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Originally Posted by Prokopton
what the Taoists tend to mean by the word 'Tao', which is really the question here.
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My mentors describe their understandings similarly to the following: That the originators of Taoist thinking chose 'the way' so as to avoid codification and ritualization.. asserting a process of self-realization through experiential discovery, and.. building on previous practical results..
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Originally Posted by Prokopton
In my case it is not a question of 'comfort' (no spiritual path is that simply, if real -- and you know it well I would imagine, so why bring it up?) but of a transformative alchemical practice. It works well alongside other practices too...
Nor is the ch'i kung and deep meditation I practice 'ritual', exactly, unless you think the t'ai chi you practice is too. Pejorative use of 'ritual' (usually intended to imply mindless dogma for the unfree) makes no account of how the patterns of Nature and Tao can be traced in practices of many kinds...
The idea that 'truth is a pathless land' (which Krishnamurti intended to dissolve dogma I think) could too easily be stretched to mean there is no difference at all between one path and another, since all must lead to the same place in roughly the same way, aka 'hard perennialism' -- a dogma in its own right and one that actually contradicts the original Krishnamurti idea, it seems to me. After all, Taoist sorcery and Taoist inner alchemy are not the same thing. Although they have some things in common of course...
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I have not communicated as well as i had intended.. and, you are assuming intent not present..
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Originally Posted by Prokopton
Yes, that's exactly what it is... I agree with you 100%. That's a good definition of 'Tao' in a nutshell.
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Thanks, i appreciate affirmation and challenge equally..
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Originally Posted by Prokopton
The Taoist Inner Alchemy practices were born of precisely that deep level of observation. If you would care to, you could learn more. |
I am more than casually familiar with 'Taoist Internal Alchemy' processes, having sifted much chaff from grain..
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Originally Posted by Prokopton
Mind you there are very interesting Taoist ritual/deity practices too. Michael Saso has written about some interesting experiences. And they equally are born of such observation. Taoism does not really have a concept of heresy.
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More than the observations, it is the preconceptions and intentions that result in usefulness.. and, if there is a 'heresy', it is in the usefulness or lack thereof of a method..
Be well..