nac

Honesty doesn't have to be uncompassionate. If your true motivation is to help her, then point out her mistakes gently. Think what it must be like to be her. Before you do anything though, think of the consequences and possible benefits or your action. Eg. what good can calling her stupid accomplish? etc.

Is tantric Taoism the only anti-authoritarian tradition of tantra around? Indic systems are so strongly Guru-oriented by comparison.

History teaches us that men and nations behave wisely once they have exhausted all other alternatives. - Abba Eban

Non-abiding enlightenment: the endless ending of frustration and dissatisfaction from moment to moment. How long such moments continue is irrelevant.

I'm not for prohibiting drugs, I'm for talking people out of using harmful substances of their own free will, and for their own benefit.

"Experiences" aren't usually the goal of most spiritual seekers. I agree that a handful of well-timed altered consciousness states can be helpful in the long run. This can help you take your sensory input less seriously than usual, and sometimes even trigger cognitive dissonance. Both Taoism and Tibetan Buddhism has the practice of consuming alchemical substances, I think. I wonder if this is the true function of this practice. However, I must also insist that drugs are dangerous. Other considerations aside, 99.99% of the insights you get from them are bogus. Drugs can create a false impression of spiritual progress, while your wisdom is actually wasting away as your nervous system gets damaged by these marginally poisonous substances. "Stay away" would be my advice.

What is the Taoist equivalent?

Are there any well translated collections of classical Taoist texts online? This question must have been asked before, but I couldn't find it.

Unlike meditation, drugs can cause irreparable damage to your brain. Needless to say, they're also spectacularly ineffective as far as spirituality is concerned:

Er.... At least in Buddhism, attachment denotes either irrational craving for or aversion to any sensed phenomena. When you're unattached, you do things out of some other motivation than simply wanting certain sensations to arise or conversely, to go away.

Is it true that Taoists believe in evil? See this: http://www.asiaone.com/News/Latest+News/St...1101-33587.html as opposed to this: http://eapi.admu.edu.ph/eapr95/aloysius.htm I ask this for my own understanding. _/\_

OP: That's a horrible misunderstanding of Karma! Karma has nothing to do with what anybody "deserves". When you see a child (or any other ignorant being) poking a fork into a power socket, you stop them. You don't wait around and find out what "deserves" to happen to them. Lots of people suffer from ignorance, or live in hellish conditions. Why? Because we can't be bothered to do anything about it. "It's not what others do or not do that's my concern. It's what I do or not do that's my concern."

True. Some people try to nevertheless.

Random RNA patterns in the brain can cause people to remember things which never really happened. (in this life ) I think such memories provide a precious oppurtunity for the perfection of one's morality using what Jung called "meaningful coincidence" or Synchronicity: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synchronicity

Thanks, Mak Tin Si. _/\_ Does Taoism have anything similar to the Buddhist concept of the transmutation (and ultimately, equivalence) of evil into good via alchemy? For instance: From: http://www.buddhanet.net/pdf_file/lamdre.pdf PS. Apologies, I come from a Buddhist background and I'm trying to understand Taoism better. EDIT: The Buddha also taught this concept in the form of parables like: http://lotus-inthe-mud.blogspot.com/2007/1...ting-demon.html Surely with it's emphasis on alchemy, transmutation and transcendence of all dualities, Taoism also teaches something similar?

Yeah. It's much harder to maintain that state of mind in everyday life, though.

"Energy" is annihilation. (of matter and antimatter, for example) PS. In Taoist terms, One splits apart into the Many, and the Many returns back to One. The state of the universe is that of incessant impermanence and co-dependence. Existence itself is the process of Annihilation as defined by Buddhism. EDIT: Or rather, Emptiness. Buddhists try to avoid falling into the twin delusions of "Eternalism" and "Annihilationism".

1) Offtopic. 2) I beg to differ. 3) The idea of an universal "social pyramid" is an imaginary concept. Some people are better at certain things, others in other jobs. Put everyone where they can benefit all sentient beings the most.

It's easy to win the Templeton Prize. All you have to do is bring a veneer of scientific credibility to spirituality in general or Christianity in particular. Make no mistake, most scientists call Templeton winners "sell-outs". It's not like others couldn't do something which d'Espagnat did, they simply chose not to take the million pounds by rehashing Jungian psychology for a science paper. Hats off to them. The world would be a better place if more people were like them.

I'm a cultural Muslim and a student of Theravada Buddhism, but I'm also interested in learning more about Taoism. Nice to meet you all. _/\_ [edit] I have a few questions about Taoism: 1) Do Taoists believe in karma and rebirth? 2) If so, are they understood differently compared to Buddhism? 3) What forms of meditation do Taoists practice?