im looking for introductory books that give simple and understandable explanations about Taoism and its principles, but im having a hard time finding books like thatcould you recommend books that give simple and understandable explanations about Taoism?im not looking for the original texts of Taoism, im only looking for books that offer simple and concise explanations about Taoism and its teachings
>>38424333The original texts aren't simple or concise enough for you?The tao that can be told is not the true tao. There you go, that's your book.
>>38424420it is, but i am looking for explanations and summaries that are more adapted to our times, books of our time that talk about what Taoism and its essence are
>>38424867so a gen-z translation. have you even read the Tao te Ching? it really doesn't get more concise. I've picked up other books written by self-proclaimed sages, it's always more convoluted.
What form? Philosophical/metaphysical Daoism? Folk and religious Daoism? Internal alchemy?Daoism really does not neatly fit into a single category even less than other eastern religions.
>>38424874>so a gen-z translationnot only gen z but books of our time whether from this century or the last centuryi just want to read the interpretations of Taoism that other authors have presented
>>38424884>What form? Philosophical/metaphysical Daoism? Folk and religious Daoism? Internal alchemy?everything, but if the book focuses on the philosophical interpretations of Taoism, much better for me
>>38424906Ignore the shitty liberal name and start with this video, she does know what she's talking about.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ad54Mpm5UX0Then Daodejing ofc, that is basically the only requirement here. You could fit the Dao of Pooh into their before if you want a fun and quick commentary beforehand.Can't leave out the iching as wellhttps://www.goodreads.com/book/show/534289.The_I_Ching_or_Book_of_ChangesThenhttps://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1095134.Daoism_ExplainedInternal alchemy:https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/38884921-a-comprehensive-guide-to-daoist-nei-gongI don't study under this guy anymore and there's some wrong stuff in here but it's still a good book.
>>38424333The Tao of Pooh
>>38424897have you tried the Wei Wu Wei Ching?
>>38424943great, i really appreciate your comment anon
It's not actually a singular thing so simple explanations are kind of impossible. Most of the authors of the "Taoist canon" wouldn't have even considered themselves Taoist
>>38424333Tao is the path to the Absolute which itself has no name.
>>38425135>>38425186i know that the Tao cannot be expressed in words but i know that there are many interpretations that try to bring you closer to understanding the Tao and that is what i am looking fori want authors who explain their interpretations of the Tao in a simple and understandable way
>>38424943>I don't study under this guy anymore and there's some wrong stuff in here but it's still a good book.nobody puts all the goods into books these dayscurious what you think is wrong in there
>>38425399Check trascended unity of religion by Frithjof Schuon
>>38425399the tao that can be spoken is not the true tao is merely letting you know that words are abstractions and there's always the real thing behind that just might be different in various wayslook at the word meditationpeople think because of some mistranslations that meditation can be contemplation, but in reality the fact of the matter is that thinking consumes all available potentials required for spiritual phenomena to manifest,so if one is sitting there thinking then one is consumingthinking is action of the mindmeditation is stillness all over, mind and bodythusly if one wishes to call forth something from the void,just put the intention out and dont sit there thinking of it, because you're consuming the potential this too is an action and isnt really meditationsorry to be a word nazi but when it comes to important key fundamental concepts, its worth noting reasons why these words differthe true tao cannot be spoken, but the tao can definitely be pointed at, its just important to not have very strong impressions of what you think they actually are until you have the direct experiences yourself
>>38425433He has real methods in there don't get me wrong, but I don't think his method for cultivating a dantian is that highly effective unless you're willing to put in the huge amount of work he is. It's good he's willing to lead people away from sensation based practices and the idea that qi is simply moved with the mind, those practices do nothing to actually cause damage to those who practice. Everything /x/ gives you is bullshit heads up, I have seen some dangerous practices recommended by people here.You can know teachers by their students, none of his students have signs of higher cultivation, I know a few teachers that do have students with high results already. He apparently does have high levels of cultivation I've heard from high level students, though I've personally never seen him show these off. Not even the teachers who can replicate success with students have all the goods, this is something my current teacher has talked a lot about as well. Even his teacher, who genuinely has high level siddhis does not have all the goods. Some of the stories I've heard from his teacher are absolutely insane (seeing people at his temple materialize in and out of space, walk through walls, bilocation, etc), but even him being a respected (and most importantly native Han Chinese) member of his temple is still not getting access to these highest level of cultivation techniques. You need to buy your way to them with generations of loyalty, hoping that eventually someone in your family will be gifted the inner of inner door access. If you're western you have no chance of this.He has also said that he was told by someone within the inner door that white people actually had qi cultivation techniques before the Chinese did, but abused them leading to their cities getting flooded by beings from offside the planet (Atlantis basically), the teachings were then given to the Chinese who were told to not ever let them leak out, take that as you will lol.
>>38425462your explanation makes senseif you could give me some book or source that helps me understand what you are saying it would be very good>>38425435>Check trascended unity of religion by Frithjof Schuongood, this book is really interesting
>>38425570Can you elaborate on white people abusing the power of chi? What kind of things would you have to do to have your cities flooded?
>>38425570Can you tell me about the effect music has on meditation? They drown out all thoughts if it's loud but they can also become an ear worm
>>38425570>(and most importantly native Han Chinese)Han chinese are extinct
>>38424943I own Benebel Wens books, my favorite being the Dao of Craft for fu creation. She is a Big faggot though and I dont like her smug little scheming glare she gives me
>>38425570So these pkrtals, they probably behave like nether portals from minecraft. Build one 200 meters from another and you exit out of the first one. I don't like the thought of chinese having portal dominance. There should be a spot on earth were white people can create their own portal
>>38424333I don’t usually recommend reddit, but r/taoism has a great reading list with good translations and relevant commentary from taoists. Check it outOn the side note, if you are more experienced in western philosophy try reading heidegger, sartre and merleau-ponty, they are existentialists who had independently derived a lot of similar ideas to that of taoism (though they used logic and reason to explain rather than mystical aphorisms). Heidegger was the closest to taoism of all western philosophers, and was known to have held dialogue with taoists and cite them explicitly in his work
>>38424333>booksyoutube it and watch at 2.1 times speedor ur wasting ur timeanything important should be able to be summarized within an hour
>>38424333lionel giles is the most educated translation i've come across so far i recommend "musings of a chinese mystic"introduction of that book and the rest is well written
>>38425570it sounds like you're just someone who used to train under him and didnt put in the work and was kicked out>Everything /x/ gives you is bullshitnow this is just dumb, everything is a big word that isnt appropriate
>>38426573glad that makes senseyou already have audience with olfactoryanon, quickest way to find the proper fundamentals based path on /x/
>>38426654you dont want the mind engaged at allme I play a lot of instruments and will get too engrossed in music, so its extra bad for me to have musical things going on
>>38426606Sorry I don't know more, this is commenting on a one off comment of a one off comment >>38426654Probably makes it difficult to focus, I don't really know I don't meditate with music>>38428590No? First off I have never trained directly with Damo,, only with his students or his online course (which is kinda meh sadly), but I certainly was not kicked out it didn't put in work.I like Damo ok, he's better than most teachers. I believe his method for creating a dan tian container is not as effective as another method of ldt creation I have been taught. If Damo works for you then stick with him but he is not the end all of Qigong teachers.Fine I shouldn't have used the word everything, but yes there is a lot of dangerous stuff posted here
>>38428643ah ok, so you're just salty that info isnt given out freely to outer door with any depth requested news flash kid, the beginning stuff is all meh that's why nobody wants to do it, that's why so few make progressI say this as never having been a student of his>not as effectivenot as quick doesnt mean not as effective
>>38428660Oh no this other method is much slower for ldt creation, but it actually connects to the meridian system during creation instead of needing to individually target specific meridians after formations as you need to do with a container Please stop putting words in my mouth
what is the most accurate and supported english translation of the Tao Te Ching?is there any edition and translation of the Tao Te Ching that is recommended above all others?
>>38428681>it actually connects to the meridian system during creationwhat do you expect people to think of you when you write bullshit like this
guys, do you recommend practicing Tai Chi for spiritual self-development? do you think this is useful?
>>38428920>guys, do you recommend practicing Tai Chi for spiritual self-development? do you think this is useful?its great for body upkeepand that is necessary for spiritual development
>>38428937is tai chi backed by science? are there really physiological and physical improvements?
>>38429052>is tai chi backed by science? taoism itself is a scientific approach>are there really physiological and physical improvements?this should take place with any good regimen, but yes, if you train well
>>38424897Other authors don't really matter
>>38429052103 Yang form is probably good enough of a form that you can grind and seek physical benefits from, I've done some martial arts form practice and can tell that I can snap to those movements faster if I have grinded them in that prescribed format over and over, it builds muscle memory very fast.
>>38429356great, what other martial arts do you practice? do you really believe in qi?do you use this "qi" for martial arts?>>38429317>Other authors don't really matterit matters to me, understanding the Tao is difficult and i believe if i read how other people have experienced the Tao i will be able to assimilate that understanding better
>>38424333Read "The Cicada and the Bird" by Chuang Tzu translated by Christopher Tricker.
>>38428777Qi pushes into the channels as the dantian becomes stronger and stronger, gates and orbits are opened as the result of dantian cultivation and do not require additional practices to target them.I'm not really sure what you're saying here, but I feel as if your system does not work.
>>38424333The tao of Pooh is pretty good
>>38424967>>38430270>>38424943>The Tao of Poohi just researched The Tao of Pooh and it seems like a very good bookTHIS is what i was really looking for, you guys have helped me a lot
>>38430499Learned of it from the proud family episode that show used to be truly "woke" not this new age crap, was a whole episode about a family who chose to be homeless, and they were happy. Taoism at its core is about choosing your own path, and doing what you feel is right.
>>38430263what are the best practices of Taoist self-cultivation?what advice do you give me for self-cultivation?
>>38424333You mean you don't understand the shrine of 10,000 pearls or the valley of the red dragon?
>>38429356And if you want the harder form, go for chen
>>38430532>the shrine of 10,000 pearls>the valley of the red dragonwhat is this?
>>38430263you made it sound like this doesnt happen in other methods of dantien cultivation, and also in the context of how damo teaches dantien cultivationif you dont understand why your response was shit...
>>38430528do chi kung or tai chi or yoga to fortify the bodydo olfactoryanon's breath work to achieve a good meditative foundation
>>38426812What's the relationship between existentialism and taoism? I like existentialism but probably only have a pretty superficial understanding of it.
>>38432650>What's the relationship between existentialism and taoism?as far as i know, Taoism and Existentialism are very related, Taoism seems more like an existentialist philosophy than anything elsei am not a scholar of Taoism but from what i understand, Taoism has as its principle knowing, finding and practicing "harmony" with the same existence (the Tao)
>>38432640>do chi kung or tai chiwhich is better for meditation: tai chi or qigong?
>>38424897watch the first three kung fu pandas
What should I read if I want to practice energy work/internal alchemy nut I have zero Taoism background?
>>38424333
>>38424874Is there a millennial translation? I don't like gen z because their memes are cringe.
>>38426688That smug look is a 4th wall breaking arousal trigger for me>wuuuu weiiiii im gonna coooom eyyyy
>>38434025either can be done "in a meditative fashion" but in reality its simply not possible for meditative phenomena to manifest while in such action, no matter how slow it is performed
Taoism isnt supposed to make sense.
>>38435988taoism is perhaps the most scientific "religion" out there
>>38437122>I browse reddit and I'm proud!
>>38437376go be a faggot somewhere else
>>38437406Whoops meant for >>38437122
>>38437376i think he's basically right. the chinese religion is ancestor worship atheism with general advice for good living. in the west we just lie about shit and that's why it's wrong. we both have charlatans but their charlatans just trick you into buying snake oil. taosim cant probably do what it says because of technological limitations, but taoism is essentially the religion of materialism. even chi is supposed to basically be like electrons or something.
>>38435677yolo, but you should eat vegetables and eat healthy warm meals, maybe light some candles for the vibe, and do some exercises for the health benefits. Also remember to touch grass and enjoy the moment bro. It is what it is.
>>38435887i want to know the technical differences between Tai Chi and Qigong, they are meditation systems that are very similarhow are Tai Chi and Qigong different?
>>38437426>but taoism is essentially the religion of materialism. even chi is supposed to basically be like electrons or something.interesting
>>38437491>i want to know the technical differences between Tai Chi and Qigong, they are meditation systems that are very similarwell, they arent meditation systemsthey are methods of refining the bodythis helps with meditation, tremendouslytai chi has several different forms, chen is the original and is harder, yang was developed for the aristocracy that wasnt quite so physically capable, this is why old people are doing yang tai chi.tai chi CAN be a capable martial art but the vast majority of people are not shown martial applicationsmy buddy who taught me the 80something chen form was sure to take each piece here and there and show you how to fuck someone up with itchen form did a number on my knees though, sucks gettin old, boychi kung is similar in that it is body development, it is mainly targeting training the tendons, ligaments, and fasciaI dont consider active things to be meditation, meditation is the cultivation of awareness from a strict standpointenergy work is not meditationbut all of these things are self cultivationthat might not have answered in a way you expected, but some things needed to be clarified about your question
>>38437501I said it was scientific in that by and large the scientific method of inquiry is followed. some may argue this in regard to deities and such.I dont know how this guy said its the religion of materialism though, that's not correctsame w atheism - deities are recognized as accomplished individuals but big G God is beyond human fathom and is called The Tao and isnt given human traits as other religions dotaoism is at root the following of nature and guidelines to live in accord with nature
>>38437540i saw their idea of god is more like The First Ancestor in short and the tao is seperate and unexplainable as it is bigger than any explanation. but once you establish all this people start wondering about what's next and want stronger boners and a longer happier life. academics also note that eastern religions tend to see existence as a totality, like heaven (space) is touching earth. where as westerners tend to believe there are like different realities separate from each other. when i say materialism i mean they are occupied with this place we are in and think there is perhaps nothing else, but in all the cosmos who kmows what wonders are out there, anything is possible, we need only discover and cultivate it.
