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Do Nothing: Peace for Everyday Living: Reflections on Chuang Tzu's Philosophy
"Words,"writes Chuang Tzu, "are for catching ideas; once you've caught the idea, you can forget the words." In Do Nothing, author Siroj Sorajjakool lends us some of his insightful words to help us all "catch" the provocative ideas of one of China's most important literary and philosophical giants—one who emerged at a time when China had several such giants philosophizing on Tao or "the Way."
Though his thinking dates back to the fourth century, Chuang Tzu's Tao has profound implications for our modern lives. He welcomes an existence that is radically removed from the image of normalcy that society often projects, wherein the individual must always strive for more, always seek greater productivity, and always try to better him or herself and his or her place in life. Chuang Tzu would posit that the definitions of normalcy, success, and happiness are arbitrarily assigned and that our rigid and unquestioning adherence to these so-called "norms" leads to existential restlessness and unease. Instead of striving, he would say, be still. Instead of acquiring, embrace nothingness. Instead of seeking to understand the limitlessness of the universe during your brief and extremely limited existence, enjoy the wonder of it.
Siroj Sorajjakool suggests that when we can embrace nothingness, we undergo a spiritual transformation that liberates us to see more clearly and truly find ourselves. He offers a very personal exploration of Chuang Tzu's Tao, first in its historical and literary context, and then in the context of our twenty-first century existence. What emerges is a liberating and highly readable meditation on the many lessons we can "catch" from Chuang Tzu on how we view our aspirations, our joys and sorrows, our successes and failures, and what it means to be a worthwhile person.
Though his thinking dates back to the fourth century, Chuang Tzu's Tao has profound implications for our modern lives. He welcomes an existence that is radically removed from the image of normalcy that society often projects, wherein the individual must always strive for more, always seek greater productivity, and always try to better him or herself and his or her place in life. Chuang Tzu would posit that the definitions of normalcy, success, and happiness are arbitrarily assigned and that our rigid and unquestioning adherence to these so-called "norms" leads to existential restlessness and unease. Instead of striving, he would say, be still. Instead of acquiring, embrace nothingness. Instead of seeking to understand the limitlessness of the universe during your brief and extremely limited existence, enjoy the wonder of it.
Siroj Sorajjakool suggests that when we can embrace nothingness, we undergo a spiritual transformation that liberates us to see more clearly and truly find ourselves. He offers a very personal exploration of Chuang Tzu's Tao, first in its historical and literary context, and then in the context of our twenty-first century existence. What emerges is a liberating and highly readable meditation on the many lessons we can "catch" from Chuang Tzu on how we view our aspirations, our joys and sorrows, our successes and failures, and what it means to be a worthwhile person.
- GenresPhilosophy
169 pages, Kindle Edition
First published March 1, 2009
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
February 16, 2010
I made it all the way through this one, even though I had some difficulty grasping all of the concepts presented here. I am not familiar with Chuang Tzu or Taoist teachings. That being said, I would still recommend this book to anyone interested in Eastern philosophy.
Because of all the shoulds and ought to's that society foists upon us on a daily basis, our minds get clogged and keep us from observing nature and who we truly are. It is only n the silence that we can see clearly.
"The crosses we carry, our pathologies, our weaknesses, and our deficiencies may in the end prove to be our greatest gifts for humanity."
"As long as one is competitive, ambitious, there must be disturbance, there must be conflict."
"Observe and do nothing about it. ...to observe in quietness is the key to conquering pain."
""What is" is no longer good enough."
My favorite quote is from Lao Tzu:
"A man is supple and weak when living, but hard and stiff when dead. Grass and trees are pliant and fragile while living, but dried and shrivelled when dead. Thus the hard and the strong are the comrades of death; the supple and weak are the comrades of life. Therefore a weapon that is strong will not vanquish; a tree that is strong will suffer the axe. The strong and big takes the lower position, the supple and weak take the higher position."
Because of all the shoulds and ought to's that society foists upon us on a daily basis, our minds get clogged and keep us from observing nature and who we truly are. It is only n the silence that we can see clearly.
"The crosses we carry, our pathologies, our weaknesses, and our deficiencies may in the end prove to be our greatest gifts for humanity."
"As long as one is competitive, ambitious, there must be disturbance, there must be conflict."
"Observe and do nothing about it. ...to observe in quietness is the key to conquering pain."
""What is" is no longer good enough."
My favorite quote is from Lao Tzu:
"A man is supple and weak when living, but hard and stiff when dead. Grass and trees are pliant and fragile while living, but dried and shrivelled when dead. Thus the hard and the strong are the comrades of death; the supple and weak are the comrades of life. Therefore a weapon that is strong will not vanquish; a tree that is strong will suffer the axe. The strong and big takes the lower position, the supple and weak take the higher position."
abandoned
May 14, 2024For some reason I've gotten interested in Taoism again lately, so I found this book at the library. I know a bit about the subject, but not much about Chuang Tzu (a fourth-century Taoist philosopher), so I can't say how true this book is to his thought. Overall, though, it strikes me as a description of Taoism that's strongly flavored by Western/Christian thought, perhaps to make this Asian belief system seem non-threatening and relevant to American readers. It's all very earnest and well-meaning, but it's not really what I was after.
The author is obviously knowledgeable and well-read, and just in the part I read, he quoted a fair number of Western writers to draw parallels between Taoism and contemporary life. The problem, for me, was that as a consequence, the book reflects some of the typically Western/Christian attitudes that have affected my life and that drove me to an interest in Taoism in the first place. I closed the book for good after I read a quote from another writer that began, "The purpose of playing, aside from the sheer fun of it, amounts to... ." Just...no. Having fun is not a purpose, and Taoism is not about figuring out the purpose of play. So this book is going back to the library unfinished. Maybe I should read what Alan Watts wrote about Taoism instead.
The author is obviously knowledgeable and well-read, and just in the part I read, he quoted a fair number of Western writers to draw parallels between Taoism and contemporary life. The problem, for me, was that as a consequence, the book reflects some of the typically Western/Christian attitudes that have affected my life and that drove me to an interest in Taoism in the first place. I closed the book for good after I read a quote from another writer that began, "The purpose of playing, aside from the sheer fun of it, amounts to... ." Just...no. Having fun is not a purpose, and Taoism is not about figuring out the purpose of play. So this book is going back to the library unfinished. Maybe I should read what Alan Watts wrote about Taoism instead.
July 4, 2012
It reads like an essay and lacks style. Lots of the analogies are cheesy and there's sort of an odd combination of Christianity and Taoism that felt out of place.
Because the writing was fairly simple though, it served as a sort of introduction to some basic Taoist ideas without forcing the reader to wade through difficult, abstract concepts and confusing language (most of the time). There are probably better introductions to Taoism and nothingness out there.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews