mattmiddleton Posted November 10, 2008 I had just typed this beautiful intoduction as to what it is about the Daoist way that gets me like no other, and i delete the page just as i start going on about why we should talk about it regardless of the 1st line of the Lao Tzu. Ironic. Anyway, i am a 33 year old male from New Zealand, i have been taken hook-line and sinker by Daoist thought for several years now. It all started with that fateful flick through a curious little paperback i found at a cafe one afternoon..since then no other religion or philosophy, with the exception of Zen Buddhism, has spoken so deeply and clearly to my heart. It is pure truth, deep, penetrating, real, quiet yet powerful, total acceptance and participation in the quantum universe, common sense, vacuous and impersonal, heaven and earth as-themselves, interchanging, forever moving - the dao is the thread through all. It is time, it is all life, it is slowness and speed, it is the few and the many. i have immersed myself in the literature, the huai nan tzu (syncretist work of about 200ad) a personal fave, but as you all know - words - well. .. they can only hint at the true tao. It must be experienced - it must be cultivated. I have just joined a local tai ji group - of the huang sheng shyang lineage...this craft requires such patience..but it is grounding because it can be applied over a lifetime (in fact i was said that to perfect the art you would need to live 300 years) ...so many years to get humbler...to slow down...to allow the chi to fill me...to experience and to be dao, perhaps. Â I'm also a recording artist and play in an experimental rock band ---a lifestyle which really goes against the dao i suppose with its stupid bolloxy youth worship and bombasticness etc. I try to find a balance. ha ha. But you know, late modern capitalism with that ole protestant work ethic and whatnot -taoism is such and antithesis to this ! It astounds me that it can be practised in this world - it's popularity must be an indication as to how unnatural it all is...as daoists we reject the way of material accumulation and lording it over nature..hence its popularity with the counterculture... in I'll shut up now. Thanks . Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Taiji Bum Posted November 10, 2008 Welcome to da Bums. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Moonbar Posted December 7, 2008 ANOTHER KIWI!!!!  Hello there!...or G'day  Im from Christchurch but now living in the UK - Wow you did well to find any info on Taoism down in NZ, I found that although martial arts are very popular in NZ thats where the culture ends how has your search been going? have you found yourself a good teacher? - I hope so  Great to find another kiwi. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
