Over the centuries and now millennia of Taoist and Buddhist thought there have, of course, been numerous texts produced. Neither of these paths, however, has a single canonical text or mandated scripture. Rather, what they do have is libraries of collected wisdom in various texts from various times and places which anyone can read and contemplate. In this section I have given examples of just three of them. The first is a Ch’an Buddhist text [this is Chinese in origin, Ch’an Buddhism being a form of Buddhism as influenced by Taoist beliefs as it moved into China 1500 years ago. When it then moved to Japan it became Zen] which addresses “believing in mind”, mental hygiene and that sort of thing. Here we see the central concepts of emptiness, lack of dualistic thinking and oneness. The second is selections from the Dhammapada, a well-known Buddhist text that is reputed to be the words of the Buddha [which means “enlightened one” and is not a name] Gautama himself. This poetic text, set out in verse, covers many aspects of thinking and behaviour. The third and final text is the most famous utterance of the Buddhist practitioner, Tilopa, and is just six words in its communicated form. Read and enjoy!
ON BELIEVING IN MIND (SHINJIN-NO-MEI)
1. The Perfect Way knows no difficulties
Except that it refuses to make preferences;
Only when freed from hate and love,
It reveals itself fully and without disguise;
A tenth of an inch's difference,
And heaven and earth are set apart;
If you wish to see it before your own eyes,
Have no fixed thoughts either for or against it.
2. To set up what you like against what you dislike -
This is the disease of the mind:
When the deep meaning [of the Way] is not understood
Peace of mind is disturbed to no purpose.
3. [The Way is] perfect like unto vast space,
With nothing wanting, nothing superfluous:
It is indeed due to making choice
That its suchness is lost sight of.
4. Pursue not the outer entanglements,
Dwell not in the inner void;
Be serene in the oneness of things,
And [dualism] vanishes by itself.
5. When you strive to gain quiescence by stopping motion,
The quiescence thus gained is ever in motion;
As long as you tarry in the dualism,
How can you realise oneness?
6. And when oneness is not thoroughly understood,
In two ways loss is sustained:
The denying of reality is the asserting of it,
And the asserting of emptiness is the denying of it.
7. Wordiness and intellection--
The more with them the further astray we go;
Away therefore with wordiness and intellection,
And there is no place where we cannot pass freely.
8. When we return to the root, we gain the meaning;
When we pursue external objects, we lose the reason.
The moment we are enlightened within,
We go beyond the voidness of a world confronting us.
9. Transformations going on in an empty world which confronts us
Appear real all because of Ignorance:
Try not to seek after the true,
Only cease to cherish opinions.
10. Abide not with dualism,
Carefully avoid pursuing it;
As soon as you have right and wrong,
Confusion ensues, and Mind is lost.
11. The two exist because of the One,
But hold not even to this One;
When a mind is not disturbed,
The ten thousand things offer no offence.
12. No offence offered, and no ten thousand things;
No disturbance going, and no mind set up to work:
The subject is quieted when the object ceases,
The object ceases when the subject is quieted.
13. The object is an object for the subject,
The subject is a subject for the object:
Know that the relativity of the two
Rests ultimately on one Emptiness.
14. In one Emptiness the two are not distinguished,
And each contains in itself all the ten thousand things;
When no discrimination is made between this and that.
How can a one-sided and prejudiced view arise?
15. The Great Way is calm and large-hearted,
For it nothing is easy, nothing is hard;
Small views are irresolute,
The more in haste the tardier they go.
16. Clinging is never kept within bounds,
It is sure to go the wrong way;
Quit it, and things follow their own courses,
While the Essence neither departs nor abides.
17. Obey the nature of things, and you are in concord with the Way,
Calm and easy and free from annoyance;
But when your thoughts are tied, you turn away from the truth,
They grow heavier and duller and are not at all sound.
18. When they are not sound, the spirit is troubled;
What is the use of being partial and one-sided then?
If you want to walk the course of the One Vehicle,
Be not prejudiced against the six sense-objects.
19. When you are not prejudiced against the six sense-objects,
You are then one with the Enlightenment;
The wise are non-active,
While the ignorant bind themselves up;
While in the law itself there is no individuation,
They ignorantly attach themselves to particular objects.
It is their own mind that creates illusions--
Is this not the greatest of all self-contradictions?
20. The ignorant cherish the idea of rest and unrest,
The enlightened have no likes and dislikes:
All forms of dualism
Are contrived by the ignorant themselves.
They are like unto visions and flowers in the air;
Why should we trouble ourselves to take hold of them?
Gain and loss, right and wrong -
Away with them once for all!
21. If an eye never falls asleep,
All dreams will by themselves cease:
If the Mind retains its absoluteness,
The ten thousand things are of one Suchness.
22. When the deep mystery of one Suchness is fathomed,
All of a sudden we forget the external entanglements;
When the ten thousand things are viewed in their oneness,
We return to the origin and remain where we always have been.
23. Forget the wherefore of things,
And we attain to a state beyond analogy;
Movement stopped and there is no movement,
Rest set in motion and there is no rest;
When dualism does no more obtain,
Oneness itself abides not.
24. The ultimate end of things where they cannot go any further
Is not bound by rules and measures:
In the Mind harmonious [with the Way] we have the principle of identity,
In which we find all strivings quieted;
Doubts and irresolutions are completely done away with,
And the right faith is straightened;
There is nothing left behind, There is nothing retained,
All is void, lucid, and self-illuminating;
There is no exertion, no waste of energy -
This is where thinking never attains,
This is where the imagination fails to measure.
25. In the higher realm of true Suchness
There is neither "self" nor "other":
When direct identification is sought,
We can only say, "Not two".
26. In being "not two" all is the same,
All that is is comprehended in it;
The wise in the ten quarters,
They all enter into this Absolute Reason.
27. This Absolute Reason is beyond time and space,
For it one instant is ten thousand years;
Whether we see it or not,
It is manifest everywhere in all the ten quarters.
28. Infinitely small things are as large as large things can be,
For here no external conditions obtain;
Infinitely large things are as small as small things can be,
For objective limits are here of no consideration.
29. What is is the same as what is not,
What is not is the same as what is:
Where this state of things fails to obtain,
Indeed, no tarrying there.
30. One in All,
All in One -
If only this is realised,
No more worry about your not being perfect!
31. Where Mind and each believing mind are not divided,
And undivided are each believing mind and Mind,
This is where words fail;
For it is not of the past, present, and future.
TRACES OF THE DHAMMAPADA
Chapter I
The Twin-Verses
1. All that we are is the result of what we have thought: it is founded on our thoughts, it is made up of our thoughts. If a person speaks or acts with an evil thought, pain follows them, as the wheel follows the foot of the ox that draws the carriage.
2. All that we are is the result of what we have thought: it is founded on our thoughts, it is made up of our thoughts. If a person speaks or acts with a pure thought, happiness follows them, like a shadow that never leaves them.
3. "He abused me, he beat me, he defeated me, he robbed me," - in those who harbour such thoughts hatred will never cease.
4. "He abused me, he beat me, he defeated me, he robbed me," - in those who do not harbour such thoughts hatred will cease.
5. For hatred does not cease by hatred at any time: hatred ceases by love, this is an old rule.
6. The world does not know that we must all come to an end here; - but those who know it, their quarrels cease at once.
7. Those who live looking for pleasures only, their senses uncontrolled, immoderate in their food, idle and weak, the tempter will certainly overthrow them, as the wind throws down a weak tree.
8. Those who live without looking for pleasures, their senses well controlled, moderate in their food, faithful and strong, them the tempter will certainly not overthrow, any more than the wind throws down a rocky mountain.
11. They who imagine truth in untruth, and see untruth in truth, never arrive at truth, but follow vain desires.
12. They who know truth in truth, and untruth in untruth, arrive at truth, and follow true desires.
13. As rain breaks through an ill-thatched house, passion will break through an unreflecting mind.
14. As rain does not break through a well-thatched house, passion will not break through a well-reflecting mind.
15. The evil-doer mourns in this world, and they mourn in the next; they mourn in both. They mourn and suffer when they see the evil of their own work.
16. The virtuous one delights in this world, and they delight in the next; they delight in both. They delight and rejoice, when they see the purity of their own work.
17. The evil-doer suffers in this world, and they suffer in the next; they suffer in both. They suffer when they think of the evil they have done; they suffer more when going on the evil path.
18. The virtuous one is happy in this world, and they are happy in the next; they are happy in both. They are happy when they think of the good they have done; they are still more happy when going on the good path.
19. The thoughtless person, even if they can recite a large portion (of the law), but is not a doer of it, has no share in the priesthood, but is like a cowherd counting the cows of others.
20. The follower of the law, even if they can recite only a small portion (of the law), but, having forsaken passion and hatred and foolishness, possesses true knowledge and serenity of mind, they, caring for nothing in this world or that to come, have indeed a share in the priesthood.
Chapter II
On Earnestness
21. Earnestness is the path of immortality (Nirvana), thoughtlessness the path of death. Those who are in earnest do not die, those who are thoughtless are as if dead already.
22. Those who are advanced in earnestness, having understood this clearly, delight in earnestness, and rejoice in the knowledge of the elect.
23. These wise people, meditative, steady, always possessed of strong powers, attain to Nirvana, the highest happiness.
24. If an earnest person has roused themselves, if they are not forgetful, if their deeds are pure, if they act with consideration, if they restrain themselves, and live according to law, - then their glory will increase.
31. A mendicant who delights in earnestness, who looks with fear on thoughtlessness, moves about like fire, burning all their fetters, small or large.
32. A mendicant who delights in reflection, who looks with fear on thoughtlessness, cannot fall away (from his perfect state) - they are close upon Nirvana.
Chapter III
Thought
33. As a fletcher makes straight his arrow, a wise person makes straight their trembling and unsteady thought, which is difficult to guard, difficult to hold back.
34. As a fish taken from its watery home and thrown on dry ground, our thought trembles all over in order to escape the dominion of the tempter.
35. It is good to tame the mind, which is difficult to hold in and flighty, rushing wherever it lists; a tamed mind brings happiness.
36. Let the wise one guard their thoughts, for they are difficult to perceive, very artful, and they rush wherever they list: thoughts well guarded bring happiness.
39. If someone's thoughts are not dissipated, if their mind is not perplexed, if they have ceased to think of good or evil, then there is no fear for them while they are watchful.
41. Before long, alas! this body will lie on the earth, despised, without understanding, like a useless log.
42. Whatever a hater may do to a hater, or an enemy to an enemy, a wrongly directed mind will do us greater mischief.
43. Not a mother, not a father, will do so much, nor any other relative; a well-directed mind will do us greater service.
Chapter IV
Flowers
46. The one who knows that this body is like froth, and has learnt that it is as insubstantial as a mirage, will break the flower-pointed arrow of the tempter, and never see the king of death.
47. Death carries off the one who is gathering flowers and whose mind is distracted, as a flood carries off a sleeping village.
50. Not the perversities of others, not their sins of commission or omission, but their own misdeeds and negligences should a sage take notice of.
51. Like a beautiful flower, full of colour, but without scent, are the fine but fruitless words of the one who does not act accordingly.
52. But, like a beautiful flower, full of colour and full of scent, are the fine and fruitful words of the one who acts accordingly.
Chapter V
The Fool
60. Long is the night to the one who is awake; long is a mile to the one who is tired; long is life to the foolish who do not know the true law.
61. If a traveller does not meet with one who is their better, or their equal, let them firmly keep to their solitary journey; there is no companionship with a fool.
62. "These sons belong to me, and this wealth belongs to me," with such thoughts a fool is tormented. They do not belong to themselves; how much less sons and wealth?
64. If a fool be associated with the wise one even all his life, they will perceive the truth as little as a spoon perceives the taste of soup.
65. If an intelligent person be associated for one minute only with a wise one, he will soon perceive the truth, as the tongue perceives the taste of soup.
75. "One is the road that leads to wealth, another the road that leads to Nirvana;" if the mendicant, the disciple of enlightenment, has learnt this, they will not yearn for honour, they will strive after separation from the world.
Chapter VI
The Wise Person
76. If you see an intelligent person who tells you where true treasures are to be found, who shows what is to be avoided, and administers reproofs, follow that wise person; it will be better, not worse, for those who follow them.
78. Do not have evil-doers for friends, do not have low people for friends: have virtuous people for friends, have for friends the best of human beings.
80. Well-makers lead the water (wherever they like); fletchers bend the arrow; carpenters bend a log of wood; wise people fashion themselves.
81. As a solid rock is not shaken by the wind, wise people falter not amidst blame and praise.
82. Wise people, after they have listened to the laws, become serene, like a deep, smooth, and still lake.
83. Good people walk on whatever happens, the good do not prattle, longing for pleasure; whether touched by happiness or sorrow wise people never appear elated or depressed.
Chapter VII
The Venerable
90. There is no suffering for the one who has finished their journey, and abandoned grief, who has freed themselves on all sides, and thrown off all fetters.
92. Those who have no riches, who live on recognised food, who have perceived void and unconditioned freedom (Nirvana), their path is difficult to understand, like that of birds in the air.
96. Their thought is quiet, quiet are their words and deeds, when they have obtained freedom by true knowledge, when they have thus become quiet people.
99. Forests are delightful; where the world finds no delight, there the passionless will find delight, for they look not for pleasures.
Chapter IX
Evil
116. If a person would hasten towards the good, they should keep their thought away from evil; if a person does what is good slothfully, their mind delights in evil.
117. If a person commits a sin, let them not do it again; let them not delight in sin: pain is the outcome of evil.
118. If a person does what is good, let them do it again; let them delight in it: happiness is the outcome of good.
119. Even an evil-doer sees happiness as long as the evil deed has not ripened; but when the evil deed has ripened, then does the evil-doer see evil.
120. Even a good person sees evil days, as long as the good deed has not ripened; but when the good deed has ripened, then does the good person see happy days.
121. Let no person think lightly of evil, saying in their heart, It will not come nigh unto me. Even by the falling of water-drops a water-pot is filled; the fool becomes full of evil, even if it is gathered little by little.
122. Let no person think lightly of good, saying in their heart, It will not come nigh unto me. Even by the falling of water-drops a water-pot is filled; the wise person becomes full of good, even if it is gathered little by little.
Chapter X
Punishment
141. Not nakedness, not plaited hair, not dirt, not fasting, or lying on the earth, not rubbing with dust, not sitting motionless, can purify a mortal who has not overcome desires.
143. Is there in this world any person so restrained by humility that they do not mind reproof, as a well-trained horse the whip?
145. Well-makers lead the water (wherever they like); fletchers bend the arrow; carpenters bend a log of wood; good people fashion themselves.
Chapter XII
Self
158. Let each person direct themselves first to what is proper, then let them teach others; thus a wise person will not suffer.
159. If a person make themselves as they teach others to be, then, being themselves well subdued, they may subdue (others); one's own self is indeed difficult to subdue.
163. Bad deeds, and deeds hurtful to ourselves, are easy to do; what is beneficial and good, that is very difficult to do.
165. By oneself the evil is done, by oneself one suffers; by oneself evil is left undone, by oneself one is purified. Purity and impurity belong to oneself, no one can purify another.
Chapter XIII
The World
170. Look upon the world as a bubble, look upon it as a mirage: the king of death does not see him who looks down upon the world thusly.
Chapter XIV
The Enlightened
180. The one whom no desire with its snares and poisons can lead astray, by what track can you lead them, the Enlightened, the Omniscient, the trackless?
187. Even in heavenly pleasures they find no satisfaction, the disciple who is fully enlightened delights only in the destruction of all desires.
Chapter XV
Happiness
197. Let us live happily then, not hating those who hate us! Among people who hate us let us dwell free from hatred!
198. Let us live happily then, free from ailments among the ailing! Among people who are ailing let us dwell free from ailments!
199. Let us live happily then, free from greed among the greedy! Among people who are greedy let us dwell free from greed!
200. Let us live happily then, though we call nothing our own! We shall be like the bright gods, feeding on happiness!
201. Victory breeds hatred, for the conquered is unhappy. The one who has given up both victory and defeat, they, the contented, are happy.
204. Health is the greatest of gifts, contentedness the best riches; trust is the best of relationships, Nirvana the highest happiness.
Chapter XVI
Pleasure
210. Let no one ever look for what is pleasant, or what is unpleasant. Not to see what is pleasant is pain, and it is pain to see what is unpleasant.
211. Let, therefore, no one love anything; loss of the beloved is evil. Those who love nothing and hate nothing, have no fetters.
217. The one who possesses virtue and intelligence, who is just, speaks the truth, and does what is their own business, that one the world will hold dear.
218. The one in whom a desire for the Ineffable (Nirvana) has sprung up, who is satisfied in their mind, and whose thoughts are not bewildered by love, that one is called “carried upwards by the stream”.
Chapter XVII
Anger
221. Let a person leave anger, let a person forsake pride, let a person overcome all bondage! No sufferings befall the person who is not attached to name and form, and who calls nothing their own.
222. The person who holds back rising anger like a rolling chariot, that one I call a real driver; other people are but holding the reins.
223. Let a person overcome anger by love, let them overcome evil by good; let them overcome the greedy by liberality, the liar by truth!
226. Those who are ever watchful, who study day and night, and who strive after Nirvana, their passions will come to an end.
228. There never was, there never will be, nor is there now, a person who is always blamed, or a person who is always praised.
Chapter XIX
The Just
256, 257. A person is not just if they pursue a matter by violence; no, they who distinguish both right and wrong, who are learned and lead others, not by violence, but by law and equity, and who are guarded by the law and act intelligently, that one is called just.
258. A person is not learned because they talk much; the one who is patient, free from hatred and fear, that one is called learned.
261. The one in whom there is truth, virtue, love, restraint, moderation, the one who is free from impurity and is wise, that one is called an elder.
262. An envious greedy, dishonest person does not become respectable by means of much talking alone, or by the beauty of their complexion.
Chapter XX
The Way
277. `All created things perish,' the one who knows and sees this becomes passive in pain; this is the way to purity.
278. `All created things are grief and pain,' the one who knows and sees this becomes passive in pain; this is the way that leads to purity.
279. `All forms are unreal,' the one who knows and sees this becomes passive in pain; this is the way that leads to purity.
280. The one who does not rouse themselves when it is time to rise, who, though young and strong, is full of sloth, whose will and thought are weak, that lazy and idle person will never find the way to knowledge.
Chapter XXI
Miscellaneous
304. Good people shine from afar, like the snowy mountains; bad people are not seen, like arrows shot by night.
305. The one alone who, without ceasing, practises the duty of sitting alone and sleeping alone, that one, subduing themselves, will rejoice in the destruction of all desires alone, as if living in a forest.
Chapter XXV
The Mendicant
360. Restraint in the eye is good, good is restraint in the ear, in the nose restraint is good, good is restraint in the tongue.
361. In the body restraint is good, good is restraint in speech, in thought restraint is good, good is restraint in all things. A mendicant, restrained in all things, is freed from all pain.
362. He who controls his hand, he who controls his feet, he who controls his speech, he who is well controlled, he who delights inwardly, who is collected, who is solitary and content, him they call mendicant.
363. The mendicant who controls his mouth, who speaks wisely and calmly, who teaches the meaning and the law, his word is sweet.
364. He who dwells in the law, delights in the law, meditates on the law, follows the law, that mendicant will never fall away from the true law.
365. Let him not despise what he has received, nor ever envy others: a mendicant who envies others does not obtain peace of mind.
366. A mendicant who, though he receives little, does not despise what he has received, even the gods will praise him, if his life is pure, and if he is not slothful.
367. He who never identifies himself with name and form, and does not grieve over what is no more, he indeed is called a mendicant.
368. The mendicant who acts with kindness, who is calm in the doctrine of enlightenment, will reach the quiet place (Nirvana), cessation of natural desires, and happiness.
380. For self is the lord of self, self is the refuge of self; therefore curb thyself as the merchant curbs a good horse.
SIX PRECEPTS by Tilopa
No thought,
no reflection,
no analysis,
No cultivation,
no intention;
Let it settle itself.
That concludes my initial appraisal of the notion “there is nothing to stick to”, otherwise referred to in this first part of my project as “anarchy,” ahead of the next part which will address morality more explicitly and exclusively before developing into other areas. I have covered the idea in spiritual, philosophical, artistic or aesthetic, cultural and political senses. There are, between these senses, connections, continuities and discontinuities, as well as the fundamental matter of an interpenetration of each into the others, which I have not been able to draw out, even in such a large project as this, due to space considerations. But this is no bad thing for, as philosophers, or merely as intellectual animals with the ability to think, our primary duty is to utilise that faculty rather than to be those who read things to be told what to think. This is what being a thinking human being is whilst the latter process seems to view human beings more as machines in need of instructions. None of the examples I have detailed in this first part of the project, in 13 articles, are examples of people who would want to tell you what to think in detail, as I myself am not either. But they, as I, would all expect that you did think, became fully human beings and so took responsibility for your own lives and the thoughts which direct them and, through them, by a process of aggregation, the societies and so the world we all live in. This, it may be seen, is actually the logical conclusion of the belief “there is nothing to stick to.“ For is that idea not, in fact, the radical conclusion that you are responsible for yourself yet, in that, responsible for or to NOTHING AT ALL? And so is our conclusion not that human life and existence is ever a Something human beings make out of Nothing and, being that, that it can always be made and remade and remade again? Truly, there IS nothing to stick to and, in acknowledging that, is human life not actually more about an innocence than an epistemology we can be blamed for?
