What does /x/ think of Taoism and its view of the universe?
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What do you think of Taoism and its view of the universe?
Things and concepts at the edge of reality — and credulity. The bizarre and the spooky, mysteries, cryptozoology, weird coincidences, aliens, esoteric knowledge, truths with horrific implications, ghosts, and whatever else seems to fit.
I like the ideas. Very cool. But it's not a extensive tradition like Hinduism or gnosticism.
So what does Taoism actually say?
Isn't it basically just
>lmao, stuff happens just roll with it
Yes, that is a good summary.
It's just poetry that espouses non-interference and FLOW.
Nothing Special
I shouldn't say, as I am a BAD Taoist. I don't let things go as much as I should, and don't grip like a child when I should.
kek
What about the cool shit like their cosmology with the ying yong and shit? Thats way more interesting than reddit philosophy
Read the Tao te Ching and find out.
I find it hard to understand the mindset some posters have here towards philosophical and spiritual teachings, of simultaneously wanting summaries of such teachings or great insights of it to be hand-fed to oneself, while also aggressively mocking and jokingly belittling it at the same time. It’s like you want the teachings to “prove themselves” to you (of course in a way easily agreeable to you and that doesn’t challenge any of your preconceptions), without considering that YOU might have to be the one to take some initiative in understanding it for yourself. Or even that your own experiences and contemplation inspired by such grappling with the teachings are themselves an intended part of the teachings, an intended effect of the teachings, part of the impact it wants to make on you (or if not you personally, then on those whom it can benefit).
Well … anyway … who am I to tell people anything about Taoism?
>who am I to tell people anything about Taoism?
You if you want.
>7s
Here's a fun story I have that REALLY habbened:
>Be me
>Have "Listen to Lao Tsu" bumper sticker
>Driving along one day, college town
>Some fricking butthole is tailgating me
>Follows me for about a mile, finally I pull into a gas station--WTF?? Guy was flashing me with his headlights for the last 3 streets
>Put on BIG FROWN FACE-Step out of the car
>Ask "HEY! What's UP!!??"
>Guy very nicely with a big smile on his face like he's excited about Christmas gets out and says
>"Hey! Have you ever read Chang Tzu? I like his stuff almost better than Lao Tsu's
>Immediately realize where I am and WHAT i was thinking...
>"Oh, Shit man, I was wondering WHY you were following and flashing me...
><Conversation about The Dowdy Chink ensues
We walk through life with all manner of preconceived notions..
That appears to be a fusion of Gung Fu Tse(Confucius) and the concepts of filial piety and other spiritual beliefs.
Just like you maybe shouldn't trust a religion who says all religions are a scam or con,(Church of Satan-LaVey), I have a hard time believing that one that's first chapter says it can't be defined, would then go on to define a rigorous method of anything.
I could be wrong.
Seems to me however, the further you get into a truthful spirituality, the less you are implored to think in set, concrete terms.
Yes even Christianity...But that doesn't preclude Good and Evil, only that we get to mandate it according to our WANTS.
https://mindfulness.com/mindful-living/are-these-bad-times-or-good-times-the-story-of-the-zen-farmer
>We walk through life with all manner of preconceived notions
A fricking deranged moron tailgated you for a mile just to virtue signal about his spiritual status.
I suppose that's ONE hot take.
>While you stroke your ego about being egoless and following the dao
Oh Wise one...did you not see my namegayging?
I never claimed to be egoless. You sure do make a lot of wienersure assumptions, all of which reek of ego and "Book learnin' "
Why are so insecure as to accuse others of what you yourself blatantly do?
Oh the ironing...
>claims to know the primary "GOAL" of a spiritual system that espouses no goal, having only ever lived in the 21st century.
>And you don't even know what that means.
>implying
You make me laugh...we should have tea.
But first, oh WISE one, please tell me in as caustic a way as possible WHAT that means.
lolololol.
taoism is the study of immortality and exorcism
I have a friend who "converted" to Taoism after he stopped being a mormon and while I generally agree with the principles, I feel he's taking it too literally and now is like a massive pushover to any of lifes challenges. Like theres a difference from not letting things get to you and accepting life's challenges and fricking letting the world take you for a ride goddamn
Old boy forgot the wu in wu wei. Kind of hard to act through inaction when you're not acting at all.
>wu wei
I'm not a Taoist, can you el15 this concept to me?
Wu wei - action through inaction. There's a couple different schools of thought on what the phrase means exactly. Most people (idiots) think of it as "do nothing", like old Mormon boy there. Others think of it as "do nothing that disturbs the universe." My personal interpretation makes it closer to flow state. You aren't cognitively running through your actions, you're just doing them, i.e. you're inactively active. The latter interpretation seems closest to cultivation as when you become sufficiently skilled/cultivated, your mind just goes. You don't have to think about what you're doing, yet you're reacting to what is around you and executing a task.
thanks for explaining
reminds me of this quote from /x/'s favorite bald homosexual
I rarely come to this board and hate Crowley, but he's ultimately right there.
It's not actually possible to be more wrong about the nature of willpower. No wonder his brain got infected by so many demons. Intentional will is the fundament of transcendence.
>My personal interpretation makes it closer to flow state.
This is how I took it too.
I took the meaning to be like the tea ceremony masters of Japan:
>Learn all the rules, the forget them.
Correct action in this sense is DOING, not thinking about doing, not talking about doing...just doing, just like you always have--as if on auto-pilot,like a child breathes.
"You don't pull no punches, but you don't push the river" Van Morrison.
>become an NPC
Ah, the greatest of chinese philosphy strikes again. Truly up there with "Dont let your enemy know youre attacking"- Tsun Zhu
>become an NPC
It's literally the opposite of that, you fricking tard.
Learning wu wei involves becoming aware of the natural patterns of the universe in order to use them for one's own advantage, employing as little effort as possible. It doesn't mean you shouldn't do anything or that you should let the world drag you around.
>Youre axshually using le natural eneby of da universe by switching your brain off and living on autopilot like the rest of the npcs
Great stuff.
It makes no difference, ultimately.
Extremely valuable, easily misinterpreted, such as with . More often, it's not understood at all and forgotten. I certainly didn't get it for the longest time.
This is my favorite way to read it, eight translations side-by-side: https://www.bu.edu/religion/files/pdf/Tao_Teh_Ching_Translations.pdf . It's a bit janky at first, but even just going back and forth between Wu's and Feng & English's translations helps get past the 2,500 years and 8,000 km that separate Lao Tzu's Chinese with modern English.
Should have specified, this is ONLY the Tao Teh Ching. It's the main foundational text of Taoism, but not the only one: the other is the Zhuangzi, written by Zhuangzi (wow really). For brevity I only talked about Lao Tzu's work
Tao Te Ching
Opening
>"The Tao (phenomenon/manifestation) that can be described is not the eternal Tao; the names that can be named is not the eternal name"
>"Nameless is the beginning of eternity, named the source of existence"
>"Stay long desireless and see its wonders"
>"Long in desire and see its manifestations"
>"The two arise from the same origin yet differ in name"
>"Both mysteries, mystery within mysteries"
>"The gate to all wonders"
I'm thinking based.
But like every other organised religion that is passed down through the ages, the present institutions are distorted.
Study the text, avoid human dogma.
It's an artform to master and enlightenment is the reward.
Taoism is actually one of the most ritualistic and in depth spiritual practices, it was dumbed down by the west because this society is not capable of comprehending such concepts.
yea it is but of course you dont know any. nobody on EerieWeb actualy knows taoism outside a very simple idea. who is dohmu then who is all these other fellow then hmm
I really like the early texts but then it got mixed up with confucianism which I hate
there are 1400 texts in the daoist canon moron
it is but most of the extensive stuff isn't popularized in the west and i think alot of it isn't even very translated into english. its more gatekept.
>not a extensive tradition
wanna know how I know you're a moron?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bigu_(grain_avoidance)
I can't really consider myself /x/, since I've been here all of MAYBE 17 times over the last 11 years, but if you can shed the dogma, as you are supposed to in this framework, it's a very good NOT description.
Tao pu tao, fei chang tao (sp)--the Tao that can be spoken of, is NOT the Eternal Tao.
>Map is not the territory, menu is NOT the meal.
I think Jesus probably encountered it--along with whatever stuff Balthazar and that other wiseman taught him.
I mean, he was "Gone" for like 18 years.
I still like the poetry of Lao Tzu.
The Eternal Tao sounds a lot like Brahman, the Monad, the Absolute, etc.
Hate to sound flippant, but it really seems to be --
It is what it IS--and also NOT
There's a reason why when the catholics translated the Bible into Chinese they translated "logos" to "tao"
it was invented by tocharian aryans so it figures
its all ways to describe the same thing
The Tao that can be named or described isn't the Tao, moron
same concept in hinduism about brahman, netti netti (not this not this)
same concept in islam (tahwid)
wow i never considered that the nameless tao bears similarity to the God with no qualities
Before Buddhism infected everything, the "way" referred to the "the way" of working with spirits and the supernatural. Essentially the same as "shinto".
All the poser bullshit came after and starting defanging the practices.
Throughout long history there has been an effort from beyond the veil to occult the truth and keep humans fumbling in the dark. New age is the latest trend to do this, but there have been many, many more before.
(cont)
While you stroke your ego about being egoless and following the dao and "I absolutely know what the dao is but the true dao cannot be known and the one who knows it does not speak hehe i'm so spiritual", the spirit realm fricks you in the ass on a daily basis because we have forgotten the way to interface with it and properly work with it.
Keep stroking your spiritual dick. But remember the primary goal was always to attain immortality. And you don't even know what that means.
>While you stroke your ego about being egoless
there hasn't been a phrase that describes /x/ better than this one
>Verification not required.
if its anything but physically living forever who cares
You misspelled (c**t) and your reading comprehension is that of a petulant 17 year old.
I'd forgotten how much abrasive projection goes on here. I don't think that poster even realized just what he was posting.
Taoism is extremely insightful and if you look beyond the literalist interpretations it explains things with grace and accuracy. It is an attempt to approach the Dharmakaya through flow state and intuition, and these steps are necessary when one approaches the highest forms of attainment.
The Tao that can be told is not the unbounded Tao. The word that can be spoken is not the unbounded word.
Old Chinese dudes knew everything
I Ching is based af.
I use dice instead of coins, with the following rules...
If I roll trips, it's a star instead of a dot, and I actually care about the turning line...
If the trips matches the line number...2 stars...and I treat that turning line hella serious...
Religious Daoism is a pretty rare tradition to found in the English speaking world. It has multiple gods and rituals you have to do. Below is an article on them. Most people think of philosophical Daoism, or the usage of philosophical Daoist terms by Chan Buddhists.
https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/daoism-religion/
Chapter One: Yin Xian Fa Yin Xian Fa teaches basic Taoist skills and is the first stepping stone to the practice that leads to reaching the Xian of the immortal level. There are twelve techniques, all are basic skills.
You can practice one technique or one to twelve techniques at the same time. All these practices lead to the same end and more complex practices will be mixed Yin Xian Fa techniques.
1. Reverse the Mind to Return to Self Find a quiet place, close your eyes, lips are lightly closed and teeth are touching each other with the tip of tongue on the soft palate and behind the front teeth. Sit with legs crossed on the floor and place your palms on your knees. Sit on a chair, if you have pain. Guide mind, vision, and hearing, smell return inside the body, relax and let go of thought, tension and the physical body until you are within and out, simultaneously as big as nature and as small as a dust mote.
... and basically the point is that you can read that, or parse, that paragraph in innumerable different ways. You can read
>Guide {mind and vision, hearing and smell}, ...
>Guide your mind. Put vision, hearing and smell ...
etc. You are supposed to do all of these things simultaneously but also not really. Daoist articles read much like Heraclitus' literature where the main sentences are really 100s of sentences packed into one. Here is an example from Hero Cletus:
>On those stepping into rivers staying the same other and other waters flow.
Clearly it can be parsed in several different manners, but somehow, sequentially, all flow into you so long as you are culturally familiar with indoeuropean languages. Contrast the Daoist, writing in Classical Chinese, where not only is that true but you also need to meditate on individual words, 2's of words, 4's of words and 8's of words.
I've actually been to a few retreats with Liping, both in China and Europe. The point of Yin Xian Fa is to seal off the body, generate a lil bit of qi and then though being completely still for prolonged periods of time, the qi will start to open channels in the body. You're supposed to do it along with Ping Heng Gong and the sleeping set.
The Yin xian fa techniques must be done in a specific order, all at once. The posture most indicated is full lotus(the difference in efficiency as they claim is full lotus=3x half lotus=3xnormal crossed legged, so what normally takes 1 year in full lotus sitting will take you 9 years in normal cross legged). A sitting should be no less than 50 min and ideally around 2.5 hours or more.
Are these retreats real? Do people draw mandalas? and where does one read about the two additional details you mentioned, my darn copy of the book lacks a table of contents.
>Are these retreats real?
Yes, and cost around $7k
>Do people draw mandalas?
Yes, people see all type of stuff. But Liping and his advanced students can generate a strong pressure field that tends to accelerate such things(as well as being very painful), you won't probably see the same stuff by practicing on your own.
>where does one read about the two additional details you mentioned
There is a general outline of this in that book as well, it is after san xian gong if I'm not mistaken
sounds like a scam if I'm honest
thank you, and i am dumb lol i just found the table of contents, thx. i remember going through archive.org and finding those retreats at $50 only a decade ago, I wonder why they raised the price, but to
they were once rather cheap, virtually free considering room and board and the like. But China has a history of commoditizing its spirituality and converting historical sites, hermitages and monasteries into tourist attractions so the local party boss can make some money from hermit slave laborers (they killed most of their spiritualists in the cultural revolution, for a while if you were alive you had either hidden very well or else surrendered to your new overlords) - so, it could be the reason Wang Li Ping is so popular vs other daoists is because some corrupt communist party member is using his group as a front for exploitative business practices... who knows.
Here, in this picture, is the second half of the ending poem of the "Guayi" or the 抱一子三峰老人丹訣 which you can find a summary of in Schipper's "The Taoist Canon" on library Genesis. I would provide a pastebin to my complete translation except this was done back when I had no idea what I was doing. However basically every single noun therein means like 10 different things, and because it is classical Chinese, nouns merge with verbs to form compound nouns or verbs that can or can't mean this or that depending entirely on how much you happen to be hallucinating. To further emphasize this, Classical Chinese is less a natural language and more a programming language: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=vBhg2p8aAQ0
One of the most important teachings of the Tao Te Ching:
>Thirty spokes join at one hub;
>emptiness makes the cart useful.
>Cast clay into a pot;
>the emptiness inside makes it useful.
>Cut doors and windows to make a room;
>emptiness makes the room useful.
>Thus being is beneficial,
>but usefulness comes from the void.
nothingness creates reality
the tao cannot be defined
because if you define tao,
it is not the tao, therefore,
defining it as an undefinable
is also not the tao.
Taijitu is the best symbol ever made on this gay earth. And taoism is cool, but I do not believe its the final solution or anything like that.