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Re: merit and virtueFrom: singing ocean
Subject: General
Date/Time 2005-03-12 15:16:39
Remote IP: 154.20.44.178
MessageGreetings,
Do you feel that Virtue and merit are the same thing? I am curious to know whether by merit, you mean developing virtue that is a permanent part of your self, your emotional and spiritual being and your actions, or do you mean that you are getting "good points" like gold star stickers, and that we can get "more merit than others" by getting more points? (this is a semantic argument)
I do not think that is your meaning, though. I think it is more that if you align your inner being with your outer actions, then your outer actions will begin to benefit your inner being; a very western approach(which is okay if that is what you like and it works for you). Daoism takes the opposite approach that if you create a neutral center, by connecting to the pure virtue qualities of the five vital organ shen (fusion fundamentals) then you will manifest that neutrality and pure virtue in the outer world.
The "Dao De Jing" roughly translates as the "Way and Virtue Classic". The chinese character for "De", or virtue, is rooted in the character for heart.
Cultivating neutral force through daoist inner alchemy IS cultivating pure virtue qualities, but it is not always active, moral virtue, as in doing good deeds, and may not always necessarily look good. It is dissolving the polarizations of energetic forces that you encounter through cooking and balancing them out. It responds spontaneously to other beings in the environment that we are interacting with to create harmony and balance, which may or may not involve doing good deeds.
Isn't the question of moral virtue the same one faced by Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, Mumia Abu Jamal, or Angela Davis? How do you respond virtuously when you are faced with negativity? In a way that will draw you and the opposing aspect into a state of balance, or a way that will perpetuate the conflict? Different people have different ways of respondng to outer and inner forces because they are made up of different qualities, but hopefully the whole process will serve to create balance within the interaction of the whole and help the individual to further their own cultivation as a part of the whole interdependence of all beings.
"Cultivate Virtue in your own person,
and it becomes a genuine part of you.
Cultivate it in the family,
and it will abide.
Cultivate it in the community,
and it will live and grow.
Cultivate it in the state,
and it will flourish abundantly.
Cultivate it in the world,
And it will become universal....
How do I know about the world?
By what is within me."
-Lao Zi
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