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 Now online (1)belb ...and 345 guests Last 5 registered Oplandisks nothingstar N_loop yipe foxtrotromeo Browse members... |
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I love the Tao Te Ching - it's one of the few spiritually oriented (I don't dare call it religious) books in which I see value. I like its clarity and simplicity, and its acceptance of the essential mystery of being. I like how it doesn't read like a bad science fiction novel. The translation is online. If you like it, consider the with lovely photography. |
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The Tao is evolving...... It never really resonated with me........... I never found it particularly clear, but I guess it was simple. I agree it describes accurately the mystery of existense, but it never offered me much insight into the nature of that existence, or how to travel through it.... except maybe the idea of acceptance..... to "go with the flow".. then again, maybe I simply didn't understand it. I'm more of a Theravadist, or maybe a yogi......... |
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i wish i could appreciate literature like this... makes me feel pretty stupid to admit that i don't particularly enjoy reading anymore, but it's true. i can't get into books the way i did when i was a kid. i can't imagine myself now feeling like chilling out with a brown betty on and read tao te ching... :( |
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Yeah I know what you mean... it's extremely stark. I think it has a lot of insight into living but it's more like a puzzle or koan than an instruction manual. What's a good book to get started on Buddhism? |
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The Tao Te Ching is a great book for people who don't like to read. You only have to have the attention span of an ant to read a chapter. Tea is optional. SEVENTY- EIGHT Under heaven nothing is more soft and yielding than water. Yet for attacking the solid and strong, nothing is better; It has no equal. The weak can overcome the strong; The supple can overcome the stiff. Under heaven everyone knows this, Yet no one puts it into practice. Therefore the sage says: He who takes upon himself the humiliation of the people is fit to rule them. He who takes upon himself the country's disasters deserves to be king of the universe. The truth often sounds paradoxical. |
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if you like the tao te ching... read the tao of chaos that's really all i have to say about that. |
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Maybe try the Dhammapada.... a collection of Sri Lankan Buddhist verses....... very simple, but a good "original" text rather than a modern introduction to, or commentary on, Buddhism. Translations are available on-line. |
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That's all you have to say? Why? Does it reveal Terrible Secrets? Do tell more! |
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Oh hey, thanks, just found a couple of translations. I think I'm going to like this. 1. Mind precedes all mental states. Mind is their chief; they are all mind-wrought. If with an impure mind a person speaks or acts suffering follows him like the wheel that follows the foot of the ox. ...like the wheel that follows the foot of the ox. I like that. |
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Your welcome :) |
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i solved world religions the universe is always on it evolves and improves however if there were individual consciousnesses the solution would be to innocently relax and respect infinitely im sure of this word is born. |
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A baffling parable indeed! |
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no secrets revealed... just rather than looking outward for some way of changing your life, the book hints toward your own chaos and understanding it. more of an inward vision which will eventually have all of the underlying path's towards the i ching and such. |
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The Hagakure (you can find it online) is ma guide! (Not a buddhist one...) |
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You don't think the Hagakure was influenced by Buddhism? The Hagakure is a collection of the teachings of Yamamoto Tsunetomo, recorded by a scribe who went to visit him while he was a Buddhist priest. Tsunetomo was preiously a Samurai who was unable to commit suicide after his masters death (as was the usual practice) as his clan had forbidden the practice. He therefore became a priest and retired to a monastry. |
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Sure influenced, but I think it's more action oriented... More focused in breaking through the Sammsara than free yourself from it... But I'm not really an expert, it's just a book that I read everyday (just a sentence) and helps me somehow. I once read "The Book of Dead" by Soygal Rimpoché (dunno if I spell it right...) and found it too focused on contemplation and quite away from the real world. Well, for buddhists, the real world may be another one, but I have to walk "through the valley of darkness", so stuff like the Hagakure, the Bushido, The Book of Five Rings... suits me better. But I repeat: I'm just a lurker there... |
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:) You've mentioned four books in that last post that have influenced me as well..... No hard feelings..... And I'm just a lurker as well..... Race you to 2000! (in three years or so!) |
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:.) So much wisdom and knowledge and not enough time... We seem like slow posters here, so let's make a slow motion race to 2000! |
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hmm.. I only read the one about emptiness... |
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is my bushido standard, about zen in sword fighting |
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Tao Te Ching is great. I don't know what else to say about it. To me its the Royal Flush in the card game of philosphy. I've read that amazon book you linked to. It's good if you like the poetics and you have lots of time to ponder. However for most of us who are caught up in a Western lifestyle I recommend the following books which are actually japanese cartoons depicting various Dao principles in an easy to understand format: |
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Hey I'll have to check those out. It really is the royal flush of philosophy as you so western-ily, Yank-ily put it... :D |
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I like it also very much. it is said that Winnie the Pooh was a taoist. |
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Yes I am a total Yank Wank. :D |
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if youre looking for buddhist text, anything by chogyam trungpa is great. hes probably one of the greatest and most beloved teachers today, and his writing style is incredibly simple and easy to understand yet insightful and without feeling like its dumbed down at all. after that, id reccomend thumbing through herman hesse's siddhartha, which is basically the story of how the first buddha awoke. again, a simple (i first read it freshman year of high school) but comprehensive read. |
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now, forr me, it's all verry nice to rread and take in, but the second i lift up my head and shut the book it's all verry harrd to actually... take something frrom it that i can apply in any rreal way. |
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I've read Siddhartha. It was OK. What I look for in a translation is something that respects the original text without being clumsy. Is Trungpa like that? He sounds like a |
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This is why people meditate while sitting down and controlling their breathing instead of while raving or working on a stock-trading floor. The Tao Te Ching says that sometimes breathing is easy, and sometimes it is hard. Sometimes you have moments of tranquility and clarity and sometimes some asshole at work is screaming at you and you're imagining your teeth sunk into his neck. But you try to cultivate the tranquility and clarity when you can. |
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im pretty sure trungpa dictated the books (there are no buddhist texts, everything is word of mouth, etc.) in english, so there is no worry in a bad translation. of course, if it is translated, i never noticed and thus seems like a damn fine translation to me. |
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these google ads just continue getting more and more accurate: Cows abducted. Brittle aliens believe cows to be supreme. Help the aliens. |
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Yeah I like pooh-bear. |
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Don't forget about Piglet. |
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I was actually quite shocked when I took a religion class this semester. Daoism was actually something we went over and apparently in Asia there are Daoist churches and crap that do all these silly rituals and pray to various Gods and stuff. I was like: WTF M8?! |
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Yeah I know. Further evidence that humans can take anything and crap it up with shit. People love them some crap. Look how the Catholic church took the simple message of a hippie in sandals and turned it into a multibillion dollar Las Vegas casino operation presided over by a Fat Elvis. |
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