There
is a Taoist aphorism that says to consider the tongue and the teeth. The
tongue is of no distinctive shape or appearance, is soft and flexible,
and moves and reshapes itself to adapt to various uses. The teeth on the
other hand are strong and firm, of a set form and appearance and can add
to or detract from the appearance of the face. Yet it is the stiff and
unchanging teeth which succumb to rot and decay. One would do well to
consider the tongue.
Human beings like plants
are soft and flexible when young, and with age grow stiff and rigid. It
is like the Buddhist admonition of having the "First Mind",
that is, the mind you had when you first began any endeavor - a mind
open to learning something new, a mind flexible and ready to change and
grow. In addition to the follies of youth is this softness and
suppleness of "First Mind." Not only our bodies, but our
spirit becomes stiffer and stiffer, we become more and more used to a
set way of doing things, a set schedule, a set diet, a set number of
friends, etc., etc. And, as we set up these "set" things, we
unconsciously move from a discovery pose to a defense pose.
The first sign of this
happening is talking increasingly of "the good old days" when
people had better this and better that. We are a strange lot. On the one
hand we blindly believe in progress, that the present is always better
than the past - and at the same time, we believe that the golden age is
always in the past. The Buddhist tradition tells us that this is because
the present, the ever-changing present, is too difficult for us to live
in - the future will be better, just as the past was, so it is easier to
live there than in the present. So from youth looking to the future and
age looking to the past, we all miss the present, the only real thing
there is - and that only for a ksanti, a brief, constantly changing
second. The times we find ourselves living in the present moment are
religious moments, not to be held on to (for to do so is to be dragged
into the past), but to be savored momentarily. And, it is the memory of
those moments that call us to consider the tongue, to consider the
"First Mind", to call us to be soft and supple.
In Far Eastern Buddhism,
this idea is represented by the bamboo - sturdy from age but still able
to bend with the wind and therefore indestructible. The firmness of the
bamboo is said to lie in its knowing when to bend, and therefore, not
the same as the youthful plant which does not yet have a protective
hardwood, nor is it like the elegant but stiff pine tree which does not
know how to bend and can only stand proudly or break in a storm. Like
the unnoticed tongue, the bamboo is an overgrown grass. Yet, its ability
to bend without compromising its straightforward toughness is what makes
it invincible. As those of us over 50 approach old age, we need to
consider the tongue, consider the teeth, consider the bamboo….gassho,
Rev. Mas.
