TAO vs. HARMONY

11. What is the root of the world’s peace?

The world’s peace lies in politics. The root of politics is to regulate minds. The objective of regulating minds is to coordinate the relationship between spirits and substances, between people themselves, between people and nature. Only high level of harmony between people itself, and between people and nature is achieved, can the world be pacific, can human being and all other creatures truly enjoy nature’s happiness and warmth.

What K'ung Fu-tzu(Confucius) had said, “one should strive to cultivate oneself internally, build a family, rule the country and make the under-Heaven harmonious outwardly”, is the root of politics, and the root of the world’s peace! If everyone could get rid of his desire, reaching the harmony of body and mind, then the under Heaven will reach the harmony. The world will realize the everlasting peace as well.

Cultivating oneself and getting rid of one’s desire are realized by recognizing the mind, cultivating the mind and enlightening it. Only by doing these, can one return to the nature of his own mind, to the Tao and its Attributes. Only by doing these, can one obtain the highest level of spiritual realm and moral awakenness. Cultivating oneself and getting rid of one’s desire do not mean to disguise and restrain his nature of human. It is proved that human’s desire can only be rid of by enlightening the mind. To restrain desires will, on the contrary, intensify them.

Laws and forces are not essential way to solve all problems of human beings. All forms of means are dialectic and relative, not the root. The society of human beings is the offspring of nature. All development of human beings is a display of nature. It is a must to follow the nature if the society is to reach harmony, because any artificial method will cause new problem, not radically solving it. Lao-Tzu the ancient sage gave a very detailed exposition on this in his famous book Tao Te Ching. It is a pity that later generations know only its outside, but not its essence. This is not because sages did not express clearly, but we are ignorant and unenlightened.

What is natural, what is unnatural, the relationship between nature and human’s nature, etc., are well-explained in my book Explanation of The Tao Te Ching: The Origin and Truth about the Tao and Its Attributes.

By Orient Dawn
Date: Year 2001