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Re: Taoism: what IS it?
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Re: Taoism: what IS it?
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Posted by Jeff on August 17, 2001 at 11:41:18:
In Reply to: Re: Taoism: what IS it? posted by Diarmuid on August 17, 2001 at 11:10:45:
: Well, I made that up. Point being that it seems pretty much anything can have a Tao. : So something that is said to have a Tao therefore exemplifies the enlightened state of the Buddha? : : : Near the Enneagram books in bad bookshops (Mindbodyspirit section) I keep seeing titles like "The Tao of rancid butter". What da hek is it?! : : Well, rancid butter has no pretenses. It just IS. Another book is the Tao of Pooh which has some nifty explanations to show that Winnie the Pooh exemplifies the enlightened state of the Buddha.
Well, Tao can be roughly translated into English as path, or the way. It is basically indefinable. Sort of a mixture of psychology and philosophy (that sounds familiar) It "refers to a power which envelops, surrounds and flows through all things, living and non-living. The Tao regulates natural processes and nourishes balance in the Universe. It embodies the harmony of opposites (i.e. there would be no love without hate, no light without dark, no male without female.)" Ok, I cheated and did a net search on the part in quotes. Still, being as it is a malleable philosophy, it does hold attraction to the thinking types since some great insights come when we find something to calm us down for a while. The "battle" between opposing forces is rather distracting the ideas that opposites require the existence of each other for either one to exist has always appealed to me before I found the concept. Of course, I like to borrow bits from many philosophies to create my own view of the world since none of them fully agree with my views.
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