Cobie

Righto, but when was it taken? Is it a recent one? Or (as anything is possible on TDB), is it a future one?

PWT distinguishes between “religious Daoism” (道教 dao4 jiao1) and “philosophical Daoism” (道家 dao4 jia1, this one is your professor’s branch). In the forum heading, it says 道家學說 (dao4 jia1 xue2 shuo1), so @wandelaar I think this forum was originally set up to discuss “philosophical Daoism”.

Exactly. “The distinction between so-called “philosophical Daoism” and so-called “religious Daoism” is a modern Western fiction …” https://media.bloomsbury.com/rep/files/9781441168733_commonmisconceptions_daoisttradition.pdf

Well, it’s their indigenous religion, so I’d say that’s Taoism. These are the two branches of PWT, popular western Taoism. PWT is a new religion recently formed in the west, vaguely based on the native Taoism.

tao the/te cat I like that. Welcome to the forum. @wandelaar someone that likes LieZi!

Hi Bruno. Nice serendipity. Welcome to the forum.

(How do I break this to you gently?) the Buddha did not write the TTC.

Hmm …

I don’t like personal attack jokes, my DL post was a reaction to that. DL used to be so popular, I too used to like him. Then lots of negative info started coming out. Idk. I feel manipulated by changes in the media reflecting changes in who’s in power in world politics. I deleted my post.

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I wish all the Buddhists good luck on their path.

May I ask how old you are?

Have you reached it?

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Hmm …

Appeal to motive. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Appeal_to_motive#:~:text=Appeal to motive is a,may be an informal fallacy.

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Should’ve said “Yule in July”. Doesn’t look very wintry. Google: winter average 13 °C. Wow, positively balmy.

This imo is pivotal.

Maybe ask @stirling ?

Yes. But it wasn’t the UFC/MMA phenomenon in my case. After 50 years of exploring Eastern religions, I became disillusioned with the cultural history (things like the female foot mutilation, widow ‘suicides’ and marrying off/selling off little children).

Is individuation the opposite of non-dual? Individuation - selfhood. Non-dual - no-self.

I agree. I forged an integration of the two. Ime a balance is needed. Too little authenticity made me feel unreal but too much of it made me harsh.