Hello people,
So you might have heard about the Daodejing,
Maybe not,
And maybe some of you are very familiar with it.
So for those of you who don't know,
The Daodejing is a book that could be qualified as the written principles of Zen,
And it is often called the Book of the Way,
Which is an approximative translation of the title from Chinese.
It has been written a very long time ago by a monk named Lao Tzu,
And his writings are so wise and simple that it seems hermetic to most Western modern people,
And is misunderstood mostly because by overthinking these words,
We are losing their meaning,
Which can only be heard in a quiet mind.
A mind that stops reflecting itself on the world and simply reflects what is,
Like a mirror.
A lot of the Zen teachings can seem paradoxical when we first encounter them,
Because we take them with the wrong mindset.
So today I'll read for you the very first lines of the Daodejing,
And we'll meet the truth contained into these words,
Which is also the truth already contained into ourselves.
And that is what is so interesting about Zen teachings.
They are in fact the opposite of what we usually call teachings,
Because their purpose is to point at a knowledge that we already have inside of us,
So there is technically nothing to learn.
If anything,
We have to unlearn some ways of thinking that gets in our own way.
Zen is about unpeeling unnecessary layers of misconceptions that lead us to suffer.
This is why Buddhism teaches us that you cannot become a Buddha,
Since you already are the Buddha.
So what happens if you try to become something that you already are?
You are living the paradox of chasing after yourself.
You can't outrun yourself.
There is nowhere to get since you are already there.
This is only a switch of mindset that Taoist and Zen teachings operate.
Everything is very similar to when you are searching for your car keys,
And you search everywhere for hours when you finally realize that they were in your pockets all along.
It just didn't even come up to your mind to take a look in that place.
So here's our Tao Te Ching short extract for today.
The Tao that can be told is not the Eternal Tao.
The name that can be named is not the Eternal Name.
The unnameable is the eternally real.
Naming is the origin of all particular things.
So don't overthink these words.
Don't forget that they are also only words.
And the Tao that can be told is not the Eternal Tao.
So they can't do more than pointing at the deeper truth.
And the deeper truth itself cannot be replaced by any name.
So that was the random Zen thought of the day.
I'll leave you on this.
Be well.
Have an amazing day.
