Juustopallo

Do you have any personal experiences on practicing Taoism? Do you find it to be uneffective compared to Buddhism? How can one practice Taoism? Through gigong and visualisation-based meditation? Social mind - Tao mind, small mind - big mind. Goals are alike with Zen. Realisation on nature of reality...

Maybe can offer some good ideas. Practice is different. After reading TTC, Lieh Tzu and Chuang Tzu, one would wish to start to live like the enlightened hermits he read about. Those classics give great tools for thinking. The practice must be developed by oneself and this is the trap where I have fallen. Wishing to find more to read, not practicing, waiting for something to happen.

Wow! Beautiful replies! Thank you! The latter writer stressed that my views on Taoism aren't as deep as what is needed for benefitting from it. I have to agree on that one. Many westerners read eastern philosophy for fun. As stories that ma

Buddhism is based on idea of suffering. Every Buddhist wants to liberate everyone from suffering and bring peace to the planet. That is a great goal but to me it begins with kind of negative attitude towards life. Life seems to be unpleasing somehow and it must be changed. Vinegar tasters was painted to describe this kind of mind state. Buddha and Confucius express bitter faces tasting the vinegar while Laozi smiles. To Laozi, life is good in its natural state. Taoist is encouraged to live life fully, enjoy and learn from it. This is a division that can be made. Some zen schools have more of taoist-like attitude towards life stressing that buddha nature is one's original nature. In some radical cases have been said that it doesn't matter what we do, we'll always reflect our original buddha nature. But the general buddhist way is very strict with guidelines. For example sensory pleasure is not encouraged since it too creates suffering. I have never been able to see the connection. If I do things I enjoy, positive emotions will follow. If I'm not attached to these states of mind, what's the problem with enjoying every day things which of course include sensory pleasures, arts, nature, people, food...? Why should I be so neurotic about my positive emotions going away when the moment passes? I've studied Buddhism for some time now. I've come to realize that the teachings really work. Daily meditation and keeping mindful about following the eightfold path really has brought me a lot of understanding about myself. But the theory of Taoism seems easier for me to approach. It's much more pleasing to hear what is good to do in life instead of hearing what we shouldn't do. Kind of positive psychology. To me Taoism says "go wander and enjoy the journey! Forget about the destination" and Buddhism says "don't wander, follow the path and keep the goal in mind". I've seen Buddhism work. Does Daoism work? Laozi clearly was an enlightened being. Besides him, I don't know any Taoists (if we even count him as one hah) so it's hard for me to say anything. I'd like to hear some comparision between practicing Buddhism and Taoism. If someone has experience on bith, it would be fascinating to hear your story and experiences!

Hello everybody! I'm very delighted I found this forum, since I've been interested in eastern philosophy for my whole life. Lately Taoism has been my number one interest. Taoist teachings seem very natural. It's easy to approach yet something you can't completely grasp to. This paradox puzzles me. I'm willing to learn more. Internet sangha is just what is needed since there aren't any Taoist activity in my homeland Finland. I've practiced Zen Buddhism with a meditation group for some time. I'm looking for ways to bundle Zen and Tao together. Buddhist idea of liberating (or even escaping) suffering is something I can't quite understand. To me life is good with both highs and lows. They arise mutually and are essential part of life. Keeping this in mind, Taoism might be the way for me. I'm looking forward to have interesting conversations with all of you. Have a nice day!