The Dao of Nature & The Nature of Dao Podcast

Episode Eleven: Never Separate From This

This essay was unplanned. The series began as two pieces, one on 玄 (xuan) as the mystery at the heart of Daoist thought, and one tracing the compound 幽玄 (youxuan) on its journey from Chinese philosophy and aesthetics to Japan, where it became the celebrated concept of yugen. That second essay ended with a line from Liu Yiming’s commentary on the Huangting Jing (Yellow Court Scripture) that I couldn’t quite leave behind, so here we are with part three. That said, I should probably just add the caveat here that many if not all of my future posts will probably form a meandering path, one footstep leading to the next, each essay leading to the next, a process that will continue indefinitely. So, is it really part three of three? Who knows? Here’s a link for my forthcoming book from Shambhala Publications mentioned in the episode. It’s available everywhere for preorder now. An Introduction to Daoism: A Practice Guide for Living the Way [https://www.shambhala.com/an-introduction-to-daoism.html] Get full access to The Dao of Nature & The Nature of Dao at gregoryripley.substack.com/subscribe [https://gregoryripley.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4]

Episode 10: From Youxuan to Yugen (and Back Again)

This episode began as a companion to “Xuan: Mystery at the Heart of the Dao.” Where that episode explored xuan as a quality of reality and a contemplative orientation, this one was intended to follow the compound word 幽玄, youxuan, from its earliest appearances in Chinese literature through its long journey to Japan, where it became yugen, one of the most celebrated aesthetic concepts in the world. The meme, it turns out, has deep roots. What happened along the way was something far deeper than I expected. Which is perhaps appropriate for an essay about a concept that names exactly that, the depth that keeps going when you enter it, the center you find by not looking for it. Get full access to The Dao of Nature & The Nature of Dao at gregoryripley.substack.com/subscribe [https://gregoryripley.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4]

Episode 9: Xuan

This episode explores 玄 (xuan), a single Chinese character at the center of Daoist thought. Appearing in the opening lines of the Daodejing, xuan—most often translated as “dark,” “mysterious,” or “profound”—names not merely a feeling but a feature of reality: the quality of what exceeds ordinary knowing while remaining available to a different kind of awareness. Moving through the character’s etymology, its appearances across the Daodejing, and its resonances in other contemplative traditions, the essay traces how xuan functions as both threshold and method—the pivot on which the tradition turns, opening toward 妙 (miao), the wondrous. It closes in the forest, where the practice of forest therapy offers a contemporary form of the same ancient invitation: to release the “short and shallow ears and eyes” and enter, without grasping, the mystery that has always been there. Get full access to The Dao of Nature & The Nature of Dao at gregoryripley.substack.com/subscribe [https://gregoryripley.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4]

Episode 8: Don't Believe Everything You Think

Where do thoughts come from? And how much should we trust them? Drawing on Daoist philosophy, the Dao De Jing's Valley Spirit (谷神), and the inner alchemy writings of Bai Yuchan, this post explores the dual nature of thought: its generative, creative power and its capacity to distort our perception of reality. Thoughts arise spontaneously, like life emerging from an empty valley, yet left unexamined they can quietly shape everything we do. Mindfulness of thought—a practice as central to Daoism as to any contemplative tradition—is what allows us to engage with thoughts discerningly rather than be ruled by them. Get full access to The Dao of Nature & The Nature of Dao at gregoryripley.substack.com/subscribe [https://gregoryripley.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4]

Episode 7: Life is Our Path

This post was spurred by a note from James Ford [https://substack.com/@jamesiford/note/c-126748419?utm_source=notes-share-action&r=2qga1] discussing a purported Rumi quote, “As you start to walk on the way, the way appears.” Many spiritual traditions speak of following a path. This is especially true of the teachings of Daoism as we follow “the Great Way.” Matching the Rumi saying, the Zhuangzi says, “A path is made by walking.” (道行之而成) This was also echoed by the Spanish poet Antonio Machado some two thousand years later, “Traveler, there is no path, the path is made by walking it.” As Daoists we follow the path trod by those who have come before us and we also walk arm in arm with our fellow “wayfarers”, our spiritual siblings following the same path. We could also read the Zhuangzi quote as, “The Dao is accomplished by practicing it.” The path is a useful framework for self-cultivation, but it can also become an impediment if we take the path as being something too straight and narrow that we can easily stray from. The path is not a razor’s edge, a tightrope, or a high-wire act. The Dao is perfect just as it is, with nothing lacking and nothing in excess. We can no more stray from the path in its widest sense than we can fall off the Earth. This isn’t something to worry about, unless perhaps you are a Flat Earther! As Lu Xisheng said in his commentary on the Daode Jing, “The great way is like a broad avenue. A broad avenue is smooth and easy to travel on, and no one can fail to reach their destination. Because it is straight and broad, don’t worry about minor detours.” Our path might seem straight at times, life may be going along smoothly and we may feel as though we are covering lots of ground in a short period of time. Or it may seem long and winding. It may form switchbacks like a mountain trail. For every mile walked we may gain little elevation. Life’s inevitable challenges may make us feel as though we’ve lost a step or fallen behind. Fortunately, life is not a race to the end. If it were, we’d all have already lost! We may forget from time to time that we are walking on the path at all, feeling lost in the thickets of habitual patterns of behavior and delusive thoughts. But as soon as we return to ourselves, return to the reality of the present, we realize we were always on the path. We have never left it. We might have gotten caught up in a “minor detour” on that broad avenue, we may have gotten lost in our smartphones or we may have started window shopping and forgotten where we are going. Despite all the twists and turns our path may have taken, we were always on that “broad avenue” of the Great Dao. We can forget the path, forget ourselves, and forget our lives, but as soon as we remember, we are right back on it. We never really left. We will continue to walk this path throughout our lives, right up until we take our last breath, because our life is our path and we’re all walking it together. How often do we see the car if front of us on the highway as an obstacle that is in our way, instead of as a fellow traveler? To see passersby as enemies, adversaries, or obstacles in this life is to lose sight of that broad avenue, to lose sight of the Great Dao. Some of those around us may be fighting over territory and resources, or hoarding wealth, myopically thinking they can somehow disentangle themselves from this great tapestry of life we’re all woven into, but the rest of us realize we’re all in this together, and that, as Ram Das said, “We’re all just walking each other home.” Get full access to The Dao of Nature & The Nature of Dao at gregoryripley.substack.com/subscribe [https://gregoryripley.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4]