One path to lasting unconditional happiness is living in harmony with the Tao, or “the way.” The Tao refers to a philosophy and approach to living focused on the natural order of the universe.[167] It is an ancient philosophy, dating back to around 600 B.C.E. and the writings of Lao Tzu and Chuang Tzu, among others. Today, we find the fundamental philosophy of the Tao in Zen Buddhism, Taoism, and Confucianism. Zen is perhaps the closest to the spirit of the original teaching.[168]
How does living in harmony with the Tao help to make a person happy? The best way to answer this question is to say that, at the deepest level, at the level where we are naturally in harmony with the universe, we are happy. In this book, I refer to this state as unconditional happiness. Of course, the word “happy” does not adequately describe our true nature. Some prefer to describe the natural feeling as equanimity, as being at peace with oneself, or joyous, but none of these words is quite right. So, happy will have to do.
According to the ancient wisdom of the Tao, in order to be happy one must simply discipline the mind to stop chasing after happiness and learn to turn the attention toward unconditional happiness, which can be had without doing anything.
What Is the Tao?
When asked about the nature of the Tao, both Chuang Tzu and Lao Tzu said, “He who knows does not say; he who says, does not know.”[169] In other words, even these sages would not try to describe the Tao. We can talk about practicing the way of the Tao, but we cannot describe the Tao. Though we may not be able to describe the Tao, we can experience it, and learn to live in harmony with it.
Instead of speaking about the Tao, you have to know the Tao directly. Of course, the natural tendency is to want to describe it. To try to describe the Tao, however, would be a mistake. To try to describe it is to attempt to get it to conform to an image that is within human understanding, and when you try to do so, you not only distort its truth, but you distance yourself from it.[170]
The mind, which deals only in finite images, thoughts, and ideas, cannot hold on to the concept of something that is not finite and is not a thing.[171] Human language hones in on “things,” and the Tao is not a thing.
Instead, the ancient Taoists looked at how the universe seems to behave in a particular way. This way, the way of the Tao, is not the simple way of cause and effect, which represents the operation of the material world, but is, rather, something beyond that. The ancients knew not to try to understand why the Tao is as it is. Instead, they studied and wrote about how to harmonize oneself with this way. What they tried to do was teach people how to work with it, and to live life according to its rhythms and energies.[172]
Another way of looking at the work of the ancient masters is, instead of reducing the Tao to the level of human understanding, their teaching tried to bring human awareness into the Tao. That is, they taught and practiced moving awareness out of the limited confines of the mind, and into the limitless Tao.
In the Tao Te Ching, Lao Tzu spoke of the Tao in the following way:
Something mysteriously formed,
Born before heaven and earth.
In the silence and the void,
Standing alone and unchanging,
Ever present and in motion.
Perhaps it is the mother of ten thousand things.
I do not know its name.
Call it Tao.
For lack of a better word, I call it great.
Being great, it flows.
It flows far away.
Having gone far, it returns.
Therefore, “Tao is great;
Heaven is great;
Earth is great;
The human being is also great.”
These are the four great powers of the universe,
And the human being is one of them.
The human being follows the earth.
Earth follows heaven.
Heaven follows the Tao.
Tao follows what is natural. (Tao Te Ching, Ch. 25)[173]
What the Masters Taught
When Buddhism migrated to China, it met with Taoist philosophy, and from this encounter emerged what is known as Zen Buddhism. Zen follows closely the original teachings of the Buddha. However, Zen also has many of the playful aspects of Taoist philosophy.
We know Chuang Tzu and Lao Tzu only by their writings. In their works, we do not find much in the way of explicit instructions on how to live in harmony with the universe, and we do not know how they taught. We know a lot, however, about how Zen masters have taught their students over the years. Because of the similarities between the Zen and Taoist philosophies, perhaps the teaching methods were similar.
Zen masters tend to use relatively few words in their teaching. They give their students few detailed instructions on what they want them to do. There are famous tales of students working for years trying to attain enlightenment, and then the Zen master raises a single finger, or hits a student with a rod, and all of a sudden, the student’s mind opens. The book, Zen in the Art of Archery,[174] describes one student’s long years of trying to learn Zen archery, with only the most cryptic guidance from his teacher.
Perhaps the way Chuang Tzu and Lao Tzu taught was similarly cryptic. From their writings, it seems that their method was to help students learn to live in harmony with the Tao by giving them a goal to aim for, and then letting the students figure out how to get there. When you read Zen in the Art of Archery, you may conclude that this was the way the Zen archery master taught.
Let us see what the old masters said about living in harmony with the universe and the way of the Tao. The focus is on the way they suggest that we be, not so much on how to obtain that way of being. In other words, the focus is on the attitude or approach to life that seems to be in harmony with the Tao. Since this book is about finding lasting happiness, we will pay the most attention to what they said about happiness.
Being Happy Without Doing Anything
Chuang Tzu said, “You never find happiness until you stop looking for it.” [175] This statement is at once profound wisdom and down-home common sense. For example, after all of her adventures in Oz, what did Dorothy learn? She said she learned that “If I ever go looking for my heart's desire again, I won't look any farther than my own backyard, because if it isn't there, I never really lost it to begin with." [176]
Happiness is not something you go looking for, and it is not something you need to do anything to get. Quite the opposite! It is not what you need to do to find happiness; it is what you need to stop “doing” in order to discover that happiness is always with you.
The way things seem to work is if you spend your time chasing after happiness, your desire to get the things in life that will make you happy can cause anxiety that makes life unbearable. Ultimately, your ever-present desire for enjoyment will make you unhappy, even when you have the things you wanted.[177] You cannot enjoy what you have or who you are if you are always looking ahead for the next thing, the next experience, the next relationship, or the next lifetime to bring you happiness. You cannot find true happiness if your happiness depends on what happens to you, or how something or someone makes you feel.
Therefore, when asked how to find happiness, Chuang Tzu naturally said that there is no answer to the question of how to find happiness; but if you stop “striving for happiness,” the way to happiness will appear. He said that his “greatest happiness consists precisely in doing nothing whatever that is calculated to obtain happiness.”
You are probably saying right now, “OK, maybe chasing happiness doesn’t work. If I just sit here, though, doing nothing to make myself happy, how am I going to be happy? Also, reading this book is supposed to help me be happy, and reading it constitutes ‘doing something,’ so do you want me to stop reading?”
The answer is “No.” Reading this book will not make you happy in the sense that reading a novel or going to a movie will make you happy. The purpose of this book is help you eliminate habits and ways of being that get in your way of being happy. You are already happy, and with this book I am only trying to help you discover that.
Not-Doing as the Key to Happiness
Chuang Tzu said, “Contentment and well-being at once become possible the moment you cease to act with them in view, and if you practice not-doing (wu wei), you will have both happiness and well-being.” [178] Understanding “not-doing” is the key to understanding the way of the Tao. The ancient masters said, “Do that which is not done by doing. Make that which is not made by making.” [179]
The concept of not-doing underlies both the ancient teaching of the Tao and modern Zen Buddhism. In the context of happiness, it means going through life, doing what you need to do, pursuing your schooling or work, raising a family, cultivating your friendships, being the best you can be, and generally enjoying life, while at the same time not doing anything with the intention of it making you happy.
Chuang Tzu said that if an archer is shooting for no reason at all, all of his skill is available to him. Once a shot matters, however, once he is shooting for a prize or fame, “the need to win drains him of power.” [180] The desire for something in the future makes you incapable of living in the present.[181] This desire robs you of power and may take away the happiness that is natural to you.
Here is how Lao Tzu expresses the essence of not-doing:
The sage relies on actionless activity;
Puts himself in the background, but is always to the fore.
Remains outside, but is always there.
Is it not just because he does not strive for any personal end
That all his personal ends are fulfilled? [182]
In Japan, there is a long tradition of archery as a Zen practice. In Zen in the Art of Archery, the author seems to describe an archer practicing not-doing while shooting. He describes it as a frame of mind “in which nothing definite is thought, planned, striven for, desired, or expected, which aims in no particular direction and yet knows itself capable alike of the possible and the impossible, so unswerving is its power…” [183] The author quotes his teacher as saying, “The right art is purposeless, aimless! The more obstinately you try to learn how to shoot the arrow for the sake of hitting the goal, the less you will succeed in the one and the further the other will recede.” The teacher goes on to say, “You think that what you do not do yourself does not happen.” [184]
This advice for shooting any arrow applies to being happy as well. All of us believe we must do something in order to be happy. In fact, doing nothing is the key. As Chuang Tzu said, “Contentment and well-being at once become possible the moment you cease to act with them in view.”
Not-doing involves being unattached to what you expect to achieve and to what you have achieved. As discussed earlier in the chapter on nonattachment, to be unattached does not mean you are indifferent or uncaring. To be unattached means your lasting happiness (equanimity) does not depend on what happens. In Zen in the Art of Archery, the author’s teacher says, “You know already that you should not grieve over bad shots; learn now not to rejoice over the good ones. You must free yourself from the buffetings of pleasure and pain, and learn to rise above them in easy equanimity, to rejoice as though not you but another had shot well.” [185]
Not-doing may seem confusing, but it is quite simple. You have probably already experienced not-doing. Think of a time when you were so involved in an activity that you did not notice that you were doing it. You just did it. You might have been playing a game or performing a task at work. Try to remember one of those times when your involvement was so complete that you did not think about the outcome. You were fully engaged in the activity, and the activity had a purpose, but you were not attached to that purpose emotionally. You were probably engaged in not-doing.
For most of us, periods of not-doing are infrequent at best. To live in harmony with the Tao is for your entire life to be a continuous flow of not-doing.
Conserving Tao
One school of thought holds that each of us has a certain supply of natural Tao, and that it should not be wasted. That is, you should use your allotted Tao efficiently. Not-doing is supposed to use as little Tao as possible to get done what you need to get done. What needlessly wastes Tao is friction of any kind. Here I am talking mainly about psychic friction. This could be friction arising in interpersonal relationships or personal emotional friction.
This way of thinking about the Tao reduces it to an energy or substance that we can control. In this sense, the Tao is referred to as ch’i, which literally means “breath” — and all energy. [186] Tao masters of old might not approve of such thinking, if taken literally. However, it is perhaps useful to visualize the Tao as a distinct substance.
Try to imagine that you have a finite amount of “Tao energy” or ch’i available to you. Then imagine friction arising from emotions or interpersonal conflicts that use up that energy. Internal emotions might be strong desires, uncertainties, or fears. Notice the way friction uses energy but accomplishes nothing. Now, imagine how your actions would be without this friction.
Chuang Tzu describes the kind of friction that wastes ch’i. In his verses titled, “The Need to Win,” (see Chapter 12) he describes how an archer who needs to win loses power, but one who shoots for nothing (is not-doing) conserves his power.
Some Taoists believe you can obtain more than your allotment of ch’i through certain practices. The body movements of t’ai chi chuan are employed to draw ch’i to you from the outside, and release blocked ch’i that is inside of you. Meditation techniques similar to those of raja yoga are used to increase the amount of ch’i available to you.[187] I am not going to go into these practices, but it is worth noting that they exist and have many adherents.
Finding Happiness When You Stop Looking for It
In the words of Chuang Tzu at the start of this chapter, “You never find happiness until you stop looking for it.” [188] The farther and faster you go, trying to catch happiness, the farther away you will be from the happiness that is natural to you. The mind has many elaborate ideas about what will make you happy, and those ideas pretty much run our lives. Chuang Tzu says, if you stop “doing,” happiness naturally arises. Perhaps we would be better off if there were no concept of happiness, so we could stop worrying about looking for it.[189]
The Mind’s Rules of Happiness
Your mind has many rules about what makes you happy. Of course, the more specific the rules, the worse off you are! For example, Chuang Tzu says that if you have refined tastes, so that only the most exquisite things are good enough, refinement creates a barrier between you and happiness. Your desire for things creates a cage. Your happiness is held hostage to the need for luxury.[190]
Even if you do not need luxuries to make you happy, the mind’s insidious fixation on specific circumstances that make you happy can prevent you from being happy. The mind always targets the next thing, even the next little thing. It is the way we are. We are planners, always focusing on the future. All too often, however, we sacrifice the present for the sake of the future.
Just as your mind has rules and provisions about what makes you happy, it also has rules about the things that make you unhappy. Perhaps your mind dictates that you cannot be happy if your friend is unkind to you. This kind of rule is reasonable in a world where pleasing situations make you happy. If situations and other “things” have the power to make you happy, other things make you unhappy. And if the mind focuses on things that make you unhappy, attention is stuck in a morass that prevents you from enjoying your life.
Chuang Tzu identifies two types of obstruction that can get in the way of happiness — those on the outside and those on the inside. He says, if things in the outside world obstruct you, you should learn to ignore them. On the other hand, if they are inside of you, you must learn to control your mind so that they do not control you.[191] Your mind’s rules for happiness are probably limiting your present ability to be happy. Following the advice of Chuang Tzu, you should learn to control your mind, ignore its rules, and turn your attention to happiness.
Enjoy What You Are Doing — Right Now!
Even if you are not frantically pursuing happiness, your mind’s natural tendency to look to the future can preclude happiness at any time.
I remember driving home one cold rainy afternoon, and thinking about the nice cup of coffee I planned to make when I got home. My desire for coffee, though not overwhelming, was strong enough to capture my attention. Suddenly, I noticed that my desire for coffee was drawing my attention away from the valley through which I was driving. I was missing the thick gray clouds gathering on the surrounding hills, the deep green of the wet grass, the dark trees, and the ducks sitting quietly in the pond beside the road. I was missing all of this, and all for want of a simple cup of coffee. After coming to this realization, I forgot about the coffee and just enjoyed the drive.
Learn to enjoy every moment. If you always focus your attention on enjoyment planned for the future, you cannot enjoy what is happening right now; you can barely be aware of what is happening right now.
The Ego and the Tao
We all have a self-image, with which we are intimately familiar. This self-image (ego) is a kind of do-it-yourself affair, created by each of us as we go through life. The ego is not a real self. However, when we try to see ourselves, this may be all that appears. The fact that we can usually find only an ego-self leads some to believe that there is no real self.[192] There may be some validity to this argument. Certainly, the Tao masters tell us that as we draw closer to the Tao, we begin to leave our individual sense of self behind, and at some point become one with the universe.
Very few of us will get to the point of merging with the All, at least not in this lifetime. However, it is clear from what the masters tell us that the way to harmonize with the Tao is to allow our desires, aversions, and self-image (ego) to recede into the background, and even at times disappear from view. This guidance is not theoretical - it is practical. As ego recedes, the happier one becomes.
Conversely, the more we obsess about ourselves, the more miserable we become.[193] In addition, Lao Tzu notes that the more self-centered we become, the more we limit ourselves.[194] Perhaps by this he means that to the extent that we identify with ego-self, we ignore the true self, which is immeasurably greater.
Learning to Practice the Way of the Tao
In theory, the way of the Tao is simple. It is a smooth and straight path. However, your mind is not simple, and rather than lead you straight through, it constantly tortures you with thoughts, beliefs, emotions, and desires that can lead you astray. While the way of the Tao is easy and straight, the mind is a labyrinth.[195]
People may avoid the direct path of the Tao because it is hard. This path can be hard because it requires us to act differently from the way we all usually behave. We must to learn a different way of going through life. Flowing with the Tao can be the task of a lifetime; but “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” [196]
The texts that have come down to us, the Tao Te Ching, by Lao Tzu, and the writings in Merton’s The Way of Chuang Tzu, provide guidance to help people rise to the level of the Tao, to meet the Tao on its terms, to experience it directly rather than try to understand it. In their writings, the Tao masters aimed to guide their students to a direct experience of the Tao through teaching that was very subtle and indirect, offering no definite methods or practices for arriving at the goal.
Rather than speak about the Tao or speak about the truth, the ancient masters led their students to the Tao, and then let the truth speak for itself.[197] Much of the teaching describes how people should be in the world in order to come to know the Tao directly. The goal of spiritual practice was to come into harmony with the Tao and to become “one with the subtle essence of the universe.”[198]
The requirements for experiencing the Tao, for being “one” with the Tao, are rigorous. To be in accord with the way of the universe is a single-minded pursuit.
According to Lao Tzu, you must eliminate all that contaminates your mind by “practicing selflessness and extending virtue to the world unconditionally.” In this way, you both eliminate the accumulated contaminants and make possible the restoration of your divine nature as an integral universal being.[199] “Be calm, happy, and content with your being, and live only according to your nature.” [200]
Practicing the way of the Tao does not require a solitary monastic existence, or a vow of poverty. In fact, quite the opposite is true. While some people think that to progress spiritually you have to renounce the world, and spend all of your time in quiet meditation, this is simply not so. Hiding from the world can lead to a very narrow life and a limited experience of the Tao. [201] The Tao masters would have you be in the world, learning the way of desireless happiness and not-doing.
Not-Doing and the Virtuous Life
Living a virtuous life can result in the blessings of happiness and eventual enlightenment. Most religions hold that a virtuous life can result in blessings even greater than these. However, you cannot receive these blessings if you are forcing yourself to behave virtuously. As discussed in the chapter on charity, if you perform an act of charity in order to receive blessings, you are not expressing the virtue of charity at all, you are just bargaining.
Truly virtuous actions come naturally from the way you are, not from a selfish motive.[202] If you are truly kind to people, it is because you are a kind person, not because you want to appear kind, and not because you believe kind acts will result in blessings. If you are not kind, it does not matter how virtuously you force yourself to behave; your actions do not make you virtuous. If you are virtuous, acts of virtue flow naturally from you, and virtuous actions become a form of not-doing. These actions only express who you are, and you do not perform them with strain or the thought of benefit. Lao