Are most Daoist practitioners solo ?

[snowymountains]

Are most Daoist practitioners solo practitioners?

From an anecdotal observation of this forum I would assume so, but is this assumption correct?

 

If so, then how come/why?

 

To contrast this with Buddhism, eg in Theravada someone would typically study for a few years under the guidance of a monk and at a certain point the monk will say the student may continue solo if they wish so and give some cues about next steps in their progression.

Zen practice is mostly a group practice, barring periods of retreats, thus solo practitioners are not common.

[-ꦥꦏ꧀ ꦱꦠꦿꦶꦪꦺꦴ-]

17 hours ago, snowymountains said:

To contrast this with Buddhism, eg in Theravada someone would typically study for a few years under the guidance of a monk and at a certain point the monk will say the student may continue solo if they wish so and give some cues about next steps in their progression.

Zen practice is mostly a group practice, barring periods of retreats, thus solo practitioners are not common.

This is how it is in Daoism too. This site doesn’t represent the majority. Learning by yourself from free PDFs and YouTube videos is not the traditional way. 

Edited May 28 by -ꦥꦏ꧀ ꦱꦠꦿꦶꦪꦺꦴ-

[snowymountains]

3 hours ago, -ꦥꦏ꧀ ꦱꦠꦿꦶꦪꦺꦴ- said:

This is how it is in Daoism too. This site doesn’t represent the majority. Learning by yourself from free PDFs and YouTube videos is not the traditional way. 

 

Makes sense, working exclusively with texts & commentaries is very hard and unnecessarily so.

[-ꦥꦏ꧀ ꦱꦠꦿꦶꦪꦺꦴ-]

58 minutes ago, snowymountains said:

 

Makes sense, working exclusively with texts & commentaries is very hard and unnecessarily so.

Yes, many people will misinterpret what is written. It’s also easy to delude yourself into thinking you have achieved something through practice (or what you think practice is) when there is no one more experienced than you to verify your progress or correct what you are doing wrong.

[snowymountains]

45 minutes ago, -ꦥꦏ꧀ ꦱꦠꦿꦶꦪꦺꦴ- said:

Yes, many people will misinterpret what is written. It’s also easy to delude yourself into thinking you have achieved something through practice (or what you think practice is) when there is no one more experienced than you to verify your progress or correct what you are doing wrong.

 

Tbh it's not really possible solo in Buddhism, even for Anapanasati, there are many ways to interpret the text.

Proof of that is different branches of Buddhism practicing Anapanasati differently as they're using different scholarly commentary.

Someone doing it solo is just more likely to it wrong.

 

Looks like it's the same in Taoism.

[Apech]

Most Daobums are solo because they can't get a girlfriend.

 

[-ꦥꦏ꧀ ꦱꦠꦿꦶꦪꦺꦴ-]

53 minutes ago, Apech said:

Most Daobums are solo because they can't get a girlfriend.

 

This is why they don’t like duality

[Maddie]

1 hour ago, Apech said:

Most Daobums are solo because they can't get a girlfriend.

 

 

You mean thinking you can shoot lighting out of your nostrils and getting combative when someone is skeptical isn't conducive to relationships? 

[liminal_luke]

Is it really so surprising that most Bums can´t get girlfriends?  Many Bums don´t have a "self" and, for many women, particularly the more earthy types, that´s a nonnegotiable.

[Maddie]

1 minute ago, liminal_luke said:

Is it really so surprising that most Bums can´t get girlfriends?  Many Bums don´t have a "self" and, for many women, particularly the more earthy types, that´s a nonnegotiable.

 

Or maybe if they do feel a self that wants a girlfriend they spiritualize it away lol. 🤭

Edited May 28 by Maddie

[Maddie]

4 minutes ago, liminal_luke said:

Is it really so surprising that most Bums can´t get girlfriends?  Many Bums don´t have a "self" and, for many women, particularly the more earthy types, that´s a nonnegotiable.

 

Ok but being more serious, the social skills of most younger (and some older) guys these days is just awful. 

[liminal_luke]

Just now, Maddie said:

 

Ok but being more serious, the social skills of most younger (and some older) guys these days is just awful. 

 

Do you think it´s specifically a guy thing?  Or maybe a straight guy thing?  The stereotype of straight guys is that they don´t like to have long, "processing" kind of conversations, but I´m not sure how true that is these days.  Has your socializing experience changed for the better since your transition?

[Maddie]

3 minutes ago, liminal_luke said:

 

Do you think it´s specifically a guy thing?  Or maybe a straight guy thing?  The stereotype of straight guys is that they don´t like to have long, "processing" kind of conversations, but I´m not sure how true that is these days.  Has your socializing experience changed for the better since your transition?

 

No I don't think its just a guy thing and I can't comment on gay guys (since they don't flirt with me).

 

My socializing situation has improved a lot since transition. Before I would always feel more comfortable being friends with women but the outer packaging made it complicated (especially being a straight guy). Now I have many more friends and its easier to make them as a woman. 

 

Straight guys seem to think a "date" is "hey come over to my house new person that I just started talking to" lol 

[Apech]

18 minutes ago, liminal_luke said:

 

Do you think it´s specifically a guy thing?  Or maybe a straight guy thing?  The stereotype of straight guys is that they don´t like to have long, "processing" kind of conversations, but I´m not sure how true that is these days.  Has your socializing experience changed for the better since your transition?

‘Hey I saw you from across the room and couldn’t help notice the copper wire sticking out your backside.  Your place or mine?’

[silent thunder]

30 minutes ago, Apech said:

‘Hey I saw you from across the room and couldn’t help notice the copper wire sticking out your backside.  Your place or mine?’

Video proof or it didn't happen.

Video is foolproof!

[doc benway]

On 5/28/2024 at 2:26 PM, Apech said:

‘Hey I saw you from across the room and couldn’t help notice the copper wire sticking out your backside.  Your place or mine?’

 

On 5/28/2024 at 2:58 PM, silent thunder said:

Video proof or it didn't happen.

Video is foolproof!

 

Hey, now that we're back at my place I hope you don't mind but I've got a doctor here and a videographer to make sure this is the real deal!

[liminal_luke]

Is it too much to hope the footage will make it onto silent thunder´s Here I Am thread?

[silent thunder]

In a few weeks I'll be driving cross country with my Son to settle some family business...  #possibilities

[exorcist_1699]

Although both Taoism and Buddhism talk  about Emptiness, they get very different temperament , which may reflect the original, different characters of the Chinese and  the Indians :

 

1. The Chinese are relatively practical people who speak less , the Indians are more eager to express themselves.

 

2. Taoists cultivate and meditate in  small groups of  few people ,  Buddhists do them  in big groups , say in hundreds, even in thousands.

 

3. Taoism wants to say as little as possible , Buddhism , although emphasizes that the Void or the Buddha Heart  is beyond reach by words,  in fact says a lot  . The volume of Buddhist Sutras is huge,  nobody knows its exact quantity ;  Taoist Canons' volume originally was  small, it is only  due to the pressure of the translation of the  incoming  Buddhist Sutras  that it gets big ;  however its volume is still no match to the Buddhist ones .

 

4. Comparing to the zealous  Buddhists who are eager to  preach their  briefs  so as to rescue all people ( in fact, all creatures if animals can hear and understand  ) of the world , Taoism is a  cold , indifferent religion , whose followers  think  that only people who are embodied in  relatively  cleaner qi   , hardly can they be  interested in   Tao , or understand its significance  .

Edited May 31 by exorcist_1699

[kyoji]

On 5/28/2024 at 12:16 PM, Apech said:

Most Daobums are solo because they can't get a girlfriend.

 

skill problem

[snowymountains]

1 hour ago, exorcist_1699 said:

2. Taoists cultivate and meditate in  small groups of  few people ,  Buddhists do them  in big groups , say in hundreds, even in thousands.

Depends, there are also monks who practice solo in caves, they're not the ones we'll meet in meditation centres though obviously.

 

1 hour ago, exorcist_1699 said:

Taoist Canons' volume originally was  small, it is only  due to the pressure of the translation of the  incoming  Buddhist Sutras  that it gets big ;  however its volume is still no match to the Buddhist ones 

 

Is there a book or publication that has a good translation of what you refer to as the original Taoist Canon?

[exorcist_1699]

On 5/31/2024 at 3:11 PM, snowymountains said:

 

Is there a book or publication that has a good translation of what you refer to as the original Taoist Canon?

 

Only  few separate writings from  the whole collection of the Taoist canons  are translated from the classical Chinese into English  : " Secret of Gold Flower " , writings of Wu-Liu School , writings of Zhao Bi-Chen ..etc , less than 1% of  the valuable Taoist writings worthy of translating into English .

[Nintendao]

https://www.dztranslation.org/ has a very nice rendering of a couple of volumes.
 

Quote

 

Vol. [fascicle] 5 of the Daozang is a training manual for monks, with material on the Names of Gods – listing their many alternate names and residences.

 

Vol. [fascicle] 131 of the Daozang is a training manual for monks, with material on the Cinnabar Fields – the upper, middle, and lower dantian, and qi, jing, and shen.

 

 

 

[Chang dao ling]

In order to become immortal you need to stay away from fame, opposite gender, money ( too much obsession)