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Do you Tao?
Sneezer
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
I am a Taoist, I meditate, read the Tao Te Ching (Dhow Day Jing) and Zhuangzhi and try to follow some of the teachings of Lao-Tzu and Zhuangzi. What i'm asking is when someone mentions Taoism, what do you think of? Ying-Yang, bunch O' monks or a crazy patch of people following a non-existant 'code'?
Available for weddings, bar-mitzvahs and risings of the people against oppressive states.
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Also how does one meditate?
I meditate as well but do something closer to buddhist technique.
By not doing. Taking some time to release everything and by being.
Is there like beginner instructions?
There's a 'Tao for dummies' I beleive
Though that kinda negates the what I wouldn't like to call rules
What I dig is that its more a philosophy to aspire to - you find your own path - they write you the rules on right and wrong.
I'm full of the cryptics.
Congrats you're a Taoist then
A good "Tao for Dummies" is The Tao of Pooh, even though it is a bit poppy.
Fritjof Capra's The Tao of Physics is pretty awesome.
As far as the Tao Te Ching goes, read as many translations as possible. Get your hands on a translation made by a Westerner who knows Chinese and one by a Chinese person who knows English. Get your hands on a translation made by a female. And so forth. Read them all and compare and think about it.
In addition to the Masters you've mentioned, Ancestor Lü is totally tits.
Wei Wu Wei would be my suggestion as the core concept to meditate on. Doing Without Doing. It manifests in many ways, one of the most basic being essentially "a stitch in time saves nine." Less is more, though it goes deeper than simply saying that.
Wu Wei Wu is also the assumed name of a Taoist that I frequently quote in my sigs. He is the fucking man.
Just remember that the Way Eternal has no name. If one man asks about the Tao and another answers, then neither of them know (yes, I fully realize that includes me as I am an answerer here). The Tao suffers from a sort of philospohical Heisenberg: to even attempt to put it into language necessarily cripples its truth.
I'm a Taoist in the sense that I believe in the teachings surrounding what is called the Tao. However, I personally feel I am not on the correct tao. So, I don't consider myself a true Taoist. (Though, thinking of it, I suppose you don't have to be Christ to be a Christian.)
Edit: The Tao of Pooh was a fun read. I've also picked up the Te of Piglet, though I've never gotten around to reading that one.
In any case, as mentioned above, 'The Tao of Pooh' and 'The Te of Piglet' are pretty decent introductions to Taoism, if a bit 'simplistic' (that's not the right word, considering the subject, but it's the best I have). Tao Te Ching, obviously, is one of the 'must reads'.
Personally I find that a journey through Taoism needs a good long wrestle with quite a bit of paradox.
I like this quote because it fits so well with an easy change. "Personally I find that a journey through life needs a good long wrestle with quite a bit of paradox." And I think that is what endears me to Taoism.
Surley a pardox in itself?
One of my fav verses from the TTC
Out of genuine curiousity, what parts did you find flawed?
Zhunagchi is Chuang Tzu correct?
I read his stuff. He'd be a decent place to start. a little less cryptic and makes frequent use of analogies and humor ot get his point across.
I also loved Lao Tzu
That's pretty much where I'm at too. I don't really proscribe to any particular 'religion', I just try to recognize that there are good ideas presented by most every text, which unfortunately sometimes get overshadowed by the bad (Zealots, Fox News, etc).
The bits that veer into... I suppose you could call it overspecificity, I can't think of a better word. The bits that are clearly more strongly linked to cultural norms at the time of writing - a fair chunk of the instructions for ruling type stuff, and the gender-essentialism evident in a few other passages, basically.
Correct.
It is said that Zhuangzhi was Laozi's pupil, but no-one is sure.
Like I said Taoism is unique in that it acknowledges it's inherently flawed nature. So instead of the "This is the truth!" ideal it more of a "We've got a sense of something that hard to put into words" sensiblity.
It's also debatable if half these guys existed at all or wrote the stuff arttibuted to them
Yeah, well the bits that bother me are pretty much the bits where it obviously strays from that ideal in favour of spouting good old fashioned confucianism.
Whenever people mention Taoism, I always want to burst out with "HAY, HAVE U SEEN THE TAO OF STEVE OMG LOLO!?!?!?!"
Which sounds retarded, but it's SUCH a good movie about dating, and actually explains some interesting taoist principles.
- Soren Kierkegaard
But the true taoist would just go "meh," and shrug those narsty bits off.
- Soren Kierkegaard
Tao is [insert your own interpretation here]
I find that this stops people trying to be all high and mighty about what they consider they know *see above post of mine)
..or alternativly, ignore me and all my posts about Taoism
I think I can understand some of that. (I must admit I had to look up "gender-essentialism."
Ouch. ;-;
- Soren Kierkegaard
It means "I didn't know what word to use" :P Basically the bits where it was clearly no longer about oneness/the way/whatever, and instead became "confucian concept #485".
I think taoism is a crock of you know what, based on going with the flow in the faith that the flow is inherently benevolent. Which I do not believe it to be.
It's not like a "feminist" version or anything, Ellen Chen is one of the best teachers of Taoism anywhere. But it is a less man-focused interpretation. A lot of translations are written a long time ago or by Easterners, or both, which can tend to impart a little bit of "wimminz are subs" into the translation.
Wounds! Also I think benevolent is not the right term there. The Way is neither Good nor Bad.
I'm not trying to get a better word, necessarily. Basically, I don't know enough about confucian concepts to know what you mean. So, I was wondering if you had an example or two. And again, I am fine if you are just saying, read some confucianism and see the similarities.
I do agree largely with what Shinto said about not believing that there is some all powerful benevolent force. I liken this to "natural order," something I just can't bring myself to believe in.
"Tzu" is an honorific, right?