Cavendish

Well, I've been reading a couple different versions of Tao Teh Ching and I'm really enjoying everything I've been taking in, but I do have some questions... 1. When was Lau Tzu/Laoizi born and when did he die? Everything I see basically say's "unknown"... 2. Should I learn to meditate? I notice a lot of other Taoists talking about it and I have known others who were non-Taoists who did it regularly, so it seems important to learn. Do you guys meditate? 3. Lau Tzu or Laozi? Which name should I refer to him as and which one was more appropriate, also, why the two different spellings? 4. Is there actual places to go in the U.S if I wanted to learn from a Taoist hands on? Thanks alot!

Great information, my friend. Thank you very much! I've been doing some research and it seems as if Taoism is more wide-spread than I originally thought, I saw some video of a guy named Alex (forgot last name) and he seemed to be very knowledgable on Taoism and seemed like a nice guy, I may watch some of his lecture videos that are up there on YouTube. Has anyone here met him, and if so, is he a credible "Grand Master" of Taoism? I didn't think Taoism had ranking such as "Grand Master" anyhow, if Taoism does have ranking then can someone explain to me what they are?

Hello everyone, my name is....well, my name isn't important, but I have long been interested in Taoism and I have been searching for a place to meet others who are interested in Taoism so it looks as if I stumbled upon the right place. I first became interested back in 2005 after I got into a religious debate with a friend (I'm not religios) and I decided that I was going to study different religions and way's of life, during this time I stumbled upon a non-religious way of life called Taoism/Daoism and I decided to research it. I bought I Ching as well as another Taoist book full of ancient teachings and other things and became further interested, unfortunately a series of events caused my attention elsewhere and I never followed through. I'm still interested and decided to come here to discuss this way of life with others who share it, I'll have questions along the way I'm sure so please bear with me, but I just wanted to drop in here and say hi to everyone.