Tenacious Masters

Without friends, one never realizes potential - it remains veiled, held-back - it’s the true friend who tells his friend how he could be a little bit better - offering only a perspective - thank you Loon Wei.

I’ve read, a little, on the history of the Chinese masters, but have reflected much, from my perspective the tradition and lineage of the Chinese is one rooted in tenacity, in the direction of becoming a master, towards that which is better, the opposite of better is not allowing one to be better - to block another unnecessarily. Within the tradition, the one who strives to become a master requires a certain type of uprightness, in honor of themselves in front of the other - masters - which does not apply to the commoners (like me) - ours is only knowing that the absolute truth of the mystery, is the manifestation of the Dao in of itself. Everyone can judge - and do judge - the evidence for themselves, its what it is to be a conscious human being, we have an innate ability to attempt to work out problems for our collective survival, those who abhor the idea of consciousness being absolutely and undeniably true are naïve and in that unaware state attempt to force others to follow them in a thing that is limited and wasteful, the irony being that such naïve people would be horrified if another tried to change them and the choices they want to make, its amusing, the constant cycle of contradictions, the only downside of such amusement is the suffering of innocent beings - luckily the material moment always disappears into the ether along with those who are anchored to it - we will never see the moment ever again. Naïve people, like me, are by definition not masters, for the one who is dim in their understanding is one who chooses not to pursue that which is always better, the naïve are content with the environment and are driven by it. The benchmark of mastering knowledge is set extremely high by the Chinese masters of the past - check the historical record - it’s nothing short of brilliant. Its why Daoism is the root of the Chinese tradition, it provides a framework where one learns to persevere through sheer will of being absolutely present in the moment, ready for the next moment with a clear ability to concentrate towards more awareness and then, ease, personified by Lao Tzu - may eternal blessings be upon his eternally blessed soul. The fundamental truth of Daoism is one of concentration, towards that which one wants to master, and thus bring into existence its truth - ultimately in one’s imagination - and in doing so, one is in a constant state of ease, it’s only through ease that one can persevere, in almost any thing - although, bewilderment can lead to passionate pleas, lol. Confucius epitomizes what it is to be a master, his words cannot be forgotten, contained within them is undeniable wisdom that will allow common-sense reasoning to be arrived at, I was unaware of his writings - except through personal gratification of seeming wise - now I try to read a little and ponder the infinite perspectives of the statements as an aggregate, there is nothing more hedonistic, for me - to take an abstraction (meaningless) to its logical conclusion, because I have been gifted the ability to - eternally, any abstraction (idea). The mercy of it. Evil is being fixated on a position, within a moment.

“Isn't it a pleasure to study and practice what you have learned? Isn't it also great when friends visit from distant places? If one remains not annoyed when he is not understood by people around him, isn't he a sage?”

"At home, a young man should be a good son, when outside he should treat others like his brothers, his behavior should be one of trustworthy and proper, and should love the multitude at large and keep himself close to people of benevolence and morality. If after all these activities, he has any energy to spare, he should read widely to stay cultivated."

“Education breeds confidence. Confidence breeds hope. Hope breeds peace.”

“Acquire new knowledge whilst thinking over the old, and you may become a teacher of others.”

The analects of Confucius is a blessing, in understanding the essence of what it is to be a master, his light is everywhere, the need to straighten one’s matt has a deeper truth that commits one to constantly be alone in one’s thoughts of what else could be done better - in creating balance. The evidence of the Chinese is on display for the world to see, its undeniable at this point, China is holding up a world going nowhere, we need the wisdom of the Chinese to begin applying the framework outlined by Confucius, from whom stems the foundations of what it is to be Chinese, similar to how from Muhammad stems a set of civilizations that span a large part of the known world, maintained for over 14 centuries in the context of a multi-ethnic, multi-cultural, multi-religious reality - the Muslim is from all places - Islam molds to the nature of the people that embrace it, the religion of Islam does not contradict the Chinese tradition, the contradiction within China today is internal - the Muslim and Chinese traditions complement one another because the essence of the Chinese tradition is evidence - without it, one cannot be a master - I am simply stating a well-known [apriori] truth. The richness of the Chinese worldview is that it encompasses all worldviews, the need to control and monitor is an alien concept in the Chinese tradition since there is nothing to fear, the moment only exists to be of service, in the best way one can be - it is a struggle that can be learned from the Chinese masters - to guide others. It is a bewildering concept to re-educate before the masters from all sides have had an opportunity to determine which perspective is superior - Atheism or Theism. No master, I admire, would fall into a singular opinion of a group or individual, where reason could be suspended - the reason why evidence as an idea exists is to apply the faculty of reason. Singular opinion - of experts or otherwise - is antithetical to the Chinese tradition of debate where one takes the opposing side of the other to determine where the truth lies - between the two poles. I’m a fan, and I made the mistake of associating the tradition with the actions of a minority who I’ve realized acted based on incomplete evidence. I was wrong and I misjudged - it’s the climate we are living in - thankfully, it’s an easy problem to remedy, seek knowledge like the Chinese and apply it under the master’s watchful eye (all my personal experiences of the Chinese has been one where I look back and am thankful for the frankness, early Chow Yun-Fat is the closest example of that which epitomizes the Chinese - and dare I say it Asian - tradition, its why I live where I live. I’ve been surrounded by you my whole life - the Asian continent cannot deny its history, different but the same essence.

It’s difficult to believe a tradition that strives for balance and a needing to be of service, would have ill intentions towards anyone, and it’s that perspective from which one must approach China - the history of their tradition - they are an example of mastering understanding via the application of wisdom, and wisdom is attained through experiencing a different path, a different perspective, a different religion. I don’t believe China has ill intentions toward anyone, the new façade of Communism is veiling the previous four thousand years, and that’s okay, as long as the idea of masters is maintained and stay to the undeniable truth of experience, and the feeling that emerges - its ingrained into the nature of China. The ones who are stifling the ability for mutual interests to be achieved need to be addressed, the work to usher in a new way of living needs to first address the idea of God and its starting point should be the fundamental thesis of Arnold J. Toynbee - at the root of all civilizations is a perspective related to the idea of God - the cause of early cultures is rooted to the creativity of how the collective community - at this point the whole world - imagines through art the undeniable truth of God. Its why atheism, as an idea, can never supersede the idea of America; atheism is a substandard idea that singles out and compartmentalizes whereas the uniting force of “In God We Trust” is self-evident to every conscious being that has the ability to abstract from an unimaginable set of abstractions.

The Chinese tradition cannot be contradicted. Education is good and should be encouraged, the theist’s only request is that included, within the education, are the ideas underpinning the majority of the Chinese tradition - Nirvanic Dao - and the masters that adhered to its multi-dimensional vision of “All One Under Heaven”. If there needs to be total control then the illusion of freedom is all one requires, the challenge is, the theist always sees through it, and therein lies the problem, systems rooted in atheism are predicated on control, which defeats the purpose of atheism - there is no control - only micro causes with an illusion of control; under atheism, the idea of strength, unity, compassion, are not bound to matter, they are meta-abstractions and thus meaningless, meaning only emerges in the context of feeling - when I come to know something I am a little more enlightened - the idea of a master is related to the need to know a little more, and then share it. It’s an addictive feeling and can only be experienced by conscious agents that have the ability to imagine an unimaginable set of abstractions, whilst also being able to perceive a point from many perspectives - a more euphoric feeling. Lau Tzu, Old Men Cheng, and other masters have been instrumental in helping me through the struggle that is life, the masters are clear in the undeniable truth of the mystery we are all immersed in and the associated feeling - Original Spirit.

The original spirit of Buddhism continued and expanded upon the essential truth of Daoism, best described by the Chinese master Old Man Tcheng - may eternal blessings be upon his eternally blessed soul. His light scolding tone describes the one place this life leads to, the next moment - whatever that may be - in the context of the choices made and experiences attained, the result of which is wisdom. It’s not the circumstantiality of material existence, its one’s feeling towards it in that which is higher & better; momentary life is separated into two, one either lives in the moment or lives for the moment. The ones who live for the moment miss the moment constantly, always wanting more of the moment. The moment and the future should be the focus of awareness towards that which brings balance, like walking into the deep jungle without much support, constantly working out how to exist in the next moment - empirically analyzing the environment - whilst not unnecessarily disturbing the balance of the other the choice is to know and when that choice is made the path is unveiled. Today, it seems, meditation is actively striving to put a stop to thoughts, where all that remains is the nothing of the physical moment, the point is being missed aspiring to a state that requires constant and unending focus on the material mind - original spirit is being present in constant awareness of all things with thoughts being ended on a moonless night with only the stares gazing eyes, thoughts destroyed, the moment revealed. There is only endless unimaginable imagination collapsed into material existence to allow us to make a choice - in the present moment. It’s a wonderful perspective on life - master that which leads to balance in a reality that is constantly changing, evolving, and fundamentally out of one’s control. Bringing things back to first principles of what reality is leads to the conclusion that the circumstantial existence - one is immersed in - is actually nothing, except a check on how eternal consciousness will choose, in the direction of ease for all, or knot. Consciousness is forever imagination with the ability to choose in the context of the other, this is what unveils character. I can’t stop reading and then reflecting on the tradition - one needs nothing more. It cannot be lost to the meaninglessness of atheism, one need never state anything, let the heart bring into existence that which is good for the hearts and hearts.

Modernity is constantly anchoring one to the physical environment which is circumstantial and constantly changing - pointless. Sustainability is the root of mastery, that’s why things are mastered - to sustain life - whilst not destroying the ability of the other to choose and be free in the pursuit of original spirit - we all have our own paths. If this is not the case then mastery becomes material and circumstantial - an illusion in the context of infinite time and space. Fixation on previous and past moments results in a singular, one-dimensional, outlook and perspective. Racism is living in the past, that one is better than another based on an arbitrary difference in features - religion is a feature too, and so is culture, and so is an ideology. How one is born is not the point, at all, there is no threat from features, especially from features that have been co-existing for hundreds of years. The arrogance of racism, for example, is willingly choosing racial attributes over reason, it’s backward and irrational since reason is a meta agent whilst attributes is the mechanism for reason to be realized - to see above material attributes and focus on ideas - like morality in the context of completely conscious beings that feel. Without reason one is led down the path of myopic perspectives rooted to a circumstantial material existence where only miserable numbness exists - I have been there and visited it the other day. The tradition of China - and wider Asia - is of masters with many sound perspectives being sent to guide those who want to master themselves, the ability to change ones mind in light of the evidence is how one is constantly able to focus on the problem at hand, to solve, after which, when the problem is analyzed further it’s revealed that there was no problem to solve in the first place, constantly learning and making mistakes leads to wisdom - where one understands more completely the implications of unaware actions, the most important being the amount of energy wasted.

Original spirit is the realization that character emerges via the function of choice, the root of character is intention which is manifested as a decision - to choose to do something in the context of how one feels in a given moment. We cannot control the next moment, we can only control our feeling towards it which will either result in a type of action, or not - a choice can only be made in a material existence. It’s why the tone of Old Man Tcheng is one of bluntness, a calm matter of fact with undeniable reasoning, for he has nothing to compare himself against, he’s old and needs nothing - the most honest. The root of Tcheng and his teaching is that the moment is ethereal, to create a perspective, after which another moment is realized, this series of perspectives is predicated on choosing - knowing that the next moment is going to be as it will be, material reality is, therefore, a type of constant check to determine if consciousness realizes itself as worthy, or knot. The Chinese masters were in a state which formulates a constant perspective - based on how the environment is empirically understood - the masters provided a mechanism that allows the environment to be in any given state whilst allowing the spiritually guided to strive towards that which is more natural - towards balance; original spirit and the root of Daoism is to be in a constant state of Ihsan. It’s the Chinese who proved unequivocally, the truth of the Oneness of reality, to deny it and oppose it will result in a spiraling down in the effort, time, and cost required to sustain the contradiction, it’s not worth it.

No one can take away the very thing that makes one a human being - original spirit - it will always continue to exist just as the ones who exist to create suffering shall always exist to manifest personal choice, in how one navigates the expanse of the unfolding paths. The Chinese masters understood that life as different from death or motion as different from stillness is a futile pursuit, to remain impartial as suffering unfolds is not being aware, its choosing to negate the truth of the reality of Dao. This is the idea of the hero in Chinese tradition, a passer-by who lends a hand to let those who are not harming others the freedom of living in peace, from this comes the artful exchange of ideas and practices - to constantly change and update schools of thought based on the principles established by the masters. I will always pay tribute to the Chinese tradition and its adherents. There is no fear just the struggle towards balance, fear is an illusion created to either strive towards ease in the next moment - with the ever-present wisdom of previous choices - or knot. Tenacious Masters, not only did the Muslims honor such a tradition, they mastered it.