Tell me! Which side of a coin is head?
As a matter of fact, you can call any of the two sides head, because the notion of ‘head’ is meant to contrast the ‘tail’. If one side of a coin is head, the other is tail, and vice versa.
The world is a coin. A whole coin, without head or tail!
But when you call one side of a coin head and the other tail, all of a sudden the world is dismembered. The coin is now made up of a head and a tail, no longer in oneness, although the coin is still a coin. So goes the world.
“When people see things as beautiful,
ugliness is created.
When people see things as good,
evil is created.
Being and non-being produce each other.
Difficult and easy complement each other.
Long and short define each other.
High and low oppose each other.
Fore and aft follow each other”Lao Tzu Tao Te Ching Chapter 2
When two countries are at war, each side would call the other side evil. So who is evil?
When you call one side evil, you are implying that the other side is good. Unfortunately, the other side would not agree, and cracks emerge.
This is the reason that the Master would rather teach without using words. The moment when words are used, wholeness of Tao is disrupted.
“The Master views the parts with compassion, because he understands the whole.”
Therefore the Master
can act without doing anything
and teach without saying a word.
Things come her way and she does not stop them;
things leave and she lets them go.
She has without possessing,
and acts without any expectations.
When her work is done, she takes no credit.
That is why it will last forever.”
Thanks to Yoel Ben-Avraham for the picture.
