Today I want to talk about \u201csudden-school\u201d Daoism.\u00a0 I\u2019m not sure this term has been used before so maybe I\u2019m coining it now.\u00a0 But historically there was a lot of debate in Buddhist circles, particularly Chinese Zen (Chan), about whether awakening was a gradual process or a sudden event.\u00a0 In the end, the sudden-school won out, and gradual-schools were deemed lesser, incomplete paths.<\/p>\n
Daoism is a little different.\u00a0 We must not deny the role of gradual progress.\u00a0 Laozi observed that a large tree starts as a tiny sapling.\u00a0 If we are undertaking qi-cultivation of any kind, be it Taijiquan, calligraphy, or Daoist ritual practice, there is a lot to learn, and there is absolutely no such thing as suddenly mastering such arts.\u00a0 Qi doesn\u2019t work that way \u2013 it grows gradually.<\/p>\n
However, we have options in how we view this growth.\u00a0 If we are looking for some grand award or release when we compete our development, then in fact we are practicing a lesser, incomplete path.\u00a0 I would call it a dualistic path because we\u2019re distinguishing between our present \u201clesser, incomplete\u201d condition and a desired, refined condition.<\/p>\n
Another option is to view our practice not as a means toward an end but a way to engage and express the ever-present Dao.\u00a0 This shift in view puts everything in a different perspective, and indeed it is sudden, not a gradual shift.\u00a0 It\u2019s not really something we can work toward \u2013 it\u2019s not like we need to do a bunch of gradual practice before our view can open up.\u00a0 No.\u00a0 Let\u2019s view our nature as it is right now.\u00a0 Your next move expresses the ever-present Dao.<\/p>\n
This shift isn\u2019t really a grand event, it\u2019s more like \u201coh, yeah, that\u2019s right\u201d \u2013 and suddenly now we\u2019re engaging everything in a totally different manner.\u00a0 Let\u2019s proceed to engage our practice methods so they can gradually bear fruit.\u00a0 But let\u2019s not burden the sapling with the false view that it is incomplete and will only realize its nature once it touches the sky.\u00a0 It\u2019s already touching the sky.\u00a0 Let its growth be a gradual expression of the ever-present Dao.<\/p>\n
Welcome to \u201csudden-school\u201d Daoism.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Today I want to talk about \u201csudden-school\u201d Daoism.\u00a0 I\u2019m not sure this term has been used before so maybe I\u2019m coining it now.\u00a0 But historically there was a lot of debate in Buddhist circles, particularly Chinese Zen (Chan), about whether awakening was a gradual process or a sudden event.\u00a0 In the end, the sudden-school won … Continue reading “Sudden-School Daoism”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[8],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/oldoakdao.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/oldoakdao.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/oldoakdao.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oldoakdao.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oldoakdao.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/oldoakdao.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32,"href":"https:\/\/oldoakdao.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30\/revisions\/32"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/oldoakdao.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oldoakdao.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oldoakdao.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}