Martial Art as a Spiritual Practise (5)

In the sixth century B.C, Lao-Tse completed his classic essay, the Tao Te Ching (The Way and its Power), this was the first coherent treatise and is now the foremost work of Taoist thought since its birth approximately 4000 years ago (Chuen, 1991; Reid, 1993). Some Taoists trace the origins of the philosophy back to an ancient race of supernatural beings called "The Sons of Reflected Light" who it is believed gave the philosophy to the ancient Chinese, this belief is based on the writings of the Huang Ti Nei Ching (The Yellow Emperor's Classic of Internal Medicine) written almost 4000 years ago (Chuen, 1991, p. 30).

The "Tao" is the singular source of ultimate as well as relative reality, of the primordial as well as the temporal aspects of the cosmos. Formless without sound or substance, the Tao is nevertheless omniscient, omnipotent, and omnipresent throughout the universe (Reid, 1993).
A verse in the 5000-word Tao Te Ching, of which more then a hundred different translations have been published, states: "The Tao that can be named is not the real Tao." It also says: "There was something formless yet complete that existed before heaven and earth... One may think of it as the mother of all things under heaven. Its true name I do not know; "Tao" is the nickname I give it. (Reid, 1993, p. 16) 

Fritjof Capra (1975) in his book The Tao of Physics explains that in terms of quantum physics if we were to break down all matter into its most basic parts we would be left with a system of sub-atomic elements (electrons, protons, neutrons) that move about each other in a constant dynamic way that is contrary to Newtonian law. As we are aware energy cannot be destroyed or created only transferred, thus the essential substance of the universe can be seen as an endless system of dynamic transference that has always existed, always will and is manifest in every form - omnipresent, omniscient and omnipotent. This cosmic greatness we may call TAO.

In this sense we can view ourselves existing as part of a "sea of energy". And just as a drop of water inside a river is as much part of the river as it is a manifestation of itself, so are we within nature. The "hologram effect" illustrates another aspect of Tao, in a hologram all of the parts contain all the information of the whole i.e. if we were to cut a corner of a hologram off and enlarge it we would have a picture of the original image from the original hologram (Capra, 1975, p. 352). Using this analogy we can view each part of the Tao as being in itself the whole of Tao, thus we embody Tao completely within ourselves.    

Bruce Lee spoke of wanting to be like the nature of water and becoming one with Tao (nature). Water is an apt symbol for Tao and in fact Taoism has been called "The Watercourse Way" (Watts, 1975). Just as a drop of water contains all the information about the river within which it exists, so do we within Tao, and just as a drop of water cannot be distinguished from the river within which it exists, so are we within Tao. To follow Tao is to follow the Way of the course of water - to flow with it in constant dynamic balance. (Watts, 1975) 

The Tao Te Ching carries on to explain the manifestation of Tao,    
            The Tao gave birth to the one source,
The one gave birth to two things,
Then to three things,
Then to ten thousand...                            
(Reid, 1993, p. 15).

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