Tao or Dharma?

[sweeney]

I left a note yesterday where I pondered on the thought that the holy Hui Neng was really just a closet Daoist sage. My point being that the mindfulness and instant zen, as satori, of the aformentioned and of that era was not in reality nothing more than good old arcane Daoist mental hygine. To accord oneself with the Tao without trying to accord onself to the Tao, so to speak. It got me thinking about how much Western Tao and Dharma isn't perhaps just plain old Calvinism or Anglicanism hidden behind the solemn mask of a false golden Buddha. Would there be more interest in Tibetan style Dharma if Western Buddhism was based in a Roman Catholic consensus? ie more ritual and Symbolism? Brazilian Buddhism? I guess I'm wondering if there is ever any objective transmission of enlightenment/accord with the Tao, in 'The West' without any vestigal traces of the Judeo/Christian religious way of mind. I was involved in Ch'an Buddhism in England for about a year and although the people were very kind and earnest, I thought that it could really just as easily be a Church of England bible study group with tea and biscuits. I say this as coming from a Presbyterian background. Am I a Calvinist Tao Bum? Let me know what you think?

 

Sweeney

 

p.s If you think you are in accord with the Tao; go to your doctor it may just be a case of mild food poisoning...

[strawdog65]

I left a note yesterday where I pondered on the thought that the holy Hui Neng was really just a closet Daoist sage. My point being that the mindfulness and instant zen, as satori, of the aformentioned and of that era was not in reality nothing more than good old arcane Daoist mental hygine. To accord oneself with the Tao without trying to accord onself to the Tao, so to speak. It got me thinking about how much Western Tao and Dharma isn't perhaps just plain old Calvinism or Anglicanism hidden behind the solemn mask of a false golden Buddha. Would there be more interest in Tibetan style Dharma if Western Buddhism was based in a Roman Catholic consensus? ie more ritual and Symbolism? Brazilian Buddhism? I guess I'm wondering if there is ever any objective transmission of enlightenment/accord with the Tao, in 'The West' without any vestigal traces of the Judeo/Christian religious way of mind. I was involved in Ch'an Buddhism in England for about a year and although the people were very kind and earnest, I thought that it could really just as easily be a Church of England bible study group with tea and biscuits. I say this as coming from a Presbyterian background. Am I a Calvinist Tao Bum? Let me know what you think?

 

Sweeney

 

p.s If you think you are in accord with the Tao; go to your doctor it may just be a case of mild food poisoning...

 

 

 

 

That's interesting.

 

Because of our mind being filled with western belief from the onset, we perhaps

have such issues with connecting with the central messages of Taoism. I encounter

strange looks whenever I explain what I believe in! I once had some one ask me

why I prayed to Mao Zedong? And then proceeded to think me a communist!

 

The very Idea to western/judeo/christians of a belief system not organized

around scheduled events and not centered around taking place in a building to

be considered a "real" belief, is bewildering.

 

And to think it is intuitively correct to my mind!

 

To break down the barriers...we must change our way of living.

To destroy the god of materialism.

To lose ourselves to find ourselves,

To know we are the smallest part...of everything else.

[Marblehead]

Well, as we are talking about Taoism here I will comment.

 

I think that it doesn't take any particular mind-set to live the life of a Taoist. A Westerner can live a life rooted in Tao just as easily as a person living in China can and just as esily as can a person living on some Pacific island.

 

Living in accord with Tao is, afterall, mainly an internal thing and has little to do with where on this planet we live or of what culture we are a child of.

 

To be one with Tao one flows with the movements of Tao. That is, we live as close as possible to the natural flow of life and death.

 

It is my opinion that the Taoist philosophy of life should never be corrupted with the dogma created by men who wish to gain power. We each should live our life to its fullest potential.

 

I do understand that the Taoist philosophy of life has been corrupted many times over. But this does not invalidate its value. In fact, I would suggest that it adds to its value in that the base philosophy was deemed important enough to use as a springboard to some where else.

 

It really doesn't matter what one calls oneself or what others call the individual. If the individual is living in accordance with Tao then they are a Taoist.