Raymond M Smullyan - The Tao Is Silent

A mathematician friend of mine recently told me of a mathematician friend of his who everyday takes a nap. Now, I never take naps. But I often fall asleep while readingwhich is very different from deliberately taking a nap! I am far more like my dogs Peekaboo, Peekatoo and Trixie than like my mathematician friend once removed. These dogs never take naps; they merely fall asleep. They fall asleep wherever and whenever they choose (which, incidentally is most of the time!). Thus these dogs are true Sages.

I think this is all that Chinese philosophy is really about; the rest is mere elaboration! If you can learn to fall asleep without taking a nap, then you too will become a Sage. But if you cant, you will find it not as easy as you might think. It takes discipline! But discipline in the Eastern, not Western style. Eastern discipline enables you to fall asleep rather than take a nap; Western discipline has you do the reverse. Eastern discipline trains you to allow yourself to sleep when you are sleepy; Western discipline teaches you to force yourself to sleep whether you are sleepy or not. Had I been Laotse, I would have added the following maximwhich I think is the quintessence of Taoist philosophy:

The Sage falls asleep not because he ought to

Nor even because he wants to

But because he is sleepy.

There is something blurred and indistinct

Antedating Heaven and Earth.

How Indistinct! How Blurred!

Yet within it are forms.

How dim! How confused!

Quiet, though ever functioning.

It does nothing, yet through it all things are done.

To its accomplishment it lays no credit.

It loves and nourishes all things, but does not lord it over them.

I do not know its name,

I call it the Tao.

Thus writes Laotse some twenty-five hundred years ago. I think this is as good an introductory description of the Tao as can be desired. It raises many interesting questions: Just what is the Tao? How should one define the Tao, or does the Tao elude any possible definition? If it exists, what is it like? What are its properties?

Before turning to these matters, let me tell you the story of a Zen-Master who was asked by a student, What is the Tao? He replied, I will tell you after you have drunk up the waters of the West River in one gulp. The student countered, I have already drunk up the waters of the West River in one gulp. To which the Master replied, Then I have already answered your question.