Search the Community

Hey Bums! New here. First post. Lovely to be here. I've come across this forum a handful of times in my research and I figured it was time to jump in. Stephen Mitchell's pocket Tao Te Ching was my first (and still my fave). I've been peripherally working with the I Ching for about 10 years as well. I'm excited to learn more from you all and see your perspectives. 𓁺¬𓁺 I'm about 2 years into a project: creating a new version of the Dao De Jing. I'll be consulting the Dao Bums hive mind here for feedback along The Way. So hello again and looking forward to interacting with you all more. ∧,,,∧ ( ̳• · • ̳) / づ♡ foolish_dao

It seems there are many versions of The Tao, discovered dating to various times in ancestral history. I am looking for a book that might compare the versions, and the translations, with commentary, interpretations, explanations etc. of each piece of The Tao. Thank you in advance! ~s

Hello friends, I figured this would be a good place to ask about book recommendations specifically about high level spiritual masters. The few I've read I love and I feel just reading about what they can do etc while it can being distracting on the path is also incredible at building faith and hope! So ones I have read include the greek author magus series lol. Magus of Java about John Chang and more impressive the Magus of Strovolos about Stylianos Atteshlis aka Daskalos. Basically a Christian buddha who had vast wisdom and power that died in the mid 90s. As well as things like autobiography of a Yogi

I have been reading about getting work through Barefoot Writers. I don't know anything about them and I am only a mediocre writer. So, I am interested in other peoples experiences, in all types of reading and writing adventures, hopes, failures, etc.

I read Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 at nine years old, it was a particularly difficult time in my life,, and that book fundamentally altered, my view of the world. I will always be thankful to him for that!

I am sure I am not the only one here to use this time of isolation for reading? I have just finished Samuel Becket's 'Endgame. Currently reading J.G. Ballard's "Drowned World". My regular in take of history is from Christopher Hill's "God's Englishman", a biography of Oliver Cromwell.

What are your thoughts on Newton's books Journey of Souls and Destiny of Souls?

I thought I saw somewhere on the TDB site a resource page that listed various books, texts or links to content of interest ... sort of a reference materials resource. Does such a place exist? I cannot find it, so either I am mistaken or just have not found it yet.

Heart Essence of the Khandro is a precious teaching by His Eminence Yongdzin Tenzin Namdak Rinoche on female masters of Bön, their realizations, and pith instructions. I've found this a wonderful resource for my practice and knowledge of Bön. I am posting this because I stumbled across an opportunity to acquire this beautiful book at a ridiculously low price, about half of what one would pay for a new copy through Amazon. Here is the link for anyone interested. I have no connection with the retailer. Heart Essence of the Khandro

Free pdf books ------> http://www.buddhistelibrary.org/ taken from website -------> http://www.buddhanet.net/

I am really interested in knowing which books have you read, preferably short books that have put you into a state of bliss? Like for example, for me it was Ribhu Gita, chapter 26 as suggested by Ramana Maharshi. Thanks

Hi all, I was desperately looking for this book as I liked Yang Li's other book: "Book of changes and TCM". Such a phenomenal book. I am ready to buy from you. I did try in google but no use. Hope someone will help for sure. Basic goal is to study the science behind various breath exercises. Warm Regards Gana

Thoughts on how Buddhist books are utilised in the West - how they're read, what is read and whose reading them: https://www.vajrayanaworld.com/long-bits/the-state-of-buddhist-publishing

A great source for interviews with authors of a Magickal bent. It's also an itunes podcast https://m.youtube.com/channel/UCAZ2TAN3ILCRpnls2_W6D_Q

I recently picked up the book, "Self Liberation Through Seeing with Naked Awareness" translated by John M. Reynolds. I have always loved the title and the translation. One thing he notes in his commentary is the power of titles. According to John Reynolds, a good student can pick up the nature of the work just from the title. Long after I have read a book, listened to a live teaching, or followed a practice, I typically only remember a phrase to sum it up. In some cases, even the title of a book I've never read sticks with me (the last two below), and comes drifting up from time to time. Some of my favorite titles are: Self Liberation Through Seeing with Naked Awareness (trans. John M. Reynolds) Be as You Are (The Teachings of Ramana Maharshi translated and edited by David Godman) The Wisdom of No Escape (by Pema Chodron) The Real is Unknowable, the Knowable is Unreal (by Robert Powell) What are some teaching titles that stick with you?

So, I'm currently reading a book by Philip Bonewits called Real Magic. On page 49 he briefly mentions CPK Assimilation (CPK = Cellular PsychoKinesis), thus; "For those of you who regularly perform faith-healing or curing rituals, there is an interesting phenomenon you should be aware of. It is an overlap between CPK and telepathy in which the disease is absorbed accidentally or deliberately by the healer, who exhibits the same symptoms for a short time, after which the disease vanishes from the patient and healer alike. This.....can be very dangerous to the practitioner. [....]Since if rules are broken, the healer may not be able to get rid of the disease assimilated" Does anyone have any experience with this?

I believe its a blessing when a person recommends, lends, gives or brings to our attention a great book. A great book has the power to change our thinking, our actions and our path in life. I read somewhere that change starts in the mind with our thinking. So reading a great book can help with this change. But, "Knowing is not enough, we must apply. Willing is not enough, we must do." Bruce Lee Here is my list, Enjoy and feel free to share your own. READ and recommend: The Bible The case for christ The case for the creator The case for faith The case for the real Jesus The shack The purpose driven life Operation world The five love languages The bible code The bible code 2 : the countdown The bible code 3 : Saving the world The 5 people you meet in heaven The tao of jeet kune do The art of expressing the human body Tao teh ching The analects of confucius Chuang-tzu Wen-tzu The book of leadership and strategy Sex, health and long life The art of war The japanese art of war The dali lamas book of wisdom The prophet The magus of java 1421 1434 Life of pi The bourne identity The bourne supremacy The bourne ultimatum Opening the dragon gate Brotherhood of warriors Israel a history Mud, sweat and tears The da vinci code Angels and demons Deception point Digital fortress The lost symbol The alchemist Manuscript found in accra The great chiefs The idiots guide to meditation The idiots guide to yoga Bought but not yet read; The book of 5 rings The complete karma sutra Bhagavad gita I ching : the book of changes The fifth mountain The pilgrimage "As you think, so shall you become." "The spirit of the individual is determined by his dominating thought habits." "What you habitually think largely determines what you will ultimately become." "The possession of anything begins in the mind." Bruce Lee Please share any recommendations

Just for the record, my literary Chinese is non existent. I can read the dao de jing and understand 60% of the characters in simplified Chinese, so I can not make direct textual citations of that book at present time. That having been said, One of the major issues in understanding Daoism, its philosophy, spirituality, and practice, lies in the difficulty of contextualizing its original meaning in Chinese correctly. Chinese is not only very difficult for foreigners to understand, it is also really quite hard for Chinese to understand deeply. I recently had a conversation with my tea teacher (who I assure you is an absolute genius) that went something like this: teacher He: yes of course we can read the dao de jing together, but you need to know that one's interpretation of it is based on the stages of one's life. When I was in my early twenties reading this book, it was very different than reading it now. Looking back, many of the things which made sense then, I view in a very different way now. Me: oh yeah... I know all about that.... Did that mountain just stand up and walk away? Nope, its still there... ok. But then my Daoism teacher for many years has told me: you need to know that the entire dao de jing is written in code and that if you don't study with a qualified teacher, you can only understand it at a philosophical level and not at the level of practice. It can only benefit your thinking and not directly benefit your person or spirit. The majority of Chinese people who are willing to look at the daodejing seriously (that being quite few, as most view it as spiritually having its head in the clouds and daoists being severely weird) tend to have the same opinion as my tea teacher. Having said that, there are books such as daodejing chanwei (if anyone has a copy, please tell me how you got it!) which explain meditation through the verses of the daodejing. A good example is "real men breathe through their heals," which according to this book means that people who really practice meditation seriously will emphasize the practice of the yinqiao meridian in the legs. I used these several points to illustrate that Daoism, its interpretation, and how people practice is a continuum with many different opinions and ideas centred around a relatively humble piece of work. So when we do things like reading the daodejing, even if we are quite fluent in Chinese, or have people to translate it for us, may miss a considerable amount of the information contained within. Actually may is an understatement, we almost certainly will miss the point. I think that is where practice comes in- because through practice we can realize for ourselves what laozi is getting at in his book- however, we also have to make sure that the people who are presenting our practice to us are verifiable and have credentials which can be trusted. This means that we really must be good at picking our teachers. unfortunately, there are not too many good teachers of daoism in any part of the world right now, so if you really want it, you may have to look for a very long time, at a very serious depth. On the other hand, there are many people in other traditions whose practice leads to the same goal as daoism. So we may be able to approach the daodejing indirectly through vipassana, or kundalini etc... But if you really want to learn the contents of daoism, you should start by learning Chinese, meeting Chinese people who know daoism deeply and correctly, and working hard. there are already many people who have started on this path, so we can also sometimes be lucky enough to meet them and get their advice. now I'm going to amble off to bed. good night.

My writings from 4 years ago, put together into an anthology. I viewed the link yesterday and was amazed how many people have seen it. I am sharing it here with TaoBums community, hopefully I can get some more readers. leonbasin.weebly.com/3/post/2012/12/december-26th-2012.html Thank You, Leon

http://www.nanowrimo.org It's about that time of the year, anybody going to do it next month?