People have many ideas of what happiness is: Tranquility, being one with nature. Some believe that disrupting the balance or order of things makes us unhappy or that maybe all is happiness and we just choose to see the negative.

If you were in harmony with nature you wouldn’t see happiness or sadness. There is confusion – at birth human nature is kindness, being one. Why do we have to see form and formlessness? We have been taught concepts about how the world is. Children can learn anything because they are open. We have been taught we are limited but we see we are unlimited. The more we know the more we screw up.

Form and Formless are two sides – how do we put them together and find the gateway to the Tao? Form is the physical body; formless is the spirit or mind. Form is the earth, formless is the sky. But Tao is non-polarity and spirit is non polarity. Whatever the human ability cannot reach is non polarity. Whatever we name is form. Form and formlessness equals Tao. Go beyond what we are talking about. Life from 1 to 99 is what human intelligence sees as a time span. We are programmed to know what is happy. We have 7 emotions and 6 desires.

All through life we are naming until the end of life. As a very intelligent species we search and search to find out about our life. The more desire we have to know about our self the closer to Lao Zi. We have a curiosity from the day we open our eyes – everything is so new and strange. Everything is so fresh. We are always exploring, wondering, looking for the secrets of life. Life exists very clear as a form, no matter how you try to be happy with form/formless.

We are looking our whole life to find happiness but happiness is only there to serve the form of your life. In practical life we do not want to see tranquility. It’s great to be one with nature. Happiness is life still looking at form. Just try to find the harmony and balance and not fool yourself. Don’t process by the 5 senses. You have to find that state in meditation. You cannot experience in your unconscious mind, even during the day you have moments of meditation. No need to know what side is the palm. If everyday we say “Am I a butterfly or is the butterfly me?”, if we can maintain that reality – we will be happy.

If you can describe it you don’t get it. If you get it and try to hold on to it you lost it. The practical way of the ancient wisdom teaches us to understand the Tao and I. Life is not suffering. Living is a game, so play a good game, jump out of the triangle, take the hardship away. Say to yourself: “Do I really have to suffer?” It requires one to be wise – there is no need to serve the self. Self is form and formless. It requires you to see the whole not just the view of the self. If you follow the self you lose. You must forgive yourself – before you can forgive others. You don’t need revenge or regret. There is an old Chinese saying “There is no medicine for regret”.

Life is a journey everyone has to walk through. Smooth journey or rocky journey, the key is in your hand. It needs wisdom. The Taoist way is to be virtuous, deal with yourself, the less you think about yourself the more happiness you will gain.

When we are born, the natural way, first the head comes out and is squeezed – trauma. Life begins with trauma. You begin life as a victim – your butt is smashed – a victim in an unfamiliar world. Inside you were so pure and outside you become polluted. Life’s journey starts with the first step.

Taoists say “Life is in my own hands.” The main goal is to serve a higher purpose. Remember everyone has their own journey, so be happy for people to go on to their next journey. Understand your enemy is not you.

Happiness is there if you don’t think about it. If you change your attitude – life becomes eternal life. We want to feel as if we are in control but control is the enemy of happiness. Life is just an illusion – it is the Matrix. Everybody has their own journey to walk through.

Chapter 4 of Tao Te Ching looks like it’s telling you to blunt your personality, live amongst the people as the same but it doesn’t mean what it seems to mean. Lao Zi means something very different. What are your fears? Common fears are: Being dependent; fear of the unknown; loss of control of self (if there is no self we don’t need control); fear of what is going to happen tomorrow; death of a loved one or friend; fear of death; fear of failure; fear of disharmony.

Whether we like it or not we have to look at our fears. We must free ourselves of our fears. We never know what will happen in the next moment. Fear comes from the mind – we are our own worst enemy. We make up the concept of living and dying, we make up the concept of self. When we fear we become the victim within the triangle game. We are the victim of ourselves.

How do you beat fear? Wipe out expectations, desires, emotions. We could break up the fear little by little. Recognize that I make the fear. If there is a ghost in your bedroom – say to yourself “I made up the ghost", (even if you did not). Once you see the ghost – you fail. The more you try to chase your fear – the more it exists.

“Looking for a Donkey while sitting on the Donkey”. You have the power to dismiss the fear but you ignore it. The Tao is with you and you are always looking for it.

Fear of death – the Buddhist view of death is reincarnation and Karma. It is built on debt and suffering. Everyone loves heaven but there is such limited space that many must go to hell – hah! The Buddhists have 9 levels of hell – all torturous: deep fry, cut tongue, pole with fire, walk through knives, volcano, cut hands, etc.

All religions have their views of hell. Tao is different – they do believe in reincarnation and that death equals birth. In the beginning you are pure. Nature, environment, self education decides what kind of person you will be. Your virtue builds credit. A person who practices internal alchemy can reverse the aging process – because of this the Taoists believe that life is in your own hands. You have a choice, to live longer or not. In the beginning the Taoists believed that when you die you go back to the Tao – that your Qi disperses.

The most important belief in Taoism is Virtue. People misunderstand Virtue and think that Tao equals Virtue. Tao is not something you can grasp. Virtue helps to build Qi.

What is death to Taoists?

There are 3 different kinds of people:
1. Ordinary people (drinks, smokes, curses etc.),
2. Build Qi to 60% and then die
3. 100% pure alchemy (free of form)

Types 1 and 2 will have reincarnation at death, type 3 becomes the void. When you get to be 80% yang someone will show up in your life to enlighten you.

We have two ways to live: “Life is Happiness” or “What do I regret". If you name it you see it.

Being ——————- Non Being
Form ——————– Formless
10,000 things ——– Tao

Humans use different ways of seeing the world. Once you find tranquility – the donkey shows up right under your butt. The pre-heaven ability begins to function in tranquility. Formless is the form of the Tao (no polarity). Untangle the knot and release desire and thought. Blunt the sharpness and retrain your mind, quiet the mind, turn within, round your mind. Soften the glare: Don’t be so bright, shut the eyes. Merge with the dust; merge with nature. Hidden deep but ever present, like water, thought and mind must be crystal clear and sharp. It is the forefather of the Gods, the Tao, the beginning of Earth.

When we do know we can’t speak of it.

How do I see the Moon smiling at me at any moment? If you have tranquility and peace everything smiles at you. Can you stay at the nameless stage? Once anything is named it is very hard to see anything smile. It is very hard to be one with nature without tranquility.

When you see the Grand Canyon the first sight takes your breath away. You are not thinking, you are just experiencing it. Once you use your intelligence you have lost the feeling. The name is the mother of 10,000 things. Tao is the beginning of creation.

So how to return to the Tao? Tao and I - one concept is Tao, another concept is “I". As soon as it is named, it’s post-heaven and separate from Tao. We are only human and we must find what is separating us from the Tao.

Tao holds the Qi Field, the Chang. “I” is a product of intelligence, it is the name. When we hold to the names and to these polarities we can only see the names. If the “I” is nameless then we can feel the Chang or field of Qi. What makes the “I” so much reality? Thought makes it exists.

When you meditate and you cease thinking, then you feel void. If you ask “Do I feel my finger?” then your thoughts have returned and you are no longer void and you no longer feel the Chang. When the five senses sleep, then you can feel the void. When the 5 senses come the “I” exists.

Shrink the polarity between “I” and Tao by returning to stillness, letting the five senses sleep and the thoughts be quiet. Cage the monkey and tie up the wild horses.

The opposite of emotion is tranquility. Naming is the mother of 10,000 things. Judgment comes from your own intelligence. Why can’t we see the motion and flow without judging? One day was pretty and one day was ugly. Why must we judge? Community and natural environment gives us a concept or name. Once we mane something we don’t see the flow. Once we name something we judge it.

There are two kinds of wave with different height, depth, and length. Motion or stillness - which one lasts longer? Stillness causes the motion.

The opposite of stillness is anger. Anger happens often in our life and stillness is rare. If we have a wise mind we can see both. You can freeze time. If you were in anger what would you do? How do you unfreeze the moment when you are in anger? You must use your wisdom. We must be wise and train ourselves to be still when we get angry. Don’t attach to one side or the other. The best way to stay in tranquility is to empty the thoughts.

Some people are walking without spirit. Tao sits inside the body. An empty cup has a function of carrying water. Water has a result – water eases thirst – cleans. Water and cup can not work one without the other. Tao must have the body to function. If the cup breaks or is misused it will not hold the water. When the spirit sits in the body it functions differently. Spirit in the body must find balance and harmony to function.

Humans are taught or educated and get intelligence. Intelligence means you have knowledge and concepts. We have 5 senses that all have there own function. They all contribute to intelligence. Where is the foundation for stillness? We must turn off the senses to find stillness. If you can train yourself to turn off the senses, then there are no waves – no emotions. We must learn to shorten the space between the two poles, between emotion and stillness.

Your Tao changes from day to day. Why do we keep seeing the negative? Taoist philosophy says – forever young. In the game of life we habitually play three roles: hero, persecutor and victim. We unconsciously move between the three believing that they are who we are. Get out of the world. Get into the world. Once you see the game – get out of the world. But sometimes you must still get into the world. “I” will then smile when he sees the game. You can now consciously play a “damn good game".

The name that can be named is not the eternal name. Once you grasp this concept it becomes your wisdom. Among every 3 people one is your teacher so learn to be very humble. Practice Tao and understand Tao. Can you compromise with your own emotions? Can you see the stillness when the wave comes? Look at the outer form and you can see the inner form. You see the appearance and you see the principle of the form.

Tao has no emotion. Tao is nature. Tao has no preference. Can you find the truth in your heart? Facing scenery have an empty mind. When you see the outer appearance – see behind it. Don’t attach to anything. Beauty is for ordinary people to see. This philosophy is training us to be extra-ordinary people among the ordinary.

What is the Tao? What got you here? The body comes with two parts: being and not being. Life lets us see, hear, smell, touch, taste – the 5 senses are a gift from nature. Gifts from nature can be phenomenal or a disaster. We use “The Way” to describe life. The most phenomenal magic of nature is the body. The body plus virtue equals Tao.

Yi Xi was Lao Zi’s #1 student. He asked Lao Zi as he was leaving on the bull to please stay and write some words for the people to live by. Lao Zi wrote 5,000 characters in 81 chapters known as the Tao Te Ching. Lao Zi taught his major philosophy:
- Let things take their own course
- Do nothing and leave nothing undone
- Desire less see the mystery
- Take no credit
- My life is in my own hands – not in heavens hands
- Be soft
- See what you cannot see
- Hear but don’t hear.
All the translations are still naming It – they are still not the Tao. Nameless is the beginning of Heaven and Earth. Tao is non-being, “Me” is being. You have to have opposites to be able to name them. You don’t know happy if you don’t know sad.

In the first Chapter of the Tao Te Ching Lao Zi was so brilliant – he took everyone’s attention away from the Tao in the very first Chapter. He put the Tao into a person – he is talking about you but he is really talking about himself. In the whole 81 chapters Lao Zi is a dragon. He presents the dialectic: concept and no concept.

Learning about Tao is learning about yourself. The area that confuses you the most is your challenge. Dare to challenge yourself. If you want to learn Tao –have no concepts. If you want to know Tao – learn about yourself. Tao and you are from the same source – only you have a name and Tao is nameless. Tao is deep within your heart: visible and non visible come from the same source.

The first half of the Tao Te Ching is all about Tao and Me. When there is no boundary between me and Tao – then we will understand Tao: we are Tao. Tao is so powerful- so magical – so mysterical (mysterious and mystical.)

Let’s talk about “I". We must understand I before we can talk about Tao. In ancient time there was no way to measure human ability, Tao is an energy field (Chang). I equals self equals selflessness. If we can understand Chang – we can find the darkness within the darkness. Only selflessness can understand the Tao.