What is the Dao?

The fundamental meaning of the Chinese word dao (sounds like "Dow" as in "Dow-Jones") is simply "road." In fact, there are several major thoroughfares in Hong Kong that have this word as part of their names. Just as in English, the meaning of "road" is very close to the meaning of "way." Very early on, the Chinese took the word Dao to mean "the right way to do something." From there it took on a deeper level of meaning, "the way that the Universe works." Finally, it came to mean something like "the total process going on in the Universe," and especially the underlying aspect of the Universe that somehow determines the how and why of all the various interactions that occur.

Two early Chinese philosophers articulated the central ideas that have come to be called Daoism (or Taoism if you prefer the older spelling). Tradition says that Lao Zi (pronounced "lau-dz" as in "loud" and "adz") was earlier than Zhuang Zi (pronounced Jwong-dz), and most modern scholars believe that the book of Zhuang Zi was written down before that of Lao Zi. Kinkaju will not enter into that argument here. Suffice it to say that philosophical Daoism has been around since several hundred years B.C.

Kinkaju will claim hardly any ideas or insights as hirz own. On the other hand, 'e will not rest hirz arguments on the authority of the ancient masters. 'E will recommend what 'e chooses to call Daoist ideas to you because hirz experience has been that they work.

The Dao is the total process of the Universe, and the underlying "reasons" why it works. Of course, we cannot directly experience the Dao, except in mystical union with it. We can make up "myths" or "convenient fictions" that help us deal with our daily tasks, but if we forget that we are dealing with something we made up ourselves, if we forget that we have a rough map that includes a lot of guesswork, and then we direct our steps in life exactly according to that map, then we will surely fall into holes or walk into walls that are there in reality but did not get included in our map.

Much of what humans do is counter-productive. We get some big theory about how things ought to work, and we act on that theory. Then when things don't turn out right, we don't blame ourselves for having done something stupid. We blame the other person, the one we were trying to treat (i.e., manipulate), for not being cooperative.

Daoism says that cats like to be stroked in the same direction that their fur naturally lies. If you stroke a cat in the opposite direction and 'e scratches you, are you seriously going to blame the cat?

Very frequently Western people try to make others be good by threatening them with dire punishments if they do not cooperate with society. Society is a good thing, and to be a part of society is rewarding. One of the greatest deprivations human beings and other primates can endure is solitary confinement. A single caged monkey will work tirelessly for a "peep show" in which all 'e gets to see is a group of monkeys in an adjoining cage. But instead of permitting people to develop a natural liking for the rewards to be gained from a social existence, we have decided that instead we have to beat anti-social tendencies out of them. If we were consistent, then when a little puppy lost its mother and we wanted it to drink milk from a saucer, we would pick it up by the scruff of the neck, spank it, and all the while yell at it, "Drink the blasted milk or I'll wring your little neck!" Sounds crazy, doesn't it, but that's what we do to kids who show the least sign of becoming troublemakers. The way to treat the motherless puppy is just to gently stick its muzzle into the bowl of milk. If milk is good for it, it will figure that out as it is licking its face clean.

Humans frequently fail to see and to interpret correctly what is immediately before their eyes. If you don't believe that, ask yourself how many people are truly free of all prejudice. Our own interests bias our perceptions. We see a golf game differently when it is a championship match or when we have bet a large amount of money on ourselves. We can sing just fine at home, but our voice cracks when we get up to sing a solo in the auditorium. We can fight very well when we are sparring with our friends, but make errors of judgment in a real encounter.

The Dao is the Way all thinks work, or the working of all things. We need to reduce our level of misunderstanding about how things work. Otherwise, we will make mistakes that hurt ourselves or hurt our interests. There are ways (dao) to prepare ourselves, to train ourselves, to put us closer to the great Dao. Some of these ways seem very commonplace to the people of western society and some of these ways seem so "far out" that we are likely to make fun of them.

Two of these approaches to the Dao are very closely related: karate and meditation. If you learn karate you will learn meditation. Karate is what Nicole calls "moving Zen," and Zen is one of the most highly developed methodologies of meditation. Meditation involves deep relaxation. So how can karate involve deep relaxation? One of Kinkaju's best teachers had two things he could always be depended on to order students to do. First he would shout: "Pay attention!" and then a few minutes later, "Relax!" Back and forth he went between these two admonitions.

A tense body is a symptom of a rigidly focused mind, and that's not a good thing. Things that are too rigid will likely snap -- not "go crazy" but fragment like a dropped mirror. A fragmented mirror no longer depicts the outside world in a comprehensible way. When you are attacked, your mind must remain like a placid pool of water that casts a clear reflection of the approaching danger. If it becomes stirred up, the waves and billows will cast no image at all. You will see only whitecaps as your opponent closes in to demolish you. Pour oil on troubled waters? How can ypu do that?

Practice. Beginning with simple five-attack sparring, the student repeatedly experiences a powerful fist moving right for hirz nose. Sure, your opponent is not supposed to hit you, but what if you miss your block or 'e loses concentration and control? Still, with practice it is possible to learn how to maintain calm as the challenges of sparring become more intense.

So karate is a dao,a way, for making progress in meditation. And meditation is a dao for getting closer to a correct apprehension of what is really there. So karate can be said to be one daofor getting closer to the Dao. Confused? It's a way of working that gets you closer to the way things really work.

Don't believe it? A long time ago scientists did EEG tests of Buddhists monks or yogis in deep meditation, and of karate masters in sparring. They found that the brainwaves were not the kind found when people are performing everyday activities, and they found that the brainwaves of the monks and the karate masters were of the same kind.

That's probably enough reading for now. Later, Kinkaju will go back and make hypertext links to ideas mentioned above.