Maddie

Useful replies! 😊 What about how Taoism compares to Buddhism?

Since the primary school at the time that Lao Tzu was debating about Tao was the Confucians maybe it would be helpful to contrast what both the Taoists and Confucians said about the topic? Maybe even what the Mohists said? And later Buddhist.

Yes, my question is how does one verify the Tao for themselves?

Actually that's exactly what I was wanting to know when I asked a question about verification ☺️

I am not sure why it would be considered a strange position to want to be able to verify if something is true or not. Verification is a process of determining what is true. The scientific method shows gravity is true because it is verifiable by means of a scientific method that is repeatable. To try to prove something is untrue then opens infinite possibility of things to prove that are untrue. When the scientific method showed that gravity is verifiable and reasonable it didn't then proceeded to disprove that the planets are held in place buy an infinitely long chain of elves holding hands connecting the planets together with an elf chain. Although technically there is no way to definitively prove that an undetectable chain of cosmic elves don't hold the planets together. Yet it is reasonable to assume that infinite chain of cosmic elves do not exist because we already have a verifiable explanation by the way of gravity. So in summary verification is to prove what is true and not to prove it infinite possibility of things are untrue.

So another question I have about Tao and Taoism is is it verifiable? The primary reason I don't prescribe to any of the theistic religions is because there is no way whatsoever to verify if their claims about their gods are true. Is there any way to verify that what I said about the Tao is correct? And if so how so?

So it sounds like if one were to compare Tao to a Creator God it sounds more similar to the Hindu Brahman.

I capitalized God to frame the question of asking what is the difference between Tao and the concept of a Creator God, as they are both said to be there source of all things and the sustainer.

I didn't say I believed in God. It was a question to figure out what Tao is and is not.

So if Tao is the source of everything and does all things and is all things, how is Tao not God?

What is the effect of having the hand closed verses opened?

So static before moving. 🤔

It's probably deserves its own thread and I don't want to get to off topic but.... Can Kung Fu forms be done as a type of Qi gong? Do they have that effect?

1. Tao that can be spoken is not the eternal Tao.2. A name that can be named is not an eternal name. Obviously explaining what Tao is, is problematic.

So I think using that as a frame of reference I'm going to try to frame this cosmologically rather than philosophically. My understanding of Taoist cosmology is that Tao is the origin, then there was wuji or the "one" then yin yang or the "two" and so on and so forth. So I'm going to assume that whatever there was before the big bang or whatever there was that caused the big bang that is Tao. As well as the principles that continued to operate and form the universe after the big bang.

To me chapter one makes it seem like defining Tao is impossible. 🤯

So while not Taoism these other religions are "a way" so are they not a Tao?

So I think as this thread progresses it's helping me to better define my question or at least the problem in my mind. When a word means everything then it effectively means nothing. I think the confusion with the word Tao is that it means the way. The way could be anything meaning everything therefore meaning nothing. It would seem that the only way to make this word mean something it's to limit it from what it does not mean. So I guess if I was to rephrase my question I would ask what is not Taoism as opposed to what is.

I saw that...... Delightful 😉

That's it, my Tao is now Toast-ichi-do, the art of toast arranging. Universe prepare to have your secrets unlocked. 😌😇

Yes, but what does that mean?

I wonder what was between Lao Tzu and the Heavenly Mater's school? Was it more of an individual thing?

Thank you Sir Palomides for that very nice answer! 😌

Another question. I realize there are different Taoist sects, but what are they? I know for example in Buddhism you have the Tientai and Nichiren groups the place a lot of emphasis on the lotus sutra as being the most important sutra and sacred in and of itself. Is there a Taoist group that focuses a lot on texts? Another example would be is in that focuses more on meditative practice. Any equivalent in Taoism? Then you have pure land Buddhism which is more about praying to Amitabha Buddha to be reborn in the pure land. Anything like this in Taoism? I'm assuming different Taoist groups place emphasis on different things I would just be interested in knowing more about those.

It makes me wonder if there's a Tao of avocado toast? Kind of like finding the perfect cherry blossom, which if you were to find would not be a wasted life. 😌