IM in ur LJ, talkin Eastern Philosophy.saint_of_meMarch 3 2010, 17:17:40 UTC
Taoism is older than Buddhism. Taoism says that if you feel the need to make a law, then disorder already reigns and it's kind of pointless to make the law. It says that ignorance is bliss, and knowledge leads to evil. Taoism says that we must all follow the way of nature, the natural flow of things. There's no messiah in Taoism. No salvation. There's magic, and there's an afterlife (the bardo, I think) but there's nothing saying that if you read up on all the stuff the gurus wrote that you'll become a better person better capable of dealing with the universe. I mean, sure, you can think that you know what's what, but if you really do then it's only because you've become syncronized with the nature of existence.
Buddhism has Buddhas. Buddhism says that existence (not life, mind you) is suffering and that we should all try to escape to nirvana which is a state of perfect non-being. There was Buddha, who was one guy, but there were also Buddhas/bodhisatvas - not sure of spelling or capitalization - who try to lead others to enlightenment. These may be humans or animals, and maybe even inanimate objects that have spirits in them. It depends on how...uh...how much who you talk to believes the world is a fishtank densely populated with spirit-possessing beings. Anyways, if no buddha shows up to help lead you to enlightenment you can try to get there yourself by meditating a lot. Tibetan meditation is actually done with a lot of loud noises and crazy antics by the monks. Probably why all those dalai lama disciples come to the States and think so much of what they see here is so funny. In the West, being buddhist has something to do with being vegetarian. This is also silly since monkhood is not for everybody (women, for instance, need not even bother since we have to be reincarnated as men to reach enlightenment anyway, being lower beings - feminism should hit Asia any day now, right?) and would also include not drinking, fornicating, or killing things. Good luck with that, you volkswagon driving hippies! Eh.
Re: IM in ur LJ, talkin Eastern Philosophy.drawsmcgrawMarch 4 2010, 01:13:32 UTC
That makes Taoism sound.... defeatist? This is a new interpretation on it that I've not heard before. I'm trying to map this description onto the vinegar tasters and I can see that working. I believe that ignorance is bliss, but to willingly enter into that state of ignorance...?
Re: IM in ur LJ, talkin Eastern Philosophy.saint_of_meMarch 30 2010, 16:54:58 UTC
How about this...it's not really ignorance.
If you imagine a better world, than you're already unhappy in this one. Therefore it is against the Way of Being (the Tao, or wu wei, or whatever) to imagine a Heaven. Do not strive for Heaven. Do not fear Hell. Both exist in myriad forms and for an infinite number of lives. Accept it and move on. In the same vein, it is accepted that what you imagine is always better than the reality. Reality is always somewhat disappointing compared to the ideal that we imagine. But you cannot stop imagining. You could try, but you would fail. Taoists keep trying though. What's funny is that the ways they try to turn off thought/imagination are pretty creative in themselves. Hey, the temples they do it in aren't exactly minimalist either. And what's with all of the supernatural powers you get when you stop imagining and receive Taoist enlightenment? Is it because without all of the energy devoted to thought, you have more energy devoted to affecting reality? But that's a crazy tangent that only shows that I've read too many Western fantasy novels. Good luck finding a real taoist to ask about this stuff too. Tibetan monks aren't real taoists, they're crazy mountain Buddhists. Real taoists live in Hong Kong, maybe Singapore, maybe in the hills in China in secret. It's not organized religion.
Buddhism has Buddhas. Buddhism says that existence (not life, mind you) is suffering and that we should all try to escape to nirvana which is a state of perfect non-being. There was Buddha, who was one guy, but there were also Buddhas/bodhisatvas - not sure of spelling or capitalization - who try to lead others to enlightenment. These may be humans or animals, and maybe even inanimate objects that have spirits in them. It depends on how...uh...how much who you talk to believes the world is a fishtank densely populated with spirit-possessing beings. Anyways, if no buddha shows up to help lead you to enlightenment you can try to get there yourself by meditating a lot. Tibetan meditation is actually done with a lot of loud noises and crazy antics by the monks. Probably why all those dalai lama disciples come to the States and think so much of what they see here is so funny. In the West, being buddhist has something to do with being vegetarian. This is also silly since monkhood is not for everybody (women, for instance, need not even bother since we have to be reincarnated as men to reach enlightenment anyway, being lower beings - feminism should hit Asia any day now, right?) and would also include not drinking, fornicating, or killing things. Good luck with that, you volkswagon driving hippies! Eh.
How was that? Got the differences down now?
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If you imagine a better world, than you're already unhappy in this one. Therefore it is against the Way of Being (the Tao, or wu wei, or whatever) to imagine a Heaven. Do not strive for Heaven. Do not fear Hell. Both exist in myriad forms and for an infinite number of lives. Accept it and move on. In the same vein, it is accepted that what you imagine is always better than the reality. Reality is always somewhat disappointing compared to the ideal that we imagine. But you cannot stop imagining. You could try, but you would fail. Taoists keep trying though. What's funny is that the ways they try to turn off thought/imagination are pretty creative in themselves. Hey, the temples they do it in aren't exactly minimalist either. And what's with all of the supernatural powers you get when you stop imagining and receive Taoist enlightenment? Is it because without all of the energy devoted to thought, you have more energy devoted to affecting reality? But that's a crazy tangent that only shows that I've read too many Western fantasy novels. Good luck finding a real taoist to ask about this stuff too. Tibetan monks aren't real taoists, they're crazy mountain Buddhists. Real taoists live in Hong Kong, maybe Singapore, maybe in the hills in China in secret. It's not organized religion.
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