How did you start?

[AsheSkyler]

Everybody has a good story to tell and no two are identical. Would anybody like to share how they first came across or got started in Taoism?

 

 

Mine, oddly enough, was started from one of those wife swap shows. A Taoist family swapped with a Christian one. Eccentric, but peaceful folk. When asked what Taoism was, none were shown doing more than scratching their heads. Made me curious, so I started looking it up. My interest lay dormant for a few years after I got a basic answer. When it rekindled, I got a copy of the Tao Te Ching and here I am.

[Colorado Sage]

Neat story. I honestly can't remember the exact moment I decided to really dig in. I remember my best friend telling me he was getting in to it and he had read the Tao of Pooh. He never really got beyond that book and I kind of dove right in. It hit me as soon as I read the first paragraph of the Tao Te Ching and I've been hooked ever since.

 

[Protector]

IT ALL BEGAN YEARS AGO IN COLD COLD CANADA LAND

 

I was goofy teenager who was goofing around the internet looking for things to eat up my time. I came across a movie called Zeitgeist. That was the first actual time I came across the nwo thing and it freaked me out. The only thing I didn't buy was the sun god thing. I mean, they basically said that the same Jesus-like person is being reincarnated every 10,000 years, too much for a coincidence.

Anyway, after that I went looking for things to defend myself with since I was super paranoid for the next few hours. The kung fu videos led me to qi gong videos which led me to a meditation place with a bunch of Taoist stuff.

The place would eventually close down because the guy in charge decided to do something else and I haven't done anything in a while. Years later I decided to come back to the Taoist internet place and decided to hang around TTB.

 

The End

 

...to be continued?

[Birch]

Stumbled across TTB's after looking for information about weird energy experiences after doing sun salutes and chakra meditations DIY.

[Taomeow]

Laozi came to me in a dream-vision and said, in Old Slavonic,

"Some things yield to flowery speech and there's no harm in that, but other things, be silent about, for the supreme power gave us comprehension not toward many words but toward many silent omissions."

I didn't know who he was and mistook him for the Protopope Avvacum, a 17th century Russian church reformer. What he said in Old Slavonic I later discovered to have been the opening of TTC (he had to resort to an obsolete language which I happen to understand so as to render the exact meaning of the obsolete Chinese usage, because the stylistic peculiarities of the original do not correspond precisely to those of modern Chinese, let alone any other modern language.) Now, whenever I invoke an immortal or a deity, the first thing they sometimes tell me is, "wait... aren't you that silly cow who thought Laozi was a Russian troublemaker, a guy with a horrible temper who denounced everybody and everything, from his church superiors to Siberian shamans?.. What a blunder!.." -- and then they usually laugh their heads off. It's not easy to get an immortal whose memory is infinite to forget a faux pas...

[Friend]

Edited March 29, 2013 by Friend

[Cat Pillar]

I had a passing familiarity with energy work via Robert Bruce's material. From his forum, I somehow got linked to Half Past Human, and that page has a link to this forum. I was interested in Taoism and had read the TTC, so I followed the link and started reading the forums here. And from there, I started learning about qigong, neigong, and all the various flavors of Taoism that exist.

 

I found two neigong practices that really seemed to call to me - the first one I tried was Kunlun, which I don't think I was really ready for. The second is my current practice, Stillness-Movement, which I've almost finished my first 100 days of.

Edited February 4, 2013 by Cat Pillar

[Taomeow]

WoW, they (sometimes) say all that to you? What a greeting.

Not necessarily in so many words, more in "silent omissions." But sometimes... well, you would have to hear it to believe what a set of ceremonial "sound effects" (a bell, a drum, a rain stick, a rattle, a fan) can carry on their sound waves... And sometimes random people are used... e.g., I do a meditation where you have to go through seven cycles of repetition of a particular sequence, and sometimes I feel like cutting it short... say, I'm tired, and in the middle of it I'm thinking, how about I do just four cycles tonight, what's the big deal? And suddenly I hear a neighbor outside yell to someone: "No! Five to seven minimum!" Of course the neighbor doesn't know he got briefly employed to channel a deity... but I sigh and sit five cycles at least, not four, because I do. I know a "zone" where all you need to do is open yourself to input and if you're not smart enough to get it from "silent omissions," they'll spell it out for you, I'm not kidding!

[dawei]

Laozi came to me in a dream-vision and said, in Old Slavonic,

 

Something tells me we're missing a few details leading up to the dream... Was there a natural connection from birth? Maybe you have related this on TTB somewhere(s) else.

 

---

 

I would only say that I did not come to Taoism but an understanding of Tao from birth. But no immortals have visited me yet.

 

In a nutshell: Literature and poetry was always my love. Here are those writings which have most affected me: Those in bold the most.

- Greek: Sappho, Callimachus, Homer, Euripides, Aeschylus, Aristophanes, Sophocles

- Romans: Virgil, Horace, Catullus, Ovid, Juvenal, Martialis

- English: Blake, Milton, Chaucer, Pope, Shakespeare

- Metaphysical poets: Donne, Marvell, Cowley, Crashaw, Herbert

- Italian poets: Ariosto, Boccaccio, Dante, Petrarca

- Existentialist: Camus, Husserl, Heidegger, Kierkegaard, Sarte,

- Chinese poets: Bai Juyi, Du Fu, Li Bai, Li Qingzhao, Li Shang-Yin, Meng Haoren, Qu Yuan, Su Dongpo, Tao Qian, Wang Wei

- Zen- Bodhidharma, Huike, Sengcan, Daoxin, Hongren, Farong, Huineng, Shenxiu, Mazu Daoyin, Huangbo, Dogen.

 

I didn't relate how I came to an understanding of Tao... Life; reading; experience.

 

I left out any daoist writings... by the time I read the DDJ, right after my Zen period, it was all too obvious. It was a great 'duh'. I felt nothing was added except organized understanding. But it was like coming home. I would need to list the ancient chinese text separately as to its influence if that detail was wanted.

Edited February 4, 2013 by dawei

[Imperial]

I was chatting with a school friend through Skype. We were talking about our classes and all until we ran out of topics to talk about. He suddenly brought up questions like, "What is the point of life?," "what happens after death?" and so on. Those types of questions lingered in my mind for weeks. As a person, I have stuff that I love to do. Won't it be a waste to just die like that? Working towards something for so long and just in the end to ... die? I started searching up immortality. Obviously, news about scientists developing immortality methods with new technology and part-machine bodies. I didn't like that. It wasn't natural. I wanted my body to stay natural. Being a Chinese and a Buddhist, the next thing in my mind was Taoist immortality. It immediately popped into my head. I started searching it up and doing some research across the Internet. ... And that is how I got here, as I wanted to partake in this community and learn something new.

 

I then started learning about spiritual immortality. I thought that it would be fun, manifesting as many different forms and travelling the universe. I want to feel the joy of being unbounded by nothing!

Edited February 4, 2013 by Imperial

[林愛偉]

I love these stories!

 

Here's one I haven't spoke of in a long time, and briefly in interview.

 

This time around...

 

When I was 3yrs old I began seeing ghosts and spirits, demons, etc. Got used to it, told my parents, and they just looked like this

 

Then my 2nd eldest sister brought around astrology books when I was seven, betting my father I couldn't read anyof the words. In turn I read all the words they tested me on. My mother and a friend of mine when I was 7 played the oujia board, and let me watch, then suddenly our unplugged television in the kitchen went on to show an angel under a stream of light singing in a dark room on a semi pedestal. It lasted about 20 seconds. freaked them out, I smiled.

 

At 8 my 2nd eldest sister taught me a meditation on telepathy and third eye awakening by focusing on the dantian (details not posted..lol) She was experimenting on something she just fond out in her research, she was into witchcraft and the like when she was 16 She had no clue what she was teaching/experimenting on me, but we did it for 3hrs in the living room, and surprised ourselves. From then, it has been meditation and this kind of practice till it broke open in my early teens and through meditation learned more methods of it, along with Qigong, tuina and Qigong for hands on healing..which I don't do now (because people just like to go back to their old ways and waste my time) I did the Qigong healing stuff all till I was about late 20s, now do it on request by random people if it fits for them.

 

Found out my father, for yrs before I was born, studied the Dao De jing, but never told me about it till I questioned life and certain religions like Catholicism, etc..due to me going to a Catholic school growing up and always debating the nuns and priests on what they thought I should do and how God was going to view me. Once I brought up their money issue, they kind of hoped I would transfer. :-P

 

(This is all in a nutshell by the way, leaving out loads of stories, things I learned, practiced, meeting accounts in terms of specific teachers..blah blah blah and adventures..lol) just fun food for thought

 

When I was 24, I moved to China, met my Daoist Shifu at Taishan, Wang Mu Chi Daoist Nunnery, and a few other "free to go and come as they please" teachers. Spoke about what I had been taught since 8 and my teacher then tells me, "HAHAHA good stuff, keep doing it, its basically the stuff I would show you anyway." Then in 2005 met my Buddhist teacher, and BANG! It took everything sky high from there.

 

So, that's basically how the cultivation of the way came about to me this time around.

 

Peace,

Lin

Edited February 4, 2013 by 林愛偉

[Taomeow]

Something tells me we're missing a few details leading up to the dream... Was there a natural connection from birth? Maybe you have related this on TTB somewhere(s) else.

 

Yeah, I may have... don't remember exactly... so for now, rather than more of my own story, I'd like to share the stories of two of my Chinese acquaintances discovering taoism... Both were "searching for something." Both started out discovering what one is most likely to find in CA when randomly looking eastward for answers -- Buddhism and Hinduism.

 

One of them got into kundalini yoga, quite seriously, studying with a charismatic and accomplished lady. He may be the only person in the world who has horrible scars on his body from practicing yoga. Lost balance doing a headstand in his living-room, crashed into a glass coffee table, shattered it. When they were done pulling the glass out of his random body parts and stitching it all up, he decided that some higher power may be trying to tell him something... Switched to Mantak Chia... took it from there...

 

The second one got infatuated with a particular guru based in India, to the extent that he decided he wanted to go see the wise man in person and beg him for some dispensations of wisdom, and maybe even become a disciple on location if the guru takes him. He flew to Calcutta, and the moment he got off the plane he knew something was wrong... The heat and humidity were oppressive, he felt like a fish out of water, confused and disoriented. With this feeling, he came to the guru and poured his heart out. The guru listened with great attention, nodding pensively and stroking his white beard (well, I'm making this part up, I don't know if he had a beard, but that's how I picture the scene in my mind's eye.) Then the guru got up and went somewhere inside the house, returning with a book, which he handed to my friend. 'Have you read this book?" he asked. "No, I haven't." "Well, you should. Take it to your hotel room and read it tonight. You don't have to give it back, it's my gift to you." My friend thanked the guru and took the book... the title of which sounded vaguely familiar to him... Tao Teh Ching!

He read it that night, got "unconfused" on the spot, laughed all the way back to the airport the next day -- a Chinese going to India only to be told by a Hindu guru to read Laozi! -- but somehow there wasn't a shorter way for him than the bass-ackwards way... "If she does not laugh, she is not the tao..."

[dawei]

"If she does not laugh, she is not the tao..."

 

thanks for sharing the stories. You used that DDJ quote in a positive manner which is how I often think of it. Glad to see this usage.

 

The only problem I have is there is no next chapter to read... I'm thinking you could write 81 stories?

[Taomeow]

thanks for sharing the stories. You used that DDJ quote in a positive manner which is how I often think of it. Glad to see this usage.

 

The only problem I have is there is no next chapter to read... I'm thinking you could write 81 stories?

You are too kind. Of course I have 81 stories... but one of the problems with not being Laozi or at least a contemporary of his is, you have 881 stories (the modernity is way hectic...) and no idea which 81 to choose... E.g., here's an entry I made in my "invisible blog" just a few days ago (to be made visible after the Chinese New Year if the I Ching approves):

 

 

This is the story of a Chinese American businessman who told me many secrets, of which his main personal one, normally closely guarded, concerns his ancestors. He comes from a family which, in the last several hundred years before the last Chinese emperor, was immensely powerful, stupendously wealthy, and commanded vast military and naval forces. "Why do you keep it secret?" I asked him. "Usually people brag of such things -- prominent ancestry, their great-grandfathers in history books, shaping the geopolitical map for the largest population on Earth for centuries to come... most people wouldn't know how to shut up if this was their family." "No, no, no," he recoiled in genuine horror, "I can't possibly brag of what isn't my doing, I can't be proud of it, I haven't contributed anything of any significance myself. What would my ancestors say if they knew that I didn't do anything that would make them proud and that I use their deeds to have something to brag about? They would be ashamed of me. Better keep my mouth shut."

When he was ten, his father commissioned a portrait of him on horseback, as had long been the custom in the family. It is an oil painting of a Chinese boy dressed in British riding attire, sitting erectly and solemnly on a spirited Arabian horse, his features captured somewhat blurrily by the artist who was obviously much more taken with the horse than with the rider. The horse occupies the central and lofty spot in the painting, with his fluid, intelligent eyes making instant, and insolent, contact with yours -- while the rider is seen as though by someone seated below horse level so his whole figure seems to be receding into an upward perspective, into the sky. His face is expressionless. He seems empty like a little sage, but I know he is merely reserved and well-behaved.

This is the story of a Chinese Buddhist-Taoist-Confucian-Western upbringing in the 20th century, in an aristocratic family, some of whose members escaped to Taiwan from revolutionary China while others, the ones who stayed behind, were captured, tortured, and executed. This is the story of the son of a selflessly devoted yet fiercely domineering mom, a lawyer who was also trained as a professional Chinese opera singer by a former opera star who became her nanny, and a charming, irresponsible, incorrigible playboy dad with American military and Chinese mafia clientele of his newly modest (and newly immodest) entertainment empire.

Now someone should tell me where (if anywhere) I can/should/can't/shouldn't take this true story. I'm looking for ideas such as "blog it," "fictionalize it," "screenplay it," "forget it -- what can you possibly say on the subject that's new?" and so on. Today I felt as though I wanted to tell it, but it may all change tomorrow... So, what would you suggest I do with it?

[Birch]

Screenplay. Definitely :-)

[Harmonious Emptiness]

@ Taomeow: You could make a compilation book, sort of like "Zen in the Martial Arts" by Joe Hyams, who shares anecdotes from his years studying with various masters. Sounds like you could make an interesting read.

 

 

I guess I should share my beginner story now that I'm on the thread: Nothing spectacular really. In my teens, my older brother had "The Tao of Pooh" (probably from the alternative school he went to, which I believe at the time had a yin-yang theme in the emblem). I asked about it and he said "you know those guys on the mountain in old kung fu movies? This is their religion." I read it numerous times as well, later, De of Piglet. It was the first thing that made simple sense of the seemingly complicated business of living, and got me started practicing wu wei.. one of the best stories being about a bunch of people wondering what to do about a bucking horse in the middle of the street and the man of Tao passed the street and goes down the next one...

 

 

Always wondered about awareness, connectivity between people; then had to pick a topic for a Communications/Humanities degree, looked up "awareness," and found this reel of a 1960's psychedelic educational type video about Zen. After some more research did the project on Cha'an tea ritual, (Anthro. course, Culture as performance) and talked about how the communication is the shared presence, perception of the reality, simple flower arrangement, simplicity of the tea hut, simplicity of manner, etc.

 

"Essays in Idleness" by Yoshida Kenko was sort of a turning point after that ...

[Owledge]

I came across a movie called Zeitgeist. That was the first actual time I came across the nwo thing and it freaked me out. The only thing I didn't buy was the sun god thing. I mean, they basically said that the same Jesus-like person is being reincarnated every 10,000 years, too much for a coincidence.

That sounds like a misinterpretation. As far as I remember, the movie doesn't claim a person like Jesus is reincarnated every 10000 years. It claims that Jesus is an anthropomorphization of the sun, which goes through an annual cycle of 'rebirths' at winter solstice. They also mention the astronomical precession through the zodiac signs which takes roughly 23800 years for a full cycle, roughly 2000 years from one sign to the next.

What do you mean by "too much of a coincidence"?

[Owledge]

..."Why do you keep it secret?" I asked him. "Usually people brag of such things -- prominent ancestry, their great-grandfathers in history books, shaping the geopolitical map for the largest population on Earth for centuries to come... most people wouldn't know how to shut up if this was their family." "No, no, no," he recoiled in genuine horror, "I can't possibly brag of what isn't my doing, I can't be proud of it, I haven't contributed anything of any significance myself. What would my ancestors say if they knew that I didn't do anything that would make them proud and that I use their deeds to have something to brag about? They would be ashamed of me. Better keep my mouth shut."

The two opposing philosophies of the 'worldshapers': Eastern merit-based and Western bloodline-based. I think both can be corrupted by their power and thus prefer more power to the people, but I am seeing more wisdom in the Eastern philosophy. It is more in touch with reality.

[Protector]

That sounds like a misinterpretation. As far as I remember, the movie doesn't claim a person like Jesus is reincarnated every 10000 years. It claims that Jesus is an anthropomorphization of the sun, which goes through an annual cycle of 'rebirths' at winter solstice. They also mention the astronomical precession through the zodiac signs which takes roughly 23800 years for a full cycle, roughly 2000 years from one sign to the next.

What do you mean by "too much of a coincidence"?

 

Don't remember where I got the 10,000 years but the same attributes are found in many deities around the world and they are too similar. Imagine if one of them was actually a person and then someone takes on their karma and it comes back every 10,000 or so years. Or if the karma for them gets created by people telling stories and the person finally shows up.

hmmmmmmmmmmm

[Owledge]

Well, their point is that all those deities/prophets refer to the same root mysticism. Probably the oldest religious belief systems is based on observation of nature - heathen if you will. Every new belief system that wanted to gain influence (which were usually male-dominated - the new breed so to speak) had to respect preexisting beliefs and incorporate them somehow into their system.

This is why Christmas, which is regarded as a Christian celebration, ironically contains so much heathen symbolism. The Catholic church tried to weed out those part of paganism that were too much in conflict with their doctrine. Modern ideas of satanism with its goat-rich symbology, blood rituals and nudism and all that, that is Catholic hate-propaganda against nature-religion. Same thing with the witch hunts.

The whole thing is a religious rivalry of male vs. female (maybe order vs. chaos applies, too).

I mean, come on, the whole point that God is defined as having the male gender is just too obvious. Compare "our Father in heaven" to "Mother Nature". Father commands and rules, mother gives birth and nourishes. Father is up there, mother is down there. (Christianity says down there is hell - another part of hate propaganda.)

Edited February 6, 2013 by Owledge

[Protector]

And then all these rebellious kids hate The Man

[MERCELESS ONE]

for me thes starange abilities run in my family on both sides my mom and dad. my twin and i got a double dose of power lol! we joke and say that the egg split because there was too much power being created lmao!! we knew we were different sinc we became aware and that was at 6 months old. i know this because my memories go back that far. at first we thought it was weird that we could remember that far and do and see some of the things we could. its interesting we have the same abilities but some im stronger at and some he's stronger at. our journey began standing in a field at my great grandpas house. i said to my brother i wonder if immortality is real? he said i dont know. i said to him lest find out and if its possible lets do it. not really knowing any thing i laughed to my self and said to my brother (i bet its somthing you have to work really hard at) he laughed and said (if so we'll do it)! we were 13 at the time and had been seing spirits and entities move around the land. and didnt know what to make of it. being natural observers i realized they must be real if the dogs were chasing them lol! so at that point we realized that there was more to this world andlife than what we were originally taught. to skip forward about 5 years, in high school, up untill this point we were still guessing about life like everyone else without much of a clue, based in the world of belief. it all happened on the same day, i was in biology class and my bro was in english class. a weird surge of energy came through my body, my muscles trembled and the pencil i was tapping on the desk (contemplating a quesiton on the class work i was doing)started being tapped faster than i knew i could move! (what the hell is this)i said to myself. then i looked around to see if anyone had done anything to me and everyone was focused on their work. so tinking it was nothing, it happened again i dropped the pencil this time. at this point im thinking this is really weird, i dont know whats happening but i was a little besides myself. i felt it coming a gain and a voice said to me (try and control it), now i dont know about you all might think but that just made this thing even weirder! so as this puls of energy build up and traveled from the base of my scull to the base of my spine i attached all my mind and feeling to it to try and controll it. after that nothing happened. the presence that spoke to me came back and kinda poked its head in. then i remembered the feeling and then it happened again!!!! i was excited and a whole lot of things at that point. later that day i told my brother and he said the same thing happened to him. not knowing what to do with this new found whatever it was that i could do i kept moving it down for a couple of days then the presence came back and hinted somting i somhow under stood it. it was to move the energy up. so i started to move the energy up and down and realized i could move it up down and to my head and arms and legs. not knowing much about this i knew i had to learn more about it and learnd all of its capibilities. the broblem is i had been raised christian my whole life and they faild to tell me what was going on with me. the explainations they gave is (it sounds like the holy spirit) or it sounds(demonic)when asked more about it and sought indeph nformation the preachers i asked looked dumbfounded! so seeing they were no help i asked my teachers( no help there) getting frustrated i didnt know what to do. so while working for my grandad one summer i was talking to one of his trusted friends. and he told me that it sounded crazy and he didnt know anything about it. but there was a guy that worked for my grand dad that talked about crazy stuff like that. and he sent me to him. finally!! somone who new somthing! he told me that it sounded like one of my chakra had opened. so i asked how to spell it, wrote it down, and have been on the quest ever since. after learning about yoga i strengthened my abilities and realized i wanted to know more and other aspects of this energy. after learning about chi kung and the tao i had a good base to start. after a while i realized i resonated with the tao its way was my way. my perferrd way of living! besides the only teachings i came across in my quest that really taught me about my power and abilities was taoist practices and yoga, also some buddahist teachings as well. my twin and i are still practicing and learning to this day. we also teach those whose hearts and minds are in the rite place. our search and quest has developed us to a high degeree of knowledge power and ability! never give up your quests either. ive reached the level of immortal and you can too, just never give up!!

[gendao]

 

This is the story of a Chinese Buddhist-Taoist-Confucian-Western upbringing in the 20th century, in an aristocratic family, some of whose members escaped to Taiwan from revolutionary China while others, the ones who stayed behind, were captured, tortured, and executed. This is the story of the son of a selflessly devoted yet fiercely domineering mom, a lawyer who was also trained as a professional Chinese opera singer by a former opera star who became her nanny, and a charming, irresponsible, incorrigible playboy dad with American military and Chinese mafia clientele of his newly modest (and newly immodest) entertainment empire.

Now someone should tell me where (if anywhere) I can/should/can't/shouldn't take this true story. I'm looking for ideas such as "blog it," "fictionalize it," "screenplay it," "forget it -- what can you possibly say on the subject that's new?" and so on. Today I felt as though I wanted to tell it, but it may all change tomorrow... So, what would you suggest I do with it?

I like the collision of cultures and personal stories woven through historical epochs. I'm already hooked. Please finish as a "true story" into a book. Fictionalizing it would only make it less powerful and interesting..

[Reed]

Great thread and responses

 

For me, it was a combination of reading things like BKF, S. Suzuki and Tao of Pooh last year, and then stumbling onto here.

[Meridian_Man]

When I was a kid I started having feelings and opinions that didn't jive with my family. It culminated in my teenage years when I started practicing meditation.

 

My religious faith was heavily taxed between the ages of 14 and 20. My mother had multiple sclerosis and as a consequence I was the witness of much suffering. My ministers explained to me how my mothers suffering was all for the glory of God and in fact she had it coming because none are innocent. Yup, sometimes God just makes a clay pot so that he can smash it in an exhibition of his glory.

Still doesn't seem to sound right.

 

I'm still coming to terms with my inability to believe any of that. If I'm to believe that I am made in God's image I certainly don't see any of that in myself.

 

Nope. Always seemed to me that God was something bigger than any of that. A vast and precious machine artfully weaving through the cosmos ever expanding. All of us cells in the great body. Always in flux ebbing and flowing like the ocean. Pulling us back home and reforming us again neither out of joy nor sorrow, anger nor hate. But because it is. Plain and simple. Because it has always been and I along with it.

 

Then one of my teachers gave me a copy of the Tao of Pooh. Turns out I am not alone in the world after all.