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in addition to these i would also reccomend other books that are written more for western mindsets.
stephen t chang’s book “the great tao” covers the whole lot, the ‘8 pillars of taoism’. this is an abbreviated version of all his other books chucked into one, along with a few extras.
also daniel reid has a book “taoism for health, sex and longevity”. whilst this book doesn’t cover things such as geomancy, i ching, numerology, astrology, etc, it does cover aspects that are very practical and good to get in order before any of the others could be of interest (i mean health, sex and longevity are of great importance to all of us). the book gets a little specific sometimes, reccomending you do this cleanse or that and such and such, but its easy to ignore that. it also provides a history of taoism, and some basic breathing and stretching exercises that can get you started in the right direction.
i know its not aimed at me, but can i answer? its kinda humerous….
i see a face with an excessive amount of acne! (thats only when i am in a non light polluted place where there are lots and lots of stars).
😉
yes im sure of that reference and that book at amazon aint it.
i had the feeling it wouldn’t be at amazon… it’s a pretty unique book. i borrowed it from a friend.let me tell you first that it’s wayyyyyy out there, but if you have read a lot about taoism and other forms of spirituality and then you read the book ALL THE WAY THROUGH with an open mind, it kind of makes sense in a very twisted and scary way. also don’t be put off by its founding in scientology, the author was a scientologist (no longer is) when they were uncorrupted, some time ago.
perhaps it’s not all true, but the points about how the universe started and what this ‘one’ is that we are trying to connect with is very interesting.
here are some sites that advertise selling it, if you are interested.
http://www.metatech.org/scienterra_lkin/pipersofheavencontents.htm
http://www.relfe.com/scientology_books.html
(i think these two above are the same place, $24.95).the WHOLE book is available on .pdf file from here for FREE!!!
http://www.sgmt.at/scioe.htmenjoy…
excellent post golden sun!
spyrelex,
if you want a clearer idea of what this ‘one’ is that we are trying to merge with i suggest you read “the pied pipers of heaven” by L. Kin.
This non-religious book (drawing mostly from scientology, before it was corrupted and infiltrated by CIA etc, and also from other philosophies).we all essentially came from it, we all essentially became conscious, and through our past lifes (and implanting by the horrible xenu/macarbe control order) we have lost our ability to be conscious of ourself and our place in the universe.
the taoist aim i believe is to regain that kind of awareness… thus giving you the choice to roam the universe and experience as you wish (winn made a great statement earlier about recognising your particular destiny with reference to the universe, we are here for some kind of experience to bring back to the ‘one’ or ‘tao’ or whatever you want to call it) and the choice to also end it and dissapear out of this universe to merge back with the ‘tao’.buddhism, however, does not seem to think about this choice. they want to end the universe, and go back to the ‘one’ or ‘nirvana’ and they wont rest until all other beings also go there. thus buddhists essentially want to end this universe. i reckon they got a hell of a job ahead of them… cos a lot of beings aint ready yet and dont want to end this universe… its kind of fun existing, even though it can be tough sometimes. taoism, i think, can make it less tough and even more enjoyable.
as yatrus’ (satan/lucifer) postulate says “lets see how far we can go with it” i know this postulate has given rise to all kinds of horrible things (sex orgies, murder, violence, rape, genetic engineering, mutilation, etc) there is no reason, i believe, that we can’t use the same postulate in a positive sense. lets see how far we can take love, happiness, enjoyment and all those good things. lets see if we can transform this world back to its original beauty and take it even further than that. heaven on earth. paradise.
this is my first post and i’d like to start with that this forum really needs updating, the layout is quite chaotic and hard to follow, which is a shame because there is a lot of fantastic debates going on… particularly this one.
the penultimate “in the red corner buddhism and in the blue corner taoism”.
why must there be such a conflict between the two? i can see and agree that many of the practices of taoism, in particular the healing tao system, seems to be very self-centred and aimed at self realisation or even pleasure to an extent. whereas buddhism (and i do know from experience as i have been raised as a buddhist by two long term tibetan buddhist practicing parents) seems to be very selfless and non-pleasure oriented.
ill start with buddhism first, yes buddhism is all about compassion and giving sometimes even to the detriment of the practitioner. the lack of emphasis on physical and energetic health (the gulf between mind and body) sometimes results in not so desirable effects. for example my fathers teacher died of a heart attack whilst he was doing a long retreat in india, not helpful for my father as he was not able to get a lot of the guidance he was hoping for. sometimes buddhist lamas are in such a poor state of health that they can hardly teach the students who have come to learn. this also leads to the idea that it is impossible to give what you dont have, a poor man cannot give money to a beggar because he doesnt have any.
buddhist practitioners have also taken on the idea that they will not rest until all beings are enlightened, thus they give up their own experience of nirvana in awaiting for everyone else to join them. a noble cause. yet with all their “everything is mind/illusion” talk, i sometimes get very confused by this concept. buddhists recognise that all existance is an illusion, yet they perpetuate this illusion by refusing to accept it is all an illusion until everyone else does too….??? if nothing exist and no beings exist, why do you need to help them?perhaps my train of thought seems a little chaotic itself, but ill come back later on it after there are some replies.
now, buddhists and taoists do in fact have some things in common. first and foremost is the emphasis on self-development. on developing good emotions and happiness within yourself. for to have these things is to be able to give them out.
now the argument against taoists here is that they are selfish in pursuing enlightenment for only themselves. buddhists, you shouldn’t fret over this… it’s one less person you have to worry about!!! the other argument is that taoists will not have any sense of moral right and wrong. this i argue against… if the kind of practices outlined here (inner smile, fusion, etc) are practiced, all are aimed at control of negative emotions and developing positive emotions. how can someone who is full of love, kindness, openess, courage, stillness do bad things? such a person is bound to be a gentle and caring person… it is inherent in the practices and unless you are doing something wrong in the practices… it will occurr.
just because one of the outstanding philosphies of taoism isn’t “do good to all beings” does not mean that it is not recognised or desirable to a taoist. the natural way of things benefits all beings, whether they recognise it or not.
however the fear of buddhists in this forum is that the taoist, who becomes a rich man, through being selfish in his accumulation of wealth will be too tight fisted to give anything to the beggar at all. dont fear, because it seems as if the aim of the taoist is to become so rich that the money is falling out of his pocket as he walks anyways…the last little point brought up is the disconnection from a teacher now apparent in the taoist practices… being able to learn from books, dvd’s etc. however it is only the basics that are taught this way… and it is a very urgent time on planet earth, with sickness and cancer skyrocketing, destruction of the environment, and the now apparent presence of an occult, oppressive, manipulative and deceptive world order (world governments/military organisations/corporations), it is lucky that many people who may not get a chance to find a teacher can have access to teachings that may make them recover from or avoid illness and make them strong enough to survive the coming terror (believe me or not, it IS coming, watch wars and death and sickness and destruction increase).
how about we have a little look at the good aspects of both ways of life, we will probably see that they really are very similar after all… and we can borrow from each other. the buddhists borrow some health techniques, the taoists borrow some compassionate techniques. the world is becoming too scary a place for silly religious fundamentalisms…
p.s. i also thought buddhists were supposed to be tolerant and accepting of ALL religions and beings?
