Taoism

Ancient Traditions

• Lord-on-High • Ruler of the universe • Supreme ancestor of the Chinese • Deities governing aspects of the cosmos and

the local environment are subordinate to him • Conceived as Masculine • Closely involved in human affairs • But not a Creator God

Lao Tzo: (604-500’s BC)

• Founder of Taoism • “Old Philosopher” • “Old Master” • Older contemporary of Confucius

Key Writing:

• “Tao Te Ching”: “The Classic of the Way and its Power”

Tao (Dao)

• The Way

• The first principle of all things

• The source of all thing coming into existence

• Ineffable – it cannot be defined

From the Tao Te Ching

• “The Tao that can be spoken of, is not the everlasting Tao”

• “The name that can be named is not the everlasting name”

• there is no personal creator God

• The Tao in a impersonal force

• All things are an expression of the Tao

Te (De)

• Principle of spontaneity

• Natural expression of the Tao

• Actualization of Tao in specific things

Wu-Wei

• Not Non-action, but natural action • Allowing the natural course of things to

unfold • Letting go • Yielding to the natural flow • Opposed to any aggression • Waterfall / River examples

• “The Way of heaven helps and does not

harm. The Way for humans is to act without contention.”

• • “Tao invariably takes no action, and yet there

is nothing left undone.”

• "The tao of heaven does not strive, and yet it overcomes. It does not speak, and yet it is answered....The world is ruled by non-action, not by action.“

• “The sage never strives for the great, and thereby the great is achieved.”

• • “Do non-doing, strive for non-striving, savor

the flavorless, regard the small as important, make much of little, repay enmity with virtue.”

• Each person must follow their “te” natural Power thru Wu-Wei

Yin / Yang

• http://ed.ted.com/lessons/the-hidden-meanings-of-yin-and-yang-john-bellaimey

• Opposites that compliment each other

• Light + Dark • Hard + Soft • Male + Female • Has always been this way • No beginning, no end

Ch’i

• impersonal self-generating energy of the universe

• Each person must nurture the Ch'i (air, breath) that has been given to them.

• Taoists strongly promote health and vitality.

• Traditional Chinese medicine teaches that illness is caused by blockages or lack of balance in the body's "chi" (intrinsic energy).

• Tai Chi is believed to balance this energy flow.

• • Ch’i energy travels throughout the body

along channels, or “meridians”.

Acupuncture

• The method of selecting points along for acupuncture anesthesiology:

• "where a meridian traverses, there is a place amenable to treatment.”

Immortality

• At certain points in Taoism’s History, the quest for Immortality took the form of much experimentation of this sort.

• The results were sometimes less than ideal - and death by poisoning not an altogether uncommon outcome.

Key Writing:

• “I Ching” – “Book of Changes” – Divination – Mysticism

• One of the most ancient books in existence – some of it is 3000 years old.

• It is not about religious beliefs, nor about fortune telling, or simple tribal beliefs.

• Rather it is a profound study of change as it occurs in human life and the universe as understood by Chinese thinkers.

• Within the great Chaos or the Unexpected that is a basic fact of life and the universe, there also exists Order.

• The interaction between these two great processes brings about patterns and cycles.

• These patterns we call “Change.”

• The I Ching presents skilful ways of riding these currents, and surfing the waves of such changes

• The I Ching does this by giving responses to simple questions that help us to clarify our decisions and calm ourn emotions in meeting our life situations or making important decisions.

I Chang Reading

• http://www.psychic-revelation.com/reference/i_l/i_ching/i_ching_interpretation.html

• http://www.psychic-revelation.com/reference/i_l/i_ching/i_ching_consulting.html