of food, some shelter-can actually be very simple and plain and is readily available. Nevertheless, people are unhappy because they do not know moderation. "All I need to be happy is to be rich," many say. But the newspapers are filled with stories of wealthy people who live in deep despair. In fact, the simple phrase, "All I need to be happy is to be rich"-complete with your choice of substitutes for the word rich-is an immediate indication of the source of our unhappiness: there is no end to what we want. Know when enough is enough. Some die from hunger, but many die from overeating. So to be happy, we have to control our desires. The ancients taught two ways to do this. Sometimes they used discipline to curb desire. Sometimes they satisfied their desires. This is the genius of TAO: moderation. WE do not need to cleave to the extremism of the ascetic. We do not need to lose ourselves in the indulgence of the hedonist. WE follow TAO, the middle path.

LAUGHTER Some ascetics do not believe in laughter. They believe laughing is a sin. TAO, however, excludes nothing, including laughter. It is very important in understanding TAO that we perceive the transient nature of life. Everything is in a state of constant change. Therefore, we can never be complacent. We can never expect places, things, or people to remain static. If we understand that, then we have the opportunity to learn more of TAO. IF we do not accept that, then madness swiftly overtakes us. The ancients understood the ephemeral and advised their students not to take life too seriously. Life changes too quickly for us to swell overly long on any single aspect. Things may go one way for a while, only to change quickly and unpredictably. Therefore, the wise realize that there is nothing to be gained by regarding life as immutable. It is far better to accept and work with its ephemeral quality. Then, no matter how difficult things are, we can laugh. As nothing is permanent, there is nothing to take seriously. As there is nothing to take seriously, we should laugh at the world. As we laugh at the world, we should realize that understanding the changeable nature of life is the swiftest way to joy.

LOVE Love is perhaps the most powerful of human emotions. It is also the most overstated and most abused. We need to let love be as simple as the word it indicates. It is as simple as the beating of our hearts. It is expressed as easily as an embrace. Many people want to interfere with love. Ascetics want to deny it. Perverts want to distort it. Kings want allegiance for it. Merchants want to sell it. Poets want inspiration from it. We need none of this for our hearts to beat or for our hands to reach out. Most people would agree that love is important to them. Yet is also one of the most vexing preoccupations in many lives. People suffer disappointments and think this is the fault of love. It isn't. Disappointments have to do with things not being perfect, with things not matching. That happens. It's hard to get things to match, even some of the time. But that has nothing to do with love. Love is all about continuing to try to get things to match. If you love, you'll continue to do that, even if that sometimes means sacrifice on your part. That's all right. Hurt and pain come as part of life. No one is exempt from it. But that is no reason not to love. Suffering accompanies life, but love is affirmation.

HOPE We all need hope. Without it, we would not go on to tomorrow. All the fancy words of philosophy, all the rationalizations of theology will not change our need to keep going. Talking about theories fulfills intellectual needs. But to get up each day, to work for what we believe in, to put our will toward accomplishments important to us-none of that is possible without hope. Hope requires a goal. If we did not have a goal to aim for we could not have hope. Hope is that belief that helps us imagine our goals and inspires us to work toward them. Hope is also our reaction to pain. We suffer, but in our suffering we sense that there is some way out of our pain, and we search for that opening. Thus, we are moved to find TAO, for with it comes the possibility of a better life. Have something to hope for. Make yourself into a person who can attain that hope. And when you have hope, share it with those you meet. We need more hope in the world.

TAO WORD OF THE DAY CREDIT: "365 TAO MEDITATIONS" BY DENG MING-DAO

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