Taoism of Western Imagination

[seadog]

many obvious concepts are wrong. this one is wrong because a) "success" is a function of destiny there are many grades to success and c) finding a master is easier than popularly thought but it depends on destiny as well.

 

your assumption that "most Daoists were confused about meditation and all sorts of nonsense was being practiced " is wrong - those people did what they were predistined to do and achived what they were predestined to achieve in that lifetime.

 

Thinking that they were practising nonsense is just hubris. Do you think that they were stupider than you?

 

The knowledge of destiny and the nourishing of destiny is indeed a largely overlooked and poorly understood facet of Daoism.

Fulfilling ones destiny through the realisation of ones true nature is the HEART of the matter.

How long it will take or the twists and turns of the path are storys that are told,nothing more.

[styrofoamdog]

many obvious concepts are wrong. this one is wrong because a) "success" is a function of destiny there are many grades to success and c) finding a master is easier than popularly thought but it depends on destiny as well.

 

your assumption that "most Daoists were confused about meditation and all sorts of nonsense was being practiced " is wrong - those people did what they were predistined to do and achived what they were predestined to achieve in that lifetime.

 

Thinking that they were practising nonsense is just hubris. Do you think that they were stupider than you?

Have you actually read Daoist classics on meditation? Do you know what people have been practicing over the centuries, and what masters have written in response to these things? Interestingly enough, there is little written about the idea that everything that happens to someone is their destiny, and a lot written about proper meditation practices, admonishing those who stray away.

[Procurator]

Have you actually read Daoist classics on meditation? Do you know what people have been practicing over the centuries, and what masters have written in response to these things?

yes, read and translated.

 

 

Interestingly enough, there is little written about the idea that everything that happens to someone is their destiny, and a lot written about proper meditation practices, admonishing those who stray away.

wrong. apparently you never heard two key phrases 1."bones of a xian" 2. " has destiny - transmit to him even if he is a stranger on crossroads, does not have destiny - do not transmit even if your own son".

 

everything that has been written about proper practice is conditioned on this.

[YMWong]

Hey guys, is "The School of Seclusion" the only policy that the traditional daoists had?

 

I might mess up a bit, but please allow me some reflections: I saw some the principles and the results of traditional daoism, and I saw some of the principles and results of non-traditional daoism. Both are attractive to people.

From what I've seen until now, the traditional dao... seems to have too many strings attached...

Many codes rules obligations...

Is this true or just a false image?

 

Any "Way" will have its adherents.

 

In this world, there are places where people eat hamburger and others were they eat worms and spiders.

If you ask both of them they will tell you their food is the best and the others are crazy.

There is not, therefore, better or worse food: there is only the food you are accustomed to or that fits your needs.

 

As for Daoism you are right, there are codes, rules and obligations.

 

By the same token, to cook a good hamburger there are plenty of rules to follow.

 

When one starts to learn ANYTHING there are always lots of rules to follow.

We all have been to school and know what it means.

Once you have reached maturity/success in your endevour some of the rules have become (good) habit and some of the other rules disappear.

 

When you learn chinese calligraphy at the beginning the body is as stiff as it can be. You are asked to keep your back straight, your hand bent in an awkward way, you copy each and every classical style in a boring endless way.

 

But once you have reached maturity and watch a great calligrapher it is a dance, the whole body moves and flexes and the characters are like a painting.

 

YM

[styrofoamdog]

So Procurator, do you think that being poisoned by an "elixir" of immortality is genuine practice? Do you think that a Daoist eating his own semen in an attempt to recover jing, reflects intelligence that we can't hope to have? Or someone forcing qi up into his head and developing mental illnesses as a result -- is that proper practice?

[Procurator]

So Procurator, do you think that being poisoned by an "elixir" of immortality is genuine practice?

Yes.

 

 

Do you think that a Daoist eating his own semen in an attempt to recover jing, reflects intelligence that we can't hope to have?

please provide a reference to a text advocating such a practice.

 

 

 

Or someone forcing qi up into his head and developing mental illnesses as a result -- is that proper practice?

please provide a reference to a text advocating such a practice.

[styrofoamdog]

Yes.

So you think that a Daoist killing himself with chemicals is cultivating the Dao.

 

please provide a reference to a text advocating such a practice.

Any text that advocates conserving jing. There is no textual basis for making this error, and it only came out of misinterpretations of classics. Since the word jing is used in a variety of ways, jing energy was confused with literal semen.

 

please provide a reference to a text advocating such a practice.

Any text that advocates opening the du mai purposefully by breaking through the three gates. Improper practice of this can cause mental illness, and has in the past.