Stigweard

Reinforcing my original statement I will expand upon why I think this topic is inappropriate. Firstly because you never know who is reading this topic and I am sure you would not like to live with the guilt of knowing that someone has acted on your words. And from a Taoist point of view the most important part of life is LIFE. "When things die they become dry and brittle, when things are alive they are supple and flexible. To be a student of rigidity is to be a student of death. To be a student of resilience is to be a student of life. As such the Shengren makes the newborn their source of inspiration." To contemplate life after death is to miss out on the incredible opportunity for full spiritual integration right NOW. If life has become distasteful seek an ENTRY into the essence of life in the fullness of NOW rather seek an exit.

Actually let's do one better and delete it completely. Alfa this topic is simply not appropriate. If you need help then I suggest you get professional assistence.

Ah the age old debate between Buddhism and Taoism where one tries to own the roots of the other. It must be remebered that this competitiveness was born out of the imperial debates where the loser had all their sacred books burnt. So on the Buddhist side we have these teachings of Lao Tzu being a reincarnation of a Buddhist saint whilst on the Taoist side of the fence we have texts like the Hua Hu Ching which supposedly portrays Lao Tzu giving instruction to the young Siddhartha. It was exaclty this type of over classification of things that Lao Tzu was commenting about. There is an Chinese saying: Confucianism is my cloak, Buddhism is my cane, Taoism is my sandal. Each has it's role to play in life and should be respected as equal treasures.

I'm with you on this one bro'

"The process of spiritual attainment proceeds through six phases or levels, beginning with personality refinement and conscious refinement and culminating in becoming Tao. Step One: Chi refinement and Natural Meditation as the cultivation of chi. Step Two: Teh Tao: Receiving or discovering the path and learning the Tao. Step Three: Wu Tao: Enlightened by Tao. Step Four: Ming Tao: Lucidified with Tao. Step Five: Teh Tao: Gaining Tao, and Tao also gains you. You live beyond your personal cares. Step Six: Chen Tao: Attaining Tao. Your physical presence gradually merges with the invisible reality of Tao, but you are still able to respond, if you choose, and appear in form. You have achieved spiritual immortality, not physical immortality in the ordinary sense of a life that needs to eat, sleep, and pay taxes." P65, Ni, Hua Ching, "Enrich Your Life With Virtue", Seven Star Communications, CA 1999 Blessings

Jack/Snax asked these questions in the Lobby ... I thought they would be best discussed here. Heya Jack ... you are asking about the core concepts of Wu Wei ... there is a common misunderstanding that Wu Wei means literally 'no action', however, as I have learned, Wu Wei is better described as 'no action outside of our true nature'. This can also be understood as no contrived, conceptual or artificial action. The perfect example of Wu Wei can be seen in observing a mountain stream. The stream is in constant motion and yet it is Wu Wei because its action arises out the water following its own inherent nature. In Taiji I loosely use the term "The Taiji State". One is in The Taiji State, i.e. Wu Wei, when one is moving without any contrived effort or manipulation ... one is allowing the natural attributes of the body to 'direct' the movement. Taiji is, at least for me, a wonderful tool to help develop an intimate understanding of Wu Wei. In practical circumstances of life you can consider yourself to be in tune with Wu Wei when you are simply following your own natural inspiration or intuition without trying to control or manipulate other people or external circumstances. With this non-interferance approach you are simply allowing things to follow their own course, i.e. you are 'going with the flow'. Our modern life is so full of distractions and we are constantly being exposed to influences that are deliberately trying to 'stir us up', trying to force us into some sort of action, trying to dictate our responses. You must learn to extricate yourself from such influences as best you can so that the subtle energy of one's natural awareness has hope of playing a determining role in your life. Activities like Taiji, Qigong, Nei Tan, calligraphy, art, music, bushwalking etc. can certainly help in that regard. I hope this helps the paper you are writing. Blessings

Feel welcome to comment on your answers below.

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Well said.

You beat me to it!

Good for you!

Always best to find out for yourself: http://www.taoism.net/enter.htm

with ten thousand things watch how i can name them all now they're seperate

Bump