Does Taoism mention God?

From my understanding of Taoism (I am a bit new to it), there is no God in Taoism in the true sense. That said, I am not entirely sure what the Tao is. I did read somewhere that Taoism involved transcendence, but I'm still confused.

[revolver]

Originally Posted by Krzysiek

Opposition God and the Tao is a concept

That's all it is, don't get involved in it, for it will take you away from it.

[Miss Hepburn]

The Tao is everywhere...in all things...always was...always will be.
What else is?

Tai Chi = Nameless Formless

No mention of GOD.

But plenty of gods and goddess.

GD Y Y

The force has a will

[guthrio]

Tao does not even mention Tao.

All is Tao being Itself, by Itself, as Itself….including the experience of you reading this to yourself.

Hope this, and the references below, helps to ascertain why....

Reference: http://www.spiritualforums.com/vb/sh...0&postcount=23

Reference: http://www.spiritualforums.com/vb/sh...61&postcount=1

Taoism does indeed briefly touch on the idea of a "motive force" (this is the closest that either of the original Taoist source texts gets to discussing "god"). See Chuang Tzu's commentary on the pipes of heaven:

TZU-CH'I OF SOUTH WALL sat leaning on his armrest, staring up at the sky and breathing - vacant and far away, as though he'd lost his companion.1 Yen Ch'eng Tzu-yu, who was standing by his side in attendance, said, "What is this? Can you really make the body like a withered tree and the mind like dead ashes? The man leaning on the armrest now is not the one who leaned on it before!"

Tzu-ch'i said, "You do well to ask the question, Yen. Now I have lost myself. Do you understand that? You hear the piping of men, but you haven't heard the piping of earth. Or if you've heard the piping of earth, you haven't heard the piping of Heaven!"

Tzu-yu said, " May I venture to ask what this means?"

Tzu-ch'i said, "The Great Clod belches out breath and its name is wind. So long as it doesn't come forth, nothing happens. But when it does, then ten thousand hollows begin crying wildly. Can't you hear them, long drawn out? In the mountain forests that lash and sway, there are huge trees a hundred spans around with hollows and openings like noses, like mouths, like ears, like jugs, like cups, like mortars, like rifts, like ruts. They roar like waves, whistle like arrows, screech, gasp, cry, wail, moan, and howl, those in the lead calling out yeee!, those behind calling out yuuu! In a gentle

breeze they answer faintly, but in a full gale the chorus is gigantic. And when the fierce wind has passed on, then all the hollows are empty again. Have you never seen the tossing and trembling that goes on?"

Tzu-yu said, "By the piping of earth, then, you mean simply [the sound of] these hollows, and by the piping of man [the sound of] flutes and whistles. But may I ask about the piping of Heaven?"

Tzu-ch'i said, "Blowing on the ten thousand things in a different way, so that each can be itself - all take what they want for themselves, but who does the sounding?"

http://terebess.hu/english/chuangtzu.html

That said, the idea of a motive force is of little consequence to Taoism, because even if there were, it is not to be worshiped, but first, to be fully experienced and understood (not intellectually, but understood as two lovers understand each other)... For the same text says (paraphrased) "How can we know that what we call divine is not human and what we call human is not divine. There must be real people before there can be real knowledge." The Taoist "Real Person" is someone who has achieved stability of mind and oneness. If one's mind is unstable and dictated by situations and emotions, we truly are unable to tell what is divine and what is human, so in worshiping things we see as holy, we might end up worshiping things that are of human origin... and by neglecting what we consider to be worldly concerns, we may be blaspheming the divine.

-TaoSandwich

[ForgetfulMystic]

Originally Posted by psychoslice

That is not an opinion, that is words that point to truth, the Tao.

The tao that can be spoken of is not the eternal tao :)

[revolver]

Originally Posted by ForgetfulMystic

The tao that can be spoken of is not the eternal tao :)

Well that's what I said, we only know this when we have experienced it for ourselves, until then its just repeating someone else's words.

I'm running a little late so I couldn't read much of the replies, but the Tao IS God. Just not in the personal aspect we've come accustomed to attributing to the word God.

It is God the Father, it the respect that it is the ground of all being. It is the unmanifest in which out of everything comes