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: ( ’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

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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 revelation.com/reference/i_l/i_ching/i_ching_ interpretation.html revelation.com/reference/i_l/i_ching/i_ching_ interpretation.html revelation.com/reference/i_l/i_ching/i_ching_ consulting.html revelation.com/reference/i_l/i_ching/i_ching_ consulting.html