Going With the Flow: The Misconception of Our Age

By: Lin Ai Wei There is a common phrase in the various cultivation schools of Modern Western Daoism which insists that people have lost connection with the rightful order of things. Going with the flow is the most common philosophical catch phrase of the Modern Western Daoist mindset. Somehow, people, over the coarse of thousands of translations of Daoist educational scriptures, have come up with this idea that they are not in accord with the natural flow of things and must somehow, someway get back in touch with the Way, Dao, of life. People talk of going with the flow, as though it is some kind of ordinary casual cop-out to saying I was just confused and didnt realize what I was doing, or I simply just dont know why these things are happening, why I made this decision, why I cant think straight. Going with the flow is not some mysterious undertaking. It isnt some other-worldly endeavor, nor does it require one to sit in meditation, hour after hour, day after to in order to realize some magnificent teaching on how to go with the flow. Does anyone even know what this flow is? They call it Dao, the Way, but in actuality the flow is not Dao. The flow is a process; Dao is the original state of that which is the catalyst for the process. Everyone goes with the flow all the times, they are just not mindful of the causes and conditions which push them into the flow, or process, of the manifestation of their own thoughts. It is nothing more than that. The flow of nature and all of life is nothing separate from the minds of living beings. What people think will manifest. The flow is quite a simple calculation: A says, I love you! B says, I love you too. Or, A says, I hate you! B says, I hate you too!. It is very simple. The flow that people are saying they are not in touch with, and must return to, is nothing more than the ups and downs of their own mind. It is nothing more than the playing out of the cause and conditions they themselves create for themselves. It is, in other words, the process of Karma. The reason why people are confused is because they do not realize what they feel, desire, think, say and do. They do not pay attention to any of them and do not think it really matters. They forget the causes of the situation and only hanker for the outcomes, in either worry or delight.

Thus, when they are faced with an uncomfortable situation, they run around like a chicken without a head in anxiety, or they become trivial in thoughts like they are trying to unravel a mystery, but all that is accomplished is a waste of energy, confusion, worry, trivial thinking, myriad things appear of the mind and thus they wallow in their own messy mind, thinking that either someone has done them wrong, and life is unfair, so they must study the Dao, or that it is just the way things are, and just sit and go with what comes. When one follows the flow of things, they are just followers. They have a desire, they go with it. They have a thought, and they revel in it for hours. Someone yells at them, and they take it either to yell back, or walk away indifferent. Following the flow of things is simply just planting causes and reaping the outcomes. It is quite ordinary, and people do it without realizing it. It is nothing special. The only difference between someone who follows the flow of things and one who is of high wisdom, a Sage, is that the Sage doesnt look to the outcomes; the Sage is more concerned with the causes. The Sage thus creates the flow consciously, wisely. Going with the flow, is just an ordinary mind. To neither go with or against the flow is just the wisdom mind. The wisdom mind knows that all things come from the mind alone. If all things come from the mind alone, then there is no real Way in which one should follow, because there is no I that is following. Hence, there is no going with the flow in order to see the truth of things. There is only wisdom which knows of the causes and conditions, outcomes of that which arises in the mind. To go with the flow is the ordinary person. When there is no flow, that is just the Sagely mind. The Dao, or the Way, has no path. What is seen as the Way arises from the minds of living beings. They themselves create the ups and downs and the path in which they arise from. This mannerism of the flow is likened to the mundane illusions living beings experience. It is to say that living beings only ride upon the waves, bobbing up and down, here and there. They never enter the source of their illusions, they never enter the stream of their minds, thus sinking to the bottom of the ocean; wallowing in the depths of their desires. Thus it is said that the realized Bodhisattva enters the stream, the flow of all things just to go against it. The Bodhisattva, moves between the illusion and the non-illusion. It is the middle point between causes and outcomes, the fine point which can either cause one to retreat on their path and fall into illusion again, or strengthen their resolve for Bodhi, and further eradicate false thinking. States of nothingness, emptiness arise, and fall due to the guest dust arising and falling, coming and going. Just as Shakyamuni Buddha proclaimed before attaining Anuttura Samyaksambodhi, placing his bowl into the down stream flowing river, saying that if he is to realize the way to end suffering in his current lifetime, may the bowl flow upstream. And thus the way to realization was turned. Enter the flow/stream of the

mind ground, utilizing Precepts, Samadhi and Wisdom as ones strength of resolving to attain Bodhi; see through the illusion of ones own mind by not only not entertaining the guest-dust, but also not being indifferent. This mannerism of the flow, is the entering of the middle-way, neither coming or going, realizing all thoughts, emotions, senses are empty, thus neither entertaining them, nor entering the state of indifference. Going against the stream means to neither hold the views of opposition, nor hold the views of a flow that one is going against. Though the views which arise are false in and of themselves, it is the stream of habits, karma, thoughts and desires which cause ones mind to be confused within the mess of thoughts. The flow of the mundane is of the waves going here and there. The entering of the stream/flow for a realized Bodhisattva is just the realization of all things with no beginning and no end. All things disappear in the same place they have appeared. The stream enterer realizes the impermanence of states, and utilizes Precepts, Samadhi and Wisdom to not retreat into the mundane flow. Enter the flow, to end the flow; to realize that the flow is of ones own making.