Tag Archives: Tao

Tao 1–What Is the Tao?

Tao 1–What Is the Tao?
I wrote these words in 1999: “As a new year begins, I am going to begin doing something that I have been thinking about doing for a long time. This may seem strange to many people. In fact, it seems a little strange to me. I want to write a small book entitled The Tao of the Mandolin. And I want to write it to you, Comandos of the world. Once a week, I will write whatever I can see or think of or feel about the connection between the Tao and the instrument we play or build or are interested in. I hope this does not offend anyone. In a sense, Taoism is a religion, but I am certainly not proselytizing for it. In fact, those who follow the Tao shun such actions. I see the Tao as more of a philosophy, and that’s the way I’m treating it here. I guess an alternative title for my little book-to-be could be The Philosophy of the Mandolin. If that title is more palatable, you could think of it that way. I will try to write one entry a week, for 52 weeks. If I can keep up, I will have written my small book by the end of the year.”

Comando, an email discussion list that focuses on the mandolin, was the original site of my little book, which I did finish. I posted most of it to a website, but a virus destroyed much of it several years ago. From time to time, someone asks me what happened to “The Tao of the Mandolin,” and I always promise to get it back up on the web. So here it is, in a new form, and in a forum that can be interactive. Now, back to The Tao of the Mandolin, as written in 1999:

I now begin the little book I have been planning for several years to write. It is called The Tao of the Mandolin, and this is the way it begins.

What is the Tao? Many prefer not to translate the word, feeling that to translate the Tao is to reduce it. The Tao te Ching begins this way: “The Tao that can be told is not the eternal Tao.” So any effort to explain or define would be a failure. Another tactic is to translate it with many different words: path, way, road, course, principle, doctrine. Or a master might illustrate the Tao by telling a story or drawing a picture. A man is walking down a path. He has always been walking the path. He will always walk the path. This is the Tao, both the path and the walking of the path. I will try all these ways of answering the question anyone reading this might naturally ask: “What is the Tao of the Mandolin?”

First answer: I will not answer. Look at your mandolin. Hold it. Strum a chord. Play a tune. Do that every day. Do it for the rest of your life. That is the Tao of the mandolin. If you don’t understand that answer, you do not understand the Tao. If you do understand it, you already know the Tao of the mandolin, and you don’t need to read this book!

Second answer: just as the Tao can be translated with many words, the Tao of the mandolin can be translated. Today I am thinking that the fretboard is the Tao. It is a road, a path, with markers, and boundaries, and it goes on and on very far. Your fingers travel the path, the way. Playing a tune is a little journey on the fretboard.

Third answer: Every song is a trip. Some trips are easy, some are very hard. Some trips are so difficult that you are not ready to take them, certainly not to finish them. You must practice so you can make the journey. You must take little trips to build up for the big trip. Other people are also on the journey. Some of them are way ahead of you, some behind. Some walk near you and help you for a time. Others are great masters, and you look to them for wisdom and guidance. If you are lucky, you will have a great teacher. But in the end, you must walk alone, just as we all must. You may have been on this journey for a long time. Others are just beginning. But if you follow the Tao of the mandolin, you will be on this journey for the rest of your life. If you take trips every day, you will be one with the Tao of the mandolin. In fact, playing the mandolin is one way to be one with the Tao.

When I started playing the mandolin many years ago, I did not realize what I was getting into. I just thought I was going to try to learn play this interesting little instrument whose sound and shape intrigued me. I thought it would be a way to be different from all the guitar players. To my surprise, it became a part of my spiritual journey. That is the nature of the Tao. I wish everyone could know the joy of playing the mandolin, but they don’t really need to, for there are many many ways the Tao reveals itself. If you have ever found joy while playing the mandolin, you have felt the Tao.