Opening Dao: a documentary Film

[Mudryah]

http://www.lifeartsmedia.com/opening-dao-taoism-martial-arts-documentary

 

Watch documentary.

 

Another documentary about the decline of real kung fu.http://www.indiewire.com/article/joel-fendelman-on-needle-through-brick-watch-it-now-free

[xor]

I get "Sorry, this episode is temporarily not available" with the first link.

 

edit: loads fine in another browser(firefox)

Edited September 24, 2013 by Guest

[Basher]

I couldn't watch either one...but I'm on my work PC at present.

Will try again later, at home.

[Marblehead]

It loaded and ran just fine for me.

 

It really is an excellent presentation. I saw it a while back, maybe a year ago. Personally, I think that anyone interested in Taoism should watch it and listen very carefully. All the roots of Taoist philosophy are discussed to some degree.

 

Thanks for sharing.

[NotVoid]

Personally I think this documentary actually presents a fairly narrow, typical Western-centric view of daoism. It mainly discusses only the aspect of daoism concerned with understanding and aligning with nature, but gives only a brief mention of the spiritual side of daoism, with the seeming implication that religious or spiritual and other daoist practices are some sort of divergence or distortion of 'pure daoism'. As I have mentioned elsewhere, in my view this is a very common and typical misconception of daoism held in the West. The spiritual aspect of daoism appears to have long been an intrinsic part of daoism, that is not some offshoot or distortion of daosim, throughout most, if not all, of its known history anyway. There is also no mention of the deeper aspects of some daoist cultivation practices which are concerned with experiencing and aligning with the mysterious aspect of dao as 'source', for want of a better word. This is all just my view of course, but I think that people who have some real experience with actual daoist traditions will understand where I am coming from. IMO, it is still an interesting and nicely done documentary none the less.

Edited September 24, 2013 by NotVoid

[Marblehead]

Hey NotVoid,

 

You can put only 23:50 worth of information in a 23:50 minute time slot. I'm sure they would have said much more had they had more time.

 

It was a general introduction, not something designed for only Not Void's consumption. Hehehe.

 

Maybe in the next episode they will talk about aspects of Taoism where you have great interest. But maybe not.

 

Have a Great Day!

[NotVoid]

Hi Marblehead. My point was I don't think this documentary was really a very balanced general introduction to daoism as it bypassed a whole wide and important aspect of daoism with the seeming implication that this other aspect was some sort of unimportant or maybe distorted offshoot of daoism. I personally think this was probably done deliberately by the makers of the documentary to shape the view of daoism in the way that they themself and many Westerners may prefer to see it. Again, just my own opinion on the matter. I think that at least some people may be interested in a wider view of daoism as a whole, so that is why I mentioned it.

 

By the way, I do think there are aspects of daoism that do at least fall into quite questionable territory, and there are certainly practices out there that are referred to as daoism that I personally wouldn't want anything to do with. It is always advisable to use our best discretion in all things in this world.

Edited September 24, 2013 by NotVoid

[Marblehead]

Hi Marblehead. My point was I don't think this documentary was really a very balanced general introduction to daoism ...

Hehehe. Yes, I could see that from your previous post. It really does suck to be ignored, doesn't it?

 

I do understand what you said here and in the previous post.

 

And true, the documentary was designed for viewing of Western audiences.

 

But I still think it was a good introduction to Taoism for English speaking Westerners.

 

I would talk with you about Religious Taoism but I'm sure you know I don't care about any religions.

 

And I don't do magic so that's out.

 

I know I'm not going to live forever so that's out too.

 

And I'm too old to fight hand-to-hand any more so that's out as well.

 

But who knows? We might find something to talk about. How about short skirts and bikinis? (Unless. of course, they are being worn by men.)

[i am]

I posted about this documentary a few months back, and someone mentioned it had already been posted earlier.

 

I agree its a great documentary. I've even eaten with a couple of the instructors in it, up at Purple Cloud Palace in Wudang.

[NotVoid]

Hi Marblehead. The same misconceptions keep recurring time and time again. For example, if one mentions spiritual aspects of daosim, then it seems it is often assumed that one must necessarily be talking about religion. This is not necessarily the case at all however. There are aspects to daosim that can very well be described as religion and religious as we all are probably aware, but at the same time there are also aspects of daosim that can be described as spiritual practices, but these practices and corresponding views are not necessarily religious at all. I think this may be very hard for many Westerners to wrap their head around as the way of thinking and the way of viewing things in the West and in the East can be quite different. I have struggled with these exact same sort of issues for years. The gap between Eastern and Western ways of viewing and doing things can be quite wide.

 

My experience is that it is not uncommon for Eastern traditions such as daosim to mix many different views and approaches and practices and not see any major conflict at all, whereas Westerners who view things much differently can immediately get hung up on what appears to them to be various sorts of contradictions or incongruous aspects. It is natural for people to want to ignore or discard or downplay aspects of things which do not make sense to them or which seem incongruous to them, or which do not align well with their own personal views. Suffice it to say that there are long standing spiritual traditions in daosim that have little to do with religion as we think of it in the West. I view this aspect of daosim as fitting into the nature exploration and cultivation side of daoism. These spiritual practices are approached in much the same way that daoists traditionally learned about the universe and nature and natural laws; through direct practice and personal experience and observation and the consequent understanding gained rather than through faith or book or school learning. There is an important distinction in there that may often get overlooked by people who view daoism with the simplistic view of divisions of religious daoism and philosophical daosim. It is really much, much more than that, IMO, and I think there really are not any such clear distinctions. Where it can get even more confusing is that such practices can be mixed with traditional religious type practices as well.

Edited September 24, 2013 by NotVoid

[Marblehead]

Hi NotVoid,

 

I did not find a single thing in that which I could have disagreed with. All valid, and a healthy view, I might add.

 

I dont' talk about spirituality because people would accuse me of still cling to my former religious beliefs.

 

I am sure the two (Chinese) Taoists in the documentary could talk your ears red about spirituality if you could get an audience with either of them.

 

You did well with your response.

[NotVoid]

HI Marblehead, we all have our own way of approaching and viewing things, and who is to say which is better or which is more correct? We all take our own approach and hopefully learn something or gain some useful insight every once in a blue moon along the way.

Edited September 24, 2013 by NotVoid

[xor]

Thought it was worth watching even with it's flaws. I would rather have the full interview sections of the instructors however.

Edited September 25, 2013 by Guest