Hello and some questions...

[recovering-idiot]

Hello to everyone! I am new here, though I have been reading around the site for a while. I must admit that I am somewhat confused and even frustrated (hence the reason I chose recovering-idiot for my screen name). I am a 46 yr old male, married with 3 great kids. I come from a Buddhist/Christian background (may sound odd, I know), and have found that neither suited my needs, so to speak, or perhaps a better way to put it would be that I didn't feel I believed in them really. Some ideas seemed to make sense while others seemed to be utter nonsense (no offense at all meant to anyone) and dogmatic.

 

So I suppose my first question would be something along the lines of, "Are there any 'sins' in Taoism". For example, the Christianity I was exposed to viewed cursing (even once) as enough to send one to hell. The same for sexual desire (lust and go to hell). This is something that I was referring to when I mentioned nonsense above because all humans become angry and say things in anger, as do all humans have a desire for sex now and then (well, most humans anyway).

 

Second question would be something like how do I learn about how to follow Taoism if it cannot be described?

 

Thank you very much for your time and I sincerely apologize if my frustration has shown itself in my writing.

[Harmonious Emptiness]

As with Christianity and Buddhism, it really depends on where you're getting your information from. Some Christians will say things like you have heard, while others talk about the mercy and forgiveness of God which nullifies such things. Some Buddhists might say that minor negative actions will put you 100 lifetimes from Nirvana, while others say that these actions are immediately erased when you get on the right track.

 

Taoism has a philosophical side, a more "religious" side, and a more esoteric yogic side. I think overall, there is nothing about one slip up and your done though. The approach is more one similar to psychology, where having a heart full of negative emotions leads to your own misery which you owe it to yourself to transcend, but the main concern would be almost like a health issue so long as the person doesn't cause suffering to others.

 

To learn more, I recommend reading The Chuang Tzu (Burton Watson translation here)

 

And The Tao Te Ching (excellent translation can be downloaded from here)

 

Also, some great article someone linked earlier: taoism.net

[Elliot]

Live naturally and how can you go wrong.

Namaste & Welcome!

[konchog uma]

Hi recovering idiot,

 

Good to hear that you are exploring daoism. As far as getting replies to your thread, posting in general forum is likely to be more fruitful. Not everyone reads the lobby posts (i think)

 

Daoism has several branches and schools, but doesn't tend to emphasize the concept of sin as much as the church. Alchemical daoists (internal energy cultivators) consider it bad to waste energy, and philosophical daoists tend to find it bad to act in a way that isn't in accord with ones true nature. Daoism in its pure form isn't as concerned with morality or ethics as are buddhism and the christian orthodoxy. It almost seems to me as if the only sin of daoism is acting in a contrived way, or a way that isn't true to ones nature.

 

I have personally found that the moral and ethical structure of buddhism is a perfect balance to the free-form critical thinking of daoism. And i have also found that many people read the doctrine that good and equal have the same root and are inseperable, and then use their half-understanding of it to justify all kinds of morally ambiguous behavior, thinking "there is no good or evil seperate from each other, so i'm going to do just what i want to do"... unfortunately those people usually have to learn the hard way about action and consequence.

 

One of the important concepts throughout daoism is integrity, and the idea that when a person has integrity, they won't need morality and ethics to guide their conduct; they will instead be naturally virtuous. This natural virtue is considered "superior" to moral virtue in that it arises naturally and doesn't need to be forced or contrived.

 

So instead of dealing with a list of sins or a litany of behaviors, daoism just encourages us to seek the root of natural whole virtue within ourselves and act accordingly.

[recovering-idiot]

Thank you all for responding! I very much appreciate it! Anamatva, I would have posted this in the general forum, but I read where I had to post here first and got in a hurry. My bad. I should have posted here first and then posted my questions in the general forum as you suggested. Again, thanks to everyone who answered!