Chuang Tzu did not treat suffering as the major issue of life...as it was for Buddha...as it was for Jesus. Buddha came to solve the problem of suffering, of which Jesus came to make a redemptive use. For Chuang Tzu suffering is a mishandling of life; the problem of suffering is itself a mistake. Suffering is not to be solved but to be let be, to dissolve of itself, as snow in the spring sun of our right living. To live rightly is neither living redemptively (Jesus) nor living enlightenedly (Buddha), but living appropriately, that is, fittingly to the changing climate of things, now soaring, now roaming - and that is Chuang Tzu's central concern. Myths in most civilizations usually have the heroes undergoing suffering so as to solve it and live "happily ever after," not before or during the story. Myths...in Chuang Tzu's writing are themselves moving images of happiness amidst suffering, happiness that is as nonchalant as animals and trees.
The essence of suffering is violence, which includes (for Chuang Tzu) violence against oneself, such as "morality." Chuang Tzu would say that violence originates in opposition, including opposition to one's natural tendencies, one's spontaneity. The way to oppose suffering and violence, thus, is to "oppose opposition"...
In fact, whatever comes is recognized as "violence" only when we oppose it. To deal with it we go along with it - this is the weapon that deals a death blow to violence.
Words can be born of and dwell in the situation; if we let them speak out from the bottom of our hearts, they will echo the situation. And we follow their lead to go with the winds of this world... at home in the inevitables (what cannot be helped). To follow oneself is to be spontaneous (what one cannot help but be).
-- Kuang-ming Wu, The Butterfly as Companion
This really strikes a chord with me. -Thunder
1 comment:
Thunder,
I like the simplicity with which you present this idea... seems appropriately non-biased... thanks!...
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