![]() ![]() When one is harmonious with the whole, one is healthy. When everything is in tune, one is healthy. When everything is going well, one is healthy. Illness is as it should not be illness means something has gone wrong. Health is natural, health is as it should be. He can diagnose your case, and he can find the reason you are ill but nobody has been yet able to find a reason why a man is healthy. If you go to the doctor and you say, “Why am I ill?” he can answer you because illness has a cause. If you go and ask the doctor, “Why am I healthy?” he cannot answer you. A disease has a reason, but health? Health is natural. If joy has any reason, it is not joy at all: joy can only be without any reason, uncaused. He asks: “Master, what is the reason for your joy?” Now again, joy has no reason, joy cannot have a reason to it. But just to be polite he is saying, “I love you.”Ĭonfucius looked only at the appearance: that is the first thing to be remembered and he was deceived – deceived so much that he called the man “master.” Somebody says something to you, “I love you.” Look at the face, and at the eyes, and the very vibe of the person, and it seems that he hates you. Sometimes, have you noticed? Somebody is smiling – on the lips there is a beautiful smile – but look into the eyes, and the eyes say just the opposite. The expression can be false: people have learned expression. The man has to be looked into directly – through his nature, not through his expression. The mask has deceived Confucius the man may be joyful, may not be joyful. “Master, what is the reason for your joy?” That’s what humanity has done: people have learned gestures – empty gestures. Singing and dancing are certainly a language of joy, but you can learn the language without knowing what joy is. So everybody deep down thinks, “I am the most miserable person, and why am I the most miserable person when everybody is so happy?” Everybody thinks he is the unhappiest person in the world because he knows his reality, and he knows only the faces of others, their cultivated faces. Sometimes you maintain an attitude, a cultivated face, a mask, that you are happy because what is the point of showing your unhappiness to the world? That’s why people look so happy. Sometimes it happens that you smile because tears are coming, and if you don’t smile, they will start rolling down your cheeks. Sometimes it happens that you laugh because you don’t want to cry. But it may be just an appearance, it may be just projected, it may be just cultivated deep down the situation may be just the opposite. It is an expression that a person is not miserable. Singing, music, dancing are all the language of joy, of happiness. When Confucius was roaming on Mount T’ai, he saw Jung Ch’i Ch’i walking on the moors of Ch’ang in a rough fur coat with a rope around his waist, singing as he strummed a lute. First let us understand the surface meaning. Their ridicule is also very subtle, not gross. You will understand it when I explain it to you. So there has been a rebellion, and the Taoist mystics, Lao Tzu, Chuang Tzu and Lieh Tzu, go on ridiculing the Confucian attitude. Taoism is the profoundest non-conformism that has ever been evolved anywhere in the world, at any time in history essentially it is rebellion. Tao is rebellious Confucius is very conformist. Tao believes in spontaneity, individuality, freedom. Confucius believes in character, morality, culture, society, education. Confucius believes in law Confucius believes in tradition Confucius believes in discipline. Confucius is as far from the Taoist vision as possible. ![]() There is a diametrical opposition between the Taoist attitude and the Confucian attitude. On the surface it seems that the parable is saying that Confucius is wise. This parable, on the surface, seems to be in favor of Confucius. They are very deep, and they have to be penetrated and looked into and meditated upon then only will you know the real meaning. If you look only on the surface, you will miss the meaning. This is a beautiful parable, and not only beautiful but very subtle. “Good!” said Confucius, “here is a man who knows how to console himself.” Abiding by the norm, awaiting my end, what is there to be concerned about?” This is my joy.įor all men, poverty is the norm and death is the end. People are born who do not live a day or a month, who never get out of their swaddling clothes, but I have already lived to ninety. ![]() Of the myriad things which heaven begot, mankind is the most noble – and I have the luck to be human. “Master, what is the reason for your joy?” asked Confucius. When Confucius was roaming on Mount T’ai, he saw Jung Ch’i Ch’i walking on the moors of Ch’ang in a rough fur coat with a rope round his waist, singing as he strummed a lute. ![]()
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