Bow Wow Tao

There is perhaps no creature in the world that embodies the Taoist philosophy more than the dog. Dogs have an innate ability to ignore time, exist in the moment, go with the flow, and just ‘be’.

Take a typical day in a dog’s life as a case and point: sleep on the bed, look out the window, sleep on the couch, lick paws, lick ___, move to sunny spot to sleep, get a drink of water, yawn, stretch, sleep …

Tot he untrained eye, it may look as if the dog just sleeps all day. Some may even go so far as to say the dog is a lazy animal. But what the unenlightened fail to recognize is that the many naps a dog takes during the day are actually times of self centre-ing meditation and contemplation, a place where dog and squeaky toy become one. It is while the dog is in this relaxed state of mind that he finds the answers to life’s most perplexing questions: When will I get fed? Is it time for a walk? Where do squirrels live?

It seems, then, that humans who have tried for eons to obtain peace with their place in the universe could learn everything they need to know by taking a few moments to observe the humble hound.

(from: Bow Wow Tao: Wit, Wisdom and Dogma by Chu Toy)