How does one practice Taoism?

[Honza]

What is the key practice of Taoism? Is it meditation? Or devotion? Or anything else?

Relaxation. Wei-wu-wei. Action by non-action, i.e. action by non-effort, which means no unnecessary effort, only using the minimum of effort required.

"A feather cannot be added; a fly cannot alight." A (physical) position is held so precisely , so delicately, that if a feather rests on the shoulders, the knee will need to bend because of the added weight. If a fly alights on the extended arm, the arm will drop.
The same principle applies to mental activity.

[Gem]

Originally Posted by Honza

What is the key practice of Taoism? Is it meditation? Or devotion? Or anything else?

I think you just randomly select a passage from the Tao Te Ching in the morning and use that as inspiration for your day.

I'll put a random selection in here.

When a superior person hears of the Tao,
She diligently puts it into practice.
When an average person hears of the Tao,
he believes half of it, and doubts the other half.
When a foolish person hears of the Tao,
he laughs out loud at the very idea.
If he didn't laugh,
it wouldn't be the Tao.

Thus it is said:
The brightness of the Tao seems like darkness,
the advancement of the Tao seems like retreat,
the level path seems rough,
the superior path seem empty,
the pure seems to be tarnished,
and true virtue doesn't seem to be enough.
The virtue of caution seems like cowardice,
the pure seems to be polluted,
the true square seems to have no corners,
the best vessels take the most time to finish,
the greatest sounds cannot be heard,
and the greatest image has no form.

The Tao hides in the unnamed,
Yet it alone nourishes and completes all things.

Allow. Don't fight. Don't wonder. Don't wish things were different. Just be in the here and now.

You are here.

It does not matter how you got here. It does not matter who did what to cause this. The past is over.

You are here.

Now where do you want to go?

[hybrid]

be water my friend be water - bruce lee

Greetings..

Originally Posted by Honza

What is the key practice of Taoism?

Don't practice Taoism, that is the key.. be sincerely curious about everything, worship nothing, yet.. maintain a sacred reverence for ALL things..

Be well..

[A peaceful mind.]

Originally Posted by hybrid

be water my friend be water - bruce lee

hmm..


Be like water making its way through cracks. Do not be assertive, but adjust to the object, and you shall find a way round or through it. If nothing within you stays rigid, outward things will disclose themselves.

Empty your mind, be formless. Shapeless, like water. If you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup. You put water into a bottle and it becomes the bottle. You put it in a teapot it becomes the teapot. Now, water can flow or it can crash. Be water my friend.

Bruce Lee

[Gem]

To be fair... it's the tao... and there is no ism.

Laugh at the obsurd and you practice Tao.
Think your day's mistakes as a child playing with aloof toys.
Think the problems of the world as a mere dirty diaper of a small child.
Such is Tao.

Think of your other dark side as a carnival party costume yet for stir, so take nothing serious. Think of your other good side as a kingdom for posterity, so feel relaxed in what is well. This is Tao. I only refer to Tao in this paragraph and not my own belief.

Love good, but let it all go, return to good but let it go. Such is Tao.
Take life's expectations as a slushie of a cold iced drink.
Leave nothing for second or first but follow allong the tasks.

Succor is Tao, but only if you are not a primate.

Tao is an essence, not a demand.
Tao is exploring, not conquering.
Tao is living.
Everything is in such Tao circle, it's all connected if we are Taoists.

I don't know.