Attaining Immortality & Compassion
by Stuart Alve Olson
 Are
we much different from the princes of ancient times? We play our loud music,
engage in all sorts of play designed through technology simply to distract us
from participating in life. Hordes of sexual images are used not only to make us
desirous of commercial products but also to keep us from harnessing that energy
for spiritual use, and this does nothing but disturb our qi (pronounced 'chi')
and shen. We think we are compassionate when we practice small acts of charity,
yet turn around and indiscriminately kill animals for products and food. We
drive in fast cars and make sport of hunting and fishing.
Is music bad? No. Is play bad? No. Is sex bad? No. What is bad is when these
are pursued in such a way as to cause injury to our qi, ching, and shen. These
pursuits are injurious when we participate in them without a sense of
compassion. We should not participate in any activities that do not create a
sense of compassion toward everything. For example, certain types of music can
motivate people to be more compassionate. Certain acts of sex can cause us to
feel and act compassionate. But, people of wealth and power can often be prone
to fits of anger and may justify uncompassionate acts simply because they are in
a position of power. No matter our position of power, we should never use it in
an uncompassionate way.
KO HUNG: The way of attaining immortality also depends on extending our
compassion to the very limits of the heavens (universe) and to view and treat
everyone as we do ourselves. Despite this, the princes still overcome the
weak, take advantage of the ignorant, use disorder for their own benefit, and
create devastation to achieve their own ends.
Even though the Golden Rule has been in existence throughout most of human
history, those of power and wealth are seemingly forever oblivious to it. Yet as
Ko Hung proclaims, this rule is the very source of immortality. This point about
the cruelty of princes is nothing new; we see it even today in dictators who use
the fear of death and suffering to control the masses. The powerful have the
erroneous view that they alone can achieve immortality because the masses live
in fear of them. They do everything from erecting statues of themselves to
naming everything after themselves, a futile and pitiful attempt to make their
views and lives immortal to the people they subjugate.
But we also see these actions in what we call democracy, governments
supposedly formed on principles of freedom. The problem is that the political
system democracy and the philosophical ideal freedom often take on
different meanings. The Taoist is always seeking freedom -- not only personal
freedom, but freedom for all individuals as well. Even though we live in a
democracy, freedom itself is in scant supply. Our democratic society is ruled by
many responsibilities that prevent true freedom. Think carefully: Are we still
not actively involved in conquering new lands? Are we not involved in destroying
religions that do not meet the policies of our government? Do we not still herd
people into lifestyles and environments that are injurious to them? Do we not
still have symbols and laws designed to make people fearful? Just because we
call ourselves democratic and free does not mean we are. Actually, there is more
evidence showing we are neither, and live under a dictator called national
interest.
As Ko Hung states, our achievement of immortality depends on our own ability
to be compassionate and to treat every living thing as we would like to be
treated. It is not a question of our government or our rulers doing the same for
us. Regardless of what we find unjust, cruel, or antifreedom, we can see how we
should act. The major rule of any true Taoist is to be nonconforming; this means
we don't have to think and act as our government or society dictates, and we can
be ourselves no matter what environment we live in or who we are ruled by. Since
their inception Taoists have learned to blend with, yield to, and coexist within
the worst of governments. Not all Taoists fled to the mountaintops to escape the
unfair rule of their emperors and society.
KO HUNG: The First Emperor of the Chin dynasty drove out from his kingdom
nine of each ten households because he thought they were contemplating a
revolt. Emperor Wu of the Han dynasty caused the entire world sorrow because
he killed half the population of his kingdom. He then ordered prayers to be
chanted so the population would again increase...
This is true of all men of power: They panic at the thought of being usurped
and panic at the thought of not being served. Businessmen, politicians, and
religious leaders are all guilty of this contradiction. It's as though they seek
to emotionally and spiritually blackmail the masses for not bending to their
every whim. When the businessman is caught cheating he invariably blames it on
those of lesser rank or on the laws of the government itself. The Enron thieves,
the greatest robbers of all time, shrugged off any responsibility for their
thievery because they cleverly and falsely claimed, through their high-priced
attorneys (paid with stolen money), that everything they did was well within the
law, resorting to finger pointing at each other while numerous people suffered
the loss of their money. One of my students is a very prominent attorney and he
once commented to me that the law is no longer a question of justice and truth,
but one of cleverness. Needless to say, what they did neither was within the law
of the land or the Golden Rule, nor was it motivated by compassion for its
investors or our country as a whole.
Likewise, politicians, to meet their own political ends, will personally
attack and destroy anyone who stands in their way. Did we not see this in
President Clinton's impeachment trial? Did we not see this with McCarthy's
Communist witch hunt? These so-called political trials were certainly not
motivated by either compassion or the Golden Rule. Did we not see the religious
figure Jimmy Swaggart claim he committed all those immoral acts because God
wanted to test him? He actually had the audacity to blame God for his
immorality. Did we not see Oral Roberts tell his followers that unless he raised
eight million dollars by a certain date God would strike him dead? This is no
more than spiritual blackmail. All of these examples point to how people in
power will seek to destroy what they think opposes them, and when they are done
destroying they turn and seek forgiveness. They always seek forgiveness, but
never give it. It is very much like a man who points a gun at another man and
shoots him, but takes no responsibility because the second man didn't duck or
get out of the way of the bullet.
KO HUNG: With the ever increasing vexations gnawing at their vital
energies, with both men and ghosts equal in their hatred of them, these two
emperors had but an empty and vain search for immortality, never experiencing
or undertaking a true cultivation of a spiritual alchemical process. In
reality neither of them even had the total awareness to carry out his mundane
affairs completely. Therefore, they did not truly seek to learn the marvelous
and profound secrets of immortality.
Here Ko Hung claims that men who are hated for all their evil actions can
never achieve immortality because their minds are too vexed. For if they cannot
carry out mundane affairs with compassion, they certainly cannot carry out the
requirements for attaining immortality. As the old Chinese saying goes, "Birds
of a feather flock together." Hence, people of greed and power will attract only
like people.
Once when I was teaching in Indonesia a certain wealthy Chinese businessman
cornered me at a luncheon. Several people were there, including the wife of the
boss of this businessman. He had offered to put me up in a private villa, pay me
a large sum of money, and procure whatever amusements or items I needed during
my visit. He wanted me to teach him everything I knew about Taoist alchemy that
I had learned from my teacher. The problem was that I had already been in
Indonesia for three weeks and had been teaching every day, and I wanted time
with my wife and son. After I explained that if he was willing to wait one week
I would attempt to teach him, but that I preferred not to go to a private villa
(which seemed like a jail to me), the man was insistent that I leave the next
day. Being used to having his way he grew more adamant, and I grew more
determined not to teach him at all. The wife of his boss began laughing and said
to him, "You cannot treat him like an acquisition. You have failed. He is just
like his teacher and will only do what he wants when he wants to. Besides, it is
good to see that Americans make good husbands." The man left the restaurant very
upset. My then wife was equally upset with me when she heard the whole story,
because this man was of very high position and great wealth. My teaching him
would have given me and her family greater prestige. When I told my teacher the
story he humorously called me an idiot for not accepting the man's money, but
praised me for not sacrificing time with my family.
A week later I saw the man, and he apologized to me. I explained to him
several aspects of Taoist alchemy. I then realized why my teacher had said what
he did about not accepting his money. The man never paid me, but I got to enjoy
that week with my son. Had this man the patience to wait just one week, I would
have been richer and he would not have fallen seriously ill three months later.
So Ko Hung is correct: It is no surprise that this man, because of his
impatience, anger, and arrogance, never enjoyed the rewards of health,
longevity, and, especially, immortality.
For those who might be wondering about this whole question of money and why
my teacher would have encouraged the receipt of material gifts, there is an old
Chinese saying, "Silver must be sacrificed if gold is to be obtained." In
Taoism, and I am sure this is true in other spiritual traditions as well, there
is a balance between student and teacher wherein the student shows his sincerity
and respect by wanting to pay something to his teacher for what he is receiving,
and the teacher should attempt to give more instruction than what the student
paid for. So there must be generosity on both sides.
Money is not evil, but greed for it is. Money is good: It builds temples; it
feeds teachers, monks, and nuns; and it prints books of wisdom. A Buddhist
teacher once told me, "The payment for teachings, no matter if a large or a
small amount, allows the teachings to hold." What he meant was that when a
student exercises his generosity, the teachings he receives will feel worthy.
Students who attempt to get teachings for nothing by retribution end up with
nothing and nothing will hold. A teacher who teaches for nothing normally does
so because he doesn't feel he has anything to give back. This is a total lack of
respect for the teachings.
In Taoism, and in other traditions as well, there are three types of giving,
or charity, that should be exercised by both student and teacher -- the giving of
money, the giving of labor or skills, and the giving of wisdom or the teachings.
Giving and charity are at the foundation of compassion. In present times I hear
spiritual organizations and teachers use the word donation to soften the blow of
simply saying "Pay me." In the end, neither student nor teacher should be
attached to money, nor should either be attached to "not having money." As the
great Taoist philosopher Yang Chu said, "If wealth wishes to come to you, do not
avoid or refuse it; if poverty comes to you, do not attempt to avoid it or be
saddened by it."
I once heard a wonderful interview with the actor/comedian Drew Carey. He
made a comment about something his mother told him that I thought was truly
wonderful: "If it is a money problem, then it really is not a real problem." I
thought this was wonderful because in our present culture we obsess about money
problems. Yet money problems are the easiest to fix, the easiest to negotiate,
and the easiest to manage. True problems have to do with health issues, safety
issues, and emotional issues.
Enough said about money.
KO HUNG: On those occasions when I was able to acquire oral instructions
for an important alchemical process, or I had the opportunity of meeting with
an excellent teacher, I would still desire closeness with my venerable wife
and my small children. I would still have fond, loving thoughts of the hill
where I see foxes and rabbits running about freely. Gradually, the day of my
passing draws closer and closer, and insensibly I only grow older and weaker.
I do all this knowing that immortality can be achieved, yet I find myself
unmotivated to undertake the tasks to do so. So even though I am well aware of
the uselessness of the many popular activities surrounding me, I cannot seem
to let them go. Why? Because these have become habits and attachments, and it
is so difficult to separate myself from the desire to be involved with these
popular activities.
I very much relate to this portion of his text. My life has been blessed with
learning from really good teachers, yet within those periods I missed many of
the beautiful things life had to offer. As I grow older I too find myself
attached to things that could be deemed un-Taoist and un-Buddhist. But, then, I
saw these same characteristics in all my teachers as well. It is human nature,
and true even of cultivators, to have joy and an attachment to something outside
the arduous practices. To me it is like a release valve letting off excess
energy acquired from practicing.
The Sixth Patriarch of Chinese Buddhism, Hui Neng, once said, "If you want to
attain enlightenment, stay far away from the monasteries." Why would he say
that? Because more often than not, the attachment we create to an environment
can become the very hindrance to what we are trying to achieve.
 This
article was excerpted from:
The Jade Emperors Mind Seal Classic
by
Stuart Alve Olson.
Reprinted with permission of the publisher, Inner Traditions Intl. ©2003. http://www.innertraditions.com
Info/Order this book
About the Author
STUART
ALVE OLSON has been a practicing Taoist for over thirty years and has studied
with the famous Taoist master T.T. Liang (1900-2002). He lectures throughout the
world and lives in the San Francisco Bay Area where he teaches Taoist
meditation, I T'ai Chi, related Yang-Style forms and weapons, and Eight Brocades
Seated Qigong. He also translates and compiles Asian philosophy-related books.
Stuart is presently involved, along with others, in forming the American Taoist
Association.
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