ancestral qi in China

[Yoda]

so coming from a secular/Christian/Buddhist background before becoming a Taoist, I was always pretty used to the concept that enlightenment/development/salvation/etc is an individual thing and assumed it was more or less the same deal for Taoism.

 

I'm surprised to learn how collective a program it is at least in some forms of Taoism... One's individual actions count the most but the actions of one's parents, spouse, and children seem to come in at a very close second.

 

Very much like the Hebrew notion of the sins of the fathers can go for ten generations type thing.

 

I've heard that the Christians and Catholics are softening their approach in China and allowing ancestral worship.

 

I've heard it said that modern religions are all individual oriented and the old ones are more family oriented.

 

Maybe Taoism is old school like that?

 

Yoda

[rsalazar]

Hi Yoda,

Yeah, you also see this in African traditions frequently, where the ancestral link is the closest to our plane and therefore the channel with the strongest signal - The influence of the ancestors, from my superficial view, seems almost like a type of ethereal genetic code, their energetic link seems to be a feedback loop where they can influence us and we also can help them, which also helps us.

R

 

so coming from a secular/Christian/Buddhist background before becoming a Taoist, I was always pretty used to the concept that enlightenment/development/salvation/etc is an individual thing and assumed it was more or less the same deal for Taoism.

 

I'm surprised to learn how collective a program it is at least in some forms of Taoism... One's individual actions count the most but the actions of one's parents, spouse, and children seem to come in at a very close second.

 

Very much like the Hebrew notion of the sins of the fathers can go for ten generations type thing.

 

I've heard that the Christians and Catholics are softening their approach in China and allowing ancestral worship.

 

I've heard it said that modern religions are all individual oriented and the old ones are more family oriented.

 

Maybe Taoism is old school like that?

 

Yoda

[ngtest]

The influence of the ancestors, from my superficial view, seems almost like a type of ethereal genetic code, their energetic link seems to be a feedback loop where they can influence us and we also can help them, which also helps us.

 

 

If I remember well in Buddhism it is said that when a person becomes enlightened, seven generations of his past parents go to heaven.

[exorcist_1699]

The traditional saying is , there are several groups of people you should not teach:

 

1) People whose parents, even ancestors ,did some thing really evil.

 

2) People who are handicapped, blind or deaf ..( I wonder why ,maybe due to past karma or incomplete circulation of qi.. ?)

 

3) People who are too worldly-oriented ; people who can't disentangle themselves from the attachment to wife, car, house ..( maybe also to their pets, I think )

 

4) People who only have superficial understanding of Taoism , no real practical abilities yet make use of it as a medium to boast of how erudite they are .

Edited October 7, 2009 by exorcist_1699