The Tao: 7 Crucial Lessons From a Radically Wise Philosophy

 “To have no thought and put forth no effort is the first step towards understanding the Tao. To go nowhere and do nothing is the first step towards finding peace in the Tao. To start from no point and follow no road is the first step towards reaching the Tao.” — Chuang Tzu

If there is one book that has survived the vicissitude of my moods and preferences, and has remained beside my bedside more than any other … it is the Tao Te Ching.

“The Tao” (pronounced: dow) literally translates to “The Way” and is at the heart of the Tao Te Ching and Taoism as a whole. In the first verse of the Tao Te Ching, Lao Tzu describes the Tao in the following way:

Tao is both Named and Nameless

As Nameless, it is the origin of all things

As Named, it is the mother of all things

Such a paradoxical description of the Tao brings to mind the Hindu notion of Atman/Brahman, the Abrahamic religion’s notion of Soul/Spirit, the Buddhist notion of Buddha Nature or Nirvana, and the modern spiritual notion of True Nature....<<<Read More>>>...

The Treasures of Taoism That Lead to a Happy Life

[Wake Up World]: In Taoism, there are three qualities of life and self that Lao Tzu has called treasures. I’m not talking about jing, qi, and shen, which are treasures in themselves but are different types of energy. 

The three treasures I am referring to are simplicity, patience, and compassion.

As Lao Tzu said in the Tao Te Ching, “I have just three things to teach: simplicity, patience, compassion. These three are your greatest treasures. Simple in actions and thoughts, you return to the source of being. Patient with both friends and enemies, you align with the way things are. Compassionate toward yourself, you strengthen your connection with all beings in the world.”...<<<Read More....>>>...

A Word on 'Tao'

Tao is The Way. Tao is the source and creator of all things. Tao is emptiness and nothingness. Tao is the universal principles and laws. Tao cannot be explained in word or comprehended by thought. 

The normal creation is Tao is:

TAO > One > Two > Three > all things creates

Tao creates one. One creates Two. Two creates Three. Three creates all things. The greatest significance of Tao normal creation is that it describes Heaven, Mother Earth, humanity and countless planets, stars, galaxies, and universes are created. (Master Zhi Gan Sha)

Taoism Defined

Without going out of your door, You can know the ways of the world. Without peeping through your window, you can see the Way of Heaven. The farther you go, The less you know. Thus, the Sage knows without traveling, Sees without looking, And achieves without struggle." --- Lao Tse.

Tao (pronounced "Dow") can be roughly translated into English as path, or the way. It is basically indefinable. It has to be experienced. It "refers to a power which envelops, surrounds and flows through all things, living and non-living. The Tao regulates natural processes and nourishes balance in the Universe. It embodies the harmony of opposites (i.e. there would be no love without hate, no light without dark, no male without female.)"

The founder of Taoism is believed by many to be Lao-Tse (604-531 BCE), a contemporary of Confucius. (Alternative spellings: Lao Tze, Lao Tsu, Lao Tzu, Laozi, Laotze, etc.). He was searching for a way that would avoid the constant feudal warfare and other conflicts that disrupted society during his lifetime. The result was his book: Tao-te-Ching (a.k.a. Daodejing). Others believe that he is a mythical character.

Taoism started as a combination of psychology and philosophy but evolved into a religious faith in 440 CE when it was adopted as a state religion. At that time Lao-Tse became popularly venerated as a deity. Taoism, along with Buddhism and Confucianism, became one of the three great religions of China. With the end of the Ch'ing Dynasty in 1911, state support for Taoism ended. Much of the Taoist heritage was destroyed during the next period of warlordism.

After the Communist victory in 1949, religious freedom was severely restricted. "The new government put monks to manual labour, confiscated temples, and plundered treasures. Several million monks were reduced to fewer than 50,000" by 1960. During the cultural revolution in China from 1966 to 1976, much of the remaining Taoist heritage was destroyed. Some religious tolerance has been restored under Deng Xiao-ping from 1982 to the present time.

Taoism currently has about 20 million followers, and is primarily centered in Taiwan. About 30,000 Taoists live in North America; 1,720 in Canada (1991 census). Taoism has had a significant impact on North American culture in areas of "acupuncture, herbalism, holistic medicine, meditation and martial arts..."

Sand Writing Divination

A kind of divination unique to Magical Taoism is sandwriting. It involves asking deities and spirits to send their messages or reveal the future through the sorcerer. Acting as a medium, the sorcerer enters a trance and writes the messages in sand.

Sorcerers must be specially empowered before they can act as a medium in sandwriting divination. An authorized medium --male or female -- petitions the deities to allow the initiate to perform the divination. A talisman that endows the initiate with this power is burned and its ashes are collected in a cup of water. After the initiate drinks the talismanic water, she is authorised to do sandwriting divination.

The equipment of sandwriting divination consists of a box measuring approximately four feet square that is filled with fine, white sand. The sand is carefully smoothed before divination takes place. Most mediums hold a stick that acts as a pen, but I have also seen quite elaborate sandboxes that have one end of the writing stick suspended over the box and the other end mechanically attached to a handle. The diviner grasps the handle to move the stick and write the words.

The divination begins with the medium chanting incantations and drawing talismans to ask the deity to descend into her body. The medium then falls into a trance and then moves the stick through the sand to write the words. Helpers stand by to record what is written and smooth out the sand so that the writing will not be disrupted.

Practitioners of sandwriting divination tell me that while they are in a trance they have no control over the writing stick: the stick seems to take on a power of its own and all they can do is hang onto it; moreover, the mediums do not remember what was written during the trance.

Sometimes the writing appears in archaic script – something that the diviners do not know how to write in their normal mode of consciousness. traditionally, illiteracy was one of the requirements for being a sand- writing diviner. This ensures that the messages from the deities are genuine.

The message delivered in sandwriting divination is sometimes cryptic, and an interpreter is often needed to decipher the message. Generally, the interpreter is someone other than the diviner, because the two tasks require different skill and disposition. One might say that the interpreter needs to have knowledge and intuition, and the medium needs to have power to hold the deity or spirit within.