I read a copy of the Tao Te Ching and it spoke to me.
this post was submitted on 17 Jul 2023
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Daoism (Taoism) 道教
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We did a gloss of the Tao Te Ching for an intro course in my major, way back in undergrad.
Hello! I think the entry point for me as a kid was Yoda in Star Wars, I just didn't know it at the time. As I continued to research, explore, and ultimately adopt many eastern philosophies and spiritual practices, Taoism consistently rose to the top as a framework for understanding how the universe works. It, Buddhism, and yoga have come to form somewhat of a trinity for my own spiritual and philosophical practices and perspectives. I read 365 Tao: Daily Meditations nightly and regularly share the passages that resonate with me with this community. Best wishes for your continued spiritual journey.
Amazing! I have the 365 Tao book too and I'm planning on reading it after I finish the actual Tao Te Ching. I definitely look up to fictional characters like Yoda and Master Oogway because they can be wise and gentle, yet super powerful!
The fiction of Ursula K Le Guin was my first introduction. She's used a couple quotes from time to time, as intros to stories or whatever, and her work is heavily influenced by the philosophy.
I had other vectors as well, qigong as a health practice for instance, but she was the first and still one of my favorites.
I just got her translation! I'm excited to read it because it seems she takes a more freeform and poetic approach to the text.
In the immediate wake of the first Star Wars film I was soaking up everything I could about the film and its influences. Taoism was mentioned in relation to 'the force' of course and that sent me straight to a three volume Readers Digest encyclopedia that we had on the shelves, which had a brief but informative entry on it. I didn't go a lot further for a good many years, but it was the first spark.
It's so cool how many people have come from Star Wars! I never knew "The Force" was based off Taoism until I saw a post about it on Reddit.
I don't even remember exactly. It's likely that I saw a quote from the Tao Te Ching somewhere, thought it seemed interesting and picked up a copy. From there it's just been a gradual encounter with various sources and just observing nature to confirm what I picked up.
I'd encountered the concept before but not when I was ready to hear it. I think the first hint of taking it seriously was when I visited 龙虎山 and spent almost two days in a 正一教 temple. There was something about the demeanour and behaviour of the people inhabiting the temple (both lay and clerical) that made me get interested and in the years since I've been more and more open to the ideas I find in the literature as I stumble over it and decode it.
The most important of these texts is, naturally this:
However something that clarified a few concepts that the very dense text of 老子 kept plaguing me with was this:
My dad was a Tai Chi instructor when I was quite little. Something stuck with me then. I still don’t really know what it means to “be Taoist” but I try to follow the Tao anyways.