Attain the utmost in Passivity,
Hold firm to the basis of Quietude
The myriad things take shape and rise to activity
But I watch them fall back to their repose.
Like vegetation that luxuriantly grows
But returns to the root from which it springs.
To return to the root is Repose:
It is called going back to one's Destiny.
Going back to one's Destiny is to find the Eternal Law, "Tao"
To KNOW "Tao" is Enlightenment.
And NOT to know the Eternal Law, "Tao"
Is to court disaster.
These
are my notes and understanding while working on above sutra, from the
book "Living Tao" by OSHO. Please read and comment on your
understanding.
"Attain the utmost in Passivity":
We
are always active, doing something! this is how we work or how our mind
works and stays alive. If there is a thought, there is mind. To be
PASSIVE is to not do anything, to give in surrender, to observe, to be
a witness - Mediate. 24 hours we are doing things and things.... if one
hour we can be passive and stop. Let things happen and we simply watch.
Utmost
Passivity: simply being passive is not enough. In being passive, we are
trying, making effort to be passive. As we are trying we are still
doing something and mind is still working... Meditation happens when we
stop being active, surrender or forget about it being passive we simply
observe. Its like trying to sleep, If you try to sleep it dosent
happen. The moment you forget about sleep, you somehow sleep. Till you
are excited, you cant sleep. The moment mind dosent have anything to
do, we go to sleep. If we are trying to relax, it goes against
relaxation as we are still doing something. Relaxation happens when we
are not doing anything. Utmost in Passivity is when there is no effort
to be passive.
Beautiful things happen, they are not done. Love
happens, meditation happens, relaxation happens. We cannot make it
happen. No one can force us to love, we could pretend but it wont be
love. Material world is a world of doing, and Spiritual world is a
world of happening.
Another way to look at Active and Passive is
as Male and Female temperament. Males are more active; doing, women
passive; waiting. Greatest thing happens to women, not men. She becomes
pregnant, gives life! A god is to be born, women becomes a temple. Man
simply remains a doer, outsider. To receive ultimate, we need to be
feminine, witness, non-doer, utmost passive.
Ying - fire energy, Yang - water. We need to be more like water, flowing and less like fire, rigid.
"Hold firm to the basis of Quietude":
Mediate to reach the core of ourselves, in the stillness find the center. It is there! hard to find with all the thinking going on, but only matter of time if we keep trying. Once we find it, hold on to it.
"The myriad things take shape and rise to activity
But I watch them fall back to their repose.":
From
the center and stillness we can watch things take place and they come
back to stillness. When we meditate, we watch our mind and the thoughts
go from one thing to other. Sometimes one thought leads to another, and
on and on, and we realize and we come back to center. If we are
centered or grounded, we watch things happen around us, people acting,
but not being affected, we can simply watch without being affected.
"Like vegetation that luxuriantly grows
But returns to the root from which it springs.":
Everything
goes back to origin. Spring comes seeds becomes plants and trees, then
one day day they fall and go back to ground. Child is born, becomes old
and dies back to origin.
"To return to the root is Repose:"
In west progress is seen as linear. In east its seen as circular.
In
linear, everything moves in a line, and keep moving in a line, things
are happening.... on and on, one thing to another. History is
important, historical facts are important.
In circular,
everything moves in a circle, things happen then they go back to the
root, history is not relevant as its a circle. 'Sansar' the world for
world literally means a Circle. History becomes less important, and is
substituted by Mythology 'Puran'. In Puran we are concerned with the
essential, in History we care of the facts. Who cares about when Buddha
was born, what matters more is what he said. Buddha becomes a symbol of
all Buddhas and what happened.
We are born and then we die, we
return back the root. Life is a circle, death is repose. When we
understand this, there is no struggle, there is acceptance.
"It is called going back to one's Destiny.
Going back to one's Destiny is to find the Eternal Law, "Tao" ":
This is the Eternal Law, to understand the circle.
"To KNOW "Tao" is Enlightenment.":
Once
we know, we dont fight it, we live with it. A wise man moves with the
law, a foolish man suffers. If we go against the law we suffer, no one
is needed to punish us. You put your hand in fire, it will burn.
In our moments of happiness and bliss, we are with the law.
"And NOT to know the Eternal Law, "Tao"
Is to court disaster.":
To not be with the law, to go against the law, we cause our own suffering.
We create our own Heaven and Hell.