The Tao Te Ching For Astrologers: Verses 1 & 2

Transcript:

Hey everyone, this is Acyuta-bhava from Nightlight Astrology. And today we are beginning our series on the Tao Te Ching for astrologers. So this is a series that I have been planning for a while, as most of you know, had a few other series in queue prior to this one, and I'm really excited to be diving into it at long last. The way this series works is I will be looking at the verses of the Tao Te Ching sequentially from start to finish over the course of many videos. So it's going to be a long series that will just make its appearance alongside of my daily content for maybe maybe better part of probably 2022. So I hope that you guys will enjoy this and I have a little presentation I've cooked up that I'll show you in a second. Before I do that, I want to remind all of you that coming up soon, my very dear friends Loka and Vidarbha. Two of my teachers in the bhakti yoga tradition are starting another course on the Bhagavad Gita. If you feel like jumping in and learning about bhakti yoga and the Bhagavad Gita, check out Bhaktiwise.com. Go to the study with us tab and you can learn about their 12 week immersive course in the Bhagavad Gita. It also includes optional classes on mantra meditation, all of them all the classes are held via zoom. And you can pick up the recordings, if you can't make it live, it starts March 15. It goes to May 31, it meets on Tuesdays from eight to 9:30pm. Eastern Time, again, all the recordings are all of the sessions are recorded in case you can't make it you can see a breakdown of all the classes. There's lots of questions answered on this page. And to join it is by donation. So you can pick a rate that works for you people have been asking me what is what a suggested donation would be, say 75 or $100 would be adequate, but whatever you have, and can afford for a 12 week programme, it should be fine. So hope guys will check that out.

If you are in to the daily practice of reading wisdom texts, the Tao de Ching that we're about to study is a wisdom text, like the Bhagavad Gita, that has been a daily part of my life for many years now. And so I'm very glad to share just a little bit of my enthusiasm for the sacred text, not necessarily any of my own realisation, you know, I'm far from it, but this text inspires me and I hope that it will inspire all of you. So, with that being said, I'm going to put a presentation up on the screen, and I'm going to make it full screen. I've called this the Tao Te Ching for students of astrology. Because the purpose of this series is to look at this sacred text, not necessarily for the sake of, you know, indoctrinating ourselves into Taoism, though that would not necessarily be a bad thing to me at all. But because I'm not an expert in Taoism, I'm just an enthusiastic student. Of this text over many years of my life, it's played a very daily role in my life for a long time, just turning to it for inspiration, that I'm simply using this text in this series as a way of hopefully inspiring other people to read it and to make meaningful connections between it in our study and practice of astrology.

So a few things that you should know, what is the Tao Te Ching? Jing to pronounce it correctly, it is a classic text of ancient Chinese wisdom, it was thought to have been written around 500 BCE is often discussed as one of the the flowering traditions or our text textual traditions that emerges during the so called Axial Age. It is attributed to the sage, Lao Tzu. hopefully I'm pronouncing that correctly, please, I know there are probably some of you out there who whose pronunciation is, you know, far better than my own. So I've put a link excuse me in the description of this video to a teacher who explains the pronunciations of some of the words and phrases that I'll be using. And you can help me as I go if I mispronounce anything. So the Tarcher Cornerstone edition is the one that I'm using and I'll just stop sharing for a second to show you this. So this is the version of the texts that I work with torture Cornerstone editions are wonderful, very accessible for beginners when it comes to classic texts. I use the archer Cornerstone edition for the series that I did on the Hermetica have to might remember from several years ago, and you can still find in my own archives. So the translation is by Jonathan Star. And I think that you will really like it and find it very accessible. That is not to say that it is the definitive, authoritative translation. There is, as you can imagine, an ocean of scholarly debate, criticism, comparative translations, it's a whole world. And so while I want to honour those of you who watch this, who may have a lot of knowledge about this tradition, or about this text, and all of the high, let's call it high level debates, criticisms, and commentaries and so forth, that we're just using a super accessible text, I think it's a very good one for beginners. And you will find that in the intro, for example, one of the if you you should read the intro, you should pick up the book and read it along the way. Because having this book is much better than having my commentary.

So at any rate, one of the things that is mentioned about Jonathan Star's translation is that while he adheres closely to the original text, one of his projects is to make the text in its original poetic sensibility translate into the modern era that we're living in. So just knowing that you should know that the the words being used in this translation are true to the essence, but they are at attempt to also convey the essence in a poetic style that is more accessible for modern readers. And you'll find that in a lot of translations, and then you'll find a whole section of translations that are more about the scholarly approach, and maybe a more literal convention, the conventions being used with translations, just so that you all have the background and know that up front. So this author, also Jonathan Star, has also done translations of Rumi and Hafiz, and some of the other poet saints of India. So he's a widely read and respected translator of mystical texts from what I understand. Not that I know him personally, but I really appreciate this translation. And I hope you'll go out and buy it and get a copy for yourself. You can find it on Amazon very easily. I think it's like 10 bucks. So, you know, support the author please.

Now, what is the Tao Te Ching mean? Just so that we have some sense of what these words actually mean. Tao means way, road, this is from Wikipedia, but I found it to be the most concise summary of the three words of the title. Tao means way road path or route, but was given the extra meaning of path ahead way forward method principle or simply the way this word was also used in different ways by other Chinese philosophers. It has special meaning in Taoism, where it means the basic way of the universe that cannot really be explained or contained in just one simple definition simple definitions. So Tao Te means virtue as in personal character or inner strength. People who followed the teachings of Confucius used it to mean morality. And a long time ago in English virtue could mean power as in the phrase healing virtue of a drug. The same thing was true in Chinese the word meant power a long time ago, but now means virtue. Ching originally meant norm rule or plan is given the extra meaning of Scripture, great book or classic. So the three words together give the meaning virtue, way, rules.

The book is constructed of a series of poems, each containing a rule way or belief to becoming successful, virtuous, and so forth. The approach that I will take in the series will be like this, I'll take up two verses at a time. There's about 80-81, something like that, in this this translation that we're reading, and I will be taking them two at a time. So it's going to be quite a long series, but it's meant just to complement the daily astrological content that I create as a way of helping us continue to centre on our spiritual whole development as as astrologers. So I'll provide just a little brief reflections on the verses of the day as they relate to our study and practice of astrology, I asked you to remember that I'm not a scholar of this material, just an enthusiastic reader who has been reading and considering these truths, you know, for many years, but claim no mastery over them. So I remember also that I come from the bhakti yoga tradition, and will often filter things things to the viewpoint of my own sort of Vedic tradition. So I'm not a Taoist. I'm not committed to that as a practice. But I find that the universe, I find that there is universal wisdom in this text, and it will be those aspects of the texts that I try to focus on. As they often correspond with my own beliefs and practices, both as a bhakti, practitioner of bhakti, and also as an astrologer. Well, this series is really meant to expose newcomers to an accessible translation of the doubt ageing, while also making meaningful connections between its wisdom and the practice of astrology in the modern era. So that is where we are going, we'll just do two verses at a time. And you should follow along with these in the star translation, pick up this text, read it, have it as a daily practice, you won't regret it. And it's good to support the authors, I think I feel that way very strongly, especially since Tarcher happens to be the imprint at Penguin that published my first book. And so I feel very, that it's very important to support them as a publisher, and not only by recognising and citing the source of this, these translations, but also in encouraging you to pick up a copy and follow along and make it a part of your daily life. So we're going to read verse one and two today. And the way that I'm going to offer commentary, and I'm just setting this up in the future, I won't be going through all this, I'll just be diving right into the text, but I will be reading the verse, and then going back and reflecting on it piece by piece, and then reading another verse reflecting on it piece by piece. And I'll be reflecting on it again, from the standpoint of my own life and practice as a yogi and as an astrologer.

So, verse one. And one of the most famous lines that you'll often hear when people talk about the Tao Te Ching. So it starts off like this, a way that can be walked is not the way a name that can be named, is not the name. Tao is both named and nameless. As nameless, it is the origin of all things. As named, it is the mother of all things. A mind free of thought, merged within itself. beholds, the essence of Tao, a mind filled with thought, identified with its own perceptions beholds, the mere forms of this world, now in this world seem different, but in truth, they are one and the same. The only difference is in what we call them. How deep and mysterious is this unity, how profound How great, it is the truth beyond the truth, the hidden within the hidden, it is the path to all wonder, the gate to the essence of everything.

Just what a beautiful verse. First of all, just for me, sometimes the first level of taking in a sacred text is not to analyse it is not to immediately jump to conclusions, or try to decode it and strip it and take something from it for me, so that I can accomplish something or get something done. But it's just to take it in. And to feel that aesthetic response. Sometimes my hair stands on end, sometimes I'm just filled with a sense of wonder. So I always like to read these verses, you know, over and over again, and just let them touch me in ways that I can't fully understand or that I, I know that they'll have an effect on me if I just read them and take them in. So I always recommend reading that way.

First, when reading a sacred text, just let it kind of wash over you. But then I find the second way that I like to respond is often in my notebook or the notebook of my mind sometimes or a Word document. And I like to just write down reflections. So let's go back through this first verse, and I'll just offer some reflections on about some of the elements of this verse. A way that can be walked is not the way a name that can be named is not the name. Sometimes I think that when we read this verse, or this part of the first verse that we think, yeah, you see, any thing, anything that has definition is false, anything that has a name, or that can be described or talked about as false. I don't take that to be what this verse is saying, after many years of reflecting on this first.

Notice what comes next Tao is both named, and nameless, as nameless, that is the origin of all things, as named, it is the mother of all things. In bhakti, yoga, we have a very, very similar teaching, that suggests that we'll just I'll just use the word God because that's what we do in our in our tradition, that God or the Divine is both the nameless, inconceivable, absolute, beyond all forms, names, anything that can be talked about or described falls short, then at the same time, God is that which pervades all things, all differentiations all names, all distinctions, and so forth. And so it's in this sense, that we can both talk about and not talk about the divine that whenever we talk about the divine, we should strive to do so in a way that simultaneously recognises the elusive nature of God or of the Divine, and those are words I'm going to use because they're from my tradition, right? So. So I think it's the same, the same thing is true for us as astrologers. One of the things that astrology does for us, for example, when we look at the presence of the planets in our everyday lives and reflect upon the archetypes and their movements, as fields, themes and topics, there is a sense in which our own experience can that is so indescribable, it's so personal and so, beyond categorization, right? That it can be given familiar names and faces, it can be made more intimate and personal, through the gods and through the planets, for example. And then that way, that which feels inconceivable and beyond grasp and can thus at times feel very overwhelming, can suddenly become personal.

And in that sense, it can become named, our experiences can be named, the planets are in a sense. They as signs and omens, they they give an indicating power to what we experience. And that indicating power, like the named as the mother of all things gives us a sense of familiarity, like family, like being at home, a sense that everything has a place and has a name. But then at the same time, when we tend to get stuck in our expectations and attachments about what things are, how they are, what we are, etc. The planets as numinous archetypal fields, God's eternal archetypes take us far beyond the limitations or constraints of these categories and of the different definitions that we try to place on ourselves. Others are experiences by remembering that they are gods, they somehow point us to this numinous sense of who and what things are, that goes beyond the ways in which we try to contain and confine them. And is that in that sense, the planets, as demigods, point us to source that nameless origin of all things that place that all distinctions arise from something like that.

So I find that that there is so much similarity there are so many similarities between elements of this first verse and what I experience every day, both as a yogi and and as an astrologer. And what I see astrology doing for people, goes on a mind free of thought merged within itself. beholds the essence of Tao, a mind filled with thought identified with its own perceptions beholds the mere forms of this world. This is something that you find in so many mystical traditions in the ancient world from Plato says things that are very similar in places, we see similar sentiments in hermeticism and yoga and beauty ism, that there's something about this, this idea that if we're if we're, if we are filled with thought and identified with our own perceptions, then there's something about the world that we perceive that is hollow. And that that were just the holding forms. And that it's only when we are the mind is free of thought and sort of merged within itself, going into that space of closer proximity to the origin, the source of all things that we behold an underlying unity and also the essence of things in the world.

And so, I love that in verse one, you get some of the most basic metaphysical ideas and also really, almost like an admonition like, look, unless you learn to have a mind that is at times free of thought, you won't be able to really understand or comprehend what you're looking at in the world, there will be this. There will be a sense in which you'll just be looking at a world of forms. That goes on, and it says thou in this world seem different, but in truth, they're one in the same, the only difference is in what we call them. This is also not to say that the world is just an illusion. This is something that we also say, some very adamant truth of the bhakti yoga tradition, which is that it's not to say that the world is an illusion, it's not say that it's false. But it is false. If it is false, it's in the same way that a shadow is not the the, if you see my shadow, it's a part of me, it has a connection to me. And in that sense, it's not false. But it's also not me. There's a sense in which the world of forms if we're not taking the time to cultivate this inner vision, let's call it that the way that we perceive the world will be as a kind of shadow, there'll be we'll see shadows. And there it's not. But it's not that those shadows are unreal, it's that we're only seeing part of the truth. That's how I understand that. And also just in the sense that this world, even though there's ways in which we see it, that are very illusory, is not to be condemned. How deep and mysterious is this unity, how profound how great it is the truth beyond the truth, the hidden within the hidden, it is the path to all wonder, the gate to the essence of everything. I love this because it's a way of this verse to me is a way of saying that. There's the named in the nameless, there's form in essence, there's all of these dichotomies that the eaching refers to throughout all throughout the text. And then there's the sense of difference in Unity simultaneously. For example, if you've ever seen the the yin and yang image, you'll see that there's black and there's white and there's a circle of black and the white and a circle of white in the black.

How deep and mysterious is this unity how profound how great it's the truth beyond the truth the hidden within the hidden the path to all wonder the gate to the essence of everything. In bhakti yoga, we have a similar teaching it's called acintya bhedabheda tattva and it basically means inconceivable, simultaneous, simultaneous oneness and difference or oneness and duality. James Hillman like to say that, you know, truth is a process that takes us further and further and deeper and deeper. And it's something to be experienced, you know. So, Heraclitus he likes to quote Heraclitus, and Heraclitus is often compared to Lao Tzu as the sort of Western mystical equivalent. And he once said, The soul is explored forever to a depth beyond report. So something that we were actually looking for, it's not this is not to say, oh, you know, why don't you just shut up you mind? Keep trying to get to truth but it's just gonna keep evading you so just stop looking for answers to mysteries will just gonna keep getting mysterious so why don't you just stop I don't read The Tao Te Ching is saying that in fact, I read it as saying, isn't it amazing that truth leads to truth beyond truth beyond truth? Isn't it amazing that the mysterious leads to hidden within hidden within hidden? There's this never ending fountain of wonder. And that's what I take from this. That's how I feel also as an astrologer every day, when I'm studying the planets in their movements, what what I experience is that there are truths within everything. And as soon as I have one, and I think I've apprehended it, usually, it escapes my grasp, and it leads me to yet another truth. It's as though truth is more of a person that we're being asked to develop a relationship with, then an objective understanding that we're trying to apprehend.

Anyway, these are just my reflections verse two, everyone recognises beauty only because of ugliness. Everyone recognises virtue only because of sin, life and death are born together, difficult and easy, long and short, high and low. All these exists together, sound and silence blend as one before and after arise as one, arrive as one. The sage acts without action, and teaches without talking, all things flourish around him. And he does not refuse any one of them he gives but not to receive. He works not for reward, he completes but not for results. He does nothing for himself in this passing world. So nothing he does ever passes. These are just beautiful teachings. First of all, I one of the things that I love is about this verse when it comes to the similarities with ancient astrology is that we have planetary opposites, all throughout ancient astrology. Mercury's signs are opposite to Jupiter's, Venus's are opposite to Mars, the lights are opposite to Saturn. In this, in this world, we recognise one thing because of its opposite. That these distinctions are part of, it's like a, almost like a binary language that allows for things to exist, the tension of opposites is somehow fundamental. Life and death difficult and easy, long and short, high and low. They all exist together. Sometimes people will read that and they'll say, okay, so you know what, what's the point of anything? Because if you think about it, most things in our world are driven by these opposites. I'm doing one thing because I don't want I want one result, and I don't want another result. I have one political party, not the other. I have one preference that I like, I like this. I don't like that.

I think what is it's important to do from time to time. And what verse one was alluding to as well is to not just live a life that is being, you know, hamstrung by these opposites. That we don't stop to recognise that the things we pursue are rooted in the things we fear, the things we fear are rooted in the things that we desire, that things fill up and things are emptied, that the opposites always come together are and AR entangling us in one another implicating us in each other, and that they exist together. sound and silence blend is one before and after arrive as one. The there are very similar things shared in the Bhagavad Gita, for example, Krishna and also in some of the Upanishads, see, Goddess described as someone who can run you know, faster than the mind. What does that mean really? Well, one of the things I think that it points to is suggesting that it's often our minds that are going to be caught up in a life lived in you know, you know, sort of impaled upon the opposites. And we want to be really not that we can do away with the opposites because it's pretty clear in verse one, that this world as inverse to this world, they come together, and they're part of how things arise. But what a tragedy it would be if we didn't stop to pause and recognise the implied opposites in the implied opposite of whatever we want or feel or think or believe.

The sage acts without action and teaches with talking all things flourish around him. Now we're talking about a wise person. What what is a wise person like? Well, somehow they do things without doing them. That's interesting when I think I think a lot about tick, not Han, another great teacher that I really admire Buddhist teacher. And he often talked when he spoke about walking meditation. He often talked about, you know, getting to a space, this is just something that I recall from some of his talks, he would say that you're getting to a space when I'm just paraphrasing, you're getting to space when you're doing walking meditation, where there's a mindfulness that you're taking, but it becomes sort of mindless, which means that you stop thinking I'm taking a mindful step.

Okay, now I got to take another meditative mindful step, right. And there's a way in which your actions become I don't want to say unintentional, but there's no pretension around them, there's no, there's no sense of what I'm trying to get behind it. There's a falling into place, things coming to rest in the action as the action occurs. And I think we know what it's like, I don't think this is actually that far from I think we get, we have glimpses of this. People sometimes talk about being in the zone creatively, for example. And I know, for example, when I'm reading charts, that there's a way in which when I'm hitting my mark, that I'm, I'm doing so without a lot of pre meditated or contract contrivance, it's just something that's falling into place. And there's no sense of what I will get from this, or what will come from it or something like that. So this is said to be that there's there's creative power around this, all things flourish around such a sage. And the sage does not refuse any one of them. So it's not that I love this, there's action, which act acting without action, teaching without talking, and that things flourish around such a person. And there's no refusal or dismissal of anything that comes that rises up. And then this, the sage gives what not to receive, they work but not for reward, they complete but not for results, they do nothing for themselves in this passing world. So nothing they do ever passes.

Now personally, as an astrologer, I find this second part of the second verse to be really applicable. When I am aware of the planetary movements in the sky, not all the time, but there are moments that I have, you know, in my day to day life, where I start to recognise that the forces of the world and of nature that move through my mind, my body, the environment and world around me, are all moving of their own accord, I am not the origin or source of their motion, action, direction, or, and so forth. And what meditation on a daily level gives me alongside of planetary study is the ability to sort of accept the movement of, of things in this world of the 10,000 things, right, there's just a sense that things are moving along, and I'm not governing or controlling them. And when I'm moving from that space, there's a weird way in which the things I do or say, occasionally seem to have significance beyond all of the things that are constantly passing through. And it's the planets that helped me so much to understand that because they, they provide me with the sense that everything is moving along. You know, according to these divine laws, according to these large forces, whether in remember that God's ruled our liver, our kidneys, our spleens, our minds, our speech, our throats, our eyes. So there's a way in which the planets help me daily remember that, as everything is moving along, there's, it's in some ways, it's my job. It's my job to just figure out the time signature, like it's a song or a rhythm that's moving along and just try to keep in step with it. And when I do that, there's there's something of enduring, permanent value that seems to emerge. For me as a bhakta. It's also the recognition of the eternal soul and its relationship to the divine. That's a big part of what emerges.

Remember, the planets in the Indian tradition are called grahas or grabbers. Part of which means also that we can either be grabbed, or we can grasp as and understand. And it's not that in understanding, we then have some kind of secret control over everything. It's that in understanding, there is a sense of acceptance that makes experience itself manifold variegated, and offers something of eternal value. So it's not it's not ultimately, that we, you know, we by, by finding by finding alignment with the planetary forces, that we suddenly realise more control over them, it's that we find that there is more in us and more in things and more in experiences, offering themselves that that is there and that we can be in reciprocal relationship with, then we thought there was especially under the guise of control. So at any rate, fun opening to this series. Hope you guys enjoyed it. Many more verses to come, lots of reflections. And hopefully this is just something that I wanted to do something this year, that would provide a little bit more focused spiritual meditations alongside of our daily planetary transits. So, not that I have any of these things realise I want to repeat that but these are the things that inspire me and I hope that they will inspire you. I hope that you enjoyed the series. I'm really looking forward to glad to kick it off at last. Hope you guys have a great day and we'll see you again soon. Bye, everyone.