We don’t have to build an identity around spiritual cultivation. Actually, if we’re doing that, we’re not practicing wuweidao. Wuweidao means relaxing our identification with a generated self – this is the heart of practice. Transforming this self from a so-called “deluded mortal” to an “enlightened sage” – that might have some value in other paths, but it is not wuweidao if our experience centers around self-reference. Cue the Buddhist Diamond Sutra, which says: “The Bodhisattva who considers himself a Bodhisattva is not a true Bodhisattva.” Laozi likewise defines sagehood as “discarding self” and “withdrawing into the unborn”. So my wuweidao lineage teacher didn’t give us Daoist names. In some sense he took away my own Daoist name. He didn’t want us to identify as Daoists or sages or Buddhas. Just to practice and surrender all names to the great Immortal Stream.
