Tao Teh Ching is good for your life

Mengikuti Irama Kehidupan Tao Teh Ching bagi Orang Modern (Tao-Teh Ching for Modern Man); Anand Krishna; PT Gramedia Pustaka Utama; xvii + 302 pp

YOGYAKARTA (JP): Whatever your religion is, Tao-Teh Ching will enrich your life. The enlightenment provided by Lao Tze, the traditional founder of Taoism, will let you enjoy life with a responsive attitude, and without repression. You will follow life's current without losing your identity. Those people immersing themselves in true life, like mystics and supporters of perennial philosophy, do not want to be cheated by ersatz.

Krishna states in this book that Lao Tze is a symbol of awareness, a "happening" which can take place in your life. Tao- Teh Ching is life's rhythm, to sing and enjoy Lao Tze's writings. But he can only be understood with an open attitude which will give birth to a new life, a new vision and a new orientation.

Tao Khe Tao -- Phechang Tao. Ming Khe Ming -- Phechang Ming. Tao which can be explained is not Tao. A name that can be mentioned is not a name. So, Tao is Genuine, One and cannot be explained -- in other words God. Teh is more like a manifestation of Tao which cannot be explained -- also known as good deeds. Ching is reading and songs.

Krishna in this book does not invite us to define things one by one with complex and strict ratios, but he asks us to enter life by allowing Lao Tze into the awareness of our conceited hearts. The next step is to translate Lao Tze into our everyday lives without being bound by the limitations of certain religious traditions.

One example given by Krishna of a person translating Lao Tze into his life, is an attempt to preserve nature against the march of modernization. The principle of a harmonious coexistence with nature shows characteristics of the teachings of Lao Tze (pg. 33).

What about Lao Tze's own life? Lao Tze led a life with no shackles on his soul. He managed to maintain his reason at a time when other people were "crazy". During Lao Tze's life, it is said, Kung Fu Tze was disseminating teachings on materialism, which the general public was following. What did Lao Tze do? He was not enthusiastic about Kung Fu Tze's views on materialism, which he felt could lead to hedonism. Lao Tze preferred to live with Tao. He preferred a life of awareness, simplicity and love. Tao for him was a source of life and a source for his existence.

Therefore, in order to understand Lao Tze, inevitably, we must absorb life. And after life is absorbed, it must be translated into our life in accordance with the flow of nature's power. Only by absorbing life can one be close with Tao.

It is not a surprise when mystics tell us they can be one with God. God's transcendence is also immanent. Mystics can be one with God's immanence because they can find awareness in life: empiric nature. Oneness with God must not be understood to mean that God is identical with nature. It goes beyond this. The same is true of God's transcendence.

Tao, or God, cannot be explained or even described with words. But its presence can be felt through the spell which the nature of life radiates (emanation). Mysterium tremendum et fascinocum, said Rudolf Otto.

Lao Tze said that if you want to reach a very high level of awareness, experience this life and abandon the attributes and symbols with which you become labeled. You are not an attribute. Your own property is your identity which has been formulated by the realization which has yielded enlightenment. This is why people say religion is the result of enlightenment (pg. 86).

"Therefore there is no other way than to be one with this life. That is the essence of Tao. That is the mystery of life, the mystery of Tao."

The master, Lao Tze, invites us to release the burdens which make us cowards. Lao Tze wants you to live in harmony with nature and God, but does not prevent you from cooperating with others. If you follow Lao Tze, trust that you will not be affected by life's tides. Whatever happens, you will walk in a state of balance.

-- C.M. Ben Muzammil

The writer is a freelance reviewer. He lives at the Krapyak Muslim School.