Playing with the Dao: A "Pragmatic" Strategic View (Pt. 1)

Playing with the Dao:
A "Pragmatic" Strategic View

The Dao gave birth to One. The One gave birth to Two. The Two gave birth to Three. The Three gave birth to all of creation. All things carry Yin yet embrace Yang. They blend their life breaths in order to produce harmony.
People despise being orphaned, widowed, and poor. But the noble ones take these as their titles. In losing, much is gained, and in gaining, much is lost.
What others teach I too will teach: "The strong and violent will not die a natural death." --- Chapter 42 of Laozi's Dao De Jing (also known as the Tao Te Ching)

We are currently living under a challenging macro scenario of rapid urgency, where uncertainties become a regular commonality. Some of these uncertainties are driven by many global-sized, technologically driven velocities of change that unnerve the masses to ask the question "What are we going to do now?"

Someone recently asked me the following set of questions: "Since our world has gotten more chaotic than what we dreamed or believed in, what can we do about it? Can a person stay ahead of the curve of shifts and changes by understanding the Dao? Is there anything in the Dao that allows us to understand our world of uncertainty?"

After a moment of self-reflection on these questions, I realized that this person wanted a pragmatic "what-to-do" answer to our global setting of life-altering shifts and changes. Before those questions could be answered, we must first define the meaning of the Dao.

What is the Dao?

The word "Dao" (also written as "Tao") means road, path, or way (a way to follow, a way of thought, a method, or a principle). The Dao is seen as the everlasting principle at the origin of the universe. It permeates and transcends all beings; it is at the origin of all transformations. This belief system, originating in ancient China, is considered to the foremost, indigenous philosophical thought of China and is called Daoism. Fundamentally, the name Daoism refers to one central universal principle: "Everything in the universe is connected to the motion of continuous change."

This essayist re-interprets that same principle as "… an elegant, universal framework that loosely connects numerous components to a total flow of macro and micro cycles of continuous change." Everything about Daoism is connected to this perspective.

"The universe and I exist together and all things and I are one."
--- Zhuang Zi's (translated by Lin Yutang)

Each component can possess a total force of positive or negative polarity. The Chinese refer to these forces as Yin and Yang. By viewing the internals of those components, an interplaying balance of opposite polarities that create and display the macro force can be seen.

Within this common setting, there's always a multiple of Yin and Yang forces evolving from a state of balance to a state of imbalance, then returning to its original state. Some of these actions have been explained with mathematics, numbers, and patterns. Nevertheless, it is always dynamic and continuous.

Pragmatic Definition of Yin and Yang forces

Yin: Soft, dark, contract, zero, lightness (weight), extraordinary, earth, no, loss, water

Yang: Hard, light, expand, one, heaviness (weight), normal, heaven, yes, gain, fire

A Daoist Viewpoint on Change

The impact of any Yin and Yang force is change. The Daoist's perspective on change emphasizes that time is cyclical—not linear or dynamic and never static. Change occurs continuously—not between events—and present events are determined by other present events, not by past events. To meet your objective, it is important to prevail in as many incrementally based contests as possible.

To view a change in term of Sunzi's strategic principles, this essayist recommends that you should perceive it in terms of patterns, strategic advantage(s), adaptability, and leverage(s).

"Thus, one able to gain victory by modifying his tactics in accordance with the enemy situation may be said to be divine. … Of the five elements, none is always predominant; of the four seasons, none lasts forever; of the days, some are long and some are short, and the moon waxes and wanes. …" --- Sunzi's Art of War (AoW), Chapter 6 (Griffith interpretation)

INTRODUCTION TO READING THE YIN AND YANG FORCES

Reading, recognizing, and understanding the force of shifts and changes occurs when you learn how to stay still.

"In battle, there are only the normal and extraordinary forces, but their combinations are limitless; none can comprehend them all. … For these two forces are mutually reproductive; their interaction as endless as that of interlocked rings. Who can determine where one ends and the other begins. …" --- Sunzi (Sun Tzu) AoW, Chapter 5 (Griffith interpretation)

Stillness

To understand the Dao, internal stillness is the first requirement. The first step of attaining this particular state is the focusing of emptying one's thoughts while maintaining no physical movement. This state of total "nothingness" is another important factor behind the essence of Daoism.

"Detach from emotions and desires; get rid of any fixations."
--- Zhuge Liang

The focus of being still is to find the internal state of tranquility within your being.

"In motion be like water. At rest like a mirror. Respond like an echo.
Be subtle as though non-existent. Be still as though pure."
--- Zhuangzi

Results from the Practice of Stillness

Life can be an incoming flow of random shift and changes when you are not familiar with the patterns. Proper practice of internal stillness allows you to understand the interlinking patterns of Yin and Yang forces while disbelieving in the attribute of chance.

"The stillness in stillness is not the true stillness; only when there is stillness in motion does the universal rhythm manifest."
--- Old Daoist text

Once the basic state of stillness is attained, the next step is to focus your internal attention on recognizable things like time, climate, and terrain, then continue by noticing its order and how it corresponds to the large scheme of things—all while maintaining an eye on the target. This key step of focusing on the current moment is the basis of mastering the Daoist principle of "familiar."

"Never worry about yesterday or concern oneself with tomorrow. You have to stay in the moment. By focusing on today, that is how we get to tomorrow."
--- A paraphrase from John Wooden, former UCLA coach

This "performance" state of internal stillness can attenuate the chaos of your surroundings into a transparent state of clarity. Old Daoist texts describe this transformation with the analogy of "muddy water settling down and becoming "clear and pristine."

"One should clean out a room in one's home and place only a tea table and a chair in the room with some boiled water and fragrant tea. Afterwards, sit solitarily and allow one's spirit to become tranquil, light, and natural."
--- Li Ri Hua, a Ming Dynasty scholar

Through this constant practice of internal stillness, the novice participant of the Dao slowly learns to appreciate the attribute of self-patience and delayed gratification, while subconsciously focusing on accomplishing your objective regardless of the internal and external pressure (from your surroundings that derives from the shifts and changes).

"The Master said, 'Even the world, its states, and its clans can be pacified; even ranks and emoluments can be declined, and even flashing blades can be trodden underfoot, but focusing on the familiar affairs of the day (zhongyong)—this is no easy matter."
--- Zhongyong, Section 9

You can also advance to the mindset of prioritizing that understanding the state of how the world is is more significant than the act of determining what and why the world is.

"Be peaceful, easygoing, upright, and calm; then the measures you impose will be accommodating. If you are good at managing but are not calm, then empty your heart and even your mind, and wait for unease to fall away. This helps master rank."
--- Guigu Zi (Master of the Ghost Valley)

Results from "Understanding the How"

Understanding how the world operates and its cyclical phase enhances your view of the large picture. This comprehension assists you in determining the "competitive advantage" within the situation, allowing you to focus on what to adopt and how to adjust to the current situation.

Proper understanding of the how allows the pragmatic strategist of the Dao to proactively view the large picture unemotionally while the practice of the what focuses the amateur strategic player of the Dao to be more tactically reactive. After a series of practice and perfecting, the budding strategic player of the Dao learns to observe and understand how the micro-cycle of one event can fit into the large picture [the Greater Dao]. This action is the first step of "aligning with the Dao."

"What comes from the internal practice of stillness is the practice of field and focus. ... All this 'stuff' is happening all around me and I am the lens that brings it into perspective at this point in time and this location." --- R. Matz (Yi Quan scholar)

This proper practice allows you to become effective at whatever your focus is.

How to Read the Forces

"Study requires calm; talent requires study. Without study there is no way to expand talent; without calm there is no way to accomplish study."
--- Zhuge Liang

Through the state of stillness, you develop the ability to read the forces of Yin and Yang.

When observing a specific force, focus only on the current moment of reading and recognizing the attributes of forces and its affect on the current settings. Is the force opposing? Is the force positioned in a scenario of confronting? Is the force fluid and constantly changing? Is the force a "head-on" scenario? Or is the force a macro combination of the four forces mentioned above?

"Therefore I say, know the enemy and know yourself; in a hundred battles you will never be in peril."
--- Sunzi

When encountering any combination of those forces mentioned above, the pragmatic, strategic player of the Dao decides on one of the following four strategic options:

• Positioning in one's locale and countering with the opposite polarity of the oncoming force
• Positioning in one's locale and yielding until the force is overextended
• Countering the directness of the oncoming force with indirectness
• Countering the "continuous change of opposing force" by following its direction

As a strategic rule, never counter a direct force with a direct force.

"For they end and recommence; cyclical, as are the movements of the sun and moon. They die away and are reborn; recurrent, as are the passing seasons. … "
--- Sunzi (Sun Tzu) AoW, Chapter 5 (Griffith's interpretation)

By studying the following attributes of a force: direction, intensity, rhythm, balance and its origin, you might understand how it fits into the greater scheme of things.

"In dwelling, be close to the land; in meditation, go deep in the heart; in dealing with others, be gentle and kind; in speech, be true; in ruling, be just'; in business, be competent; in action, watch the timing."
--- Dao De Jing, Chapter 8

Copyright: Cardinal009 (MEH), 2005