Dr Wayne W Dyer Book on Tao

[RunningMan]

I have just started reading this book as an introduction to the Tao, and find that he keeps refering to God and quoting "say a pray for such and such" in his daily living with Tao ideas. Has anyone else read this book and agree that he sees Tao in a religious way or am im getting the wrong grasp on the book.

[doc benway]

I haven't read it. Certainly there is a ritualistic component of Daoism that involves prayers and offerings to a multitude of gods. The concept of gods in Daoism is a bit different than the Western concept of God, however.

[sheng zhen]

I have the audiobook and listen to a few chapters it every now and then.

 

It just inspirational and uplifting. Not much more. I dont think it is an introduction to the taoist way at all. It is just his personal interpretation of TTC and how he use it to bring joy, health, and an emotional positive view of life.

[RunningMan]

What would be a good book as an introduction to the Taoist way other than the tao teh Ching of course

[doc benway]

It depends on what you're looking for - a description of practices, history, philosophy, and so on?

 

My favorite book on Daoism is Osho's: When the Shoe Fits. It's not a description of Daoism or Daoist practices but the flavor of Dao comes through quite effectively. It's a collection of Osho's commentary on selected writing of Zhuang Zi (Chuang Tzu). It was the first thing I ever read about Daoism and it had a profound effect on me. I recently loaned it to a friend from China who is a practicing Daoist and she loves it. It's a bit bombastic and over the top, as is Osho's style, but I think he was at his best in this work.

 

For a more direct descriptive approach that is very down to earth and easy to relate to, Alan Watts' Tao:The Watercourse Way is decent.

[phore]

Dyer comes from a world religion view.

 

He uses the words god, tao, intent, ect. interchangeably. He does not refer to gods in the pagan sense. He holds god/tao/intent as the true self (compassionate witness). also as a field that permeates and unifies the universe.

 

He comes from a psychological, background. he has trained under a hindu mystic named sri siva or siva baba.

(srisiva website) He has practiced trancendental meditation. His cds usually revolve around a mantra. Ah ohm and tao have been used.

 

his taoism books are a fairly recent. He has not focused on taoism much before these.

 

He is considered part of the new thought movement.

 

I think he would say that he is spiritual as opposed to religious.

 

Something interesting that i noticed the other day:

He wrote change your thoughts change your life (tao te ching) recently (2008). and wrote Inspiration your ultimate calling a few years back (2006). He is on the cover of both books. He looks considerably younger on change your thoughts change your life.

 

[RunningMan]

Excellent reply, thank you

[Mal]

What would be a good book as an introduction to the Taoist way

 

To learn about Taoism as an "ism" I'd go with our official first (and only?) book club selection

Eva Wong's Shambala Guide to Taoism

http://www.amazon.com/Shambhala-Guide-Taoi...5575&sr=8-1

Not a book I would have brought so I'm glad it was recomended. I find that I still refer to it every now and then.

 

And definitly get some Chuang Tzu, I like both of Osho's books & check out a few different full translations here http://www.thetaobums.com/index.php?showto...mp;hl=Chang+tzu

[RunningMan]

Cheers Mal will check out recommendations. I know you will all laugh your pants off, but i loved The Tao Of Pooh Got it fir 50 pence, good read.

[phore]

I also loved the tao of pooh.

I liked how it portrayed the characters as archetypes.

[Mark Saltveit]

I looked through "Change your Thoughts, Change Your Life: Living The Wisdom of the Tao" at a bookstore, but it's 416 pages! Any book with that many words is missing the point of Taoism, I say.

 

According to Wikipedia, Steven Mitchell sued Dyer for copying 200 lines out of Mitchell's interpretation of the TTC into "Change" and "Living The Wisdom Of the Tao." Presumably he quoted Mitchell's version (it's not exactly a translation) without permission.

[Harmonious Emptiness]

Someone gave me the audio-book of Dyer`s `Change your thoughts..` I found that it was good to have and gave some decent viewpoints from someone who has really does his homework, at least academically, on different spiritual traditions. He seems to blend self-help psychology with spirituality - which is not hard to do since there are so many overlapping ideas, and presents things in an easily acceptable way, generally, for people who are not ready to get into percieved `religious` scriptures or what have you.

 

It`s a pretty good introduction for those reasons. If it gets someone interested, there`s plenty of study for them to move on to. Dyer may be a `self-help guru` but he`s done a lot more research than the rest of them it seems, and he`s trying to reach as many people as possible too, so people should be glad that he`s opened the door for a lot of people to become more spiritually conscious. If they get pissed off about that, then they have a lot more work to do before they critisize, imho..

[Birch]

I saw Dr Dyer's youtube vid on this theme and it was very nice with the beach and beautiful architecture-built house and flippant scripted hangers-on. I found it a bit "Secret-y" for some reason. And I figure the reason I found that is that "thinking" IMO (am I adding enough subjective caveats here??) seems to me (yawn, more self-centeredness) to occur on so many levels (right down to my bones and, dare I add, further...but that would be getting ahead of myself) that I found he didn't get into that thinking part of it quite enough. In other words (of mine, yada, yada) there's the "steam" of thinking and then there's actual "fire." - Ok, I'll admit that the latter consideration was whispered to me a while back. Still, I reckon Dr Dyer's stuff is wonderful for cooking noodles :-)

[gendao]