Book Review: The Tao of Pooh: Benjamin Hoff

The book, 'The Tao of Pooh', written by Benjamin Hoff is an attempt to explain the principles of the Chinese philosophy of Tao through the eyes of Winnie the Pooh, a famous character created by A.A.Milne in the book by the same name.

Winnie is a simpleminded bear that spends his time enjoying life and taking it as it comes. The philosophy of Tao deals with simplifying life by simplifying thoughts and actions. This meeting of minds between Tao and the life philosophy of Winnie forms the genesis of  the book Tao of Pooh.

This delightful book of about 170 pages, divided over 9 chapters, packs a truckload of wisdom. So let us dive right in....

Wu Wei, Taoism in action

'Wu wei' is one of the most important concept in Taoism. Literally it means 'without doing, causing or making'. We could loosely call it as 'Going with the Flow'. It is like the flow of water that works around the obstacles rather than fight against it. It is sensitive to the natural rhythm of things. 

The concept of Wu wei is explained in the following story from Chuang-tse

At the Gorge of Lu, the great waterfall plunges for thousands of feet, its spray visible for miles. In the

churning waters below, no living creature can be seen.

One day, K'ung Fu-tse (Confucius) was standing at a distance from the pool's edge, when he saw an old man being tossed about in the turbulent water. He called to his disciples, and together they ran to rescue the victim. But by the time they reached the water, the old man had climbed out onto the bank and was walking along, singing to himself.

K'ung Fu-tse hurried up to him. "You would have to be a ghost to survive that," he said, "but you seem to be a man, instead. What secret power do you have?"

"Nothing special," the old man replied. "I began to learn while very young, and grew up practicing it

Now I am certain of success. I go down with the water and come up with the water. I follow it and

forget myself. I survive because I don't struggle against the water's superior power. That's all."

When we learn to work with our own Inner Nature, and with the natural laws operating around us, we reach the level of Wu Wei. Then we work with the natural order of things and operate on the principle of minimal effort. Since the natural world follows that principle, it does not make mistakes.

Bisy Backson, or how not to achieve a goal...

Most of us are busy all the time, setting our goals, making our resolutions, and acting on them all the time to achieve our goals and meet our resolutions. We feel frustrated when we are not doing anything.

As this story illustrates, sometimes we can achieve our goals by simply doing nothing.

There was a man who disliked seeing his footprints and his shadow. He decided to escape from them,

and began to run. But as he ran along, more footprints appeared, while his shadow easily kept up with him. Thinking he was going too slowly, he ran faster and faster without stopping, until he finally collapsed from exhaustion and died.

If he had stood still, there would have been no footprints. If he had rested in the shade, his shadow would have disappeared.

Sometimes, no action is the best action.

You always see this phenomenon play out in stock market investing. There are people who cannot sit idle if they have cash on hand. They have to trade or they have to invest. Other than making their brokers rich by frequent trading, or missing out on potential multibaggers, they achieve nothing. Then there are others who have to take medicines even for common cold. They have not heard of the statement, 'If you take medicines for common cold, you will be cured in a week. If you do not take any medicines, it will be cured in seven days'. Most of us are like ants, always doing something, always moving aimlessly, hitting into someone, missing directions....

Action, action, action....That is the buzzword.

I had a chance to work in Dalal Street in Mumbai. If there is one place in India, where the maxim of aimless action is most prevalent, it is in this financial nerve centre of India. People are always moving, hither and thither, mumbling to themselves, talking excitedly on their mobile phones, bumping on to passers by, navigate thru the honking vehicles who compete for the tiny space...

Boy, it is chaos....with a capital C....

But constant action do not help you. As the story of 'Sleeping point' shows, you have to act to the point that you can sleep well at night. Action is worthless beyond that point.

Sometimes no action is the best action....

A fly can't bird, but a bird can fly.....

As per Tao philosophy, everything has an inner nature, a purpose. The challenge is to identify the inner nature and apply it to our benefit.

This is illustrated by this beautiful story by Chuang-tse...

Hui-tse said to Chuang-tse, "I have a large tree which no carpenter can cut into lumber. Its branches  and trunk are crooked and tough, covered with bumps and depressions. No builder would turn his head to look at it. Your teachings are the same—useless, without value. Therefore, no one pays attention to them."

"As you know," Chuang-tse replied, "a cat is very skilled at capturing its prey. Crouching low, it can leap in any direction, pursuing'whatever it is after. But when its attention is focused on such things, it can be easily caught with a net. On the other hand, a huge yak is not easily caught or overcome. It stands like a stone, or a cloud in the sky. But for all its strength, it cannot catch a mouse.

"You complain that your tree is not valuable as lumber. But you could make use of the shade it provides, rest under its sheltering branches, and stroll beneath it, admiring its character and appearance.

Since it would not be endangered by an axe, what could threaten its existence? It is useless to you only because you want to make it into something else and do not use it in its proper way."

In other words, everything has its own place and function. That applies to people, although many don't seem to realize it, stuck as they are in the wrong job, the wrong marriage, or the wrong house. When you know and respect your own Inner Nature, you know where you belong. You also know where you don't belong.

The story of House Burglar turned Soldier....

As intelligent people, we are always trying to analyse our emotions and habits, then judging them to be good or bad, and then trying to improve ourselves by trying to get rid of the perceived bad habits or emotions.

Sooner or later, we are bound to discover some things about ourselves that we don't like. But once we see they're there, we can decide what we want to do with them. Do we want to get rid of them completely, change them into other things, or use them in beneficial ways? The last two approaches