Weekend Literary Supplement: "Digging Your Own Well", Part Five

In this instalment I offer some advice about how someone should understand Daoist texts.

&&&&

Evocative Literature Versus Explicit

If anyone wants to learn about Daoism by reading texts---and this is pretty much essential unless you want to learn Mandarin and move to Wudang Mountain1---it is essential that the reader prepare herself for the experience. Most Western books attempt to clearly explain issues using precise language. That is to say, they usually attempt to create “recipes”: 'add two cups of flour to one egg plus one cup of milk and then bake at 300 degrees for thirty minutes'. In contrast, books on Daoism are metaphorical and lyrical: 'Master Li rode the phoenix and ascended into the mountains'. Another way of saying this is to generalize and say that Western books tend to be explicit and Daoist ones are evocative.

Explicit literature is designed to standardize a particular process. If you want to bake a specific type of cake, you have to know exactly what ingredients in what amounts are to be treated in a specific way. Being a Daoist is not like baking a cake, however. It isn't about standardization, instead it is about a particular person in a particular situation realizing his particular potential. An author cannot do this for a reader. All he can attempt to do is get her thinking.

&&&&

I put a lot of effort into writing this blog. If you like reading it and can afford it, why not subscribe? You get to determine how much you pay. Pay Pal and Patreon make it easy to do. (Thanks Margot for being so awesome!)

&&&&
..........

I spent a summer at a Daoist retreat centre. The high teacher was rarely there, but one day he was and came through the kitchen just as I was drinking a glass of water. Through his translator he told me a story from when he was young. He had been busy working in the vegetable garden and came in to get a drink because he was thirsty. His master came in, saw him and said “don't take another drop of water until you dig a new well in the garden and drink from it”.

This is an example of an evocative story. At the time, I thought that it meant “you think you've got it tough? You don't know the meaning of the word.” Because the story created a very good narrative, and because it fits into the Zen story trope that is so well established, it stuck in my memory. Years later, I remembered it and I finally realized that the story isn't about water, but rather about finding my own individual source of inspiration or wisdom. I cannot repeat another person's wisdom---I have to find my own.

So why don't Daoist teachers just say “you need to find your own source of wisdom instead of listening to anyone else”? Well, once in a while I have found them be just that punk and plain. But being so obvious about the need for autonomy can be dangerous. It's one thing to think for yourself, it's another to act blindly on preconceived notions---and it can be very difficult to tell the difference between the two. That's why it's good to make the student have to work a bit first. Moreover, telling someone to “find your own source of wisdom” is contradictory. The point isn't to tell someone to think for themselves but rather to have them start doing it on their own. Evocative literature doesn't just hand people a lolly pop and head them on their way. It gives them a riddle that they have to solve before they take the training wheels off.


1The Daoist equivalent to Shaolin Temple.

&&&&

Moreover I say unto you, the Climate Emergency must be dealt with!