Is Tao = consciousness?

[bulmabriefs144]

We can't give a correct answer here (Taoist doctrine of definition), instead we'll give "Yahoo best answer", so to speak. Religion literally means to reconnect, so Taoism is sort of about "connecting." It's at least vaguely about interpersonal relationships (they do allow male/female pairings, but strongly discourage attached relationships), at least vaguely about governing, and also greatly to do with just living everyday life.

Consciousness? Nah, not really. Tao is somewhere in the middle of things, it doesn't care about grand concepts like that. Life in this world is more important to it, and in fact until other religions came along, it didn't even have a very firm definition of afterlife.

 

[atanu]

so can we say that Tao is not the same as Brahman because Tao would not be conscious?

That is a mistake. Suppose there is only a single homogeneous color. Will it be 'no color'?

 

[Leftimies]

Interesting question. I always understood it as something even more abstract, though...anyone?

 

[Desert Snake]

My answer would be no.