baiqi Posted June 7, 2010 As I said in another threads, here are a few greetings for taoists you may meet in China,if you know other ones, please put them here too! 道安 Dao an " peace in the Tao" 慈悲"Ci Bei compassion" 无量寿福 wu liang shou fu " endless happiness and longevity" You can also greet the person by joining your hands together, doing a taiji diagramm. 道长仙姓？ dao xiang xian xing? What is your immortal name? (well... what's your name? I don't really like it sounds too formal...but ) 您几岁了？ How old are you--> TABOO question! It is forbidden to ask...(in theory like many other things... ) Also the person you have in front of you is a: 道士 dao shi, taoist priest, general term. 道娘 dao niang or 道坤 dao kun for women. 道爷 dao ye " old master" if the person looks old 道长 dao zhang Abbot, person in charge of the temple. 道童 dao tong, young taoist.a bit obsolete, since there aren't children in temples nowadays... and it's better that way IMO. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Mig Posted January 25, 2017 As I said in another threads, here are a few greetings for taoists you may meet in China,if you know other ones, please put them here too! 道安 Dao an " peace in the Tao" 慈悲"Ci Bei compassion" 无量寿福 wu liang shou fu " endless happiness and longevity" You can also greet the person by joining your hands together, doing a taiji diagramm. 道长仙姓？ dao xiang xian xing? What is your immortal name? (well... what's your name? I don't really like it sounds too formal...but ) 您几岁了？ How old are you--> TABOO question! It is forbidden to ask...(in theory like many other things... ) Also the person you have in front of you is a: 道士 dao shi, taoist priest, general term. 道娘 dao niang or 道坤 dao kun for women. 道爷 dao ye " old master" if the person looks old 道长 dao zhang Abbot, person in charge of the temple. 道童 dao tong, young taoist.a bit obsolete, since there aren't children in temples nowadays... and it's better that way IMO. Why asking someone age is a taboo? What's the meaning of that taboo? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
baiqi Posted October 9, 2017 It's been a long time... I am still not sure, but I think it's because of the idea that Taoists' main goal is longevity, if not immortality. So it would be like asking "how good a taoist priest are you". The taboo for Buddhist monks would be to ask their (real) name, since their goal is o get rid of the ego. Again, these "taboos" are not so strong, I'm sure they have to give their names and ages for the administration. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Wu Ming Jen Posted October 9, 2017 On 6/7/2010 at 7:02 AM, baiqi said: As I said in another threads, here are a few greetings for taoists you may meet in China,if you know other ones, please put them here too! 道安 Dao an " peace in the Tao" 慈悲"Ci Bei compassion" 无量寿福 wu liang shou fu " endless happiness and longevity" You can also greet the person by joining your hands together, doing a taiji diagramm. 道长仙姓？ dao xiang xian xing? What is your immortal name? (well... what's your name? I don't really like it sounds too formal...but ) 您几岁了？ How old are you--> TABOO question! It is forbidden to ask...(in theory like many other things... ) Also the person you have in front of you is a: 道士 dao shi, taoist priest, general term. 道娘 dao niang or 道坤 dao kun for women. 道爷 dao ye " old master" if the person looks old 道长 dao zhang Abbot, person in charge of the temple. 道童 dao tong, young taoist.a bit obsolete, since there aren't children in temples nowadays... and it's better that way IMO. There are lots of children at the Wudang Temples as young as 5 and up. If you go to get meals do not be late because the kids will eat it all up! The kids that grow up here at age 20 they have been practicing for 8 hours a day for fifteen years and are proficient in many methods. 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Taomeow Posted October 10, 2017 On 1/24/2017 at 8:44 PM, Mig said: Why asking someone age is a taboo? What's the meaning of that taboo? Perhaps retained from earlier traditional cultures. To this day, there's isolated tribes still surviving the onslaught of "civilization," the very last of the Mohicans, where people not only never ask each other their age but don't know it themselves. When an "anthropologist" inquires, the answer is, "this is not something I concern myself with." This wise attitude safeguards the whole culture against the bane of "civilization" -- age discrimination. Besides, a recipient of a transmission may well be as old as the whole lineage -- the age of the mind (and/or spirit, soul, shen) may far exceed the age of the body. Alternatively, someone's old body is no guarantee of a mature mind contained therein. And someone looking as though they are of a particular age means nothing at all. For millennia, toward respect and recognition, people preferred looking older, it was a marker of life's experience. (Not anymore, many people today who have spent the last half-century commuting to a stupefying job and then sitting in front of the TV are not richer in life's experience than they were when they were fifty years younger.) With the advent of Hollywood, the fashion industry, and coordinated conditioning toward blatant ageism in all social spheres, the tables have been turned, now people prefer to look younger. Either way, one is better off avoiding the question, civilized society is hell-bent on bursting everyone's bubble, and no matter what they believe about themselves, making them stop. Just stop believing in yourself. You are too young. You are too old. You look your age. You give us your age and we'll find a way to flog you with it, it's a weapon we have against you, see? Taoism has many wise taboos... 4 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Mig Posted October 17, 2017 On 10/9/2017 at 5:24 PM, Taomeow said: Perhaps retained from earlier traditional cultures. To this day, there's isolated tribes still surviving the onslaught of "civilization," the very last of the Mohicans, where people not only never ask each other their age but don't know it themselves. When an "anthropologist" inquires, the answer is, "this is not something I concern myself with." This wise attitude safeguards the whole culture against the bane of "civilization" -- age discrimination. Besides, a recipient of a transmission may well be as old as the whole lineage -- the age of the mind (and/or spirit, soul, shen) may far exceed the age of the body. Alternatively, someone's old body is no guarantee of a mature mind contained therein. And someone looking as though they are of a particular age means nothing at all. For millennia, toward respect and recognition, people preferred looking older, it was a marker of life's experience. (Not anymore, many people today who have spent the last half-century commuting to a stupefying job and then sitting in front of the TV are not richer in life's experience than they were when they were fifty years younger.) With the advent of Hollywood, the fashion industry, and coordinated conditioning toward blatant ageism in all social spheres, the tables have been turned, now people prefer to look younger. Either way, one is better off avoiding the question, civilized society is hell-bent on bursting everyone's bubble, and no matter what they believe about themselves, making them stop. Just stop believing in yourself. You are too young. You are too old. You look your age. You give us your age and we'll find a way to flog you with it, it's a weapon we have against you, see? Taoism has many wise taboos... It sounds more of a Chinese popular culture but not necessarily Daoist. Times have changed so cultures evolve. So where in Daoism is that custom or what kind of lineage profess not asking for someone age? 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Taomeow Posted October 18, 2017 8 hours ago, Mig said: It sounds more of a Chinese popular culture but not necessarily Daoist. Times have changed so cultures evolve. So where in Daoism is that custom or what kind of lineage profess not asking for someone age? Chinese popular culture -- what exactly is that? Traditional Chinese culture, and this includes folk traditions, is rooted in taoism, you can't separate them. Modern "popular culture" did not "evolve," anymore than the Chinese Rooster sign has "evolved" into the Western "Taurus," even though modern Chinese are more likely to say "Taurus" than "Rooster" when asked "what's your sign." Modern Western culture is expansive and invasive. This is not evolution, this is cultural colonization. The founder of my lineage, Lu Dongbin, is recorded as being between 20 and 40 years of age when he first met his teacher Zhongli Quan. The range is sufficient to give an idea of what he was: "a young man." Four hundred years later, he surpassed his teacher in cultivation (whereupon their roles got reversed and he became the teacher), so whether he was some 20 years younger or older when he started is of little interest to his followers. My own taoist teacher has taught us to think of one's age up to about 50--70 as our "teenage years" if we want to shoot for taoist longevity. The preliminary goal, to live to 160, warrants deprogramming your mind from the artificially imposed expectations of decline by viewing the first third of this period as adolescence, the second, as adulthood, and the third, as your prime. You are under no obligation to meet society's desire to label you as something you are not based on its idea of what age warrants what label. 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
