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Why Do So Many Westerners Think the Tao is a God?
- Thread starter Sunstone
- Start date
I think it has to do with both the view of some narrowed view Christians that can't conceptualize an existence without a god. Some atheists who only talk to Abrahamic faith have a similar problem of not understanding what a non-theist religion might be like.
Spirit of Light
Be who ever you want
Maybe because most people who live in the west have little or no knowledge about Tao or Taoism.
In west, it looks like it must be a God that is the foundation of the path. and only the teaching it self.
Only for those who have put the time in to study the paths of Eastern cultivation paths know enough about Tao to really take part in a deeper conversation in my understanding.
Ditto.
Bokonon isn't (or wasn't) a god either.
Augustus
…
Because it's hard for people to think outside of their cultural mindsets so they tend to map other cultures using their own.
BSM1
What? Me worry?
Probably for the same reason many Westerners believe Buddhism is a religion--ignorance.
Because there is a widely held misconception that religions need some form of god, I assume.
The Tao is basically the natural order of the universe. It's similar to Brahman and the ancient Egyptian concept of Ma'at.
Terry Sampson
Well-Known Member
I've never met a Westerner who thought that the Tao is a god. I have met a lot of 'em who have never heard of it.
Terry Sampson
Well-Known Member
BSM1
What? Me worry?
Shadow Wolf
Certified People sTabber
Probably the same reason they think Karma is all about this life and making it similar to the "'law' of attraction," and why that they think Gautama is a god Buddhist worship and mistake him for Budai. They're dumb, reluctant to consider non-Abrahamic views of theism, and don't consider for a moment their narrow views of the world and universe don't fit in and aren't really to be found in other views. It has to have a god, or it doesn't work, because they want and crave a center point, a singularity where it all comes from, and they insert Descartes everywhere and into everything even when his views do not fit or belong.
Terry Sampson
Well-Known Member
LOL! Get a grip and read the attachment to my message:
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syo
Well-Known Member
The Tao is God because there is nothing beyond it. In Greek paganism, we call it ''On''. ''On'' means ''that which is''. Tao = On = God.
Because they mistake one of the colors in the Yin Yang symbol as God and the other as earth? Because they are radical dualists?
I actually didn't know people thought that the Tao was a God. I guess I've never encountered that myself. Certainly not at the Tai Chi studio I go to anyway.
Buddhism is a religion. From the Lion's Roar website, if you don't want to take my word for it: Is Buddhism a Religion?
Yes, Buddhism is a religion
A religion is a philosophy that posits an ultimate reality, a path towards experiencing ultimate reality, and the potential for personal transformation, says Charles Prebish. Buddhism checks all those boxes.
.....
What Streng meant to say was that for something to be considered a religion, it must posit a clear and distinct ultimate reality. That ultimate reality can be a God or gods, an impersonal absolute, a force of nature, a ground of being, or some other entity or experience. But without something ultimate — beyond which it is impossible to go — the system at hand is not a religion. In addition, in order to be considered a religion, the system must offer some clear and distinct path, or choice of paths, to the experience of that ultimate reality. While it doesn’t matter whether that path is prayer, ritual, yoga, meditation, some other method, or some combination thereof, there must be a straightforward way for the religious aspirant to gain the experience of the ultimate reality.
Additionally, it has scriptures, rituals, symbols of transcendence, the sense of the sacred, etc. These trappings make Buddhism far more than just a simple philosophy.A religion is a philosophy that posits an ultimate reality, a path towards experiencing ultimate reality, and the potential for personal transformation, says Charles Prebish. Buddhism checks all those boxes.
.....
What Streng meant to say was that for something to be considered a religion, it must posit a clear and distinct ultimate reality. That ultimate reality can be a God or gods, an impersonal absolute, a force of nature, a ground of being, or some other entity or experience. But without something ultimate — beyond which it is impossible to go — the system at hand is not a religion. In addition, in order to be considered a religion, the system must offer some clear and distinct path, or choice of paths, to the experience of that ultimate reality. While it doesn’t matter whether that path is prayer, ritual, yoga, meditation, some other method, or some combination thereof, there must be a straightforward way for the religious aspirant to gain the experience of the ultimate reality.
Taoism doesn't come up much in conversations. Being surrounded by Christians most IRL religious conversations are about Christianity.
Can't remember exactly but I think I first learned about in chat rooms or forums. That's were most of my knowledge of different religions came from. Someone would talk about their beliefs and I'd go look into it.
Without this online window into other's beliefs, I'd also probably be relating everything to what I was familiar with.
Also one translation of the Tao Te Ching I came across was Christian orientated. The translation was made with Christian concepts in mind. If this had been the only translation I had read I'd probably assume some concept of the Christian God to be involved.
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Father Heathen
Veteran Member
As others have suggested, the influence of abrahamic faiths and the fact that such faiths discourage thinking outside of their boxes, so people tend to perceive things within an incorrect context.