Sun Through Dark Clouds

And you must not, ever, give anyone else the responsibility for your life.

. . . I did not give to anyone the responsibility for my life. It is mine. I made it. And can do what I want to with it. Live it. Give it back, someday, without bitterness, to the wild and weedy dunes.

I resemble an infant who has not yet become a child; Lazy and idle, as though there is no place to return.

Everyone has more than enough; I alone appear as though abandoned.

I have the heart-mind of a fool— Chaotic and unpredictable.

Ordinary people are bright and clear; I alone appear dim and indistinct.

Ordinary people are inquiring and discerning; I alone appear hidden and obscure.

Like an ocean in its tranquility; Like a high wind in its endless movement.

Each person has his reasons; I alone am insolent as though unconcerned.

I alone am different from other people; I revere being fed by the mother.

To attain loftiness without limiting aspiration; to become cultivated without humaneness and righteousness; to be regulated without accomplishment and reputation; to find leisure without rivers and oceans; to attain longevity without relying on Daoyin; to forget everything and lose nothing, at ease in Non-differentiation (wuji ) and according with everything beneficial—this is the Way of Heaven and Earth, the inner power (de) of the sage.

So it is said, limpidity, silence, emptiness, and nonaction—these are the levelness of heaven and earth, the substance of the Dao and inner power. So it is said, the sage practices cessation. With cessation comes stable ease. With stable ease comes limpidity. With stable ease and limpidity, care and worry are unable to enter, and denoviant qi (xieqi ) is unable to afflict. Thus one’s inner power is complete and one’s spirit is unhindered. (Zhuangzi, Chapter 15; see also ibid., Chapter 3; Baopuzi, DZ 1185, Chapter 5; Despeux 1989: 246)

This text emphasizes apophatic meditation with the goal of mystical union with the Dao and “longevity without relying on Daoyin.” From this we can see that although classical Daoits recognized the value of Daoyin [movement, stretching, and breathing exercises], they considered this to be an inferior practice.

“Why no, what would I resent? . . . I received life because the time had come; I will lose it because the order of things passes on. Be content with this time and dwell in this order and then neither sorrow nor joy can touch you. In ancient times this was called ‘freeing the bound.’ There are those who cannot free themselves because they are bound by things. But nothing can ever win against the heavens—that’s the way it’s always been. What would I have to resent?” (Zhuangzi, Chapter 6; adapted from Watson 1968: 84)