Pooh is a small bear whose one love in life is eating honey. Pooh is not cleaver but, rather, bumbles along in the stories arriving at the answer to riddles or problems without meaning to or through little effort or, even, without knowing he has arrived at the answer. He is contrasted with a self-proclaimed purveyor of knowledge, the owl, and a busy body rabbit as well as other animals of the 100 acre wood.
Hoff sets up his thesis of Pooh as Taoist master by first introducing the reader to a few background principles of the religion. He tells of a painting called "The Vinegar Tasters" with three men who have tasted a particular vinegar. The first is un-bending Confucius and he finds the vinegar sour. For him, life was ruled by rituals and reverence for ancestors; hence, the sour vinegar. The second taster is dreamer Buddha and, for him, the vinegar is bitter. He sees life as filled with attachments and desires for this world which lead to suffering and pain. Only by escaping these desires and attachments (thereby escaping this world completely through nirvana) may a person cease the suffering. The last vinegar taster was realist Lao-tse, the founder of Taoism. He is laughing as he finds heaven to exist on earth.
As Pooh as the perfect Taoist, Hoff explains the concept of the "uncarved block" (called "P'u" in Taoism). Hoff states the concept as follows:
The essence of the principle of the Uncarved Block is that things in their original simplicity contain their own natural power, power that is easily spoiled and lost when that simplicity is changed.
Pooh is able to accomplish what he does because he is simpleminded. As any old Taoist walking out of the woods can tell you, simple-minded does not necessarily mean stupid.
Hoff then quotes the Tao Te Ching: "The wise are not learned; the learned are not wise." This is so because the learned individual is restricted by his own learning.
Simply, using the character Owl from Winnie-The-Pooh as an example of a learned individual who lacks wisdom. In the story, Owl's knowledge and education never assist the characters in performing the task at hand. Time and again, it is Pooh's way (simple, slow paced approach) that wins the day.
I believe the point is to Know one's self leads to believing in one's self which leads to self-reliance. To emphasis the point, Hoff reminds us of the story of the Ugly Duckling who later turns into a swan. The duckling had already turned into a swan but still suffered with low self-esteem. It was not until the swan looked at her reflection in the water that she realized who she really was (i.e., saw her true inner self, an inner self that is hidden in us all).
The next principle presented is Wu Wei. Meaning, "without doing, causing, or making." This is exemplified by how Pooh goes about life. Pooh operates on the simple principle of minimal effort and working within his limitations.
The Wu Wei principle can be understood by striking at a piece of cork floating in water. The harder you hit it, the more it yields: the more it yields, the harder it bounces back. Without expending energy, the cork can easily wear you out.
These are the main points of the book. The book reinforced the ideas that I had, that being that we don't need to shift our responsibilities onto the shoulders of some deified Spiritual Superman, or sit around and wait for Fate to come knocking at the door. We simply need to believe in the power that's within us, and use it.
One of the most important concepts in Taoism is compassion ("Tz'u"). From it comes courage and, without it, one cannot achieve wisdom.
Loa-tse wrote: "To attain knowledge, add things every day. To attain wisdom, remove things every day." All things come from Nothing. This empty-mindedness (or clear-mindedness). The best example of this concept is a small child who's mind is free of prejudice and judgement.
On his way back from K'un-lun Mountains, the Yellow Emperor lost the dark pearl of Tao. He sent Knowledge to find it, but Knowledge was unable to understand it. He sent Distant Vision, but Distant Vision was unable to see it. He sent Eloquence, but Eloquence was unable to describe it. Finally, he sent Empty Mind, and Empty Mind came back with the pearl...Chuang-tse
Later,
Kenaz
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