Reflections on the Chuang Tzu

David K. Reynolds, Ph.D.

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I recommend that you read The Butterfly as Companion (Kuang-Ming Wu, State University of New York Press, Albany, 1990) for the original texts and alternate reflections on these first three chapters of the Chuang Tzu.

We will never know the big picture, the whole story.
And we don't need to do so.
If we do well what we do know
That is sufficient.
Without a sense of where we are going ultimately
We can move here, now.

So move forward without pressing
Do right without seeking merit.
Do well without being hobbled by labels.

You push yourself so hard
As though you do life on your own.
What happens to you and for you
Cannot be credited to you.
So you cannot make a name for yourself.
Reality is happening to you.
Pay attention.
You are neither the whole show nor the director.
And you are both.

While thinking grand thoughts, your nose hair grows.
While reading the fictions of the supernormal, weeds grow in your garden.
Verifying Reality requires both senses and mind.
Making sense of your life is one task.
Getting on with your life is vital.
Why worry about what you don't yet understand?

Become the human who does life well.
Whatever comes is a steppingstone to whatever comes next.
Become the skewer of events.

You tried various magical paths.
You tasted temporary wonders.
Dazed and rambling, you forgot to brush your teeth and hang up your clothes.
Choose a vehicle that doesn't promote tooth decay.

We give away such a vehicle freely.
It runs on sufficient magic for you.
The marvelous wonders are all there.
But not so obvious.
If you know how to look, you will see them
As you brush your teeth and hang up your clothes.

We travel in vehicles on bumpy roads with unexpected curves.
Well-constructed vehicles hug the road amidst the unpredictability
And keep moving forward.
Don't miss the vast scenery as you travel along.

Traveling across country the scenery changes.
We change, too.
Sometimes happy, sometimes sad; sometimes hopeful, sometimes despairing-
We exhibit multiplicity.
We remain indefinable, despite definitions of personality and character.
We ARE vast scenery.

Happenings can be viewed from outside and inside and alongside.
Don't neglect a variety of perspectives.
Happenings have repercussions.
For all the variety of events there is harmony.
What appears to be random is not really such.

We see ourselves as solid, events flowing around us.
But we are lived by moment-by-moment events.
Who or what generates these events?
Words are events, too.

Some people-events understand these word-events,
And experience waking-events.
Struggling-events happen, too.
Moments of understanding don't prevent moments of misery and fear.

Be flexible without wavering.
Be firm but not stubborn.
Be circumspect but not wimpy. Keep on succeeding and starting anew.
Keep your senses-mind open to fresh input.

Feelings keep happening to you.
Notice them and move along.
Feelings are not larger than other events.
They carry no more information than other events.
They are not worthy of exclusive attention.
Feelings are just part of the scenery that is you.

Chapter 2

Where do feelings come from?
What causes us to generate them?
Or do they merely happen to us, like traffic conditions and windstorms?
Our bodies function as if there were a controller running the system.
When it is time to digest, we digest.
When it is time to sleep, we sleep.
Usually.
We take those functions for granted.
Without our attending to them our bodies take care of business.
And we age.
And we die.

Reality teaches us.
Our body/minds, representatives of Reality, teach us.
Whether we learn or not, they go on teaching.
Teaching appears in many forms.
The most suspicious format is words.
Because words are only word-things.
Words are only capable of word teaching.
Words hide as much as they reveal.
Too many make a living by presenting new words for old teachings.
Words are not substitutes for action.
Beware those who offer only splendid words.
Pillows make poor roads.

Words carry their opposites as baggage.
Reality just is.
Go to the heart of the matter.
Check out Reality; don't just talk about it.

We call our approach to life "Constructive Living."
It is our educational means of putting Reality in some order.
Do not forget that all organization and all limits
Are paradigms imposed on the whole of Reality.
While noting the artificiality of all constructs
Please continue with thanks, apologies, and good behavior.
And please do so quietly, without show.
Flashy modesty is not modesty.
Flamboyant compassion is not compassion.
Gaudy courage is not courage.
And showy neurosis is not neurosis.
Wrenching words into convenient shapes is easy
Compared with living life well.

What if's and hypothesized why's don't tell us what might have been.
What was, was.
What is, is.
Untestable speculations are merely mind games.
Not knowing is not the same as knowing that we don't know.
Our personal perspectives on Reality determine what we think we know.
Aim to use your perspective to imagine the perspectives of others
So that you avoid the selfish fallacy of absolute vision.

Our minds jump to conclusions, leap to imaginings, vault over facts.
We try to fit reality into personal mental molds.
There is no experience-based mold for one's own death.
Yet you have one.

Examine your mental dies.
Explore your patterns of thought.
Reject the myths of mental health.
Abandon psychological fluff theories.
Discard your "personality" for genuine flux.
Without the mental shackles of "character" live your life.
Wake up from your packaged dreams.

No one wins or loses when playing dream games.
Winning and losing are simply part of the dream.
Your million-dollar name and body and home are part of the dream.
You can't secure life in a bank.
Use life well now.
While dreaming
While waking
Use life well now.

Chapter 3

Something "lives" us.
Sometimes I think I know what it is about.
Sometimes I don't.
Anyway, life goes on.
Drive your life with attention.
Pay attention to road signs.
Change lanes mindfully.
Gear yourself wisely.
Accelerate and brake gracefully.
Don't park yourself in restricted areas.
Consult your roadmaps occasionally
To stay on course.
Scenery contains both message and distraction.
Detour when necessary.
Keep yourself in good repair.

Patterns of words and actions and thoughts help us
To organize our lives in a limited but meaningful way.
Recognizing the arbitrary nature of these patterns
Both frees us and
Sets us adrift existentially.
Knowing that "right" and "wrong" are defined by
People in power,
Sacred writings and
Neighbors' eyes
Erases the aura of absolute.
You decide what you need to do.
But stray too far from the norm and you risk harm to
Your body,
Your social relations,
Your freedom and
Life meaning.

Live your life skillfully, with grace.
Dance life so that your expertise appears effortless.
To develop such skill, immerse yourself in life.
Pay attention to life's details.
Then see how the details fit together as a whole.
Then put your experiential understanding into further practice.
Keep upgrading your life.

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