Simplicity
It's normally a derogotary remark if you say 'so and so is a bit simple'. That implies the person in question is foolish, has bad taste or simply not smart enough. However, simplicity is a quality to be aspired for by those on a spiritual quest. This is for the simple reason that the mind and the psyche cannot become free if they are burdened by human values, ideas, predudices, and conditionings. Taoist masters and adepts of the old have always advocate simplicity as a prerequisite for aspirants.
Bai Yu-chan, an 8th-century Taoist luminary said, ''An aspirant of Tao should stay simple and single-minded; there's no place for cleverness'', and that he should ''be withdrawn and humble, never smart and discerning".
Cao Wen-yi, a female Taoist adept of around the same period, encouraged aspirants with these words at the end of her well-quoted 'Song of Spirit and the Great Way',
Withdraw your erudition and hold back your intelligence,
conceal your spirit and pretend to be ignorant and simple.
So long as you persue your ultimate goal with single-mindedness,
the Great Way will never fail you in the end.
Chang San-feng, the Ming Dynasty luminary, said, "Cleverly holding on to the branches is not as good as clumsily sticking to the roots". 'Branches' are the multitude of idiosychrocies of the conditioned human mind and 'the roots' are the Unitive Oneness, the Ultimate Reality, the Tao or the Divine.
How to keep our mind simple and uncontaminated from the visiccitudes of life situations? The Old Man Qing Hua, a celestial being instructed his disciple He Zhai-zi who transcribed his teachings into writing with the following words,
As for daily business, since you do not have the previlege of living as a recluse in the mountain, you have no way of avoiding them. The way to deal with them is to let them come to you, be it something good or bad; simply deal with them as they come and never linger over them afterwards.... Neither anticipate in advance nor calculating gain or loss afterwards.
A soul with utter simplicity is non-judgemental, non-groping or climbing, free from fear and desires. N. Grou says that for a man with simple heart,"The single motive is to please God, and hence arises total indifference as to what others say and think, so that words and actions are perfectly simple and natural, as in his sight only." But I can't say I agree with such a description. How can one be sure if what he does pleases God if he doesn't know God personally? Also, why should God want us to please him? He is Perfection and Completion and does not need anything from us humans.
In comparison, another Christian, Fenelon's description is more convincing to me:-
That soul which looks where it is going without losing time arguing over every step, or looking back perpetually, possesses true simplicity.
I believe true simplicity cannot be even described by words in any language for words are formed by thought. A new-born baby is simple in that it does not have a mind of its own; it has no faculty of language or intellect; it has no division between itself and its immediate environment. Or we can think of the moment of Big Bang at the beginning of the universe as the perfect state of simplicity. If we can return to that state of Premordial Unity within ourselves, we reach the ultimate simplicity or emancipation for once and all. Can that ultimate simplicity be realized within our individual self? According to Buddha and Lao Tzu, we can.
Bai Yu-chan, an 8th-century Taoist luminary said, ''An aspirant of Tao should stay simple and single-minded; there's no place for cleverness'', and that he should ''be withdrawn and humble, never smart and discerning".
Cao Wen-yi, a female Taoist adept of around the same period, encouraged aspirants with these words at the end of her well-quoted 'Song of Spirit and the Great Way',
Withdraw your erudition and hold back your intelligence,
conceal your spirit and pretend to be ignorant and simple.
So long as you persue your ultimate goal with single-mindedness,
the Great Way will never fail you in the end.
Chang San-feng, the Ming Dynasty luminary, said, "Cleverly holding on to the branches is not as good as clumsily sticking to the roots". 'Branches' are the multitude of idiosychrocies of the conditioned human mind and 'the roots' are the Unitive Oneness, the Ultimate Reality, the Tao or the Divine.
How to keep our mind simple and uncontaminated from the visiccitudes of life situations? The Old Man Qing Hua, a celestial being instructed his disciple He Zhai-zi who transcribed his teachings into writing with the following words,
As for daily business, since you do not have the previlege of living as a recluse in the mountain, you have no way of avoiding them. The way to deal with them is to let them come to you, be it something good or bad; simply deal with them as they come and never linger over them afterwards.... Neither anticipate in advance nor calculating gain or loss afterwards.
A soul with utter simplicity is non-judgemental, non-groping or climbing, free from fear and desires. N. Grou says that for a man with simple heart,"The single motive is to please God, and hence arises total indifference as to what others say and think, so that words and actions are perfectly simple and natural, as in his sight only." But I can't say I agree with such a description. How can one be sure if what he does pleases God if he doesn't know God personally? Also, why should God want us to please him? He is Perfection and Completion and does not need anything from us humans.
In comparison, another Christian, Fenelon's description is more convincing to me:-
That soul which looks where it is going without losing time arguing over every step, or looking back perpetually, possesses true simplicity.
I believe true simplicity cannot be even described by words in any language for words are formed by thought. A new-born baby is simple in that it does not have a mind of its own; it has no faculty of language or intellect; it has no division between itself and its immediate environment. Or we can think of the moment of Big Bang at the beginning of the universe as the perfect state of simplicity. If we can return to that state of Premordial Unity within ourselves, we reach the ultimate simplicity or emancipation for once and all. Can that ultimate simplicity be realized within our individual self? According to Buddha and Lao Tzu, we can.
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