What is Taoism?
To many people, a confusing aspect of Taoism is its very definition. Many religions will happily teach a Philosophy/Dogma which in reflection defines a person. Taoism flips this around. It starts by teaching a truth; “The Tao” is indefinable. It then follows up by teaching that each person can discover the Tao in their own terms. A teaching like this can be very hard to grasp when most people desire very concrete definitions in their own life.
A simply way to start learning the definition of Taoism is to start within yourself. Here are three easy starting steps to learning Taoism:
Don’t concentrate on the definition of the Tao (this will come later naturally)
Understand what Taoism really is. Taoism is more than just a “philosophy” or a “religion”. Taoism should be understood as being: A system of belief, attitudes and practices set towards the service and living to a person’s own nature.
The path of understanding Taoism is simply accepting yourself. Live life and discover who you are. Your nature is ever changing and is always the same. Don’t try to resolve the various contradictions in life, instead learn acceptance of your nature.
Practicing Taoism
Taoism teaches a person to flow with life. Over the years Taoism has become many things to many people. Hundreds of variations in Taoist practice exist. Some of these practices are philosophical in nature, others are religious. Taoism makes no distinction in applying labels to its own nature. This is important since as a person, we are each a blend of many truths. The truth taught in Taoism is to embrace life in actions that support you as a person.
Taoism teaches a person to live to their heart.
Here are some simple starting tips to help a person live as a Taoist.
Having a set of basic guidelines can be helpful. However realistically, guidelines don’t determine how to live; Instead Taoism teaches by living you will express your nature.My personal guidelines are the following:
With care, I aid those who are extended expressions of my nature.
Be true to myself
Connect to the world as I want to be treated.
Connect to those outside my nature with decisive action.
To those unwilling to accept me for my true nature, no action is required:
Just silently let them be themselves as I remain myself.
I own nothing; I am merely a passing custodian of items outside of my nature.
Discover a set of practices to aid keeping the mind, body and spirit engaged and strong. Remember practices should support your essence with the activities fitting the needs of the moment. Which means this is a shifting balance of activities relative to your needs. For example I practice martial arts to keep my body strong, yoga to make my body subtle, meditation to clear my mind, bike around simply to fly and lift my spirit. Poetry as a lens of examination. All these and more are my shifting practices to support my essence and in doing each, each helps me learn more about myself and the world.
Take time, relax and just explore and poke around. Taoism has no plans. Taoism is based upon following your gut feelings and trusting your instincts.
It’s within the pause of a breath… that each step of living becomes visible for your larger life to improve and follow upon.Smile, when needing to pick a possible next step. To smile is to open possibilities.Breathe when needing a break. Since to breathe is to be at one with yourself.Alternate the two and your path will become free and clear for an entire lifetime of wonder to explore.This may sound simple, but you would be surprise how many people cannot embrace this most basic aspect of Taoist practice! People think it cannot be that simple! Taoism truly is this simple. If you follow and practice step four, not only is that all one needs to fully embrace Taoism, but also anything becomes possible within this simple practice. However, most people need time letting go of expectations. So it’s also ok to dig deeper into Taoism. Taoism has many many levels of teachings on purpose to help people from all perspectives move smoothly in life.
I can summarize Taoism as simply as
Taoism is acceptance of your life.
Taoism is following your breath to find peace.
Taoism is opening up a smile to enable possibility.
If you embrace these three ideas, everything else follows in Taoism. Some people do start here. Others take a longer more colorful path. That’s fine also, since you get to experience more color in your life. No wrong path exists at the end, since it’s about experiencing life.
Practical Taoist Advice
At times the process of learning Taoism is also a process of healing. Take time to heal (don’t rush and hurt yourself more in the rushing). Taoism teaches to embrace your body with patience.
There are 6.5 billon people in the world , and so 6.5 billion paths to Taoism, every person can teach us something.
Sometimes you need quietness; it’s ok to take time off to only hear yourself and not the noise of civilization at times.
People expect and think that the goal of life is perfection… it’s not… you should desire for being good at something and to embrace the various little imperfections… that end up actually being defining characteristics of each of us.The little bits of imperfection we each have
are elements of chaos
that give each person individuality and distinction!Without our little flaws we wouldn’t be individuals at all! Taoism teaches us how to accept both the best and worse parts of our life.
Taoism teaches a person to drop expectations. The more expectations you have for your life, the less you will become.A Taoist lives life without expectations, living in the here and now fully.Since most people need a few expectations especially when dealing with important future experiences. Here is a trick.Create only a single expectation at a time for that future experience. For example: An expectation you will smile or have some fun. Thats it! Don’t place any learning or changing into your expectation. If you do , this actually plants the seed for the opposite to occur, By creating a single simple expectation such as smiling, this then becomes something you can always fulfill since you can empower that action to happen. Any expectation more complicated or relying on something outside of yourself, just sets up the future to not meeting your needs.Dropping expectation is very very important within Taoism.
Lather, Rinse and Repeat , and then toss the instructions away to do what is right for yourself… This is Taoism at the very elemental level, so be open, experiment and embrace what works for you.Taoism as a tradition has teachers who work with students on an individual basis. In the end no guide or Master can be right for everyone. For this reason , we are always our own best teacher. Give yourself credit and patience to be such a teacher to your own life.
Taoist Resources
If you need a guide to Taoism, then first start with these three books:
Tao Te Ching
Chuang Tzu
A Personal Tao
I recommend starting with A Personal Tao, as it’s specifically written with a modern perspective to help people discover their nature. Due to the nature of Taoist writings you can easily read all three at the same time and intermix the ideas.
If you desire a person as a guide, you can find a Taoist temple, Zen Dojo or local sage to simply chat with occasionally. Taoism’s deepest truths must come from the inside, but at times it’s helpful to get an outside perspective to see your own nature.If you are in the Oakland area of California I highly recommend The Taoist Center. Dr Alex Feng is an incredibly open and sincere Taoist Master.I also offer personal Taoist Retreats and Taoism Classes.
If you cannot find a local resource, then start keeping a journal and over time review it. A journal becomes a nice mirror to reflect upon our nature as we move through life.
History of Taoism
Most sites will teach you the terms and history of Taoism. That might be nice for academics: but it really does nothing for teaching you how to live as a Taoist. Taoism is about embracing life in the now and not in being stuck in history or terms.
Originally Taoism can be considered to be a shamanic practice. However, Taoism is so old; the complete history of Taoism cannot be traced through written records. Taoism is very much a tradition that is transmitted verbally from master to student over the generations. Because of this, some of the shamanic roots of Taoism still survive today. Taoism historically is also a very flexible practice. Taoism is a practice of change and it always changes to meet the needs of the times. This is still happening today and even as we speak Taoism is evolving to keep pace with modern culture. This is one reason Taoism has survived for so long, it always adapts with the time while holding onto a few key concepts to keep the practice true to the Tao.
An early surviving text to describe the Tao is the Tao-Te Ching, written by Lao-Tzu (The old master). The Tao-Te Ching is a series of poems that can be considered to be a work of philosophy, a treatise on how to run a government, a how-to book for achieving a balanced life, or a sage’s reflection of humanity and the universe. It is known to have been written over 2400 years ago but not much else is retained about the origins. Many fun stories abound about these origins; however, these are just that, stories. What is important is that the Tao-Te Ching and its poetry survive, having had an impact on the course of human events over the past 2400 years. It’s an interesting book, worth skimming. I say “skim” because it is written in a light-hearted manner. If a reader stares too hard or takes the Tao-Te Ching too literally, the multiple intentions within the poetry will be lost.
Many many stories, and tales exist about the History of Taoism. Some of these stories could be true, and some could be fables. As a Taoist, the point is to learn from the mixing of our reactions to the t