Demystifying Dao

One of the greatest obstacles of understanding Dao is the mysticism surrounding it.

Mysticism implies a fantasy, and in turn, it creates a mystery that in turn leads to a lot of assumptions, extrapolation, and much more confusion. This confusion is dangerous because for those unfamiliar with the philosophy and its concepts, it can be used to misrepresent at best and deceive at worst.

Mysticism means a mystery that one can never know or understand, but when one understands and it is known, it is therefore no longer a mystery!

When one understands Daoism as a philosophy and its related concepts of Yin and Yang or Five Elements Theory and the resulting derivatives such as Taijiquan (or Tai Chi), qigong (or chi kung), Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) and many others such as Feng Shui, the mysticism that surrounds these concepts become tangible and applicable.

One example I like to use is ethics and morality. In western nations such as the United States, its predominantly Judeo-Christian values have influenced much of its social contract and norms, even for people who don’t practice Christianity. Values such as honesty, compassion, and forgiveness are not exclusively Christian as they are seen as universal values—but they are highly emphasized by Christian doctrine. If we remove the theological studies and religious worship, we have at the very least a set of core values that we can agree are good to practice and embody.

Likewise, these universal values are highlighted in the very first chapter of the Daodejing (or Tao Te Ching), where it’s stated that “Just because you call something ‘Dao’ doesn’t mean it’s Dao, but just because something isn’t identified as ‘Dao’ doesn’t mean it’s not Dao.”

As my teachers have said to me before, John Dolic said that he didn’t know he practiced Zen all his life until he read about it and went to the temple a few times, and my other teacher Professor L said that after reading Confucius, he realized that he was a Confucian his whole life due to the ethics and virtues imparted in the teachings of Confucius. So the same could be said that if we say that humility is a great practice, then congratulations: you are Zen, Buddhist, Christian, Muslim, Jewish, Daoist, and Humanist—but for sake of simplicity, let’s say that this is a universal value.

Now, taking a universal value and looking it through the distinct framework of Daoism, what Daoism talks about with humility isn’t that you should be humble because your pastor, priest, or cleric tells you to be or that you feel you should out of guilt or obligation. Instead, Daoism gives you practical considerations as to why humility is a good thing and in your best interest actually.

For example, in one of my favorite interpretations of the Daodejing by Ron Hogan in chapter 13, it says:

Winning can be just as bad as losing.
Confidence can mess you up just as much as fear.

What does “winning can be just as bad as losing” mean?
If you’re down, you might be able to get up.
But if you’re up, you can get knocked down real fast.
Don’t worry about the score,
just do what you have to do.

What does “confidence can mess you up just as much as fear” mean?
Fear can keep you from getting the job done,
but confidence can get you in over your head.
Walk tall, but don’t get cocky.

Know your limits, and nothing can ever hold you back.
Deal with what you can, and the rest will follow.

What makes Ron Hogan’s version great is that it eliminates a lot of the mystery that can confuse some people. Compare it to another interpretation, by late author Ursula K. Le Guin, well-known for writing The Left Hand of Darkness, a Daoist science fiction novel:

To be in favor or disgrace
is to live in fear.
To take the body seriously
is to admit one can suffer.
What does that mean,
to be in favor or disgrace
is to live in fear?
Favor debases:
we fear to lose it,
fear to win it.
So to be in favor or disgrace
is to live in fear.
What does that mean,
to take the body seriously
is to admit one can suffer?
I suffer because I’m a body;
if I weren’t a body,
how could I suffer?
So people who set their bodily good
before the public good
could be entrusted with the commonwealth,
and people who treated the body politic
as gently as their own body
would be worthy to govern the commonwealth.

And another version, by 20th century controversial magician, Aleister Crowley:

THE CONTEMPT FOR CIRCUMSTANCE

Favor and disgrace are equally to be shunned; honour and calamity to be
alike regarded as adhering to the personality.

What is this which is written concerning favour and disgrace? Disgrace
is the fall from favour. He then that hath favour hath fear, and its
loss begetteth fear yet greater of a further fall. What is this which is
written concerning honour and calamity? It is this attachment to the
body which maketh calamity possible; for were one bodiless, what evil
could befall him?

Therefore let him that regardeth himself rightly administer also a
kingdom; and let him govern it who loveth it as another man loveth
himself.

Look at the differences between these interpretations of the same chapter. Look at the similarities. Now come up with your own understanding and try to explore the mystery.

Part of my own personal practice with Dao is to demystify it, but also to explore the mystery, even if I’ve spent this whole article discussing why we need to move away from the mystique that deceives and confuses.

The difference here is that it’s a mystery you can have fun with, and in this particular context, mystery here is like playing with clay: it’s one part puzzle and one part art. I don’t know what I’m going to make or what is going to ultimately come out of what I’m working with, but the process of molding and redoing what I have that begins as a nebulous idea in my head becomes clearer the more I work with it hands-on in reality.

Likewise, Dao is something I can’t just spend my days reading about and thinking about, I have to find ways to apply it and live it.

So we use Daoism and its concepts as an idea, then we find ways to play with it and apply it in our lives. We learn more from doing rather than talking about or thinking about it, as we can either think too much or think about the wrong thing entirely. For example: I once saw a movie about two guys on a road trip and they’ve entered Mexico. One says, “This is the first time I’ve ever been in South America!” The other responds, “You idiot; we’re in Central America!” But for anyone who has a basic sense of geography, Mexico is a part of North America. This is the same thing that can happen when not having at least a basic understanding of Dao.

We can conclude that a good way to start understanding Dao begins with

1) avoid mystifying it,

2) understand basic ideas and concepts,

3) find ways to apply them in your everyday life, and

4) the more you do, the more you understand, and the more you understand, the more whatever you read or talk about becomes less mystical and more practical!