Evolution of love

Tao

One day three wise men met each other over a tasting of vinegar.
They were none other than Confucious, Buddha and Lao Tzu.

After tasting the vinegar, they each have three very distinct expressions.

Confucious has a sour expression.
Buddha has a most bitter expression.
Only Lao Tzu smiles and has a happy expression.

Confucious thinks the vinegar is sour, because he sees the world to be unrefined and unorganized.

Before there was harmony in the world and everything had it's place and order. Customs, etiquette and laws helped the world become civilized.

Everything must have rules to follow.

Events and happenings must follow rituals and traditions passed down from former generations should be respected and observed appropriately.

There were rituals to dictate when one listens to a specific court music or when to honor certain traditions and celebrate events.

He believed that the relationship and conduct between people must be clearly outlined and strictly followed. Only in this way can there be harmony, but the current world and the ancient are not longer the same.

The principles which once kept the balance of human interactions is missing and because of this, Confucious feels the world has gone sour.

The Buddha's expression is of bitter distaste, because he feels that the life of man is riddled with suffering, dissatisfaction, unhappiness, anxiety, sickness, tragedy and despair.

Why do people suffer?

People suffer because of desire and craving:

Desire to be or not to be.
Desire to have or not to have.
Desire to experience pleasure through the 5 senses and the mind.

We suffer internally when our desires are not met, and our desires have no limit.

In order to eliminate this suffering, you must eliminate craving and desire of things, detaching yourself from life.

Because of this, Buddha feels that life is endlessly bitter.

Lao Tzu's expression is one of happiness with an apparent smile.
To him the taste of the vinegar is sweet and nourishing, but why?

He sees the wonder of heaven, on earth, and that the divine is in us all.

The world ebbs and flows with the current of the Tao, not doing, yet leaving nothing undone. Doing, but not claiming possession. Acting, but not expecting. When the Tao is done, it forgets. That is why it lasts forever.

The natural law of the Tao, should be followed by people, without effort, without action, but naturally from within.

He thinks that, it is because people have created so many laws for themselves, their lives and their world, that suffering arises in the first place.

Because of these laws, the world has become unnatural.

Everything has it's own natural flow.
If you can recognize and follow this natural flow, you will flow with the effortless current of the Tao and be forever happy.

He smiles, because he knows the natural flow of the universe and runs with it, not against it, and in the midst of life, he finds opportunity to the Tao.