Should a Taoist Forum focus primarily on Taoism?

[chicultivation]

So, what do you all think?

[宁]

Taoists are more into practice, they tend to limit their posts after a while.

 

Buddhists seem more into philosophy and debate, so it's quite normal...

[Vajrahridaya]

Taoists are more into practice, they tend to limit their posts after a while.

 

Buddhists seem more into philosophy and debate, so it's quite normal...

 

Not to debate... lol, but that's a false assumption. Just thought you should know. For a Buddhist, debate is practice and it clarifies the view in sutra. But, Buddhism is all about practice... as everything is the practice. Including my daily sittings and chantings and physical yoga's.

[Marblehead]

I see no problem with the Buddhists running their mouths here. It actually makes for good conversations some times. Plus, it gives us Taoists the opportunity to compare/contrast the two belief systems.

 

Yeah, Little 1. The Buddhists have been discussing for 2500 years and they still haven't found what they are looking for. Hehehe. (Most of them are really Taoists but afraid to admit it.)

 

Be well!

[Vajrahridaya]

 

Yeah, Little 1. The Buddhists have been discussing for 2500 years and they still haven't found what they are looking for. Hehehe. (Most of them are really Taoists but afraid to admit it.)

 

Be well!

 

Oh... your clever... eh, eh. Nothing to find, except that realization.

 

I actually had a period in my life where I kinda wanted to be a Taoist, when I was reading Wang Liping and all sorts of other things, as I have a whole bunch of Taoist material. Well not that much on me now, like 5 or 6 books. But, none of the secret stuff. I found it hard to find a real Taoist Wizard too, at the time where I was. I was also a very devoted Hindu at the time anyway and had a strong Shaivite practice. But, I have always found it intriguing.

 

Sheesh... I can't stop... haha!! Just finished a transmission from my Rinpoche webcasted from Italy so I'm still up all night!! Still going!

[Marblehead]

Oh... your clever... eh, eh. Nothing to find, except that realization.

 

I actually had a period in my life where I kinda wanted to be a Taoist, when I was reading Wang Liping and all sorts of other things, as I have a whole bunch of Taoist material. Well not that much on me now, like 5 or 6 books. But, none of the secret stuff. I found it hard to find a real Taoist Wizard too, at the time where I was. I was also a very devoted Hindu at the time anyway and had a strong Shaivite practice. But, I have always found it intriguing.

 

Sheesh... I can't stop... haha!! Just finished a transmission from my Rinpoche webcasted from Italy so I'm still up all night!! Still going!

 

Yes. From Hindu to Buddhist would be a natural progression. In my case I was lost and Taoism called me in 1970 but didn't know it. It called me again in 1976 and didn't recognize it. Then in 1983?-4 I finally got the message. It wasn't easy though because the first translation I read got me to laughing. Read a second translation and thought, "Hey, there actually might be something to this stuff." Read a third translation and thought I was beginning to understand. Then I read Chuang Tzu and everything from the TTC just feel in place naturally.

 

Radio Italy? Alright! I spent 2 1/2 years in Vicenza. Lovely time it was!

 

Be well!

[Lucky7Strikes]

Meh.

 

You can't separate Taoism and Buddhism. They both ripped each other off in the East at least. .

[nac]

Yeah, Little 1. The Buddhists have been discussing for 2500 years and they still haven't found what they are looking for.

Rather, those who have found it haven't found a way to communicate it directly into other people's minds without any effort on their part.

 

(Most of them are really Taoists but afraid to admit it.)

Or it's the other way around....

 

PS. I'm a Buddhist myself and frankly, I find it annoying too. I don't visit this forum to discuss Buddhist philosophy with non-Buddhists.

Edited August 12, 2009 by nac

[Ryan T.]

So, what do you all think?

 

Welcome to The Tao Bums discussion forum. This is an informal community created to discuss Tao (Dao), particularly as is expressed in key philosophical texts such as the well known Tao Te Ching of Lao Tzu, health and cultivation practices such as Tai Chi and Qigong (Chi Kung), nonconceptual meditation approaches such as Zuowang (sitting and forgetting), and also the historical developments of Taoism as the bona fide Chinese religion of Taoist priests and shamans. Don't let this intro scare you though. Most of us are syncretic at heart. Discussion is encouraged to wander eclectically across a wide range of spiritual thought and practice, whether Buddhist, Yogic, Tantric, Judaic, Advaitic, Christian, Islamic, Shamanic, Occult, "New Age", Integral... As long as you are up for a good time, you're welcome to discuss your path. Though we can get rowdy at times, we all do our best to keep it civil. We are, almost as a rule, rather strange, but we have good hearts and even better senses of humor...

 

I think the Tao Bums hompage banner addresses this.

 

Sean could divide and subdivide the forums until every school in Taoism, Buddhism and any other esoteric system is represented by its own little grouping. When would it end?

 

And just because somebody calls themselves a Buddhist does not mean that they are not a Taoist. And vice versa. Taoist, Buddhist...just names. It's one big buffet to me. I take what works and leave what doesn't.

 

OT: Interesting thing about this thread for me personally. I never realized how much I don't care for polls in a forum. Funny how we don't see something until we see it.

[Marblehead]

Meh.

 

You can't separate Taoism and Buddhism. They both ripped each other off in the East at least. .

 

True. Once Buddhism was introduced into China Taoism lost its purity. (Not suggesting that this is a bad thing - no judgement here.)

 

Be well!

 

 

 

Or it's the other way around....

 

Oh, I didn't expect my statement to go unchallenged.

 

Be well!

[nac]

Oh, I didn't expect my statement to go unchallenged.

Do you have proof or evidence? If I'm really a closet Taoist, I'd love to know about it.

[minkus]

Im not taoist and not buddhist, im human.

 

I love both taoist and tibetan buddhism techniques of cultivation as they complement eachother perfectly.

 

Cheers !

Edited August 12, 2009 by minkus

[Marblehead]

Do you have proof or evidence? If I'm really a closet Taoist, I'd love to know about it.

 

Hehehe. I can tell by some of your posts that you are really a Taoist. Very Taoist, they are.

 

From your post above:

 

Rather, those who have found it haven't found a way to communicate it directly into other people's minds without any effort on their part.

 

That is a Taoist realization. It is something that cannot be done therefore a Taoist teaches through example and keeps his mouth shut. (No, we can't describe Tao but we can talk about a few of its characteristics.)

 

Be well!

 

 

 

 

 

 

I love both taoist and tibetan buddhism techniques of cultivation as they complement eachother perfectly.

 

Cheers !

 

I actually agree with this for those who find that it works for them.

 

Be well!

[nac]

MH: I meant effort on the part of those seeking realization. That's not possible according to Buddhism either. I'm afraid you don't seem to have understood Buddhist philosophy very well. Is this an "anyone with good morals is a Christian" type of argument? Because I'd be happy to call myself a Taoist in that sense. Anyway, I think we'd better move this discussion to PMs.

Edited August 12, 2009 by nac

[sabin1star]

edited.

Edited August 12, 2009 by sabin1star

[doc benway]

I like the freedom in this forum and wouldn't advocate any restrictions.

 

Even when the forum was completely overrun with Kunlun and then Mak Ti Sin, and now one or two Buddhists who tired of the Buddhism forum. This forum tends to get wrapped up in fads or biases from time to time. It's nice to see how it develops and it's an opportunity to practice Wu Wei and sometimes learn something. Then there are always a few gems that pop up with beautiful insights. I suggest that you read what you want and skip the rest, it's not that difficult.

 

All religious traditions tend to bury the truth in mountains of wasted words piled on by generations of interpreters and wannabees. I don't care what flavor it is, they're all basically the same. The process of human thought creating different words trying to hint at the same underlying reality. I used to think I understood things, now I think I see the limitations of thought and that's enough.

 

I'm not an -ist of any sort. I'm with minkus.

These long-winded, analytical posts, be they Daoist or Buddhist, are either over my head or not terribly interesting to me lately. So many words, so little reality. They're really not the same, you know.

I just don't have the energy to devote to thinking or debating that much anymore.

[Sloppy Zhang]

Im not taoist and not buddhist, im human.

 

This.

 

I don't really identify with anything specifically. There are parts from each I like, parts I don't like, and it's not just limited to those two. Let people say what they want.

[Erdrickgr]

I don't mind people discussing whatever it is that they like to discuss. However, I will say that when different perspectives (various forms of buddhism, taoism, etc.) get thrown into one discussion, it's not necessarily easy for new people to sift through the views and pick out which opinion goes with which faith and whatnot. Over time it's probably for the best that different views get expressed, but in the beginning it can be confusing.

[nac]

This.

 

I don't really identify with anything specifically. There are parts from each I like, parts I don't like, and it's not just limited to those two. Let people say what they want.

I try not to identify with anything either. It's just that I happen to be Buddhist at the moment in the same way that I happen to be human. My own methods and thinking coincide with those of zen philosophy almost perfectly.

[Ya Mu]

...These long-winded, analytical posts... So many words, so little reality. They're really not the same, you know.

...

 

+++++++++++

[thelerner]

It strikes me that there's too much Taoish related talk on this site and now enough about bums. Where to scrounge up food, find places to rest without hassles by the cops etc. Until the important bum questions are answered I think the board can lay off all the Tao and Buddist stuff.

 

 

Seriously, I don't consider this site to be exclusively Taoish, I don't think its meant to be even primarily Taoish. Reading the article that comes up on top, you see its meant to cover a wide variety of spiritual issues. Over the years its normal for some to get higher attention. These come and go. I don't think Buddism has been too over the top.

 

 

 

My 2 cents

 

Michael

[Nanashi]

Seeing the extremes of Yes and No, the forum is Buddhist and Taoist in spirit; which gives it a Zen/Ch'an flavor with discussions. Ray Grigg's The Tao of Zen comes to mind.

 

Some otherwise honest threads seem to get hijacked in fiery debates, though.

Edited August 15, 2009 by Nanashi

[sabin1star]

We need to have Buddhists here because there's a lot of Buddhist qigong throughout chinese history.

 

I think what the forum needs to do is focus on qigong and eliminate any and all western new age occult BS. I think that's a major problem because it makes the site look like a joke.

 

The forum needs better moderation. If someone is confrontational and trying to start a religious battle they need to be banned. I think anyone that starts a thread about how daoism is a false path should be banned immediately. If you don't get rid of people like that they will tear this place down.

 

Note: Practices from China, Korea, Japan, Tibet, Mongolia, Siberia, India, south asia, and southeast asia should all be welcome here. Nothing else should be allowed IMO. Buddhism, Hinduism, Confucianism, Daoism, various qigong schools (including tenaga delaam (sp?)) are all okay. Western BS and assertions that western BS influenced eastern practices are not okay.

Edited August 12, 2009 by sabin1star

[hyok]

Buddhists are the nerds, Taoists are the cool kids. But we're all in the same school cheating off of each other's shitty notes.

[Pietro]

So, what do you all think?

Buddhists and Daoists have debated for centuries. Usually in front of the emperor of China. Those were real debates. The winner would get the temples, and all the nuns/monks had to shave/grow their hair.

 

Usually the buddhists were much better. I still don't know how we really managed to get white cloud temple. (Yeah, I know the story, I meant what really happened).

 

The reason why the Buddhist were much better was because debate is part of their training. They had universities in India where they would learn to debate. Think Christina monks debating the sex of the angels and the number of angels on a pinhead.

 

On the other hand Daoists are much better with their body and in the bedroom. We are the ones that recover the buddhists when they go nuts, and totally ungrounded. I suppose each has its own specific.

 

In any case part of the reason why Daoism tend to be quite pragmatic those days is because we have been humiliated enough during the middle ages.

 

For an example check: "Laughing at the Tao". Although you might need to come over here, for the copy sold by amazon costs more than a year of 1 to 1 training with a lineage master.