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Taoism for dummies please

Sand Dancer

Crazy Cat Lady
I am intrigued by Taoism, but it seems to ethereal and complicated. Can I get an easy explanation of the religion and how it plays out in one's life?
 

Geoff-Allen

Resident megalomaniac
Interesting question!

I am not a taoist but I recently read a book called "The Untethered Soul" which has a chapter on the Tao Te Ching.

So being curious, I plugged wisdom Tao Te Ching into Google - you might like 2 try it ...

Here's one site -

Tao Quotes about knowledge and wisdom

Best of luck in getting other responses!
 

GoodbyeDave

Well-Known Member
Remember that Daoism is a philosophy, not a religion. Some Chinese call themselves Daoists, some Confucians, and most neither, but they all practice the same religion. As a philosophy, it can be tricky to grasp. Here are a few sites to start on:
http://www.daoistcenter.org/
Daoism
Daoist Studies 道教研究

Alan Watts started as an Anglican priest and ended up creating his own religion. If you want to learn about any religion, stick to the views of its practitioners. Genuine Daoist writers are Eva Wong and Kristofer Schipper.
 

Sand Dancer

Crazy Cat Lady
Remember that Daoism is a philosophy, not a religion. Some Chinese call themselves Daoists, some Confucians, and most neither, but they all practice the same religion. As a philosophy, it can be tricky to grasp. Here are a few sites to start on:
http://www.daoistcenter.org/
Daoism
Daoist Studies 道教研究

Alan Watts started as an Anglican priest and ended up creating his own religion. If you want to learn about any religion, stick to the views of its practitioners. Genuine Daoist writers are Eva Wong and Kristofer Schipper.
Thanks!
 

Cat Advocate

New Member
Remember that Daoism is a philosophy, not a religion. Some Chinese call themselves Daoists, some Confucians, and most neither, but they all practice the same religion. As a philosophy, it can be tricky to grasp. Here are a few sites to start on:
http://www.daoistcenter.org/
Daoism
Daoist Studies 道教研究

Alan Watts started as an Anglican priest and ended up creating his own religion. If you want to learn about any religion, stick to the views of its practitioners. Genuine Daoist writers are Eva Wong and Kristofer Schipper.

Remember that Daoism is a philosophy, not a religion. Some Chinese call themselves Daoists, some Confucians, and most neither, but they all practice the same religion. As a philosophy, it can be tricky to grasp. Here are a few sites to start on:
http://www.daoistcenter.org/
Daoism
Daoist Studies 道教研究

Alan Watts started as an Anglican priest and ended up creating his own religion. If you want to learn about any religion, stick to the views of its practitioners. Genuine Daoist writers are Eva Wong and Kristofer Schipper.

Although this makes a certain amount of intuitive sense, it is actually not accurate and can be very misleading. The "practitioners" of any particular tradition usually have very narrow, context-specific perspectives of what that tradition "is," as well as highly selective understandings of its history, language, internal diversity, and so on. You are far better off talking to real scholars, those who have done their homework but don't have a horse in the race. If you want some Taoism for Dummies, the best place to start is with Jonathan Herman's "Taoism for Dummies" (Wiley).
 

Baladas

An Págánach
While I can't think of a particular site at the moment, I do recommend both 365 Tao, and The Lunar Tao (especially the latter) both by Deng Ming-Dao. They are books of daily meditations, and they offer some insights into the lore of Taoism as well as Taoist practice.
I have also heard good things about Being Taoist: Wisdom for Living a Balanced Life by Eva Wong, though I have yet to pick it up myself.

Best of luck!
 

ajay0

Well-Known Member
I was similarly intrigued by clueless about Taoism.

I went through the sayings of Dr. Frederick Lenz on Taoism, also known as zen master rama, and that was my introduction to the subject.

I would say that this is the most insightful saying of Dr. Lenz about Taoism...

'Taoism means streching your being, becoming both a man and a woman and joining within yourself, to be the heavens themselves, to stretch your awareness beyond the breaking point until all opposites are reconciled within yourself.'

 
taoism is neither a religion, nor a philosophy. It is a clear view of the way things are, without overlaying them with what a human thinks they are.
taoism is the end result of successful deep meditation, beyond which lies only full spiritual enlightenment.
Of the relatively few taoists, relatively few of them discover what taoism is, and of that relative few, almost none will achieve spiritual enlightenment.

All could, few may, almost none do.

taoism is the removal of mind from that which mind ponders.
 
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