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Note by the guy whose site this is, Jackie Wu's son
These writings are posted here with permission from Jackie Wu. I think these are translations by Jackie Wu of a lecture series on Zhuangzi by a Professor Fu, but I don't think dad sent me a link, and a google search for "Zhuangzi by professor Fu" didn't solve that, but, anyways, translations technically count as copyrightable original works, so, uh, sorry about not knowing who exactly to credit with the course in Chinese. I've only skimmed some tiny part of this, but I don't find it worth reading, since Zhuangzi is easy enough to understand if you're willing to slog through it and I'm working on a "Zhuangzi: translated, abridged, rearranged, and commented" that does something like this but better. I'm just putting this here because I'm making an online home for my dad's writings that are either mostly or entirely not worth reading, in my opinion.
Jong Ji by professor Fu lesson 1
Professor Fu covered four topics in Jong Ji :
1. Nihilism.
2. Connection of a peaceful heart with Dao.
3. Dissolve the outside and leave the inside in tact.
4. From realism to beauty.
Daoism began with Lao Tzu. Lao Tzu focused on "Emptiness" to achieve "Peace". That is doable in his time : The Spring and Autumn period.
In Jong Ji's time, the Waring Period, the environment was way more chaotic and dangerous. That led to Jong Ji suggesting getting along with people and their tradition while protecting oneself. Jong Ji referred to Lao Tzu as the Master of truth. Truth is in returning to our origin, to Dao.
Jong Ji consist of 33 chapters, 7 about cultivating our inside, 15 about application to the outside world, and 10 miscellaneous. Historians have confirmed that Jong Ji had read lots of all schools, and a lot of his writings has become popular proverbs and classics.
Philosophers ask the question if there is a connection between mankind and the natural environment, and that if the two have a common origin. Religions provide established framework of answers to these questions. However, religions required faith. Philosophy, on the other hand, is based on logic and reasoning, and different schools provide answers to different areas at different time.
Ever since the ancient time, the highest level of reckoning in philosophies of the world is in the beginning and the end of all matters. In this aspect, Jong Ji is truly outstanding and is among the best in human history.
One of Jong Ji's idea is we look at the sky and we said the blue sky is very pretty. Jong Ji said if we look from the sky at earth, we would also say earth is very pretty. It is because distance make things appear pretty. For example, a tourist attraction, say a town inside an ancient castle appears to the tourists as pretty, but not to the locals. For the locals, what is relevant is where they can get groceries, hospitals, and post office, not the scenery. They tend to see only things close to their everyday needs.
Jong Ji lived a life of near poverty. He declined many offers of employment and being married with kids, he made shoes for a living even though he is very knowledgeable and talented, witty, good with words, and arguments. But Jong Ji was always very happy.
1. Nihilism.
There are two kinds of Nihilism :
1) Nihilism in terms of value : true or false, right or wrong, good or evil, beauty or ugliness.
When people do true, right, good, and beautiful deeds and receive no reward or worse, get punished, while people who do false, wrong, evil, and ugly deeds are not punished or they even get rewarded, people don't know what to do. So they believe these values don't exist.
2) Nihilism in terms of existence : we live and we die, at the end there is no difference, living or dead makes no difference.
Confucianism tackles the problem of Nihilism with the recommendation of having honesty, sincerity, and integrity arising from our hearts, and with the energy generated from the inside we apply to the outside world to do good. The rewards, the joy, is felt inside of us rather than depending on the outside world which we have no control over.
Taoism has no problem with the recommendation of Confucianism, but Jong Ji warned how to and who sets the standard of good and evil. He also warned that fake benevolence and fake loyalty can arise, even outright non benevolence and disloyalty, giving all kinds of excuses to do so.
Jong Ji told a story of people stealing a small treasure being sentenced to death while some steal entire nations by killing and replacing the rulers, and he asked : what kind of benevolence and loyalty can possibly exist in such nations ?
"Might as well give up and die." is Nihilism. Nihilism leads to suicides. On this, Jong Ji gave four stories:
1) Story of the swords. One time there was a king who liked to have his swordsmen fight with each others to determine who are the better fighters. Every year hundreds of them got killed, and such practice has been weakening the nation. The king's son invited Jong Ji to help persuade the king to stop the practice. Jong Ji came in Confucian clothing. The prince told him that won't work with the king, and that he should be dressed in a general's armor. Three days later Jong Ji came in a general's armor to see the king. He told the king that he kills every ten steps and there is no match in a thousand miles, and that he has one rule : he would let his opponent strike first, but he would be fast enough to strike his opponent before his opponent hits him. The king was delighted. He ordered his swordsmen to fight and select the best five or six of them to match with Jong Ji three days later. Three days later, the swordsmen were ready and Jong Ji came. Before they start, Jong Ji asked the king which sword would he like him to use : the son of heaven's sword, the king's sword, or the knight's sword ? The king, being always dreamed to become the son of heaven, of course chose the son of heaven's sword. So Jong Ji began telling the king about the mountains and the valleys which is the sword of the son of heaven, and the cities and the peasants who made up the swords of the kings, and finally the useless swords of the knights they used to kill each others for nothing, and not helping the nation a single bit. So the king understood how stupid he was before, and now he would not ask his swordsmen to fight each others any more. His swordsman waited outside and saw that the king will not let them train and fight any more, decided to commit mass suicides. The moral of the story is when one has been busy all his life and find no use for his talent leads the one to say : might as well give up and die.
2). The Confucian son. One time there were two brothers. The older brother studied Confucianism and became a respectable government official. His younger brother studied under the Moji school. The older brother asked his dad which one of his kids is his favorite. His father chose the younger son. Family love being the most important in Confucian teachings, the older brother couldn't stand the lost of his father's love, killed himself. Ten years later, he still visit his father in his dreams and asked why after ten years his father still would not step foot near his grave.
3) The son who mourned his mother. One time, a man's mother died. He was so sad he cried for many days out loud in mourning his mother's death. A king passed by and saw this man mourning his dead mother so seriously, he rewarded him with a large piece of land so he can collect taxes and live a wealthy life. The people in the area learned about this and everyone started to mourn openly and for days when their parents passed away. Many died because of such serious mourning.
4) No one wants to be the emperor. In ancient times, A well known emperor out of his virtue wanted to pass his throne to a virtuous person. He find one he trusted and offered him his throne. The man refused but that is not proper to refuse an emperor. So he killed himself. The next one the emperor chose also killed himself, and the third, and the fourth, and so on. Who wants to be an emperor anyways. Might as well give up and die !!!
Jong Ji emphasized on cultivating both the inside and the outside of a person. He is against wars because he find wars as silly. His ideas are :
1) Land is for growing crops to feed people. It makes no sense to kill people in order to grab land.
2) Are rich people happy ? No. Rich people are either confused, overworked, sick of work, kiss ass shamelessly, worried all the time, or live in fear all the time. Wealthy people have the troubles of wealthy people.
3) What about people in power, are they happy ? No. Jong Ji gave four stories :
(l) The alter bull. The alter bull is feed with the best food, dressed with the best clothes, and bathe with the best care. But when it is ready to be slaughtered and served as offerings at the alter, it wishes to be just a little calf but it is already too late.
(ll) The holy turtle. One time Jong Ji was fishing and having a good time, when two people from a nation sent by their king to come and offer him a high position. Jong Ji asked them if there is a thousand year old holy turtle being kept in the palace and honored as a holy turtle in their nation. They said yes. Jong Ji then asked them if they think the turtle would rather be playing and rolling on the beach, happy and free, or dead in the palace honored by the people as a holy turtle ? They answered that the turtle would rather be playing on the beach. Jong Ji said : that is me. I would rather play on the beach.
(lll) Wei Zee, the only acquaintance who has a name in stories of Jong Ji, was the head of the Ming school specialized in logic and argument, working as a prime minister of a nation at the time. One day, Jong Ji was going to pay his old acquaintance a visit. The people with Wei Zee started to tell him that Jong Ji was probably coming to compete with him and take away his job as prime minister. Wei Zee immediately put up notices all over the nation to arrest Jong Ji. When arriving at the nation, Jong Ji went directly to see Wei Zee and told him a story. There was once a beautiful big bird who has been flying for thousands of miles feeding only the best fruit and resting only on the best branches. The beautiful bird saw a crow on the ground eating a dead mouse. The crow saw the beautiful bird and crowed at it to try to scare the bird away. Isn't that laughable (as if the beautiful bird would be interested in a dead mouse) ???
(lV) One time two nations had been at peace for several years under a peace agreement. This time the king of one of these two nations wanted to send an assassin to kill the other king accusing him of cheating on the peace agreement. One of the generals stepped up and said it is a shame to use assassins, and that he would crush the other nation with 200,000 soldiers. Another adviser suggested that there has been peace for a number of years and it will be very costly to start a war. Yet another adviser stepped up and said it is wrong to suggest a war, and it is wrong to criticize the general, and so it is also wrong for him to criticize the adviser. The king did not know what to do. Someone then suggested to ask Jong Ji. Jong Ji came and told this story about two nations living on two antenna like horns of a snail fighting and killing over each others tiny piece of land for years, killing lots of innocent people. And he asked the king if it is worth while for the two nations to keep on fighting. The king understood how insignificant the tiny pieces of land involved and he called off the invasion and the assassin. Many lives were saved as a result.
Jong Ji understood his philosophy and was therefore able to protect himself from harm by not taking up any employment in any government. That seems to be a very passive way to live. But considering how dangerous and chaotic the world is at the time, can anyone really afford to be not passive ? There are many examples of scholars taking up powerful positions and getting murdered at the end.
Jong Ji had worked a bit as a clerk in charge of a orchard. He quitted soon after and made a living making shoes and earning very little. One time his neighbor went on a chore for a rich king and was awarded a hundred carriages. On his return home he saw Jong Ji and laughed at how poor and thin from hunger Jong Ji was, boosting his hundred carriages. Jong Ji said he heard that the rich king his neighbor served had some sort of illness like hemorrhoids, and he would give ten carriages to anyone who can remove one hemorrhoid from his ass. LOL !!! Jong Ji was insulting his neighbor of doing dirty work for money which would be something Jong Ji would never do.
Jong Ji also told this story of a boy who found a priceless pearl in the water when he was catching shell fish. He took it back to show his dad. His dad told him that such precious pearl must be from the chin of the sea dragon, and the dragon must be asleep when he took the pearl. It's better if he crushed it to pieces now because otherwise he would be tempted to go back and try to find more pearls. When the sea dragon wakes up, no doubt it will tear the boy up into pieces for stealing.
Are there really any dragons ? Probably. Lots of times dragons were described by people and their encounter recalled, and no one seemed to question the validity. One time Confucius met Lao Tzu and asked him to explain Dao. On his return he told his students : today, I met the dragon.
Jong Ji had said even you have learned the rare skill of how to slaughter a dragon, you can't do anything if you can't find a dragon. This is how he undermine all those critics of his master, Lao Tzu. Jong Ji never referred Confucius as a dragon. He actually respected Confucius a lot, though he criticize and ridicule many of his teachings.
The environment and the social, political situation of his time shaped the opinion, style, thoughts, and characteristics of Jong Ji. He never held any position of power but he could understand the danger of those in such positions. He had never been rich, but he could understand the troubles rich people faced. That is because Jong Ji was a very good observer.
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Jong Ji by professor Fu lesson 2
Lesson 2 Our bodies present a problem and restriction for us
Jong Ji told us a story of a big fish 7 miles long living in the east sea. One day it turned into a big bird and flied into the sky. With wings 7 miles wide it took no time to fly from the east sea to the south sea. A small pigeon on the ground looked at the big bird and asked : why fly so high ? We are happy flying and eating on the ground. We don't want to fly so high.
A fish is like the body of a human, trapped into a condition dependent on water. Away from the water, the fish would die. But the fish can be changed, dissolved, and transformed into a big bird, not dependent on all that water, but only air to let it fly and float at a high altitude almost effortlessly. The emptiness of the air is everywhere.
If our understanding is like the little pigeon, then there is no use for us to study. But according to Jong Ji, we are not like that. We all have the potential to become a big bird. The big bird was a transformation of the big fish, remember ?
We are made up of three parts : Body, Mind (wisdom of the heart), and Spirit (a platform, or a storage house of our heart's energy). The source of our spirit is the eternal Dao.
Our body is constantly changing. Birth, grow, becoming old, becoming ill, and death, it is the process followed by every human without exception. We live, work hard, and die. Isn't that a tragedy ?
Where do we go after death ? In fact that is very simple and easy to understand. We originate from Dao, and we return to Dao when we die. Ashes to ashes, dust to dust. There is no exception and no variation to this law of nature. All creatures and all matters obey the same law. There is no question with any creature on earth except with humans.
The Buddhists recognized this fact of life and treat life as a series of sufferings. The method Jong Ji used to deal with this fact of life is different from that of the Buddhists. Jong Ji learned from his master, Lao Tzu..
Lao Tzu says : 5 colors confused the eye, 5 sounds confused the ear, five smells confused the nose, 5 tastes destroyed the mouth, and, fast horse riding, go hunting, and lots of outdoor activities make our heart confused and unstable. Our mind, our wisdom of the heart is affected by the events outside of ourselves through our different organs and started to create desires.
Human hearts are very complicated. It can be put into four different categories, namely,
1) Desires are created by the stimulus of the outside world through our sense organs.
2) Calculating and competing with others, as a result of our wisdom to compare and confront analytically.
3) Our hearts are more precious than our bodies.
4) The spirit of our hearts is towards continuous and never ending improvement, or upward movement.
Jong Ji says : Don't disturb our hearts or we will create desires. We need to eliminate the low and pursue the high. Sometimes men to men competition gets too overheated, and may result in using inappropriate methods.
When there is desire, the desire will burn like a fire inside us. To cool down this fire, we change our focus. We just have to change our focus and our desires immediately cool down as if by winter ice. Once we change our focus, what we desired which we thought we would pay any price to get instantly become worthless.
For example we all experienced the time we desired something like a bike, a car, a degree from university, etc., and how we don't even think they are of any importance any more when we changed our mind. Sometimes, free stuff from grocery stores and presents from our parents are like that too. Cash is better, we might say.
The speed of the change is very fast, almost instantly. For example we were thinking of eating at a McDonald restaurant and then we changed our focus to say Chinese food. Right a way we started to think of China which is thousands of miles away.
When we are anticipating, we seems to be in a rush. But afterwards we don't think about it any more. Before supper we are more happy because there is this anticipation and the time and space for us to imagine what supper is going to be. After supper we are not as happy because there is no more surprise, uncertainty, or anticipation. Perhaps that is just a subjective thought.
Human hearts, or minds are much more complicated and unpredictable that mountains and valleys or mother nature itself. Mother nature follows certain patterns like the four seasons, and that made mother nature more predictable. Human hearts are sometimes hot and sometimes cold with almost no predictable pattern. Sometimes a few words can turn a good friend into an enemy or vice versa.
Jong Ji says there are 5 kinds of people :
1) Those who appears humble but actually proud of themselves in the inside. Most professors are like that.
2) Those who appears to be respectable elders but actually full of dubious intention in the inside. That is why older people should often self examine to check if their intentions are pure and righteous.
3) Those whose behavior appears to be cautious but actually full of contempt and condescending attitude inside.
4) Those who appears composed and strong but actually vulnerable and fearful inside. These people can break down when their vulnerable spot is poked.
5) Those who appears warm and friendly but actually burning with fire and impatient inside.
This is pointing out that our outer appearances and our inner thoughts, desires, and composure may not be the same or even consistent with each other. Why is that so ? Why can't we all be honest and keep our integrity ? It is not that simple and straight forward. Imagine a world where everyone can say what is in his mind, and express feelings according to what his heart desires. Such a world must be very chaotic and impossible to live in.
How often we experienced this : right after we said something we followed by saying that is not exactly what we mean ? Very often. There is a saying in the west : Are your words an expression of your ideas ? Not always. The more you expose something in you, the more things you are hiding. The more we talk, the more we are hiding. Those who say a lot we can't be sure how much of what they say are true. Those who hardly say anything may mean every word they say.
Jong Ji is very good in observing all these minor details in our everyday life and what we encountered on a daily basis. Fish cannot live away from water. Therefore Jong Ji believed that we must have a deep and detail understanding of our environment which is our water or we don't have the basis to talk about how we can live freely and enjoy ourselves without worries. Otherwise, we would just be fooling ourselves, denying reality, and merely paralyzing ourselves.
Jong Ji continued to say when our thoughts are not calm when we sleep, we have dreams and wake up not feeling well. We all have experienced that. He continued to say a truthful person sleeps without dreams and wake up without worries. How great is this kind of life ?
When we dream in our sleep and worry when we are awake, is it not all because we are constantly thinking of our bodies ? Too fat, too skinny, looking pretty, looking ugly, looking older, looking weaker, etc., etc. isn't our entire life is spent concerning our bodies ? At the end of our lives, isn't it true we must all go the same route, just like any animal ?
That is why Jong Ji says :Dao use my body to make me into existence, Use my life to make me work, use old age to allow me to feel peace, and use death to allow me to rest. So what's there to fear about retiring and resting early ? Nothing. What perfectly arranged for my existence and my living must also perfectly arrange for my death and exit.. Be certain of that.
Who gets to choose to be born ? No one. We all mysteriously come to existence and mysteriously exit our existence. The specialty in Daoism is being able to look at the facts of real life and reality itself. We can't say we came to existence mysteriously and so we must study hard, work hard, live in a big house, have lots of money for retirement and then die mysteriously. What happened to us from our birth to our death happened unintentionally, by chance, and by coincidences we have no control over. Plant a flower and the flower won't grow. Unintentionally dropping some seeds and pine trees grow into a forest. That's life. Most if not all of what happened in our lives are the result of the perfect co-existence and interactions of many conditions we don't have a clue what they are all about.
That is the reason why Jong Ji suggested we pay close attention to our feelings and emotions. When the weather is hot, we tend to be more agitated and anxious. When the weather is cold, we tend to be more cool and patient. That is all related to our bodies.
Generally our feelings and emotions can be classified into 4 types : happy, angry, sad, and joyful. In classic Confucian literature, the middle resolve, before the expression of happy, angry, sad, and joy it is called the middle. When these are expressed, they are called mixing. Middle is inside, mixing is on the outside. with peace and harmony in our mixing, there is no problem with negative consequences. But very often we tend to be excessive in our expressions of our feelings and emotions.
When Confucius mourn his most favorite student's death, he was excessively sad, as his students had noticed, that he was way more sad than when he mourn the death of his son. But Confucius acknowledged that it was excessive yet appropriate, for such a good student. Wonder what about his other students ? Just asking.
Jong Ji also approved of our 4 feelings and emotions, but we must not let them damage our internal self. At the appropriate time, these feelings and emotions can be expressed. But Jong Ji suggested that the expression of our emotions must be measured and not excessive, particularly with our anger. Jong Ji described the expression of our feelings and emotions in 12 words : Sigh, lucky, worry, regrets, unsettled, and fear; and he added the results : reckless, undisciplined, broadcast, and exertive.. When feelings and emotions become complicated, it is very difficult to calm down. If life is only about our bodies, our breath and blood, desires, feelings, and emotions, life is not worth talking about --- that is what Confucius said about his most favorite student's death. May be he meant hopes and dreams ?
Confucius and his most favorite student, Yang Yun :
Yang Yun liked to follow Confucius anywhere he goes. One time he said he couldn't catch up because Confucius was going too fast. Confucius told Yang not to always follow the exterior of his teacher, but try to follow the heart of his teacher. Confucius explained that we humans exist because of our bodies. The moment we have our bodies, we have our fate. Our fate is what we encounter in our lives. Our fate is unpredictable. The friends you meet, your health, all these you encounter in your life is not what you choose or what you try to arrange. These are all collectively called your fate. We don't get to choose our fate. We just have to accept it and continue forward. You and I have been together for decades, why are you always looking at my external behavior ? isn't it like you are always looking for a horse in an empty field ? Don't look at a person's external behavior. I have long forgotten who am I. Not only that, I would like to forget I have forgotten who I am.
But I still have things I can't forget, like my habits. We must understand that our past cannot be relived, but what we can't forget still exist and alive in the world.
When we live in this world, what happened in the past cannot be changed, and so that is no use for us to hold on to our past. The truth is, without the perfect combination of causes, everything we hold on to would be voided anyways. What we need to hold on to is the present. But our present will certainly be the past in the future, and as such should not be held on to. So what we don't want to forget is what arose from our heart and expressed to the world outside our body. The reason we humans have bodies is so that our hearts can function, the thinking and reasoning abilities of us.
If our thinking and reasoning is totally consistent with our bodies, the result is total chaos. Confucius gave us three no-noes : no sex when we are young and our breathe and circulations are not stable, no fighting when we are grown up and strong in our breathe and circulation, no possession and no greed when we are old and our breathe and circulation become weak. These represent our ability to think and reason. If we are acting at the command of our bodies, we become slaves to our bodies. Our hearts should be the masters of our bodies. When my heart says I shouldn't take something that's not mine, i don't take it, period. When my heart says I shouldn't eat something, I don't eat it, period.
Daoist say our bodies are our necessities. Necessities mean we can't do without them, and they are not enough when we have them.
Both Confucians and Daoist believed that if we over nourished our bodies, we do our bodies more harm than good. This fact about disease caused by over nourishment of our bodies can be seen everywhere nowadays. We therefore must not allow our bodies to be our masters.
Fish cannot survive without water. We humans also cannot survive without the resources we need to sustain our lives. Why do we transform into big birds ? It is because when we are big birds we only need air in empty space.. When the wisdom of our hearts is expressed to the outside world, we fly like big birds.
What is air in empty space ? Information, communication, and knowhow.
What is wisdom ? Observations, information, communication, and knowhow.
Love stands for our feelings and emotions.
Intention stands for our will and determination.
The wisdom of our hearts consist of three components : wisdom, love, and intentions.
Just like our bodies, the wisdom of our hearts also depends on targets outside of ourselves. We need someone or something to love if we intend to love. We need some books to read if we intend to read. That is to say our wisdom of the hearts cannot survive without air in empty space.
Let's talk about useful and useless.
Jong Ji says : The usefulness of uselessness is the big use.
For example, what is the use of philosophy ? Big use.
A lot of people would say that is crazy.
One time, Wei Zee, the friend of Jong Ji, asked him what is the usage of his philosophical ideas.
Jong Ji said he would teach him what is usage:
For example, what do we have now that is useful to us, or have usage to us ?
This room.
In other words, all those outside of this room is useless, or have no usage to us, and that includes the sun, the moon, Beijing, ......
But if we are to remove all these that is useless to us, is this room still useful to us ?
This is how usefulness become uselessness and vice versa.
We must add two elements to our considerations : time and space,
You are wrong if you say here and now is this room useful.
This room can be useful today, but can also be useful, or useless, tomorrow.
A lot of scholars like to criticize Jong Ji. They say little pigeons would not like to be big birds, and big birds do not want to be little pigeons. These are wrong. Has anyone heard little pigeons criticizing big birds, or big birds criticizing little pigeons ? No. These criticisms are made up by humans. If it is true that some people are born to be little pigeons, and some people are born to be big birds, and that each should live according to what it is and walk the roads befitting to what it is, then there is no point for anyone to study and transform. The point is Jong Ji did not write his books for big birds to read because big birds are already what they are. The truth is little knowledge is not as good as more knowledge, little experience is not as good as lots of experiences.
Big and small are opposites. But opposites still have gone through some processes before they become opposites.
Some critics would say Jong Ji in his chapters about equality of everything has implied that there is no use for us to work hard and struggle to make our lives better. That, is not what Jong Ji wanted to suggest. Jong Ji wanted to break through the human centered barrier in our thoughts and understandings. We humans know that everything has its origin from Dao. In this regard, humans are equals to every other animals and every other matters. As such, we can all find the beauty in each other and appreciates each other. If we say each should live the way he is made of, that would mean we should let thieves, robbers, and rapists be thieves, robbers, and rapists. And there is no point for rehabilitation and transformation, no point in learning.
Jong Ji is not teaching vegetable men philosophy like some critics have suggested. They say Jong Ji had suggested in his conversation with Wei Zee that it is best humans have no feelings and emotions. The truth is, Jong Ji was saying we should not allow our feelings and emotions created by outside events to hurt our lives, our inner self. We should not let our being poor and our worries paralyze us and become unhappy and unable to function in our daily lives.
Jong Ji lived in poverty. One time he went to an orchard with his sling shot to play and to see if he can kill a bird with his sling shot for dinner. A big bird flew by him, so close its wing was felt by his face. Then he saw the bird rest on a branch watching a mantis which is watching a cicada resting, singing and enjoying itself in the shade of a tree. So Jong Ji thought : if the cicada is enjoying itself and totally unaware a mantis is about to catch and eat him, the mantis is so focused on the cicada and totally unaware there is a bird watching and ready to catch and eat him, the bird is so focused on the mantis that it didn't even know it had brushed my face and I can be killing it with my sling shot and eat it for dinner, now who may be watching me and getting ready to hurt me ? He was so scared of the thought that he ran and lost his sling shot when the gardener came crying thief and chased after him.
Jong Ji went home and he was sad for three days. His students was concerned and asked him what happened, and he told them the story, saying there are always someone watching him and plotting to hurt him. That described some of minor details in Jong Ji's life at the time. It is not easy to live freely with no worries.
But there are times when Jong Ji was living freely with no worries. One time he was resting in the shade of a tree and fell asleep. In his sleep he dreamed he was a butterfly flying among the flowers felling life is so beautiful. Then he woke up and realized he is stiff and poor. He wondered : Did I dream I was a butterfly, or am I a butterfly dreaming I was a man ?
In the west there is a story like this : a king and a poor shepherd. There was once a rich and powerful king who had a problem. Every time he fell asleep, he dreamed of him becoming a poor shepherd. That made him scared of falling asleep. Then there was a poor shepherd who liked to fall asleep and dreamed he was a rich and powerful king. This shepherd liked to fall asleep a lot. So, who do you think you want to be, king or shepherd ?
Jong Ji and a butterfly definitely are two different things, but this is called matters dissolve. Matters and I dissolved and mixed together. The universe and I are dissolved and mixed into one. That is the process of change by the Chi, the eternal Dao. Our bodies change constantly from when we were young to when we become old, ill, and dead. All matters undergo such a process of change. It is called matters dissolve.
Confucius told Yang Yun not to look for a horse in an empty field follows the same principal : the need to break through the limitations of our bodies and reach to a higher level of awareness or awakening.
One more thing we need to examine, the problems our wisdom of the hearts presents. That leads us into our value systems and their potential danger. Jong Ji had analyzed and understood the details of these, and he had based his observations on real and actual facts, logical, and rational in his approach.
Cheers !
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Jong Ji by professor Fu Lesson 3 The pitfalls in our wisdom
Lao Tzu had pointed out we humans developed the ability to distinguish as a skill needed for our survival. We humans distinguish colors, shape, sizes, as well as good and evil, right and wrong, past, present, and future, ....
Along with our ability to distinguish come our desires and preferences of one verses the others.
Along with our desires and preferences come our conflicts and disagreements.
Lao Tzu suggested we choose escapes in dealing with conflicts and disagreements with one another.
Still not enough according to Jong Ji.
Jong Ji discussed our human value system :
Starting with our living condition :
Monkeys live comfortably on trees. Humans would feel very uncomfortable and insecure living on trees.
Humans like to wear pretty cloths. Monkeys would hate wearing any clothes.
Humans like to eat cooked food with different added tastes. Birds like to eat live worms, and deer like to eat grass.
In one of the stories, Jong Ji told how a king once found a beautiful bird like a phoenix and decided to treat it like a sacred bird to be worshipped. The king prepared the best meal with all kinds of meat and drinks for the bird, and served it with music by an orchestra. It scared the bird to death.
Jong Ji suggested even when we respect and love our parents, it is necessary to consider what is appropriate and suitable to their preferences rather than to ours.
Jong Ji told these stories :
-- CC and TC. CC is a beautiful woman well known in ancient time. People find her particularly beautiful when she held her hands to her heart and flown when she had a heart aid. TC was a woman next door who tried to copy CC, holding to her heart and flown all day. Soon all her neighbors moved away or keep their doors locked to avoid seeing her.
-- Pretty girl from a far away nation. There was once a very pretty girl in a far away nation who was living a good life tending her cattle and riding her horses in the open pasture. One day, a king visited this nation and saw this pretty girl. The king ordered to have her taken to the palace and kept her as one of his concubines. The girl felt so sad and cried for days. When she arrived at the palace she was treated well with lots of servants taking care of her, lots of beautiful clothes, tasty food, and sweet wine, and she didn't have to tend the cattle any more. She soon found herself so happy and wondered : why was I so stupid before being so sad and cried for days ?
-- The two pretty girls by the pond. There were these two very pretty girls who were playing on the edge of a pond and looked in the pond to see their pretty faces and praised each others beauty. The fish in the water were scared and swam away quickly, the birds on the tree branches were so scared they flew away quickly, and deer in the woods saw them and ran away quickly. No one of these animals thought these two girls were pretty.
The moral of these stories is : Human value systems are decided by humans, and not suitable to other animals or other humans.
Confucians set their value system as : first cultivate the inside of oneself to become a perfect person, then deal with family the same way, then the nation, and then the world, all in perfection.
Daoist asked : what is perfection ? Who decides what is benevolent and kind, and what is not ? The standard of good and evil is different in different places and at different times.
Jong Ji is not against Confucius. From his writings we can tell Jong Ji actually respect and approve of the many teachings of Confucius. He only presented a couple of criticisms because he felt that Confucius was trying too hard to push something that is unattainable and that they would by necessity fail. (Chinese history in the last 200 years, i.e. more than 2,000 years after Jong Ji, has proved Jong Ji correct in his assessment of Confucian teachings).
A father should not be the matchmaker for his own son. Why ?
It is because a father would be biased and oversell the virtue of his son, unfair for the other parties. That was why no one listened to Confucius at his time, and he actually nearly lost his life pissing off powerful people. Jong Ji used story telling to present his ideas, at a time even rougher than the time Confucius was in. This way, he allowed people to think further what he tried to say without pissing people off. His living in poverty is a good way to avoid and escape from conflicts, disagreement, and danger, just like his master, Lao Tzu, had suggested.
Another technique Jong Ji used in his work is called "heavyweight talks". He liked to quote and invented stories and quotes of ancient scholars and famous characters like kings, emperors, and legends, both real and invented.
Yet another technique Jong Ji used is "straining", describing various situations, perspectives, and angles, to prove, to clarify, and to purify his ideas. This way his ideas have long lasting effects on peoples mind.
About human centered value system :
Confucian teachings are very much based on a human centered value system. Jong Ji wanted to break through this barrier and expand our value system to include all living creatures and all matters, as it is the reality that Dao is present everywhere, not just in humans. (Western philosophers have labelled Daoism as both revolutionary and scientific).
(Isn't Lao Tzu's from 0 zero comes 1, 2 and 3 to become everything the same idea as the big bang hypothesis people talked about 2,500 years later ?)
Nature and humans are the 2. Add Dao as the 3 to make up everything in our value system. Here, Dao is not nature. Dao exist before heaven and earth according to Lao Tzu.
Dao transcends nature.
Jong Ji considered that all the people, all scholars, all government, and all sages alike lost their original character in their pursue of their targets, become tired, sick, and die early. They are not happy.
The servant who tends sheep and his little boy :
One day, the servant who tends sheep and his little boy were at the field looking after the sheep. The servant was studying, reading a book, for he wanted to be a scholar one day and make lots of money. His little boy was playing with dice, thinking of becoming a mathematician or a gambling boss one day. They lost a sheep. Regardless of how noble were their ambitions, the reality is they lost a sheep. All excuses are irrelevant.
Jong Ji is not criticizing us. He wanted to bring us to a different point of view and create a different state of mind. When we give up our present short sightedness, a vast, almost unlimited, amount of possibilities and potentials opened up and become apparent to us.
When we interact with others, we like to play tricks and show off our smart. This is dangerous. To Jong Ji, what we say becomes the wind and the waves which may be followed by a storm.
There are three kinds of people we don't want to become : a guarantor, a matchmaker, and a referee.
Many guarantors lost their fortune because the ones they guaranteed negated on their debt. Often times they lost money, friendship, and the future for their kids as a result.
Many matchmakers ended up being the primary target for blames when the marriage break up and everything turns ugly.
No one in the world qualifies to be a referee, and referees are useless in settling disputes.
Tragedies are usually, if not always, the result of not the differences between good people and bad people, but misunderstands of two good people.
Every thing, every person, is in a constant state of change. Circumstances are also undergoing constant changes. And then there are accidents.
The highest level of philosophical thoughts is in "All existence begins with and ends in Void". In other words, nothing in fact ever exist.
In the chapter "All things are equal", Jong Ji says never get into an argument.
His reasoning is : if you win an argument, does that mean you were right and the other party is wrong ? Or, if you lose an argument, does that mean you were wrong and the other party is right ? No, not necessarily. It could very well be one party is better in using words in his argument than the other party.
Using a referee does not solve the problem.
The referee who agrees with you is biased and does not qualify to be a referee.
The referee who agrees with the other party is also biased and does not qualify to be a referee.
The referee who disagree with both parties also does not qualify to be a referee.
And the referee with agreed with both parties also does not qualify to be a referee.
No one in the world qualifies to be a referee.
All disputes and arguments are never settled, or are settled because one side reluctantly accepted a settlement which they may later regret.
No one should settle because of the reputation of a referee people thought is fair, because that would just be out of fear and not out of proper reasoning.
Anyone trying to persuade others always over praised or over denounced what the facts are.
That is unavoidable, regardless of how much you try to stick with the facts.
It kills fire with fire, or tames floods with water, They are both futile, and hopeless.
From everything beginning with unity to everything can be distinguished, to who is right, who is wrong, who is good, who is bad, who is responsible, who is not responsible, we are falling in each step of the way.
The expression : Falling in each step of the way was originally how people tried to pick which pig is fatter and more meaty. When you step on the upper legs of the pig, they all feel rather meaty. But when you start stepping on the pig's leg one step at a time all the way down to the the hoof, the ones who felt more meaty are the ones that are more fat and more meaty.
Jong Ji also told this story about feeding the monkeys 7 bananas.
A wise man was raising monkeys, which is a rather expensive hobby. He was running short of money and decided to ration the monkeys food. He told the monkeys they are to have three bananas in the morning, and four bananas in the evening. They monkeys were not happy about that arrangement and started to make trouble. Then the wise man told the monkeys : All right, you are to have four bananas in the morning and three in the evening. The monkeys are very happy about the new arranging.
The moral of the story is 3+4=7, 4+3=7. If we can look at the whole picture rather than just the individual parts, we can be more happy. In other words, consider the whole rather than acting on our emotions too quickly. If you are poor while you are young but rich when you are old, the total is the same. Therefore you can be happy when you are poor while you are young and happy but not too proud of yourself when you become old and rich. The same is true the other way around, rich when young and poor when old.
Dao is the whole, and Dao is eternal and never changing.
Suffer insults and discriminations on the one hand, and enjoy the benefits on the other hand, as a balance of the whole.
We can treat losing a leg like losing a piece of dirt and live happily. Just treat it as cutting our nails and our hair.
Mencius, a Confucian, said : A person with a defect in his fingers wants to look for a doctor to fix it so he can have fingers that looked the same as other people. But what about his heart ? His inside is different from others but he cannot see it. The others also cannot see it. That is called, "Confused and Lost".
The criteria for beauty of the human body is different at different places and in different time. Besides, when a person grow old, there is no beauty left. The inner beauty of the individuals are more generally accepted and tend to last longer.
But inner beauties still may have problems because of misunderstandings. Jong Ji treats the human centered value system as sets of opposites and relatives to each other, rather than as a constant. And so he suggested not to hold on too tightly our values and our judgements.
You may think the scenery here is beautiful, but the bees and the ants may not think so. Other humans may disagree, for various reasons. The point is do not turn wood and wooden structures upside down, and fail to consider the weight, the importance, the priorities, and the appropriateness of things.
For the sake of chasing after profits and flame, for the sake of the family, for the sake of the nation, or for the sake of the world, worked too hard, worried too much, and lead to getting ill and dying early, are not very wise choices. Excess once exerted often become irreversible.
With appropriate wisdom of the heart, the deficiency outside our body can often times be resolved. otherwise, like Jong Ji described, the unity of one breaks down to reluctant compromises, regrets, revenge, wars, and even legal means cannot solved the conflicts among people. That becomes a chaotic world.
Do not try to play tricks and pretend to be smart. Words are like wind and waves, more waves are caused by more wind. Therefore we must mind the possible consequences before we say something, and not to be careless about it.
Daoist would prefer saying nothing. Better to say less than to say more. better to say nothing than to say less..
Without saying anything, how do we communicate with each other ?
Good friends can see each other and smile. Do not violate your heart, there is no need to communicate with words.
There is one more standard which we will talk about later.
Cheers.
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Jong Ji by professor Fu Lesson 4 Heart purification
Heart purification:
One time, Yang Yun, the most favorite student of Confucius, was planning to talk to a young king who was notorious for being cruel to his subjects. Confucius asked Yang how he planned to approach the king.
Yang said,
1) Straight forward from my heart, like an innocent child talking to another innocent child.
Confucius said no, that won't work, for the king is not an innocent person.
2) Polite and submissive in my external behavior, so there is no reason for the king to get angry at me.
Confucius said no, the king will not go for that.
3) Use the words of ancient sages as examples, and convince the king.
Confucius said no, the king may kill you if he thinks you are criticizing him.
After all the methods Yang suggested were rejected by Confucius, finally, Confucius said Yang should go on a purification of his heart.
To do that one must eliminate all ones inner desires and emotions.
Do not use ones ear to listen, but listen with ones heart.
Do not use ones heart to listen, but listen to the air.
Our ears can only hear the sound.
Our heart can hear the real shapes.
That is the way to empty our heart of any irrelevant thoughts.
An empty heart is like a polished and clean mirror that would reflect and made clear all that appears before it.
There are three kind of noises: Human noises, ground noises, and heaven noises.
Let the heart shape like a dried wood, like ashes with all fire extinguished.
Any words, any music played by humans carry intentions and aims. That presents pressure to the listener. Those are human noises.
Ground noises are like wind blowing through, without any intention or aim at the listener, and carry with it no hidden agenda. Yet, the wind reveals the shape of the objects it passes.
Heaven noises actually make no sound. It will reveal itself when the conditions are perfect.
The heart is empty when we forget everything. This is called sitting and forget you are sitting :
Forget about kindness and being appropriate.
Forget about rituals and pleasure.
Forget about the body.
Forget about wisdom.
Be like mixed and indistinguishable with the world.
Dissolved into everything in a state of boundlessness.
Everything becomes one unit.
No minor discrepancy, no private opinion.
Totally dissolved and mixed leaves nothing to hold on to.
Lao Tzu described this process of training and cultivation of our self as :
Empty to the extreme. Quiet to the ultimate reality.
A purified heart is totally empty, complete blank.
Dao is revealed when we reach a complete blank.
Our bodies reject each other :
When I occupy a seat, no one else can sit there.
When I hold a position in an organization, no one else can hold that position.
When I have money, no one else can have my money.
Our hearts can communicate :
We can share opinions.
We can share experiences.
We can agree, disagree, or agree to disagree.
Our spirits are mixed and dissolved with each other :
There is no more mine, ours, or the universe's.
Lao Tzu says : Heaven and earth have beauty but not expressed in words.
Meaning it can only be experience through our awakening.
Our spirit connects with everything.
Dao is not the nature. Nature has boundaries. Dao is boundless, the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end of everything in nature.
I co-exist with heaven and earth. Heaven and earth is one with me.
A room that is full of stuff is dark. A room that is empty is bright even with a small candle light.
Forget equals comfort. We should forget our legs and forget our waist.
The comfort of forgetting comfort is the most comfortable.
Some said having only one thought is the happiest.
One advisor once came to see a king who is scared of ghosts. He said he can cure the king's illness. After talking to the king for a little while, the king started to laugh out loud.
Everyone was curious what they were talking about that made the king so happy. The advisor said he was telling the king how to pick fighting dogs and horses for the battlefield. It's very simple, he continued to say : pick those dogs who don't know they are dogs and they would be the best fighting dogs. Pick those horses who don't know they are horses and those would be the best horses for the battle field. The reason is they don't pick fights so no one fights with them, and they are not scared of losing anything when they don't even have an identity.
The story of the best fighting chicken that stood like a wooden chicken :
One day a wealthy man paid a chicken trainer to train him a best fighting chicken.
Ten days passed, and the trainer said not yet ready but the chicken is making progress, it still reacts to chickens picking on him though.
Another ten days passed, and the trainer said not yet ready but close, now the chicken is quiet when it was picked on.
Another ten days passed, and the trainer said the chicken is ready. The wealthy man checked on it and found the chicken stood there like a wooden chicken, not moving an inch. At the ring, no chicken can pick a fight with this best fighting chicken and just ran away.
The ones who possess Dao is not missing anything in his life.
7 steps to train to possess Dao, most people can't pass even the first one or two :
1) Lose everyone. That is to lose thoughts of any fame or fortune.
2) Lose everything. That is to lose thoughts of the universe and all of nature.
3) Lose life. Transcend life and not bound by any of life limitations.
4) Clear as dawn. All observations become bright and clear.
5) See one. Understand the fact that everything exists in one whole and perfect unit.
6) No past and present. Transcend time and space.
7) No life and death. No worries.
Exist with Dao, unchanging and eternal.
Purified heart, same as sitting and forget all, gathered all the godmen, supermen, and holy men and make them one.
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Jong Ji by professor Fu Chapter 5 Smoothly follows the inevitable
Inevitable :
1) Fate. Fate is not our choice.
2) Human relationship. Human to human relations seldom happened as planned.
3) Given conditions. Born with, born into, are both not our choices.
4) Changes in circumstances can happen after the decisions we have chosen.
Inevitability is the time when all the conditions are ripe and no other choice can change the outcome. Before all the conditions are ripe, there is still the freedom of choice.
Having the wisdom to determine when the conditions are ripe and then smoothly follow the inevitable gets twice the result with half the efforts.
Such wisdom is gained from learning, practicing, observing, and reviewing past experiences.
Act at the best moment, not too early, not too late. Act when it is inevitable.
Whatever one says, whatever one does, there are bound to be new consequences.
Changes in our bodies :
Our bodies get old, get sick, get ugly, get weird. That's inevitable.
One must accept ones present life conditions as given to you by Dao, before others will accept you.
Good friends are like emptiness as the heads, life as their spine, and death as their tails.
Good friends can be communicating with a smile, connected in the hearts, no worries, and no words required.
Jong Ji told a story of a new advisor to the king. The new advisor had a huge neck, and the king was very fond of spending lots of time with him getting his advices which worked very well. After some time, the king looked at the other advisors in his court and asked : Why these advisors all have small neck ?
In ancient Greek, Socrates is known to have small stature and ugly face. But he is loved by many in his days for his wisdom in his heart.
The Creator :
The Creator is not a term developed first in the west. Jong Ji wrote of the Creator. He was referring to Dao which his master, Lao Tzu, had initiated. Dao is the Creator because Dao is the origin of everything.
One scholar understood how to respect what Dao had created in him. He said if Dao had made his left hand into a cock, he could use his left hand as an alarm clock to wake him each morning. If Dao had made his right hand into a pellet, he could use his right hand to kill birds for supper.
What Dao provides us must have its usage somewhere, somehow. We can all use our present life conditions in developing new conditions for a new future.
Do not be afraid what we lost will never return. In reality, throughout our lives, it is inevitable that everything inevitably will be lost and never return. There is no use being afraid of and worried about the inevitable.
There was a teacher called Master Wong who has only one leg, at the time when Confucius was teaching. Many of the students of Confucius when to learn from Master Wong, and they all came home feeling they were filled with knowledge. People asked how come. The students said Master Wong just sit there without a word when he teach. Soon Master Wong got half of the students Confucius had, and people started to ask Confucius what he thought about Master Wong. Confucius said : When a teacher is not paying any attention to his missing leg, like he had only lost a piece of dirt in the field, he must be a far better teacher than me. Confucius felt he is nothing by comparison to Master Wong who could see through life and not afraid of death.
The story of the weirdest looking person :
Chilly Saw must be the weirdest person on earth. He is missing one leg, his shoulders were higher than his head, he had the worst hum back anyone have seen, his head is down to his belly, and he has to turn his head sideways to look up and talk to someone. But he is very happy and contented with doing small chores and earned a living supporting his family. One time there was a war and the army come to recruit soldiers, and another time the king was recruiting capable men to build a great canal. Both times they left Chilly Saw alone because of his handicap. The soldiers and the canal builders either never returned or come back with missing arms and legs after. Then some wealthy people gave out food and money, and Chilly Saw was always first in line. No wonder he stayed happy all his life.
The story of Yun Hing :
there was a student of Confucius, Yun Hing, who had been poor but happy all his life. One time, another student of Confucius, Ji Gong, came home from his work where he made lots of money, and he was wearing nice clothes, riding in a beautiful carriage with handsome horses. Ji Gong decided to visit his old classmate Yun Hing. When Ji Gong came to the village, the streets there was so narrow his horses couldn't get through. So he walked to Yun's home of shabby straw roof that leaks when it rained, walls with no window but a broken pot to serve as an opening. Yun Hing was beating a rhythm with his hands and singing loud a joyful song. Ji Gong felt sad about his old classmate's condition, and asked : What happened to you, so miserable ? Yun Hing replied : I am poor but I am not miserable. A miserable person is one who learned big ideals but is unable to find anyone to listen or use his advices. Yun Hing was scolding Ji Gong.
The story of Jung Shun :
A student of Confucius named Jung Shun had been poor, haven't eaten for three days, and haven't had a change of clothes for 10 years. Yet Confucius talk of Jung Shun as a great person who even the emperor cannot hire him, and no kings can hope to be his friend. Their value systems are incompatible with one another.
Jong Ji said Confucians are perfect noblemen who stayed firm with their poverty and guarded their principles with no compromising.
The story of Yang Yun :
Confucius once asked his student, Yang Yun, why he was not taking up a position in the government since he definitely had the qualification to get one. Yang Yun replied : I have a little piece of land I can farm on to feed myself, another small piece of land I can raise silk worms for making clothes, I know how to play musical instruments to entertain myself, and I have learned Dao from you, master, to keep myself happy. With these four I am sufficient and need nothing more.
Wealth and honor are not evil or prohibitive. But aiming for wealth and honor may not always be successful. To have inner happiness is more important.
The Story of Jong Ji borrowing rice :
One day, Jong Ji had not eaten for a while, and decided to ask his friend for some rice. His friend said : Certainly. In a few weeks I would be collecting rents from the farmers and I would be able to lend you some rice then.
Jong Ji got very angry and started to tell his friend this story : On my way here I heard someone calling my name. I looked back, and found it was a fish on the ground. The fish said: yes, it was me calling your name. I am very thirsty. Can you spare me a cup of water ? I said : Certainly. I will go to the governor and ask him to build a canal to bring water this way for you. The fish got very angry at me and said : I asked you for a cup of water and you gave me such a reply !!! You can look for me at the dried fish market by then.
Jong Ji was giving his friend shit.
Jong Ji called himself a monkey :
One time, a king told Jong Ji he looked like he had been wrongly accused and not energetic enough to do something about it. Jong Ji replied : There is a monkey playing happily among the tree branches, leaping here and there, even the best archery man cannot hit him with his arrows. But if this monkey fell into the bush full of thrones, it would become awkward in movement because it can get cut anywhere he moves and no one can blame him for not happy any more.
Jong Ji lived in a period where the kings are corrupted, and his officials are all plotting to overturn the kingdom or to kill each other.
On fortune telling :
1) One time a man had 7 sons, and he asked a fortune teller to see which one of them would have the best life. The fortune teller said son number three because I can see he would have meat to eat and wine to drink along with a king. The man started to cry. Others asked him why he was so sad when he learned that his son is going to have meat to eat and wine to drink all his life and that he would be with a king. He said his family has always worked hard but never have the fortune to raise cattle, and all of a sudden they have a sheep in the house ? Something terrible must have happened.
Soon after, the man sent his third son on a trade mission. He got robbed, and the robbers chopped off his legs and sold him to a king who used him as a watchman and gave him his leftover food of meat and wine to eat and drink. Now, who would like to live a life like that ? Should he thank the robbers for this, perhaps ?
Fortune tellers may be able to tell the events that happen later in life, but they cannot tell the steps it takes to arrive at those events, and they can be horrible steps. We shouldn't just look at the surface of our fate.
2) The story of a turtle caught by a fisherman :
There was once a fisherman who caught a big turtle.
He asked someone who knows if he should kill the turtle and use his shell for fortune telling.
He was told he should, and he did. For 72 times he was able to tell fortune accurately.
The news got to Confucius, and he asked : Why was the turtle so wise to be able to tell fortune accurately for 72 time and yet was not able to tell its own fortune and got killed ?
Confucius continued to say regardless how smart a person is, when all his enemies gang up on him, there is no way he can stay alive.
That is why we should not believe in superstition.
Fishes are afraid of pelicans but not afraid of fishing nets. Yet more fishes are caught by fishing nets than those eaten by pelicans.
3) The story of Leak Ji :
Leak Ji was a student of Wu Ji. Leak Ji met a very famous fortune teller, and he told his teacher about it. His teacher told Leak Ji to invite this fortune teller to come and tell his fortune.
The first day the fortune teller told Leak Ji that unfortunately Wu Ji is going to die soon. Leak Ji become so sad and asked his teacher what he should do. His teacher Wu Ji, told him that today he showed the fortune teller his facial expression of Chi from the earth and certainly the fortune teller can see he was about to die soon, and he asked Jong Ji to invite the fortune teller again the next day.
The next day the fortune came, looked at Wu Ji and pronounced to Leak Ji the good news that his teacher is going to live, fully recovered from the illness which was to kill him in days as of yesterday. Leak Ji was relieved and went to tell his teacher the good news. Wu Ji said to him that he knew because today he showed the fortune teller the facial expression of Chi connecting heaven and earth, and he told Leak Ji to invite the fortune teller again the next day.
On the third day the fortune teller came, took a look at Wu Ji, and ran away never to be found again. Leak Ji asked his teacher what happened. Wu Ji told him that today he showed the fortune teller the facial expression of one Yin Yang with unfathomable depth. The fortune telling was scared and ran away.
When a person has some desire, ambition, or something in his mind, it will be expressed on his face and people can read his mind.
Our fate cannot be altered. However, we can alter the way we treat our fate. We can change our attitude towards our fate and the inevitable.
While you look down upon yourself and envy others, others may be envying you.
Most celebrities are rich and famous wished to be just some common folks but they can't.
Having lots of money cannot buy peace but just the opposite of peace and quiet life.
Changes in our bodies are inevitable.
No use getting emotional over our encounters for they are inevitable
.
Our abilities to withstand, accept, and turn things around is our real strength. The things we possess are not good measurements of our real strength.
Our ability to sustain whatever we lost is our real strength, not our ability to gain whatever.
What we gain today we may lose tomorrow, and for sure we will lose all in the end.
There is always a better competitor, and there is always a higher mountain.
When Dao creates one who is best, why bother to create one who is second best ?
That is a silly question.
We have the choice to be proud when we are the second, third, or not even close to the best.
For that condition of ours is not inevitable.
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Jong Ji by professor Fu 6 Dissolve all that we hang on to and insist
Humans cannot be totally free of things we hang on to and insist.. But we can learn to let go some of the things we insist hanging on to.
We all have feelings and emotions because of the world we live in which causes effects in us. The point is we can learn how to deal with our feelings and emotions so that they don't harm us, but instead, benefit us.
Our passions are caused by outside stimulus, like watching a movie can stir up our feelings and emotion such as fear, joy, excitement, etc., etc..
Confucius told us the way to read poetry is to enjoy but not be hooked, to be sad but not hurt.
In other words, don't overdo it.
Jong Ji did not reject our feelings and emotions. He said we should have no feeling or emotion, but he realized that is impossible. So, obviously Jong Ji was suggesting that we should be careful not to have our feelings and emotions be so intense as to hurt us.
Joy and sadness are interrelated and interdependent.
Jong Ji said if you are rolling a small boat, and another boat with no one in it bumped into you, you won't get angry because there is no one there to get angry at. If there were someone in the other boat, chances are you would get angry at him. So, to avoid anger, treat every such situations as if there were no one in the other boat.
When there is no one trying to hurt you and yet your situation is bad, you have no one to blame and no use to get angry. So you just have to accept your situation. That is what Jong Ji meant by having no feeling or emotion.
Jong Ji view life as floating in a small boat unattached to any rope on a slow flowing piece of water. Empty in desires of where to go, one is very relaxed.
Sometimes people like to look up to celebrities and leaders in power, but ignoring others around them. These celebrities and leaders tend to not appreciate but insist that they be treated that way as if only so is appropriate. Question is : why insist ? Be appreciative and grateful when people treat you with respect and care, but don't insist on getting it.
Do not take others praises or criticisms to heart. Don't get excited when others praise you, and don't get depressed when others criticize you. When you get excited when others praise you, you build up an expectation in you. The next time you don't get the praise you expect, it will cause you to feel disappointed or depressed.
There are four way we can use to dissolve our insistence on things we hang on to :
1) Dissolve the concept of time.
People like to live long. How long ?
100, 200 ?
That's not very long compared to an old turtle or an old tree.
In the life of the universe, human lives are like a moment, a white running horse passing through a door, a flash.
Western existentialists consider existence as the time you choose to be yourself.
It is easier to choose not to be yourself, or not choose to be yourself, then choosing to be yourself. At work we choose not to be ourselves. That way we feel save. When we want to be ourselves, there will be pressure and rejection by others. We do not exist if there is no chance for us to choose to be ourselves.
Jong Ji wanted to turn one moment into one whole lifetime. That happens in our awakening, instantly we see no life and death as if we come to another world that has no time.
Western philosophers consider real honesty as being belonging to oneself.
When we can settle in, we create joy and happiness within ourselves.
That is transcending time.
2) Transcending space :
People like to have a big house.
How big is a big house ?
1,000 square feet ? 2,000 square feet ? 5,000 square feet ? Truth is even 10,000 square feet is not that big.
Is earth big ?
Compared with the galaxy, earth is just a tiny dot.
And you are stuck with wanting a big house and not getting one ? LOL !!!
In the chapter on "Autumn River", Jong Ji wrote of all the streams flowing into the Yellow River in rainy autumn, making the river so wide that people can't even distinguish horses from cows on the other side. That made the river god very proud of himself, thinking he must be the greatest. Then the Yellow River flowed into the East Sea where no one can even see where it ends. The river god now says the sea god must be the greatest. The sea god says : I am not the greatest. I am nothing. In the middle of the four seas, China is only a grain of rice in the grain warehouse. Jong Ji must be a space traveler to be able to write something like that !!!
That is dissolving the insistence imposed by space.
Some western philosophers said : Land is big, but oceans are bigger. The sky is bigger than the oceans. And man's mind is bigger than the sky, because man can discuss matters beyond the sky.
Jong Ji said :
Outside of the 6 dimensions, up, down, and the four corners, sages can talk about existence.
but they cannot describe anything in it because they cannot observe it.
Inside the 6 dimensions, sages can describe things in it, but they cannot argue about it, because there is nothing to argue about. Facts are facts, end of argument.
When we poke through the 6 dimensions, there is nothing to insist upon.
Think about the time in history we are now living.
We shall not envy the great sages of the past.
Sages of the past are envying us, because we are still alive, and we still have our chance.
We are facing different circumstances and conditions from those these sages faced in their lifetime, or that of anyone else, for that matter.
Therefore, don't envy anyone. When we are alive, we still have opportunities.
Treasure our present life.
From body to heart, from heart to spirit, we must be awaken.
Let us empty ourselves and after that we can view everything in the same way as Dao.
Seeing everything as one, we can relax and enjoy life.
3) Transcend profit and appropriateness :
Confucians taught us not to pursue profit and forget about appropriateness.
Jong Ji saw very little difference in the two. That is, either way makes very little difference.
There is no standard to determine what is appropriate.
Who makes the standards anyways ?
Are the standards general or specific ?
When we dissolve profits and appropriateness, there is no more trouble, no more disagreement.
Confucians taught us : Noble people love appropriateness. Little minds love profits.
Jong Ji says, when there is love, there is insistence.
4) Dissolve life and death :
Life and death is the biggest challenge.
To reach purification of the heart, life and death is the toughest to dissolve.
Death is the most difficult barrier to break through.
Some western cultures view death as a final curtain. After your show, you need to drop the final curtain and let others have a chance to perform.
Others view death as a passage way to another reality.
Yet another view death as returning to the sun. We can't look at the sun with our naked eyes or we will go blind from the light. When we are dead, there is no problem being with the sun.
There are many reasons to be afraid of death :
Leaving the world and all our friends, our families, our relatives, can be sad.
Sometimes we associate death with pain like the images of ER in a hospital.
Some people hate the idea that after death other would take what belonged to you, money, house, job, .....
Some people are afraid to go to hell. And some are afraid to go to heaven and find there is no one there but you alone, very lonely.
Some says they are afraid of death because death destroys the "we".
Jong Ji look at death from the viewpoint of Dao, and he is not afraid, because life is merely an accumulation of Chi, and death a dispersing of Chi, everything is still the same.as before.
This is very realistic. We stop breathing when we die. When our breathe, Chi, is dispersed and no longer accumulated, we are dead.
When Jong Ji's wife for many years died, people found him singing as if he is not in mourning. They asked Jong Ji how is that appropriate ? Jong Ji said at first he cried when his wife died. Later he come to realize she did not exist long time ago. She was just a cloud of gas, Chi, in the wilderness. Then she came together with Dao, now she's home, back to Dao, back to some clusters of Chi in the wilderness, for her rest. That should be something to celebrate.
Jong Ji was also getting old. His student said when he pass away, they are going to arrange the most luxurious funeral to honor him. Jong Ji said no. Just drop me in the woods when I am dead. His students said they couldn't do such a thing to let the eagles and the beasts eat the body of their beloved teacher. Jong Ji said you won't let the eagles and beasts eat me but you would bury me in the ground and let the ants eat me instead ? Why are you so full of prejudice ? Let the heaven and the earth be my coffin, the sun and the moon the decorations, and everything in the world be my companions in the after life. What am I missing ? Nothing.
Billions have died in human history. Where are they now ? Are they not in the air, in the dirt, and in the water ? Humans, heaven, and earth are one. History are just stories written by men.
Story of a student of Jong Ji who like to walk around in his house naked :
A student of Jong Ji like to walk around in his house naked. Friends would come by to visit and protest of him being rude. He said why you accuse me of being rude ? Heaven and earth are my clothes, and my house is my underwear. You are in my underwear and protest that I am rude ? Who is rude ?
In this story, the student is breaking the restrictions imposed by tradition, and mixed himself with nature.
The story of Yung Jake :
The mother of Yun Jake passed away. He decided to break with tradition and instead of fasting and mourning, he decided to continue eating meat and drinking wine. People said that is not good. At the time of her funeral, Yung Jake started to cry and throw up with blood. Why is that ? Could it be because his behavior was not natural ? He was suppressing his sadness in an unnatural way ?
The truth is, learning from Jong Ji does not require anyone to break with tradition, and it is Lao Tzu's idea to be natural, not to suppress one's feelings and emotions in an unnatural manner.
Jong Ji told a story of a big craftsman one day preparing some metal to make a statute. The metal jumped from the fire and demanded how it wanted to be crafted and what kind of statute it wanted to be crafted into. That must be a weird and scary piece of metal, isn't it ?
(Dao does not need us to tell Dao what to do with us).
We are here by co-incidence and by chance become a human..
A tree is chopped and part of it used to make a drinking vessel with beautiful cravings for people to admire. Other parts are tossed away as garbage or burned for fuel. Coming from the same tree, different parts have different encounters. Some praised, some just rot.
Everything in the universe are merely different mixings of energy, Chi.
You can ask why you are the same mixture of Chi as everyone else, but why some people are so lucky, and I am not ? You won't find an answer for that one, guaranteed.
Don't envy rich people. It is way more difficult for rich people to find awakening than the poor people.
All the developments in our lives does not require the reaction of our feelings and emotions.
The big Dao use my body to make me into existence.
Use my life to make me work.
Use my old age to allow me peace.
And use death to allow me rest.
Jong Ji continued to say: That which perfectly arranged my birth also perfectly arrange my death.
Understanding this we can follow smoothly and settle with the time, and avoid the attack of joy and sadness.
Deal with obstacles smoothly, look for the right moment when every conditions is ripe, and act when it is inevitable.
Developing wisdom is key.
Jong Ji's last word : Ride with all matters and let our hearts enjoy the ride.
Take control of the conditions of all matters.
Ride a bike if you have a bike.
Ride a car if you have a car.
Walk if you have no bike and no car.
Walk and enjoy life.
Nowadays, there are more outside conditions that make our heart purification more difficult.
It was easier for Jong Ji because he was poor.
We have too many value restrictions.
In fact I have no use for treasures because I don't have the necessary conditions to safeguard them. I would be scared of it being stolen, or me being robbed and killed.
People with no ability to appreciate beauty can only consider how much.
Price and values are two different things.
Value is based on beauty.
How much is just a price consideration.
If you have the ability to appreciate beauty, everything in this world is beautiful.
The world has big beauty but no words.
Jong Ji told this story to illustrate that we must do something to earn happiness :
One day, Confucius was walking with his student in the woods and they met an old man picking cicadas. The old man was very good at it, and he picked bagful of insects in a short time.
Confucius asked the old man if he has any secret way to learn this skill.
Old man said he does have a secret: he trained by placing a tiny round metal ball on the tip of a bamboo, and then two, three, five of them and practice picking them. The secret is heaven and earth is big but not as big as the wings of a cicada when I am focused on them. To me the wings of the cicada is infinitely big, so there is no way I can miss them.
The Dao of Jong Ji is the same, infinite and present everywhere. If we remove everything in this world, we still will not miss Dao.
Today we covered how Jong Ji dissolve everything we insist hanging on to.
Ride on the inevitability of everything and enjoy life.
At the very present, we can reach a relaxing and enjoyable life.
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Jong Ji by professor Fu Lesson 7 Dissolve the outside but keep the inside in tact Don't compete.
The biggest difference between Jong Ji and Confucius is :
The students of Confucius often praise their teacher, but we shouldn't just believe them.
In one story a city wall gate keeper said an objective evaluation of Confucius.
Ji Loo, a student of Confucius was late getting home from a out of town trip and couldn't enter the city gate which was closed after a certain time at night. He stayed outside the city gate overnight, and first thing in the morning the next day he tried to enter the city gate. The gate keeper enquired where Ji Loo was from. Ji said he is from the house of Confucius. Confucius was quite well known at the time. The gate keeper said : Oh, is that the one who knew what cannot be achieved but still do it ? Later generations of scholar would used this to describe Confucius.
As long as you are Confucian, you are expected to uphold firmly your own self ideals.
The reality is who can have confidence that he can change the world.
You may say if you can't change the world, why bother talking about it ?
A good answer to that is if we don't talk about it, the world situation can be worse than it is now.
When it comes to Jong Ji, his idea is if what you suggest cannot be done, just call it your fate.
A mantis should not try to stop the wheel of a cart.
Be comfortable accepting your fate.
There is no point in unnecessary struggle.
Preserve ones life and enjoy the present, enjoy each and every moment of life.
If there is a trend in the world, it is not fair to expect one to stand against it.
Jong Ji had said one time, I have such great ideas, but is there anyone who understands me ? Probably not. However, if after 10,000 years one person understands me, it is like I expressed my great ideas in the morning, and in the evening someone understands me.
Jong Ji is very broadminded.
The 4 most noticeable events regarding Confucius were not at the time he held important position in Lo, the nation that was his hometown. They are :
1) Twice, Confucius got expelled from his hometown, Lo.
When he was young, he had to run away from his hometown to avoid some suspicion of wrong doing.
The second time was when the policies of Confucius were not favored by the king, and the king did not award him meat from the ceremony, which, obviously was a way to tell Confucius off. So he quit and leave Lo.
2) Confucius had lived a number of years in Chai. Later, the king of Chai and his son got into a fight for the crown. Confucius left. His student Ji Lo stayed behind because he wanted to protect the king. He failed, and he was killed and chopped into minced meat. Confucius was said to be unable to eat meat sauce for 10 months. Jong Ji blamed Confucius for not teaching his students properly. They should known when to quit and adjust their approach rather than fighting force by force. After Confucius left Chai, the king there destroyed all he had established there and made it as if Confucius has never been to Chai.
3) Confucius pissed off a powerful high official in the nation, Sung. He was chased for miles, and finally the high official gave up and returned to Sung and to release his anger chopped down the tree, the shade of which Confucius used to sit and teach his students. On the run, Confucius did not have a chance to eat for seven days.
Jong Ji asked : Why did Confucius always run into trouble and pissed everybody off ? Did the people have a problem, or did Confucius have a problem ?
Jong Ji felt that if you have something you are chasing after in the world, you should first familiarize yourself with the rules of the game.
You should not be just insisting on your principles.
But after all, Jong Ji quite respect Confucius and his ideals.
So, Confucius and his students did not eat for 7 days. His students started to give their teacher shit, saying is a shame and a disgrace to allow all those people who tried to kill them go free.
When Confucius learned about this, he said to his students :
If a noble person understood what is Dao, he should live happily and die happily.
Happy when poor, and happy when prosperous.
His joy in life depends not on poor or prosperous but depends on Dao.
Do not consider the success and failure outside of you.
A civilized mind is strong and firm to the very end.
His student awakened immediately and started to dance and prepared to fight to the very end.
4) One time Confucius and his students were again surrounded by people who had mistaken his identity. Confucius was not nervous but sat there playing his musical instrument. His students were scared though. When the people who wanted to kill Confucius heard his music, they yelled out : Who is there inside the house ? Confucius replied that it was him, Confucius. So the people realized it was a mistaken identity and left.
Jong Ji was just trying to describe the lifestyle of the Confucians.
Jong Ji felt that Confucian teachings are not suitable for the time.
No one in his days would accept these old rituals and traditions of the Duke, Chow, who was the ancestor of Confucius.
Lao Tzu had said :
When heaven and earth are not perfect, everything is treated like straw dogs.
When sages are not perfect, all the people are treated like straw dogs.
When you are in power, people put you on a pedestal.
Once you passed you time and opportunities, you become worthless.
Confucian thoughts was trying to tell people to practice those worthless practices.
Confucius and his students saw some people cutting trees.
The students pointed at a big tree and asked why they are not cutting that one.
The tree cutters said they don't cut the big tree which has grown crooked, and can't be used for any purpose
They choose to cut the straight trees they can use for posts and beams.
Wells with nice water gets drank to become dry first.
Wells with poor quality water last a long time.
Then they come down the mountain to visit an old friend.
The friend was so happy to see them and ordered the servants to kill a goose for supper.
The servants asked which goose to kill, the one who never made a sound or the one who makes a lot of noises.
The one who makes no sound, ordered the master.
In those days people like to keep geese and they can be used like dogs to guard their properties. They would make a lot of noise and chase strangers away.
The goose that don't make noise is useless and should be killed for supper first.
The students were confused, and they asked Confucius if they should be useful or useless, to live and last longer or to be cut down and killed first ?
Confucius said, it dependents.
Be useful when you should be useful, be useless when you should be useless.
It all depends on the circumstances.
Jong Ji concluded that it is not even a consideration to undertake regarding usefulness or uselessness.
Live life by being comfortable and settle in with any encounters in life.
Confucius student Ji Gong one time saw an old man lifting water with an urn one at a time to water his vegetables.
Ji Gong asked him why he does not use the mechanical water wheel which can water his vegetable with little effort ?
The old man said he is fond of doing things this way because his teacher, Lao Tzu, had said that machines and tricks will pollute our minds to think of profits and short cuts all the time.
They will make our spirits unsettled, with plenty of ups and downs.
This kind of people cannot be awaken by Dao.
But they still must eat and live.
Dao is one.
In the one there is no gain or lost.
And there is no reactions from our feelings and emotions.
That kind of joy is peaceful and harmonious.
Getting excited with a bit of success may cause future sadness.
There are three chapters in Jong Ji that some scholars believed are fake, because they tend to be too extreme in making their criticisms.:
1) The story of the fisherman :
The students of Confucius were talking to a fisherman who asked if Confucius had a position in government ? The answer was no. And how about subjects to take care of ? Again, no.
Then the fisherman said since Confucius is neither paid as a government official or own a nation, what is the point of him running here and there busy all day ?
Why would a scholar running here and there lost and scared all day ? Why not settle down and enjoy life a little bit ?
Confucius like to learn, and he is particularly excited when someone criticized him.
So Confucius become very polite to the fisherman and begged him to be his teacher.
The fisherman said he is doing fine catching fish and singing, enjoying life, and there is no reason for him to have any student.
So the fisherman left.
Confucius stood there attentively until the fisherman had gone far.
His students have never seen him so polite and attentive to anyone before.
Confucius said what do they know, that this fisherman is with Dao.
Some would say Confucians are into this world, whereas Daoist is out of this world.
That observation is only superficial.
Confucius had said we are within the scope, and they Daoist is outside the scope.
The difference is those within the scope cannot understand what's outside the scope, whereas those outside the scope understood very well what's within the scope
Not many Confucians are like Confucius who understands the Daoist.
But all Daoist understands the Confucians.
Which school is more suitable for the people ?
The Confucian teachings are more suitable. They apply to all ages, all sexes, and all cultures.
Daoist teachings are only applicable to middle aged men.
Ji Gong one time helped a family with their funeral service.
When he arrived he found the people singing and dancing next to the dead.
How can you do that, he asked ?
They replied and said Ji Gong knew nothing.
That they don't waste money on silly things like what Ji Gong did for a living.
Jong Ji said there are 2 big unavoidable things in this world:
Two things no one can escape.
One is fate
The other is appropriateness.
Kids love their parents. That is fate.
Fate cannot be altered in the heart.
To love ones parent must be based on what is suitable and appropriate.
There has to be a nation before there is a family.
There is nowhere to escape from this.
One time Jong Ji was asked why when he talked to the king, the king become so pleased.
He said he was telling the king how to pick fighting dogs and battlefield horses.
He said people often were sent into exile in the wilderness.
These people in exile are most happy to see or hear things they are familiar with.
When they have been exiled for a long time, and the grass have grown tall around them so they can't make out any tracks animals made, the sound of a two legged animal walking become the most pleasurable thing in they lives.
When you are in a high position, you are isolated from everyone like you are in exile in the wilderness, and love to hear familiar voices.
Sometimes it is good to be alone for a while and become more appreciative of things and people around.
Fate cannot be avoided.
So just smoothly follow your fate.
Act without any desire or insisting.
Go along with others but not losing your self.
There is no double face there because Dao is one and never broken or separated in parts.
Confucius has only said this to his most favorite student, Yang Yun :
When we are being useful, we act.
When no one wants to use us, we hide.
Only you and I can do that.
Jong Ji said at 60, he has dissolved 60 times. He meant he is always growing and developing.
Before Jung Sum held a powerful position in government, he was making $100, say. When he held a powerful position in government, he was making 10,000 times more.
He said when he was making $100 and he used that to support his parents and the family which was poor, everyone was very happy. Now that he was making 10,000 times more money, but his parents are not there any more, he found money to be rather useless.
Confucius said that is not awakening.
Those who are awaken do not mind $100 or $1,000,000.
Money is not the point.
The important point is in our heart.
The will of our heart is the most important.
Those awaken with Dao treat wealth and treasure lightly.
They protect their inner self.
That is the meaning of not dissolving the inside of our selves.
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Jong Ji by professor Fu Lesson 8 Secret recipe to achieve dissolving the outside
Dissolve the exterior but not our interior
Do not let our heart be disturbed by outside stimulus.
We don't change by following the changes we experience on the exterior.
Some people do the opposite : Cannot dissolve the exterior but their interior is long dissolved.
They maintain an outer appearance of solitude and independence, but has no principle of their own inside their heart.
They constantly watch for opportunities to benefit themselves
They don't care for the principles in their heart.
They don't have a value system in their life.
2 more types of people:
1) Dissolved both the exterior and the interior:
Some people appears to follow the way of the others, and their hearts also followed the way of the others.
These people don't have a concept of self respect.
These people are very common nowadays, drive name brand cars and wear designer clothes.
They use money to identify themselves.
2) Not dissolved on the exterior, and not dissolved on the interior:
Typical old and stubborn people.
They hold on firmly to their old ideas.
They also behave in the old ways stubbornly, unwilling to change with the time.
A lot of people talked about ancient Chinese literatures and classics, and at the end everyone find it difficult or meaningless to listen any more.
Why ?
It is because the situations and conditions of the past have changed and become inapplicable or irrelevant today.
We can't return to the imperial system and the feudal system of the past any more.
Some people like to wear old style clothing.
Some private school required their student to wear specific kind of clothing.
Does wearing old style clothing mean you returned to the old time ?
Confucius didn't think so.
Confucius said: There is no allowed and there is no not allowed.
Does that mean Confucius is like grass on top of a wall, bending according to which direction the wind blows ?
No. What he meant is we must observe the appropriate timing, situations, and conditions to make changes by working with the those in power.
Reach out but stick with our principles.
Jong Ji's standard is dissolve our exterior but not what is inside our hearts.
Students of Jong Ji will not let you recognize they are Daoist.
That is because they would have dissolved their exterior behaviors.
Jong Ji for sure have his ideas of outside appearance.
Jong Ji met the king of Lo one time.
The king said Lo is the hometown of the famous Confucius, and no one in Lo would be interested in the tricks of Jong Ji.
Some people at the time regard Daoism as tricks, but Confucian teachings as the only formal education.
Jong Ji was not wearing Confucian style clothing whereas scholars in Lo all wear Confucian style clothing.
Jong Ji said wearing Confucian clothing does not make one a Confucian.
The king asked : Why ?
Jong Ji said Confucian clothing include a round hat to signify knowledge of astronomy and the round shape of heaven. Confucian shoes are square to signify Confucians have good knowledge of the four corners of the earth and geography. Confucians wear on their body decorative ropes of five different color tied together with a piece of jade to signify they are good at distinguishing right and wrong and able to make proper decisions on matters.
Jong Ji said that is so nice.
But now, throughout Lo, everyone is wearing Confucian clothing.
Jong Ji asked: Does all these people in Lo know these knowledge and teachings of Confucius ?
Jong Ji made a bet asking the king to send out notices that those who wear Confucian clothing but don't know Confucian teachings would be executed.
Within 5 days of sending out the notices, no one dare to wear Confucian clothing in Lo, except one man.
This man came to the king's court and asked to be examined.
They asked this man all kinds of tricky questions to examine his knowledge, and he was able to answer them correctly.
Jong Ji pointed out there is only 1 man in Lo who qualifies to wear Confucian clothing, were they all not trying to fool others with their appearances before ?
In the swordsmen committing mass suicide story, Jong Ji wore Confucian clothing at first to see the king, but he was advised to wear warrior's clothing instead. He made the change as advised. So we can see his ability to adapt by changing his outer appearances as necessary. That is dissolving the exterior.
When we talk about dissolving our outer appearance, we cannot leave out Confucianism, because Confucians emphasized a lot on human interactions and relationship with one another.
We can apply Confucian teachings in 3 ways :
1) Our inside must be honest and trustworthy.
2) Our expectations must be communicated in order to clarify our understanding.
3) Rules of the society must be followed.
1) Our inside must be honest and trustworthy:
Falsehood is a waste of time and a waste of our lives.
To practice honesty and trustworthiness is not easy.
Some may ask: Will that not make us vulnerable to become victims of cheats ?
Confucius said : Wanting only to do good but not wanting to learn well will lead to being stupid and awkward.
Regretfully so !!!
We must maintain flexibilities though.
An ordinary friend one day saved your life. Can your relationship with this friend remain the same after that ?
Probably not.
Sometimes we have someone we regarded as our enemies, but after a fight we become friends
Sometimes we have someone we regarded as friends, but after some instances, we discovered they are not what we expected them to be
All these can happen sometimes.
Therefore, In Confucian teachings, the emphases is on honesty and trustworthiness being a responsibility we demand on ourselves rather than on others.
The "loyalty" in Confucian teachings is in reality honesty and trustworthiness we demand on ourselves.
Have we done our best when we serve others ?
It is not that we would do whatever our superior wants us to do.
We would not do bad things if they were what our superior wanted us to do.
Loyalty therefore is in essence honesty and trustworthiness we hold in our hearts.
We need to feel it in our inside that we are honest and trustworthy.
2) Our expectations must be communicated in order to clarify:
We must not act based only on our willingness, neither should we insist on our own will.
We cannot say our intentions are good and so our will must be right.
We must ask what the other party expects of us.
What the others expect us to do today may change and become different the next day.
That's the reason for communicating in order to clarify and correct any misunderstanding.
If we have 30% friendship, others should not expect us to act with 50% friendship.
It should be communicated to the other party that we have not arrived at 50% friendship yet.
For example a friend wants to borrow $100,000 from me, but I felt comfortable to lend him only $30,000. I should made that clear rather than just lend him $100,000.
Some people don't pay back the money they borrowed. (Their situation may change beyond their control or expectation.).
Lending a friend $100,000 when our relationship only warrant lending out $30,000 may cause serious problem later. May even ruin a otherwise good relationship.
People to people relationship can be very difficult to fully understand.
Some like to extend favor first and expect favors in return later.
Some people extend favor and do not expect any favor in return.
A lot of times such expectations are not knowable in advance.
That is why we need to be honest and trustworthy, and demand such as our own responsibility.
Expectations are two way and reciprocal,
Our expectations of others needed to be communicated clearly also.
3) Rules of the society must be followed:
We must obey the law of the land.
Smaller communities often have their own bylaw, family rules, company standards, ...
There can frequently be conflicts.
Do not be afraid of conflicts, but understand conflicts allow us to make adjustments and grow.
Following the rules and meeting the standards have 6 steps :
1) Respect.
2) Care.
These two are not hard to follow. But to follow them from the heart is what we want to achieve.
Ji Gong asked how to be loving to our parents.
Confucius said : To merely feed and put up with our parents is no different compared to dogs and horses. ( Even dogs and horses will serve, but serve without respect and care.)
We need to treat our parents with love, respect, and care from our hearts.
Confucius said : color difficult, meaning we need to always show our love, willingness, and pleasure, on our facial expressions when we interact and serve our parents.
This is actually not difficult when it comes from our hearts.
Some people say : No loving son left upon long illnesses. (That's the challenge.)
3) Forget your parents are your parents.
4) Let your parents forget they are your parents.
We and our parent can treat each other like good friends, like fishes in the water, regardless of who is who, and enjoy life together.
Jong Ji told a story of an old man 70 years old still act and sound like a little kid to please his parents.
5) Forget everyone in the world.
People like to say this and that regardless of what you do and how you perform. Forget they exist.
---- Jong Ji told a story of a son whose mother died and his new mother have two sons which she favored and she treated her step son very poorly. When the son's father found out about that, he said he would divorce this wife. The son said no, when mother live only one son suffers, when mother gone, three sons become lonely and suffer.
---- Jong Ji told another story of father and son walking with a donkey entering a city gate. The people around said why don't they ride the donkey instead of walking with it ? The son right away asked his father to ride the donkey while he continued to walk. Then some people started saying why the father is so mean to his son and make him walk while he ride the donkey ? So the father got down from the donkey to walk and let his son ride the donkey. Some people than say why this son is so impolite to his father and made his father walk while he ride the donkey ? So the son asked his father to ride the donkey together with him. Some people started to say this father and son are cruel to animals by making the donkey carry them both. Finally, father and son worked together to carry the donkey into town.
---- Jong Ji told a story about Jung Sum who was well known to be a very loving and caring son to his mother. One time one person came to his mother and told her Jung Sum had killed someone. His mother didn't believe the man. Another man came and told her Jung Sum had killed someone, but she still did not believe. A third man came and told her his son had killed someone. This time she jumped through the window and ran because she did not want to be associated with her killer son.
Loving ones parents to the point of forgetting the criticism of everybody is not easy.
It is the same when we treat those who are not our parents.
That is the problem because there is no one who does not get criticism from other people.
Therefore, the important thing is always do our best regardless of criticisms from others.
The truth is only your parents know if you are loving and caring towards them
Only your friends can know whether you are being good friends to them.
Both Confucians and Daoist regarded respect and love towards ones parents as of primary importance.
Confucian ideal is : Safety and security for the old, honesty and trustworthiness among friends, and love and care for the youth.
Starting from our respect and care for our parents, we can extend the same to other people and finally to the world at large.
Confucians believe such a perfect world can be attained some day
Daoist are in favor of such ideals as Confucians also.
But Daoist believe such a perfect world had already been so in the ancient time. But since then the world has become more and more corrupted, getting worse and worse each step of the way.
Learning Daoism does not mean trying to return to the small country with few population of the old days.
Daoist learned to take control of their hearts' ideals, dissolve what the outside situations and conditions may challenge them, and do in Rome what the Romans do, without sacrificing their ideals inside their hearts.
6) Let the world forget we are loving and caring of our parents :
Supporting one another sometimes is too difficult, and it is better that we treat one another like fishes in the open sea.
Parent and their children, are they not all sons and daughters of Dao ?
Jong Ji Said Yin Yang to humans is the same relationship as fathers and mothers to their children.
When we are awaken to Dao, we become all equal.
Whenever we talk about human to human relationship, we are talking about how to distinguish, separate, and classify.
In Dao, we don't distinguish, separate, or classify. We are one in Dao.
We love, respect, and care for our parent with no one noticing we are loving our parents.
Follow and go along with others, and not insisting on our own will. That is dissolving our exterior.
No joy, and no sorrow. No loving and no not loving.
Return to the original state of oneness and harmony.
The is the highest level of dissolving our exterior.
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Jong Ji by professor Fu ( The joy of not dissolving our interior
Very common today is people getting their interior dissolved.
People are busy all day doing things.
Becoming too busy often become blind, unable to see what we are doing or for what.
Being blind for too long we become disoriented.
Being busy is losing our heart.
Being blind is losing our sight.
Being disoriented is more complicated, don't know what to do, don't have ones own ideas, no focus in ones thoughts and spirit.
This is called having our interior dissolved.
People nowadays can easily have their interior dissolved due to too much temptations outside, too much interference from the outside.
The reason why in the west, existentialism become popular since the 50's , is directed at this phenomenon of disorientation.
They distinguished the difference between "is" and "have".
What you are is not what you have.
Our business cards describe the degree we have, the title or position in the company we work, and how many telephone lines we can be reached or left a message at, ....
These are not us but what we have.
They quite often have the opposite meaning of what we are.
When we spend lots of time managing what we have, we can easily become disoriented as to what we really want or what we really are.
We forgot what kind of person we wanted to be.
Can we talk about what we are without talking about what we have ?
The answer is no.
What we are is our roots and our origin.
What we have are the results.
Exterior result depends on our conditions
For example a person could be working hard and making little 10 years ago but now is working hard and making lots of money.
Same hard work but produce big difference in results.
Why ?
Simply because the economic conditions have changed and are now different from 10 years ago.
When there are more in the exterior, there can be less left in the interior.
Some said : To possess is to be possessed.
Does that mean we should give up improving our economic conditions ?
No.
The idea is to learn how to have and possess without being dissolved inside or being possessed by what we have.
The more we want freedom, the more we need to let go and not insist.
Jong Ji wrote of a little bird who owns the forest but can only sleep on some pieces of grass on a tree branch. It cannot sleep on every tree branches in the forest or it will die trying.
Jong Ji also wrote of a river creature who owns the river, but it can't drink all the water in the river.
Comparing Jong Ji to western existentialism, they both recognized the difference between the exterior things we have and the interior self we are.
If our inner self got dissolved, we would have no self identity or self respect left.
Existentialists are saying people nowadays have lost their roots, only interested in their curiosity and gossips.
That is saying people nowadays only pay attention to the exterior and forgot about their interior self.
Jong Ji proposed that we have our hearts shaped like dried wood, and like ashes with no fire left.
When our interior is not dissolved, there must be something in us that is constant and cannot be disturbed.
When our hearts cannot be excited, the wisdom in our hearts has no desire, we would have no more prejudice, and the result of our training would start to appear.
The result is our spirit.
when our wisdom of the heart has gone through purification, what appears as the condition of what we are is our spirit.
Our bodies will grow and develop naturally, but our spirits won't.
Our spirits only appear after we have gone through training and purification of our hearts.
This is called not dissolving our interior self.
Jong Ji said : My life is limited. Wisdom is unlimited. To use my limited life in pursuit of the unlimited wisdom is dangerous and futile.
When we enter a library, we can see lots and lots of books. Has anyone been able to read and understand them all ?
Jong Ji told a story of a wheel maker and the king :
A wheel maker saw a king studying a book and asked what was the king studying.
The king replied : books of the sages in the past.
Wheel maker asked : these sages still alive ?
The king said : Of course these sages are all dead.
Wheel maker said : In that case what you are studying is all garbage.
The king got angry and demanded that the wheel maker better have a good explanation or he will be executed.
The wheel maker said he would not dare to make ungrounded claims, that he was just speaking from his experience.
The wheel maker continued to say he had been making wheels for all his life. He knew how to grind the wheels to make them perfect. Grind them too hard, they would slip. Grind them too light, they would be rough and not give a smooth ride. How hard and how light to grind the wheels to their perfection is in his heart and practiced through his hands. It cannot be described and it cannot be taught, even if he wanted to teach his son his knowledge.
The knowledge has to be experienced and cannot be passed on by books.
Since the sages are all dead, their knowledge has all been gone with them.
So their book is nothing but garbage.
We don't know if the king executed the wheel maker.
The point is what the wheel maker said makes sense, and makes no difference if he got executed.
The truth is if we understand the essence of what is written in books, the books themselves are not needed anymore. .
A lot of people like to hold on to books but they may not have been awaken to the essence of what was said in these books.
When we learn, we need to understand what we have learned.
After we understood, we need to be awaken to the essence of what we learned.
Then, we need to be able to repeat what we learned, before we can say we know what we learned.
What is the target of not dissolving our interior ?
The answer is Dao.
Knowledge is awakening to Dao.
Our spirit is born by Dao.
Where is Dao ?
A student asked Jong Ji if Dao actually exist and where is it ?
Jong Ji replied : Dao exists everywhere.
Dao existing everywhere is not the same as saying Dao is everything or everything is Dao.
Dao does not equal everything.
Dao is not nature.
Dao exists in everything, and is independent, unchanging, and is eternal in its function.
Dao never change.
Dao is eternally the foundation, the origin, the base, and Dao is where everything must return to.
Everything can be more, can be less, but everything must have an end and not eternal.
Dao is not being affect by this.
Daoism dissolved the existentialism and nihilism way of thinking.
Dao is the final existence and is unchanging.
That is the way life can be at peace and settled.
That is how Daoism dissolves the claims of nihilism.
His student demanded that Jong Ji must explain this in detail.
Jong Ji said even little ants struggle to stay alive. Dao is in the body of ants.
His student protested by asking why Dao is so insignificant, since ants are so insignificant ?
Jong Ji said Dao is in the grass.
His student asked why is Dao even more insignificant now, since grass is even more insignificant than ants ?
Jong Ji said Dao is in the tiles
His student asked why Dao is getting worse and worse since tiles don't even have life ?
Jong Ji said Dao is in our poops and pees, our excretes.
This is another example of Jong Ji using the technique in his writings of describing things worse and worse by each step.
Wherever you step your foot, there Dao is.
There is nowhere without Dao.
Dao is in us, in our hearts, and so there is nothing to worry and nothing to fear.
Don't let our interior be dissolved by outside stimulus.
When we are with Dao, we don't think it is good to acquire what appears to be profit or benefits outside us.
For example we have a pot of flowers and a cup of water.
Most people would consider the pot of flower is more valuable than the cup of water.
So we decided to award the student with the highest score the pot of flower.
And we award the student with the second highest score the cup of water.
There is Dao in the pot of flower, and there is Dao in the cup of water.
What about the student with the third highest score ?
He was not awarded.
However, don't forget, the student with the third highest score also breathe air.
There is Dao in the air we breathe too.
That is why when we are awaken with Dao, our lives can be carefree and worry free.
Carefree and worry free are the results, not the procedures.
The procedures are purification of the heart and sit and forget, understanding everything in the world originates from Dao and will return to Dao.
When the final results appear, we can truly be carefree and worry free everywhere we go.
Understanding inevitability is a procedure of awakening.
Two aspect of Daoism the western scholars observed are worth examining :
1) Daoism is revolutionary.
Why ?
It is because Chinese traditionally regarded heaven as the supreme transcending being.
Lao Tzu had made heaven and earth being nature, and nature originates from Dao.
So Dao is now the supreme transcending being replacing heaven in traditional Chinese thinking.
That is what made Daoism revolutionary.
The actual truth is Daoism is not revolutionary but is a return to our origin.
Heaven has been corrupted by the son of heaven, the emperor designated by heaven.
The son of heaven has no kindness and no love or justice.
The people are living without hope, and that give rise to nihilism becoming common practice.
2) Western scientists, in particular biologists, regarded Daoism as the origin of science in China.
The fact that Jong Ji regarded Dao is present in even the lowest and the most disgusting, most basic of all things represents the spirit of scientific research and its objectivity.
Is this observation accurate ?
No.
The spirit of scientific research and its objectivity is fundamentally a good thing.
The scientific method is based on logic applied towards verifiable facts, which is a good approach to scientific studies.
But, the scope of scientific research is hopelessly narrow.
Since the time of ancient Greek, scholars have been studying nature.
Nature has shapes and changing.
Physics come from a Greek word meaning exactly that : have shapes and changing.
Behind the natural world of having shape and changing is the foundation of something that has no shape and unchanging.
That is metaphysics, beyond physics, beyond science, beyond what has shape and changing.
Daoism talks about the changing and dissolving of the exterior.
Look at the mirror and look at pictures of ourselves decades ago. Changes is undeniable in our exterior appearance.
We are changing every day, every year. We age.
Can our interior be not dissolved, not changed ?
Daoist believe it can.
When our interior is not dissolved by external influences, we are connected with Dao.
This connection allows us to feel the result of the time when our lives are over and we returned to our origin, which is one, unchanging, and everlasting, or eternal.
Daoism is not mysticism.
Daoism can be viewed as an idea of having mystic contract between ourselves and our origin.
Inside each one of us is a real me.
Human lives are special because :
Confucians recognize humans can be honest and trustworthy, or they can be the opposite, dishonest and not trust worthy.
Daoist recognize awakening is available to all humans.
Where is our real me ?
Our real me can be contrasted with the reality on the exterior of us.
When we are not awaken, our me is the reality of our exterior me.
Lao Tzu only talked about holy man, or sages.
Jong Ji talked about 4 different kind of man, real man, godman, supreme man, and heavenly man.
Hearing real men we can understand that there are plenty of unreal or fake men.
Supreme men are the ones who have attained the highest level of awakening, which most men are not.
Godmen are mysteriously clever, which means most men are dumb, stupid, and can't let go.
Heaven means nature. Heavenly men are those in one with nature.
That means a lot of people are artificial and not natural.
These 4 types of people represent those whose interior self has not been dissolved, but remained unchanged.
In the chapter of the fisherman :
Confucius emphasized honesty and trust worthiness. The fisherman emphasized on being true and real.
Honesty and trustworthiness can only be practiced by humans. Everything on earth can be true and real.
The scope of true and real includes honesty and trustworthiness.
The fisherman said focusing in one and honestly willing is the peak condition of being human.
But is a human's honesty and trustworthiness his truth and his reality ?
Truth and reality is sometimes broader than honest and trustworthiness, because honesty and trustworthiness only apply to human relationships, whereas truth and reality is applicable to all things.
Those who weep reluctantly look painfully sad but not really harmed by sorrow.
Those who explode in angry reluctantly look serious but not really scary and intimidating.
Those who love and care reluctantly are smiley but not really soothing and pleasant.
Real sadness is feeling harmed by sorrow without making a sound.
The power of harm and sorrow rushes in like floodwater and is overwhelming.
The real power of anger is not explosive but scary and intimidating.
The force can be felt by others even when the person just stood there, like a magnetic field surrounding him.
When one person in the room is really loving, the entire room is filled with warmth.
When one person is really angry, things change immediately into negative and positive energy, sometimes active to the extreme, and sometimes passive to the extreme.
When the loving and caring are reluctant, the smiley face has no soothing or pleasant effect.
Confucius had actually said the same when he said :
The life of a person gives others a feeling of some energy in action.
Sometimes it is positive, and sometimes negative.
Others may see him and felt his importance, near him and felt his warmth, heard his words and felt his seriousness. He speaks solemnly and seriously. he does not engage in jokes.
Only the true and real spirits can be clearly expressed .
That is why we must emphasize what is true and real in us.
This described how Confucian honesty and trustworthiness have similar effect as in Daoist true and real self, though they are not the same.
The fisherman continued to say :
Applying these principles to human relationships, we can then service our parents with love and care, we can then serve our masters with loyalty and devotion, we can then drink with our friends with joy, we can then live and eat with comfort.
When we are true and real :
Our loyalty and devotions are based on our merit, no matter how big or how small the mission is.
Our drinking is based on joy, and not dependent on the drinking glasses we use.
We hold funeral services based on our sadness and sorrow, not for complying with rituals and rules.
We serve our parents with appropriate love and care, not a show off of our wealth.
We also need to be honest and trustworthy in our dealing with friends.
Our true and real character is tied to our undissolved interior self
Story of the big ring leader :
A man who Confucius regarded as a virtuous man with very present character had a younger brother who was the ring leader of a gang of thieves.
Confucius had been asking this virtuous man to convince his younger brother to give up being a thieve in order to not give his brother a bad reputation and allow the people to live more peacefully.
The older brother said that won't work because his younger brother is not an ordinary man, that he is always full of desires in his heart, that he has lots of ideas blowing in his head like wind with many different directions, and that he can lead nine thousand men and get his ways anywhere in the world.
Anywhere this gangster go, small nations flee, and large nations lock up their gates.
Confucius said he would try to talk to the younger brother on behalf of the his virtuous friend.
Confucius loved learning, but he also loved teaching people. He lived a very tiring lifestyle.
His virtuous friend warned him not to do that for it can be dangerous.
Confucius was not afraid of danger.
So he asked to see this ring leader.
The ring leader didn't want to see Confucius, saying he doesn't want to speak to a hypocrite who is only good at cheating for food and drinks.
Confucius tried three times, and finally the ring leader reluctantly agreed to see him.
When he met with Confucius, he was cutting up a human liver for dinner while talking.
His voice was loud and powerful, and he had the built and the look of a strong and fierce man.
Confucius start tell the ring leader that it is a waste for a big general like him to be a thieve, that he should be a lord with his own city nation, and live in his own castle, leaving the rest of the world in peace.
The ring leader roared and told Confucius to stop telling him to be locked up behind a city gate and make no trouble because the world belongs to the people of the world and that is him, and he can go anywhere he wants to go.
Finally, the ring leader said this : a long life is 100, medium is 80, and short is 60. Other than the days one is ill, no more than 4 to 5 days in a month one can have a good laugh.
And he brought out a long list of names of supposedly good people who had either met with poor destiny or killed by others.
It is terrible to be a good man, he said.
Confucius gave up.
He ordered Confucius to leave or he would kill him.
When Confucius stepped onto the carriage, the whip he was holding fell down on the ground three times.
On his way home Confucius met the older brother, the virtuous one.
He asked if Confucius is all right, and guessed correctly that Confucius must have met his younger brother.
Confucius said it was very dangerous, that he nearly lost his life, and that he wondered why he got nothing better to do than to pick on the tiger's whiskers.
Another story was about a man who have a date with his girl friend that they would meet at the bottom of a bridge. The man came. There was a big rain and the flood water rushed in while the man hung on to the post at the bottom of the bridge and drown. He figured he could not go to the top of the bridge because he promised they would meet at the bottom of the bridge.
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Jong Ji by professor Fu Lesson 10 From real to beauty From skill to art
Let the body meet the heart.
Skill, or technique is the ability to extend our reach in certain area.
The aim is to practice our ways to attain certain exterior condition and yield certain results.
When we reach the state where our skill, or technique, become an art, our skill, or technique, has been dissolved into us and become a condition of our bodies.
When at such a state, we perform naturally and at ease.
Our performance become an art when we turn what required us a long time of training, what follows certain fixed rules and procedures, into something that looks like our natural instinct or our natural condition.
Jong Ji told a story of a merchant who sells beautiful clothes and hats. This merchant went to a place by the sea, and no one bought any of his merchandise. The people there do not consider what he sells as beautiful, because they dive into the water to catch fish, and so they keep their hair short and wear tattoos all over their bodies which they consider as art and regard the tattoos beautiful to both humans and to the fishes they catch as the fishes like to come close for a better look. Art is subjective.
Confucius and his student came to a place near the river and suddenly heard someone gone into the river, and it was close to a water fall where the force was so big that no fish can manage to be at ease there for 40 miles. The first thought that came to mind was someone was committing suicide, so Confucius ordered his students to search down stream for the man. Some long distance downstream they found the man sitting by the river bank singing joyfully. Confucius asked the man where did he learn to become such a good swimmer ?
The man said he was born and lived all his life in the mountain and loved swimming. So he learned how to swim and swam every day. But he didn't know when or how he became a good swimmer.
Don't know how one become good in something is called fate.
Some people these days are good at playing basketballs, like Michael Jordan.
When we see someone good at playing balls, we only see the results. We did not see what the person had gone through in tough training to get to this condition.
If we are to ask which day, or when, during the training the person become good at playing balls, but not the day before that, no one can answer.
The truth is when the person was not in the training session, when it is off season, the person still did not stop thinking of how he can improve his moves, so that when he came back the next season he all of a sudden play much better than before.
Learning how to ride a bicycle is like that.
When we become so good at riding the bicycle, we don't even need to hold on to the bars with our hands and we can even make turns by slightly tilting our bodies. It is just like an art.
When Jong Ji describe these ordinary people who seemed to have extraordinary skills, he never failed to mention the training and practice they had gone through. They all had followed fixed rules and procedures for a time before they became good and at ease with the techniques. The technique then become their natural condition.
From skills to art can often be observed in our life, and no one is ever born with it.
Skill is when I perform.
Art is when I am the performance.
Confucius said : Understanding something is not as good as liking something. Liking something is not as good as being happy doing something.
Yang Yun once saw a man very good at handling a boat, like the man is god. And he told Confucius what he saw.
Confucius said that is nothing special.
He said when you know the nature of the water, you can handle the boat like someone can handle a horse and carriage on dry ground.
In the story of the old man picking cicadas Jong Ji described the tough training and the importance of focus. The old man said his hands are like dead wood, and his fingers like dead branches, all motionless when he picked cicadas, and in his eyes all thing in the world is not as big as the wings of the cicadas. So he never missed one.
Learning must include joy in the process and not just thinking how one can use it to make money later. Learning Dao is the same before one can be combined with Dao into one unit.
Jong Ji was not really interested in studying. He was talking about the art in our daily lives.
What Jong Ji is saying is that we must focus on one thing with undivided attention before we can have the chance of becoming good at something like a god.
Jong Ji told a story of a man who made belt buckles and had made them for 60 years, and made them very well. When asked for his secret, he said : I don't look at anything else. Only belt buckles catch my attention.
There is no success by luck in this world.
When we study Jong Ji, do not think he is about easily become a fairy, or suddenly become awaken.
There is no such thing in this world.
It is not that simple.
Without disciplined work no one can reach the dissolved state.
Without being in the dissolved state no one can taste the beauty of the result : one with Dao.
The story of the chef who can skillfully dismantle an ox :
There is this chef who trained and focused on the anatomy of ox and become very good at it. A chef who killed ox may need a new sharp knife every other day, a good one may need one a month. This chef had been using the same knife for more than 19 years.
When he killed an ox it is like he danced with the ox and the joints of the ox was playing music to entertain him. He knew the anatomy of the ox so well that he never have to touch a bone with his knife, just cutting his knife along the joints and he dismantled the entire ox with minimum pain to the animal.
This story is in the Chapter of how to maintain a healthy body.
Like this chef who had plenty of sharp knife left because he knew the anatomy of the ox so well he never have to waste his effort cutting through bones, If we pay attention and know the anatomy of our body well, we don't need much to maintain a good healthy body.
Human desires are not bad things.
We all have desires.
Eliminating all our desires is a bad thing.
The idea is to co-operate with nature while fulfilling our desires in an appropriate fashion.
The story of a painter :
One time a king gave out notice that he is paying for someone to paint a portrait of him.
Many painters applied and they were all waiting outside the king's court to be interviewed.
One painter just went inside and set himself up to start painting, to the astonishment of everyone except the king.
The king said let this painter paint my portrait. He must be a good painter because in his mind there is only the painting. He never cared about the people around, or whose portrait he is to paint, how much is the reward, or how to please with what he paints.
Centuries later this story had influenced a prime minister in his decision in choosing a son-in-law for his daughter. His son-in-law later become one of the greatest calligrapher in China. When he announced he was looking for a husband for his daughter, many dressed up and decorated themselves nicely to apply, except one didn't give a shit, lying in bed taking a nap naked. The prime minister chose him for he must be a good husband, and not marrying for money or for status for he didn't seemed to care shit.
The story of a skillful craftsman known to have the result of a devil and the skill of a god :
A craftsman specialized in and famous for his ability in carving animals that looked like real and alive.
In reply to enquiries of how he did it, he said : First he fast, and clear his thoughts of everything. Otherwise his work would just be ordinary follow the procedure type of product.
Then he goes in the woods to look for his material.
He would search for pieces of wood which he can already see the animal he wanted to crave inside the pieces.
When he brought these wood back, all he had to do was to bring out the potential animal that is already in the wood.
There are classes for geniuses. However no genius can ever amount to anything without having gone through long period of hard work in training.
Genius is the result of hard work.
A western saying is that beauty is the potential of reaching an aim without aiming.
Subjectively, there is no aim.
Objectively, the result fits perfectly to your aim.
If there was an aim at the start, it would become a practical pursuit of profit instead of true beauty.
Enjoying a scenery is like that.
The mountains and the trees are not there because of you but their beauty fit perfectly to what you like to see.
Beauty sometimes only appear for a short time and is gone.
In this world of human existence, life is full of changes and so is never perfect.
Ever since ancient times, beautiful woman is like a famous general, no one is allowed to see the white hair.
Can there be an old beautiful woman, or an old famous general ?
Nowadays, yes, because generals don't need to ride horses in a computerized warfare.
Some people have their specialized talent, where ordinary people can just watch and admire.
Jong Ji said we must first set a target, like swimming, sailing, crafting, making belt buckles, or picking cicadas.
Then we must focus on the the target with total undivided attention before we can find success.
We talked about "forget". What is "forget" ?
"Forget" is not to put our heart on one single point.
What we want is act without the desire of our heart.
We need to act. The only choice is to act with our heart's desire, or to act without our heart's desire.
With our heart's desire will bring tremendous amount of pressure right at the start.
Without our heart's desire, we just act to do what we should do and do it well.
The spirit of focusing on our task requires training.
When we forget everything else, our focus become our spirit.
A prince once said his mind is troubled because even when his body is retired in the wilderness, his heart is just having the desire of the wealth, treasure, and luxury of his kingdom.
People around the prince told him that is not good for it can lead to split personalities.
If he can't give up his kingdom, he should not retire but should return to be prince.
This is a question of choice.
Like those Catholic priests, if they can't give up their desires to rape children, don't be a priest.
If you don't have the ability to let go, don't let go.
May be when you get older you may be able to let go.
Buddha was a prince and lived in luxury of the palace till he was 29 years old.
He fasted and meditated for 6 years before he finally gave up and drank a cup of goat milk.
Only upon giving up was he able to finally awaken under the Bodhi tree.
Make a choice.
Don't become one with split personalities.
Let you heart meet with Dao.
Carefree and worry free living can only be the result of long period of training and practice.
It is the result, the condition of forgetting everything in the exterior and let Dao appear in your heart as your spirit.
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Jong Ji by professor Fu Lesson 11 Meet Dao with our heart Quiet and tour
Lao Tzu said : Reach extreme emptiness Guard quietness with real existence.
Animals cannot be extremely quiet. They are alert even when resting.
Only humans can be extremely quiet.
The west regard rest in three parts : Being quiet, to celebrate, to be whole again.
Quietness can be : settled in quietness, calm, and spiritually undisturbed, meaning no sound, no ups and downs, and rejuvenated with new energy :
We rest for work or we work for rest ?
Rejuvenate, or recharge, we must find a source of energy.
Dao is the source of energy.
Dao can be tapped in at the depth of our hearts.
Celebrate in days of festivals, occasions, vacations, become the center of all other days when we work our ass off.
When we celebrate, we return to our original, natural role, and drop the role we play in our work.
Religions mean tied up. All religions have a whole set of structure to tie people up so as to forget the dryness mundane of our everyday activities and work.
Losers are usually the ones with more spirituality because they realize they can't depend on the world.
All religions have festivals, rules and rituals, and fairytales to allow people an escape from their daily life..
To be whole again is to return to our origin state.
After purification of our heart, Dao appears as our spirit.
Our spirit is like a mirror, not welcoming anything and not rejecting anything.
Supreme beings have heart of a mirror, can accept all the changes without being harmed,
not welcoming anyone, and not rejecting anyone.
Reflect but not retain.
Supreme human stands in the middle of a huge flood and not get drown, stands near a volcano eruption and not get burned, stands in a big storm and not scared.
That descriptions are not of a real man but the spirit of the supreme man.
The spirit can allow the body to withstand incredible pain.
Our spirit originate from Dao.
Animals don't have the ability to think like humans.
From wisdom to heart means the heart is the master of our wisdom.
Our spirit is the appearance of Dao.
Such can only be experienced, but cannot be passed on by words.
In the Chapter of deliberation, Jong Ji described our spirit as reaching in all directions, existing everywhere, connected with heaven above, linked with the earth below, dissolved in everything, and leave no track or shape.
The function of our spirit is like that of god on high.
Dead emperors are also called god, as opposed to god on high.
Like God, Dao, the spirit, transcends all human words.
The plain, pure and untouched Dao can only be guarded by our spirit.
Guarding and not loosing Dao allowed our spirits to be focus on One.
Focused on One is similar to being true and real.
The result is in tune with the order of nature.
That is two, nature and human, plus one, Dao, in one whole.
Purpose requires reasoning.
Only human can reason.
The highest of wisdom of ancient time is supreme, boundless, and cannot be expanded further.
And that is all matters have never actually existed.
Jong Ji has very low opinion of the School of Ming (name) :
In the story of Wei Zee, a leader in the School of Ming, Jong Ji described him as only a prop in a performance. Wei Zee was known to have put dirt on his nose and a performer good at using his axe can cut the dirt from his nose with the axe and We Zee would not move or scared. The performer said he can't do such performance a y more because Wei Zee is dead. Jong Ji was making fun of Wei Zee in this story that he was nothing more than a prop in a performance.
In another story of Gong Shun Lon, also a leader in the School of Ming, Jong Ji describe him as a a frog in the middle of a well who thought he was king of the world. Once this frog invited a big bird to come and play in his well. The big bird tried sticking one leg in the well and got stuck. The big bird pulled out his leg from the well and described to the frog what East Sea where he come from is like. He said, after 10 years of draught, the level of water does not drop, after 10 years of heavy rain, the water level does not rise, one can see for a thousand miles and find no land, and one can find the water several thousand feet deep. The frog could not even imagine what that is like.
In another story, Jong Ji described a young man from a place going to a neighboring nation to learn the way people walk there. He learned all day and still did not get it. At the end of the day he had forgotten how he used to walk, and he ended up having to crawl home.
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Jong Ji by professor Fu Lesson 12 A beautiful life
Beauty in Jong Ji is to view the individual in terms of the whole.
All things in this world is made up of a lot of different things.
Humans, according their need of survival developed different ways to distinguish what is good and what is not good.
And humans start to distinguish high or noble class and low or base class.
Jong Ji viewed everything as originating from Dao, and therefore must have areas that can be appreciated and beauties that can be enjoyed.
Beauty, however, is always subjective.
Beauty is the ability of an individual to appreciate and enjoy.
Without such ability, the individual can only repeat what he heard others say.
A lot of time we don't have the ability to appreciate and enjoy certain arts, and we tend to look at the price and assume that there must be some reason people would pay a high price for an art, and it must be the piece of art is beautiful.
However price and value are two different things.
Price cannot accurately represent the beauty or the value an art is appreciated.
Daoist take the ability to appreciate and enjoy all things as a god given human right.
The only difference is in individual's ability to experience the beauty in things.
Heaven and earth have big beauty and not expressed in words.
Time and season have clear natural laws that cannot be disagreed.
Everything has its reason to exist and not spoken.
Sages return to the original beauty of heaven and earth, and the reason everything exist.
Everything belongs to what is true and real, the actual facts.
The beauty of everything belongs to ones level of appreciation and enjoyment.
Jong Ji talked about from true and real to beauty of everything.
Confucians regard beauty as based on perfection.
They regard some music as beautiful to the extreme but not yet perfect to the extreme. and other music as both beautiful to the extreme and perfect to the extreme.
Jong Ji did not comment on perfection.
He believe perfection requires certain standard of measurement.
The perfection and lack of perfection in a human cannot be accurately evaluated by his external look and behavior.
Beauty has to be looked at from what is true and real.
Mysticism is a concept of unspoken contract.
It is not a concept of secrecy and mysteriousness.
Mysticism is the unity of human and nature.
It is the highest level that can be reached in any religion.
It is unspoken.
Unspoken and therefore can no longer be disputed.
A flower appears must have the necessary conditions for the flower to appear.
Anything that appears is a result of long time of combination, coordination, and co-operation of all the conditions necessary for the appearance of the thing.
The subjective view and opinion of an individual is irrelevant.
If one dislike a tree, one cannot replace it, because one don't have another tree to replace it with.
If there were a replacement tree, that tree also come from everything, also comes from Dao.
Sometimes the most ordinary is the most beautiful.
Once we consider utility, there is no more beauty.
The existence of everything is supported by Dao.
All that exist has the necessary conditions for it to exist.
All things artificial most involve comparison.
Comparisons must be by humans.
That makes it too narrow and insignificant.
Nature does not exist by comparison of how tall or how noble, but by its closeness to Dao.
Human civilization must involve making selections.
Which way should one select ?
A castle may be beautiful to some, but no castle is beautiful to all humans.
Even utility is not one size fits all.
Nowadays we have planes that cut down our travel time tremendously. Without things to occupy our time, people can go depressed.
Heaven to a Daoist is nature.
To a Confucian, heaven is the supreme master, the highest.
Humans also originate from Dao.
Therefore, human civilizations are also beautiful.
There are these three points about mysticism :
1) Treasure everything.
A table with a missing leg, or a room with a big hole are both things that exist.
Everything that exist is worth our treasuring and appreciating.
Nothing in the world is worthless trash.
No human is worthless.
Daoist value wisdom.
One can awaken without studying books.
To be able to treasure and appreciate starts from awakening to the fact that everything originates from Dao, and everything must have its reason for existence.
Knowing how to treasure and appreciate is knowing not to insist and thus attain pleasure and joy.
Do not insist
All things are inevitable.
2) Pleased with everything.
Do not use rewards and profits to evaluate things.
Appreciate what is true and real
We all can appreciate the innocence and beauty of a bunch of kindergarten kids regardless of what each one is.
Everyone of us were once like these kindergarten kids.
To be pleased does not require any standard of measurement, only our acceptance.
Anything that exist has its reason to exist.
Looking back at Lao Tzu, he said that both good people and bad people can be appreciated and treated with kindness and forgiveness.
Treat perfect people with perfection, and treat imperfect people with perfection.
There is no need to set a standard of measurement for what is perfect.
The way Jong Ji is pleased and joyful in his life can easily match anyone in the whole school of Confucians.
And his is not pretended but true and real.
3) Vigor.
Anyone alive has the vigor of life.
Each person is different.
One who is externally dissolved can be happy and joyful everyday.
Confucius is described as striving and forget he is hungry, happy and forget any worries, and not knowing he was getting old.
That's vigor.
Mencius said, big man does not loose his heart of an infant.
Infants are vigorous.
a western philosopher said we were given our lives by our parents.
We turned from a camel to a lion and then to an infant.
that is turning from passive, reactive to active, proactive, and we reborn to a second life.
This second life is the beginning of what "I am".
Jong Ji has no religious faith, only wisdom.
Confucians have the feel and the behavior of religion.
Daoist has the dimensions of religion. (Daoist have considered every dimension any religion covers)
Confucians feel that anytime one can move up in ones virtue and perfection.
Daoist consider Dao as the all dimensional transcend.
The use of uselessness is big usefulness.
1) Do not pursue any fixed usefulness.
Leaving a certain time or certain place, fixed usefulness become useless.
Fixed usefulness becomes an obstacle in those circumstances.
Usefulness must be pointing at a target : to who is it useful.
What is useful to one may not be useful to others.
What is useful to one now may not be useful to one in the future.
Full effort in pursuing some fixed usefulness may become limitations as a contrary result.
2) Dissolve our insistent on usefulness.
The story of the big melon :
Wei Zee once told Jong Ji that he was given some seeds by the king which he planted and grew a big melon. He said the melon is too big to be used in scooping water as it is bigger than any water container. So he chopped it into pieces and wasted it. Jong Ji told him he is stupid not to use the big melon as a floating device he can use to float in the river and enjoy.
The story of the special recipe for preventing chapped hands :
A family who does laundry for a living for generations had a special recipe used in preventing chapped hands.
One day a man come by and offered 100 gold pieces for the recipe.
The family only made a gold piece or two in a whole year doing laundry, and so they sold the recipe to the man.
The man took the recipe and offered the king to let him command an army in the winter to beat the enemy they had difficulty beating because the enemy were good fighting in water.
He won because his soldiers didn't have chapped hands and were able to beat the enemy whose hands were all chapped in the winter cold and the cold water.
The man got rewarded with lots of land and become super rich.
3) Be settled with ones conditions.
Don't envy others.
The talent heaven gave me must be useful somehow.
Humans have the ability to use things.
Humans are the most intelligent animal. That is a fact, and is real. It is not an imagination.
It is very precious to be a human being.
If one is happy as a laborer, he should not be a secretary.
Respect the value of humans that is in their inside and not what appears on their outside.
Look at things through Dao, nothing is dear and nothing is cheap.
Mencius was specially fond of the emperor Shun.
He wrote that when Sung was a farmer, he farmed as if he was going to farm all his life till death with no regret.
His attitude is such that what it is is what it ought to be.
Later Shun was discovered by emperor Yew.
Yew found anywhere Shun went, the people behave differently under his influence.
When he farmed, the farmers who used to fight with each other become polite and generous to each other.
Same thing happened when he fished.
When he made pottery, all pottery workers started to make good pottery with the best material, and no one cheats.
Yew let Shun replace him as emperor, and asked his 9 sons to serve under Shun.
Sung become emperor as if he ought to be emperor, and he showed no embarrassment at all.
People say Yew is heaven, Shun is the sun.
Shun ruled for 56 years.
There are two types of philosophers : hard core from ocean countries like England, and soft core from inland countries like Germany..
Hard core philosophers demand proofs by evidence and experience as the only acceptable method.
Soft core philosophers consider the possibilities and give people hope.
Confucians are more soft core as they consider anyone has the ability to be good and be perfect.
Lao Tzu and Jong Ji make no distinction of good and evil, but anyone can directly awaken in Dao.
Chinese philosophers are way more advanced than those hard core western philosophers, and soft core philosophers have way more content in their philosophical thoughts.
The last Chapter in Jong Ji is the Chapter of Everything under the sun.
This chapter is not likely written by Jong Ji himself but by his students.
They describe Jong Ji as touring with the Creator, and friend with those who treat life and death as without beginning or end.
One is tour.
The other is friend.
The spirit of heaven and earth : what makes heaven and earth into heaven and earth is Dao.
Dao does not look down upon everything.
Dao does not judge right and wrong.
Dao accepts all in this world.
Dao is dissolved and mixed with the outside and unchanged, undissolved, and unmixed in the inside.
Dao cannot be described in words.
Dao can only be experienced.
