{"id":2188,"date":"2011-05-15T00:46:14","date_gmt":"2011-05-15T04:46:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/yang-sheng.com\/?p=2188"},"modified":"2012-01-01T19:29:58","modified_gmt":"2012-01-02T00:29:58","slug":"echoes-of-emptiness-%e8%99%9a%e4%b9%8b%e9%9f%bf-%e2%80%93-original-paradise","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/yang-sheng.com\/?p=2188","title":{"rendered":"Echoes of Emptiness (\u865a\u4e4b\u97ff)-Original Paradise"},"content":{"rendered":"

Original Paradise<\/strong><\/h2>\n

by\u00a9 Jacob Newell (Daoshi Gu Shen Yu)<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

For me Daoist practice means looking inside and going back to the original beginning.\u00a0 One of Laozi\u2019s primary principles is \u201creturn\u201d (fu, \u590d<\/a>).\u00a0 For Westerners who tend to view our existential situation as \u201cparadise lost,\u201d return is akin to \u201cparadise regained.\u201d<\/p>\n

When I started practicing meditation I initially approached it as though it was gradually washing away the stain of original sin, and I assumed this purifying process could only be accomplished after arduous cultivation and transformation.<\/p>\n

But then I met Korean Zen Master Seung Sahn, who told me: “Without cultivation, you are already complete.\u00a0 If you make something, then at that moment you enter the ocean of suffering.\u00a0 If you don\u2019t make anything, then no problem!”<\/p>\n

Wow.\u00a0 This shifted everything around.\u00a0 Rather than abiding in a world of delusion with a light at the end of the tunnel, he was saying that our real situation is actually paradise itself, and it is our own tendency to \u201cmake something\u201d which obscures our true nature.<\/p>\n

I went back to Laozi\u2019s Daodejing and found that although he is providing guidance for <\/em>returning to Dao, he does not imply that where we are now is not Dao.\u00a0 In fact, he is suggesting that we stop deluding ourselves and return to where we actually are.<\/p>\n

For Laozi, paradise is lost not by some cosmic fall from grace, but by our own struggle and strain to establish and support the false notion that we possess a separate self.\u00a0 Daoist practice is to relax this agenda and simply settle into things as they are.<\/p>\n

When we do this we find that our real situation is not lost at all.\u00a0 Nor does it involve a separate self.\u00a0 As Zen Master Seung Sahn said: \u201csky is blue, tree is green.\u201d\u00a0 Don\u2019t make anything.\u00a0 No problem.<\/p>\n

Many of my poems are slaps in the face of my own struggles and ambitions, and a reminder not to strive for, but to remain with, the original selfless paradise.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Old growth Douglas fir forest, Cascade Head, Oregon<\/p><\/div>\n

Poems: <\/em> <\/em> <\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

1. <\/em><\/p>\n

Flying across the Pacific <\/em><\/p>\n

In search of my own nature<\/p>\n

Laozi laughs in my face<\/p>\n

Go back to the Golden Gate!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

2.<\/p>\n

Relaxing my effort<\/p>\n

Nothing is wrong<\/p>\n

Now I can breathe easy<\/p>\n

Abiding in the Middle Kingdom<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>3.<\/p>\n

Dressed like a dragon<\/p>\n

I turn the light around<\/p>\n

Passing through the mysterious gate<\/p>\n

Mother, I\u2019m home!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

4.<\/p>\n

Tying up my top-knot<\/p>\n

The myriad beings self-discover their own nature<\/p>\n

Ten-thousand branches sharing one root<\/p>\n

Ten-thousand creatures suckling at one teat<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

5.<\/p>\n

Novice monk<\/p>\n

Eager to learn ten-thousand techniques<\/p>\n

Old master<\/p>\n

Sweeping the temple steps<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

6.<\/p>\n

Deepening my root<\/p>\n

I conserve the three treasures<\/p>\n

The river becomes broad, deep, and full<\/p>\n

Stirring on the edge of the ocean<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/em> <\/em><\/p>\n

<\/em> <\/p>\n<\/address>\n
\"\"<\/a><\/em><\/em>

Gu Shen Yu<\/p><\/div>\n

Jacob Newell (Daoshi Gu Shen Yu) <\/em>is an ordained Daoist priest and founder of Old Oak School of Dao.\u00a0 He practices and teaches Taijiquan <\/em>and Daoist cultivation in Sonoma County, California.\u00a0 His book of poetry, These Daoist Bones, is available from his website, www.oldoakdao.org<\/a>.<\/em>
\n<\/a><\/p>\n

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