watercourseway

hello al. i am relatively new to taoism and i have a couple of newbie questions. i came across something called "tsowang," or 'sitting in forgetfulness." can anyone tell me more about this and what the origins are? is this a taoist or confucian meditation? is this the same thing as shikantaza? is shikantaza basically the japanese version of sitting in fogetfulness or like what dogen means when he said "dropping off of body and mind?" some taoists don't study internal alchemy? is wu wei the most important concept in taoism? and lastly, is the taoist concept of emptiness the same as the buddhist concept of emptiness (heart sutra form is emptiness, emptiness is form)? sorry to be a burden with all these questions and i appreciate any responses! thank you

Yes, but a teacher only lays out the methods, and guides along the way. The real teacher is the cultivator who puts diligence into practice. No, because one may have good affinities/fate with certain mannerisms of mind, and be able to attain things without the aid of a formal teacher...only someone to point to the direction, or method briefly. It is both yes and no given one's affinities, conditions. Peace, Lin ah i see. this makes good sense to me. in your experiences do you find this differs from buddhism in any of its forms?

interesting twists and turns here. hahaha i keep seeing references to teachers. is a teacher necessary in all forms of daoism?

i am learning much from your replies. though i'm sure the discussion is far from over i would like to thank all of you for your input thus far! wu wei is a meditation practice in itself right? so when one "does" an activity like zhan zhuang would the correct approach be to have the mind fixated on nothing, or on some sort of visualization or internal movement? would using the mind an intent be "un-wu wei?"

hey all. new bum here hailing from portland, oregon. been practicing zhan zhuang, tsowang/shikantaza for a few years now. into laozi, zhuangzi, wei wu wei, and shunryu suzuki as far as reading material goes. so...uh yeah...hello