What type of Daoist are you? -- Part 1

[sheng zhen]

I'm a wannabe taoist. And proud of it!

[Gerard]

These thread should have been approached from the following perspective:

 

1. Jing level Taoists

2. Qi level Taoists

3. Shen level Taoists

 

I fall into the third but prefer not to talk about this. It is something very personal that should not be discussed to avoid conditioning other practitioner's minds.

 

I can see at the Tao Bums people playing with levels 1 and 2.

Edited December 4, 2009 by durkhrod chogori

[sherab]

  durkhrod chogori said:

These thread should have been approached from the following perspective:

 

1. Jing level Taoists

2. Qi level Taoists

3. Shen level Taoists

 

I fall into the third but prefer not to talk about this. It is something very personal that should not be discussed to avoid conditioning other practitioner's minds.

 

I can see at the Tao Bums people playing with levels 1 and 2.

Yes, the classical "i am better then everyone else" syndrome... I did that when i was like 15.

 

Are you, by chance, 15?

[Pietro]

  sherab said:

Yes, the classical "i am better then everyone else" syndrome... I did that when i was like 15.

 

Are you, by chance, 15?

 

you go through the 3 stages multiple times in your lifetime. At different depths.

[sherab]

  Pietro said:

you go through the 3 stages multiple times in your lifetime. At different depths.

Well, in which case... There must be two of those down on him, already.

[TzuJanLi]

Greetings..

 

Taoist/Taoism.. 'words' that describe something.. something that existed 'before' the words were crafted to describe it.. i sense that the people which were the models for the words Taoist/Taoism would not recognize much of what those terms have come to represent, especially the 'religious' aspect of Taoism.. it is amusing to observe people praising a fundamental text, Tao Te Ching', and passages like, "The Tao that can be spoken, is not the true Tao", then.. proceed to tell others what Tao is.. Tao, and its students, should not be categoriced, that seems like a process designed by what some call 'Ego'..

 

The choice to 'label' one's self as any particular 'ism' or 'ist', is a choice to confine their limitless potential.. yes, even the label of 'Taoist' is confining. It is particularly unsettling to observe people trying to include or exclude specific practices as Taoist or non-Taoist.. my understandings suggest that Tao is all-inclusive, and the 'Taoist' is one that approaches any experience with sincere and unconditional curiosity.. other practices or disciplines might be favored by students of Tao, but not defined by them..

 

Be well..

[Aetherous]

  Quote

These thread should have been approached from the following perspective:

 

1. Jing level Taoists

2. Qi level Taoists

3. Shen level Taoists

 

I fall into the third but prefer not to talk about this. It is something very personal that should not be discussed to avoid conditioning other practitioner's minds.

 

I can see at the Tao Bums people playing with levels 1 and 2.

 

No, you don't.

[Marblehead]

  TzuJanLi said:

The choice to 'label' one's self ...

 

Well, the reason I like to label myself is that during my life I have been called so many different things, many of them not worth repeating, so I figured that if others can put labels on me then I can put my own labels on me too.

 

But I do agree with you in that labelling does in fact set limits.

 

Peace & Love!

[33865_1494798762]

I am the high powered type of mutant

[Stigweard]

Bump

[Marblehead]

I'm still the same type I was before. Just a little older.

[manitou]

I think I'm a Wu-wei hog. I didn't see that one on there.

[Marblehead]

  On 11/15/2010 at 11:43 AM, manitou said:

I think I'm a Wu-wei hog. I didn't see that one on there.

 

Personally, based on the little I know of you, you would be a Literati Daoist.

[Apech]

I'm a literati Daoist ... I couldn't remember what I said before so I deleted my vote and did it again.

[King Kabalabhati]

I chose self-cultivated though many here probably wouldn't cathegorise me as a Taoist at all. I have done very little studying of religious Taoism and as far as I know I have never even met a real "master". I have read Taoteching a couple of times though, and love it.

[dawei]

I never considered myself any kind of "ist"... well, maybe except the 'ex' kind.

[christoff]

I'm so taoist I am beyond classification

Edited November 15, 2010 by christoff

[majc]

I'm with these guys.

 

Literati and therefore not a Taoist.

[mYTHmAKER]

I'm nobody! Who are you?

Are you nobody, too?

Then there's a pair of us -- don't tell!

They'd banish us, you know.

 

How dreary to be somebody!

How public, like a frog

To tell your name the livelong day

To an admiring bog!

 

Emily Dickenson

[Listener]

I don't really consider myself a daoist. But my interest in it at this point is mostly for physical and emotional health.

[Guest tao4joe]

  On 11/30/2009 at 6:11 AM, Taomeow said:

Yoda,

thanks for the corroboration!

 

 

Um... yes, that's exactly what I was saying. "The Goddess" is just the title of the book, not the refutation of the fact. And the fact that female-administered rites and rituals of the Goddess worship dating back at least 75,000 years of archeologically documented evidence (and quite likely far farther back than that) is well established, though not well liked by male-dominated religious and scientific institutions of today. Same archeological evidence has no male authority figures to show among its findings of the period -- these don't appear on the scene till a bit over 10,000 years ago (some say 10 to 15, but definitely none earlier). The advent of patriarchy was simultaneous with the introduction of agriculture, slave labor, pyramid building and all that jazz. We didn't live like that for 99.9% of our overall history on this planet at all.

 

The Goddess book I referenced is mostly pictures -- and one of them is pretty interesting because it is a fully fledged taiji symbol (yin-yang) dating back 45,000 years, found at an archeological site in Europe, and associated with shamanic traditions of the Goddess served by female "embodiments."

 

Laozi was of the same opinion, incidentally. So much so that in some esoteric schools of taoist thought, in order to prove that Laozi was legit, they have written treatises showing that Laozi was his own mother. Don't ask, I don't understand it myself... I mean, I dare not understand... there's a level where I do though...

 

Ha..you tell 'em mademoiselle..Something about smart women, they are so much fun. Yeah it all changed with larger colonies for agriculture and the need to control the family unit.

[dragonfire]

  On 11/30/2009 at 12:39 PM, TzuJanLi said:

he recalls that he should have become that fisherman's apprentice, the fisherman was wise enough to leave the Tao unnamed..

 

Be well..

 

I agree, the Tao should not be named. To name it is to give it limitations and a label. Its boundless.

Lao Tzu only named it that because he didn't know what to call it.

 

To say you are this, and that, is just wrong. To say you are a buddhist or a Taoist is no different from

saying I am black and you are white. If you understand the teachings, you will know all is the same.

 

Forms are non-existent. There is only the void and the void is not void.

[Vajrahridaya]

  On 12/4/2009 at 11:58 AM, Gerard said:

These thread should have been approached from the following perspective:

 

1. Jing level Taoists

2. Qi level Taoists

3. Shen level Taoists

 

I fall into the third but prefer not to talk about this. It is something very personal that should not be discussed to avoid conditioning other practitioner's minds.

 

I can see at the Tao Bums people playing with levels 1 and 2.

 

I've been on the Shen level for 15 years.

 

Well, in this lifetime.

 

But, I'm not officially a Taoist.

Edited November 18, 2010 by Vajrahridaya

[Vajrahridaya]

  On 11/18/2010 at 5:04 AM, dragonfire said:

To say you are a buddhist or a Taoist is no different from

saying I am black and you are white. If you understand the teachings, you will know all is the same.

 

Forms are non-existent. There is only the void and the void is not void.

 

The Buddha wouldn't agree, but... that's another argument. I'm definitely a Buddhist under the guidance of the triple gem.

Edited November 18, 2010 by Vajrahridaya

[RiverSnake]

  On 12/4/2009 at 11:58 AM, Gerard said:

These thread should have been approached from the following perspective:

 

1. Jing level Taoists

2. Qi level Taoists

3. Shen level Taoists

 

I fall into the third but prefer not to talk about this. It is something very personal that should not be discussed to avoid conditioning other practitioner's minds.

 

I can see at the Tao Bums people playing with levels 1 and 2.

 

Hm...not sure what that means, but it is my intention to one day know.

Edited November 18, 2010 by Tao Apprentice