![\"ZiRan\"](\"https:\/\/oldoakdao.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/ZiRan-300x225.jpg\")
If we had to express the view-teaching of our practice as pithily as possible, we could probably just say \u201cas we are\u201d.<\/p>\nIf we had to express the view-teaching of our practice as pithily as possible, we could probably just say \u201cas we are\u201d.<\/p>\n
The Chinese character ziran (\u81ea\u7136) translates as \u201cself-so\u201d, meaning naturally so of itself, not the product of some contrived effort or intention.\u00a0 Dao is self-so.\u00a0 For the purposes of this article, let\u2019s translate ziran as \u201cas we are\u201d.<\/p>\n
Our Daoism is not based on the concept of original sin or a fall from grace or even the idea that we need to grow and develop our inborn potential or transform ourselves into some kind of immortal being.\u00a0 Maybe we lose our way from time-to-time, and maybe we\u2019d like to grow \u2013 OK, but how to get it back, and how to find our appropriate process of growth?\u00a0 Laozi\u2019s essential message is to leave things as they are and to leave ourselves as we are.<\/p>\n
Not to fixate on conditions, mind you \u2013 conditions are always changing.\u00a0 Things as they are means things as they go.\u00a0 Natural process \u2013 not our idea<\/em> about how the process should<\/em> go.<\/p>\n This view does not inspire us to reach for spiritual heights.\u00a0 No.\u00a0 It inspires us to relax spiritual aspirations.\u00a0 Yes.<\/p>\n If we take this view into our formal practice & informal conduct \u2013 whoa! what a significant shift takes place in our experience.\u00a0 Somehow it transforms us thoroughly.<\/p>\n My teacher said, \u201cthe qi comes back home\u201d.\u00a0 What may have been entangled in some aspirational fantasy simply comes back into the central channel.<\/p>\n When we abide in this manner, regularly over a period of time, not only does the qi become more and more calm and more and more clear, it takes on a different quality.\u00a0 My goodness, it becomes fine and sweet.<\/p>\n In our tradition, view is the most important thing.\u00a0 We don\u2019t want to be \u201cmethodistas\u201d.\u00a0 But we do each need to put together a practice routine comprised of a suite of methods.\u00a0 These may or may not be \u201cDaoist\u201d in nature.\u00a0 How could that possibly matter?\u00a0 But forms are really helpful vessels for applying the practice.<\/p>\n So, whatever our suite of formal practice methods, and whatever comes up in the informal conduct of daily life, our practice is to leave things as they are, leave ourselves as we are, keeping the qi at home as the myriad phenomena continuously shift and transform \u2013 practice like this, and the ground of what we really are just may open up beneath our feet.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" If we had to express the view-teaching of our practice as pithily as possible, we could probably just say \u201cas we are\u201d. The Chinese character ziran (\u81ea\u7136) translates as \u201cself-so\u201d, meaning naturally so of itself, not the product of some contrived effort or intention.\u00a0 Dao is self-so.\u00a0 For the purposes of this article, let\u2019s translate … Continue reading “As We Are”<\/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\/749"}],"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=749"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/oldoakdao.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/749\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":839,"href":"https:\/\/oldoakdao.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/749\/revisions\/839"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/oldoakdao.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=749"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oldoakdao.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=749"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oldoakdao.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=749"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}