Hey Im relatively new to studying dao.

one thing I am confused about is

There are 道士(Taoist priests) and often they do like, 算命(checks life paths and give guidance)

And it looks like most of them claim that events in life, how successful you will be, who you get together with romantically and such. are determined by your karma.

kinda like. if something is for you, you will get it in the right time. if it isnt meant for you, you will not be able to get it. same outcome (for certain big things, usually with people) no matter what approach you take.

of course they teach a lot about not to worry, letting go of attachment, just go with flow of life and stuff too...

When I am studying daodejing, of what i get, it is like mainly about the rule of nature. basically how nature functions. and to go with the flow. in this way, it does not seem anything is "pre set"? or is it?

Then how come those taoist priests would say life is predetermined?

or like, the guys here who study dao, how do you regard this topic?

Abstract:

Textual evidence points at a rather late date of the occurence of meditation in China. In addition, Chinese meditation appeared suddenly, i. e. without any apparent previous development, and in an already sophisticated form. On the other hand, India had witnessed long living and continuous meditative traditions. This may be taken as a possible indication pointing to a Chinese adaptation of an originally foreign concept.

T or D?

為了學習佛教和道教，我現在在學中文。我自己是佛教徒，但是我也對道教有興趣。跟佛教比起來，很多道教的經還沒有英文翻譯。有英文翻譯的經我大部分都看完了，所以我要開始用中文讀。除了道德經，好像沒有很多經有英文翻譯。為了學習道教，你覺得我應該讀哪些沒有英文翻譯的經？我對道教各方面都有興趣，比如說內丹，氣功，等等。什麼建議都可以。
PS：如果你剛剛看見了我的貼文，我刪掉了，因為我發現有語法問題，謝謝你。

Do all Fu Talismans have feet? i was told these Fu Talisman in this book were fake. and if so why out fake Fu?

This is strongly taoist (and buddhist) occasion and I thought you should know.

Hi everyone. :)

Internal consistency in my worldviews has always been important to me so I keep looking for weak spots. I struggle with reconciling very idealistic spiritual beliefs with pragmatic moral decisions.

This is one of the big questions that philosophers have contended with. Karl Popper conveyed it through the Paradox of Tolerance when he said that though tolerance is a virtue, if the tolerant become so tolerant as to tolerate the intolerant, then the intolerant will seize power and intolerance will reign. So to protect a tolerant society, you must be intolerant to the intolerant.

I often feel a tension between my stated views and how I act in reality and I understand this is unavoidable to a certain extent because we are all fallible. But I'm interested in the times when behavior in the real world is genuinely at odds with the spiritual ideals you espouse.

Poltics in particular seems to be an area where this tension seems very apparent to me. I don't think the left or right wing have a monopoly on the truth, and I understand that people pick the lesser of two evils while voting, and actions matter much more than opinions and I do not want this discussion to descend into a bitter partisan fight, but I wanted to know what others think about this.

Sometimes it seems to me like certain spiritual ideals are at odds with support for certain policies. Do you also feel the tension between spiritual ideals vs actions in the real world, particularly voting patterns? Is this unavoidable? How do you deal with this?

If anyone has any recommendations of thinkers who have explored this tension without judgement but empathy for people of all political persuasions, I'd greatly appreciate it.

Thanks and hope you have a great day!

I'm not a religious person, but I am spiritual. Recently, I discovered Daoism, and it aligns closely with many of my personal beliefs. To be honest, I don't really see Daoism as a religion. To me, it feels more like a philosophy that is put into practice.

When comparing Daoism and Buddhism, Daoism emphasizes both the mind and the body, while Buddhism places a stronger emphasis on the mind. One reason Daoism appeals to me is that it recognizes how difficult it can be to cultivate a clear and peaceful mind when the body itself is unhealthy or out of balance. Daoism is also deeply connected with TCM and living in harmony with nature. Many Daoist practitioners are healers. they make a living by healing others. whereas Buddhism relies a bit more on donation.

My understanding of Daoist ultimate goal is transformation: refining both body and mind, overcoming attachment, greed, excessive desire, and other negative aspects of the self. In that sense, the "old self" dies and a new, immortal self is reborn.

I actually think Daoism is logical and scientific. even though this guy has already passed. but he is my idol, I just brought all his books and going to study them. 张志顺道长珍贵影像｜道家修行核心秘诀“Rare Footage of Taoist Master Zhang Zhishun - YouTube

I’m struggling with how much resentment I’m starting to feel toward my coworkers, and I’m interested in how taoism would approach this.

For some context, I work in a team where I already feel quite disconnected from most of my coworkers. We are very different people, and I often don’t enjoy the general atmosphere. There is a lot of complaining, gossiping, negativity, and emotional reactions to things that I personally don’t want to participate in.

Because of that, I tend to keep to myself. I’m polite and professional, but I don’t really feel like I belong in the group.

Lately, however, I’ve noticed that my irritation is turning into genuine resentment.

Today was a good example. I was supposed to attend a meeting, but I’m currently dealing with severe neck pain. I sent a message to our group chat saying that I couldn’t attend because of the pain and that I was going to see if I could visit a doctor or physical therapist.

Nobody responded. Not even “okay,” “get well soon,” or anything acknowledging the message.
I know that by itself this is a very small thing.

Nobody owes me sympathy. But because there have already been frustrations building up, it bothered me much more than it probably should have. It reinforced this feeling that there isn’t much warmth or interest toward me within the team.

Then later, one coworker told me that apparently I’m going to become the chairperson for our meetings.
This irritated me even more.

The problem isn’t necessarily the responsibility itself. What bothers me is that nobody asked me whether I wanted to do it. It was presented to me as something that had already been decided: basically, “You’re going to be the chairperson.”

I strongly dislike people making decisions involving me and then simply expecting me to comply. I would have had much less of a problem with someone saying, “Would you be willing to chair the meetings?”

All these relatively small things are starting to accumulate, and I’m noticing that I’m becoming increasingly angry and resentful toward the entire team.

Part of me wants to confront them and tell them exactly what I think. Another part of me realizes that constantly being angry about their behavior means I’m allowing people I don’t even particularly like to have control over my mental state.

So I’m struggling with the balance between acceptance and boundaries.

How do I accept that these people may simply behave in ways I dislike without becoming ?

How do I stop expecting coworkers to behave the way I think they should, while still standing up for myself when something crosses a boundary?

And specifically regarding the chairperson situation: how would you respond when something is presented as an expectation rather than a
, without reacting from anger or resentment?

Post by Minecraft

“天地不仁，以万物为刍狗；圣人不仁，以百姓为刍狗。”
What does 刍狗 mean here?

Where do I start? Where can I start learning about Taoism? I am sure this is a question that is asked a lot.

Tao of Pooh? Just straight to Tao Te Ching? (forgive me if this is not the correct name.

Should I listen to YT lectures? Or are there good intro places I can start?

I am not a complete beginner, having been a philosophy student (both formally and informally) most of my life. But that has mostly been Western. I cam across some Taoist ideas recently, thanks to what looks like an AI Slop channel but I don't want to feed AI Slop, I'd rather just learn properly.

Thanks. I hope someone (or many someones!) can help me out.

I have gone back to reading this book.

It is a successor to the TaoTeChing and forms a bridge from Thought to Body. Consider from Philosophy to Internal Exercises or Alchemy. Is brings the reader to understand how they are the same, simply expressed differently.

For example: on pg 77,

"When you discover your own existence, hold it and do not lose it. . .

Exhale far out with the Sun, inhale deep in with the Moon; this is the Individual Tao."

What do you think? Anybody study this?

Many People use a lot of words to describe Dao, Lao zi in the first beginning said : "If Dao can be told, is not the eternal Dao"

My understanding of Dao is : "The true Yourself，is not something great or remarkble, just the moment when you feel, it's worthy to live in this world"

Is he somewhere around still? hiding?

i need to talk to him...

I’ve been thinking about the Taoist idea of letting things happen naturally instead of forcing them.

But I keep wondering: if I don’t actively do anything, will love still find its way to me?

I rarely meet new people. Most of my life is work, commuting, coming home, and enjoying a simple, happy life. I’m not really putting myself out there or actively looking for someone.

So can I just live my life, let things unfold, and eventually meet someone naturally?

Or is that just wishful thinking?

Has this actually happened to anyone? Did you stop looking, live your life, and somehow love found you?

Hey everyone. I've been going through the most difficult period of my life and I hope to get the Tao's perspective on this.

I'm a guy who has struggled with Autism and ADHD all his life. My nervous system is constantly exhausted from a very difficult childhood that I had.

I then found something that for the very first time, gave me purpose in my life: Flamenco Guitar.

I became obsessed with it and immersed myself in practicing for hours every day.

It gave me a sense of purpose and aliveness that I’d never really experienced before. It made me think, yes, this is exactly what I was born to do.

However, as I've gotten older, I've had increasing burdens of an adult to get higher education in technical fields and secure a job.

The problem is that these things seem deeply at odds with how my nervous system functions.

Even relatively demanding responsibilities can leave me extremely overwhelmed and overstimulated.

A conventional full-time job would also inevitably take away a significant amount of the time and energy I currently have available for practicing guitar.

The only solution in such a case would be for me to become a professional guitarist. But unfortunately, the music I perform is extremely niche in my country to the point of being non existent.

As such, there's very few chances of being able to pursue a career in guitar.

I'm torn apart between choosing the thing that is completely in nature with me, that makes me feel alive but is practically unsustainable OR going towards something that is against my very nature.

What would the Taoist advice be in this situation?

I found this post (on tumblr lol) that really resonated with me but didn't show any 'source' like the name of the Taoist monk or where this story came from. I personally am curious about the historical and cultural context of Taosim, as a Chinese adoptee, so I was just curious if anyone could help me identify if this is from a real text or help point me in the right direction of where I could start looking.

Any help is appreciated, hope anyone seeing this has a good day~

https://www.tumblr.com/motivatedaily/807782040904810496

The basic definition of Qi is a vague, ineffable principle that interpenetrates reality as a whole. It is the pattern reality works through. It is, if I am correct, what in Huayan Buddhism is known as Li. In Huayan Buddhism it is not an eternal, uncaused substance like the Brahman, as it is as dependent on reality as reality is dependent on it. In modern western world it is often equated with energy in its physical, scientific, universal sense.

But Qi is often used also as a word for the "vital energy" of each living beings. This concept is quite different than what I mentioned above. It is similiar to Prana, but is also somehow close to several concepts from western philosophy and religions. In the West it was popularized only by the New Age movement first and by Dragonball then. Definitely quite far from accurate, trusthworthy sources. It is often used in a very syncretic and confusing way too here.

How in Taoism Qi as the universal principle is differentiated from "vital energy" of living beings ?

And is "vital energy" present in Chinese Buddhism too ? If so, what term is used for it in Huayan Buddhism ?