yep

theadam22 no it won't, if you are good in Chinese and spend time a little to feel the meaning of the text

mellow magic if

Don't you mean it... *Confucius* you?

Meditation of Marcus Aurelius very similar to Lao Tzu teaching.

Not really. What's in your quote marks sound like a very western understanding. Only "let things happen on their own time" is accurate.

@@charleshuang5815 thumbs up!

Try to empty your mind. Try to let things happen on their own. Try to stop obsessing with your thoughts. Try to realise that everything that happens in this world is neutral and only your thoughts make things positive or negative, so try to see things for what they are. You can do this by staying present in your everyday life and you will see how much of your life drama is created by you. Why suffer when you can have peace? Nevertheless, you will notice how hard this can be, it requires practice of many years to have a relatively still mind.

He also said bitches be crazy .he was indeed very wise

"The Dude Abides" is another way to say it.

+CrimsonOptics Didn't he say that we think too much? Then you claim to be all about that while thinking AND reflecting (lol)

+CrimsonOptics "Desiring nothing for himself, he knows how to channel desires. And is it not because he wants nothing that he is able to achieve everything?" It's hard to kill desire. Everyone desires something. With that thought, doesn't that mean we are desiring to desire nothing? It's a paradox. This is why I like meditation so much. It has a lot of mysticism attached to it but actually it helps your thoughts flow rather than linger. Eventually you get to a point where you can truly relax. It's like taking a nice long nap and waking up completely refreshed and free of overthinking and the stress it causes. I think this is what he was actually getting at. When you learn to just simply be, you'll learn how to let go of all of the nonsense. When you can do that, then you can truly be a happy compassionate person. There is a lot of nonsense in this world and it's all self-created.

Run13 Buddhabrot Exactly. I think meditation is a great way to reach that point where you truly just don't desire. It's a pretty interesting thing when you delve into it. The sense of letting go is simply just relaxing and comforting. You can tell I listen to a lot of Alan Watts haha.

+CrimsonOptics because modern society is like a train going faster and faster ... we all need to participate to fuel it yet we have no idea why or where it';s going... But it sure is going ! (and damn fast with that now !)

"There's nothing wrong with that or lazy about it, yet modern society frowns upon such things because they think it's selfish and doesn't accomplish anything. Well what good are you if you're too busy to just live life?" So true.. never thought of it that way before...

Alan Wattsgoingon hahahahhaha nice one

Alan Wattsgoingon . Ha! I got it.

True a Body of Orderly Organized Knowledge. Some people just use the initials, B.O.O.K...

Things I see: 1) What you did there

Lmao your name. You must be the greatest troll on this planet.

How has your journey been?

You have come a long way!

Look for assistance on your journey in the words, “No TWICE, no life!” They have lifted many people out of despair and depression.

¿”Capable of explaining?” One of my lessons of TAO is, “The TAO which can be TAOed is not the true TAO.” Here is an illustration for your consideration: The course of a ship across the ocean that can be plotted on a paper chart might be good enough to get the ship from its port of origin to its destination port, but this is not the true course of the ship across the Universe.

kzfaq.info/get/bejne/hZmpasSa3NaYo40.html Shame it’s all bollox apparently

I find these videos great for introductions into topics I might like to study, this is definitely one!

this

Then if you want the Tao explained to a western mind look to Alan Watts. Many of his lectures are on KZfaq.

Claims rightly that most likely the text was written by several actors. Proceeds to attribute quotes to a single actor. 2 quotes are not even from the text. No, it's not even a good introduction.

***** Really like your videos :)

***** Isn't it pronounced like Dow De Ching? And either Lao Tssoo or Lao Soo?

***** They aren't chinese. You can't expect them to know the 4 different pronunciations for the same word you know. Cao can either mean grass or village/settlement just by the way you stress on certain parts of the word! It's completely different from English. The Dao Ze Jing may not be the bible, yes, but it can be said as an equivalent, and really, the concepts are very foreign to most westerners who aren't that exposed to the ideas presented by Lao Zi and so had to simplify the concepts a little to make it more generally accessible. I feel that you're being unnecessarily harsh here.

likelihood96 Very true! I feel the Bible link was just that its a notable collection of ideas/writings that we can draw from if we'd like to.

Louis Bullock He might be the guy that is irked by the way they are supposed to be pronounced. Though, since it's "jing" you could add a zz sound to the "ching" make it sound even closer. And for the case of 老子 lao2 zi3, it's lao zz-uh, like making a buzzing sound with you teeth and the "uhhhh" like how you would for filler sounds. Do the 2 sounds quick enough and that should be very close.

Psych Slow - that’s “ fake news” 😉

We are somewhat in the same boat. I've often regard Lao Tzu as a greater philosopher than Confucian. The problem I have is the religion aspect of it. It was hijacked by people like DaoLing Zhang which transformed it into various worshipping rituals.

+MrJermson Chinese have a bad tendency towards unification of the world due to confuciansm and ancestral worship.They even tried to combine confuciansm ,taoism and Buddhism together.

+jat xe mo agreed. What we see in Chinese Taoism is Chinese folk religion with a little bit of Tao.

It begins only as a phylosiphy, his followers makes it a religion out of their own interests, but it's not Laozi's own intention, he believes no god in human shape.

Keep in mind, rituals are a crutch, and for some the crutch long outlasts the debilitation. Taoism is just a word, a construct for teaching what cannot be completely learned outside of experience. As Foucault once asked, "What would you call 'Love' if you didn't have a word for it?" The Tao exists in anyone who can harmonize with the energy around them and resonate it back into the world like a sail on a sailboat pulling one forward.

***** awesome!

you could say Alan Watts does the same. Its a true luxury to learn ancient philosophy without being confused by mysticism. gonna check out that book.. thanks

+The School of Life what about doing some on indigenous world views? such as the concept that everything is cyclical, or all of our connections,

I was just thinking the same thing. Nisargadatta Maharaj would be a great video. This channel is great but so much more western theorist

+Marc Rogue Meditation has a lot of scientific and medical backup now. It actually stimulates parts of the brain differently and promotes growth of gray matter. These are all actual studies. I believe the two go hand in hand.

+Marc Rogue exactly what I thought! These philosophies always talk of harmony and staying in the middle. No extreme left, no extreme right (literally in this case).... So why not do the same with the philosophies themselves and find a path down the middle?

Homie that's what I've been talking about too 😭🌊

+Marc Rogue and maybe both of them talk about the same things in different words. because words may always be open to endless amount of interpetations. but by listening and observing one can just experince the objective turth. the one beyond words ans eplanations...

The idea of meditation is for logic. Logic untouched by any personal beliefs

Since you compared, you began judge, either way will go wrong. Taoism teaches you have a open mind.

@@thatsamuellu Western philosophies are by the hundreds, and too complex for simple minded people. They are the origin of scientific mind which create the world we live on. Chinese philosophies , 3 , 4 simple thoughts which bring to ... people dreaming of an imaginary past of peace.

Ganikus well, the West has always valued progress as opposed to harmony. I think this distinguishes the two world views the most.

this is kinds of discussion i love to put my self in :)

Ganikus also, the scientific mind didn’t ‘create the world we live on’. The world was always there. The scientific mind helps us understand this world but it is more concerned about the physical. Ideally, we need to balance both an understanding of the material world with an understanding of consciousness. The west excels at the first, the east the second.

I would say simple yet deep. Not complicated.

Please study and read the Holy books each of them to a high level and in great detail before you make such bold statement.

as an exmuslim 100% agree.

Hi As a muslim i aggree that middle east people like u said. By the otherside The book all about indulgence and being a peaceful meaningfull good people. :)

Could you please elaborate on why you refer the religion Islam as "all about fighting, dominance, suppression, and alienation," ? I would like to know and understand how and why this came to your mind.

Okay why the hell are you here

my whst teacher brought me here

Imagine not being Christian

No offence

My Phone bring me here.

Though the sound of rain needs no translation. One doesn't need to read any scriptures to be close to the Tao, and for step 4, thinking about the Tao may not imply stillness. One doesn't need to think about the Universe being in motion, one can simply feel it :)

Whatever works :)

Simple1DEA i agree with what both you guys are saying, in a sense the dao could be thought of the super ego. to achieve enlightenment is to release the ego, and to instead understand the superego and harmonise with nature and the way.

Dao that can be interpreted isn't dao and dao that can be described isn't it either. That is this thread exactly.

Has that actually worked for you? Or anyone? You shouldn't kid about something you don't understand. You may detract from your own education - which is probably why you can't spell Enlightenment.

That which is presented without proof can be dismissed without proof.

@@DevoutSkeptic tao is beyond mind. thus if you are looking for proof(mind's tool) you won't be even finding it in your grave!

Nah this actually came from Zhuangzi Here's the story as recorded on Wikipedia:en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zhuang_Zhou#Influence

@@tomnook9270 Thanks man, I had mis-remembered the source. I'll edit my pose.

@@DevoutSkeptic absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.

Dukkha in Indian languages means "sadness, misery or suffering" not change.

No that's just the closest Pali to English translation.... But it has a different context and meaning. Its like saying that "sort of" means "yes" in English. Technically it does, but when speaking English, it usually is used in a context meaning "Yes, but not not completely so". I can't link my books to this thread, so here's a Zen Buddhist site best explaning it. Hope that helps. brightwayzen.org/not-misunderstanding-dukkha/

Kæla Brown I'm Indian and Dukkha means sadness or misery in my language maybe my ancestors had different ideas but that's what it means today. The English translation isn't close it is exact

Permafrost - I'm Indian too, and my definition is coming from Buddhist Indian monks. So....

Kæla Brown So.... Maybe the word Dukkha as used in spoken languages has a slightly different meaning when used in a philosophical sense.

Religion is based on philosophy

Just like pineapple pizza is based on pizza

@@abcde8293 no ! Religion grows on philosophy , there isn't a religion which does not have a philosophy .

Ja didn't say religion is without philosophy i said they took something great and put something bad in it

@@abcde8293 I don't think so , the overall effect of religion is good

british way of saying it :)

That’s deep,,,if he spoke in American English he would’ve said skedule and you would’ve never mad this comment, and myself and Dyer would’ve never taken the 5-20sec of our lives to reply...

Ahh, but the pronunciation of 'schedule' in Britain is changing to match the American one these days. I rarely hear people under 30 say it with a 'soft' post-alveolar fricative 'SH'. In keeping with this video, like all things, language can change in an almost effortless way.

Majority of world says like that. American don't. Probably because it mixed with Spanish speaking community and grew from there. S is ES sounding in those language.

The way he pronounced tao te ching made me reply to your comment.

Saulius Girdauskas yeah, he doesn't really say something that is new, but he really is a great teacher that helped bring Eastern philosophy into Western society.

Well, you should thank the CCP for that.

Central Deity ur dum

Lao Tzu was born as a old soul after his mother saw a shooting star BECAUSE he had already gone through so many mostly always up-grading human reincarnations because of his past lives ability to heighten his God Consciousness refinements and so can you .. *"A Complete Macrobiotic Yin Yang Philosophic Understanding Combined With Its Practical Dietary Discipline Is Timeless Universal Law. All Other Teachings Are Incomplete." ~ Michio Kushi & George Ohsawa*

Imagine giving birth to an old man lmao

are u quoting The Curious Case of Benjamin Button?

Mozart /Salieri

光复华夏 the first translation is without ego, unlike this comment

this second comment is weird...unlike the translation

The world will be left to weak vs the world will be left to those who can keep their sword sheathed. Different translation of Bible verse

Chinese writing is way too complicated

Said to be the most complex language, isn't it?

Peace

Me,too

Thank you for your comments and suggested reading. Do you have any other references that might help round out my limited understanding? Though I know very little about Tao Te Ching, I found the School of Life video repetitive and suspiciously "Western contemporary" in its explanation. I suspect the creators of the video projected their own beliefs (which I have found repeated in the other philosophy videos), making me suspect their own perspective is tinged with a bit a Satre's "absurdity." Is "taking long walks" really so fundamental to so many of these philosophical points of view ;)

Well as I say, the Pooh book is actually a very lovely explanation of the central ideas in Taoism, so it's a good place to start to see if you want to go further. After that, I'd recommend simply getting a hold of the Tao Te Ching itself and reading it. It's actually very short and comprises of mostly very concise chapters that are sometimes a single chapter or a few poetic verses, so it's actually very simple to read (unlike most philosophical and religious tracts). Due to the nature of translating from ancient Chinese ideograms to modern Western linear language is a fundamental aspect to understand, so an edition that has an extensive introduction or commentary is probably a good idea. Whenever I see a copy I always flip it open and read the first few lines as, due to the problem of translation, it is always very different every time. And yet, the core truth that lies behind the words somehow manages to shine through the historical distances, the cultural differences and the translational discrepancies and remain profound and as clear as a still pool of water. It really is an astonishing artefact of human spiritual and intellectual expression.

Thank you for your suggestion. I am eager to know more about Taoism. There is another book 'Absolute Tao' by Osho. Even this book can help any aspiring readers to know more about Tao.

@@Kitsua I'm Chinese, you are right, Tao Te Ching is tell us the truth and rules of the universe, and give you heart motivation continual.

+Sickunt As long as people still say Paris instead of /Paerhi:/ I'm fine with that pronunciation. Besides if accuracy was the goal I would ask to have the 4 tones in Chinese properly pronounced as well, which is virtually unachievable.

***** The name Lao Tzu is very likely romanized using the Wade-Giles system developed in the mid-19th century and largely abandonned and replaced for political reasons by PR China's Pinyin system (which is designed in 1958 to help Chinese learners -- for it works accordingly with ancient "Fanqie" system -- more than being a phonetic system to best represent the pronunciation). it is no surprise that the sound doesn't resonate with the pronunciation now as the transcribing method is only seen in history books, but still it is one of the most efficient system if not the most, comparing to other systems like Pinyin and Yale (not saying it's good enough, but the other ones are either terribly hard to read or hard to use or senseless). So yeah although I would like to unify the chinese and western pronunciation of those words to a level that people understands each other, but I guess even the scholars are not trying to work this out in the recent years, for which reason I say nobody is to blame before the scholars got questioned.

+Kris Low *blush*

Underated comment.

***** Yes, all you suggest is so worthwhile reading, becoming "familiar" with and consequently practicing, living it in daily life. Has helped me in many areas throughout my life and continues to do so, truly re-minding of essential values and ways to let go, grow, heal, transform, etc. Bless you all, Namaste Susan

Jack McGhee Read Tao Te Ching. Read it three times. First, just to read it. Second, to add notes and interpretations. Third, to read it along with what you have taken from it.

Jack McGhee Well Jack my good fellow, perhaps you could google Loa-tzu and Chuang--tzu. They're free! The Tao Te Ching is very brief and can be read in an hour or less but the benefit is, you'll pick it up again and read it again because it is short and terse. Why you could even read it ten times in a day and then ten thousand times and its never really the same each time you read it. The Chunag-tau is a beutifully written classic expounding on Lao's words. A literary classic with the use of wild metaphor and exaggeration..a work that runs as long as Lao's is short...

Yes, so true ! First thing I do when I wake up is, at random, open a page of the TTTChing & each text speaks volumes ! And as you say in your last sentence so true too, wonderful ! Salut, Namaste SusanTee Jay

That's a common misconception. There are at least three references to deities in the TTC, one of the most well known being the "Valley Spirit," which Laozi also calls the Mysterious Female, or Dark Mother, if you like. Laozi's "Dao of Heaven" isn't always neutral either. It is said to be on the side of the good person and can be counted on to always benefit and never harm living things.

Tyrhonius No you are twisting it to the way you think it ought to be and not the Way it is.. Heaven and earth treat all beings like "straw dogs", the old Confucian sacrificial statues made of straw that were left out in the rain or hot sun after the cermonies. Heaven was simply the canopy that spread over the earth..."heaven and earth" last forever and the reason they do is because they don't foster themselves.. The Valley Spirit not dying is the womb or plant bulb or seed, the fertility of life where "all things cannot help but grow" when the yin and yang are conducive to it... "to be on the side of the good person and can be counted on.". No, if fact, if you do good, avoid fame and if you do bad, avoid punishment, respect your family and live out your years.. There is no Christian evil or good, just benefit or harm.... There's no moralizing or righteousness in Tao...

I believe Lao Zi didn't really believe in heaven and hell. He was more of a naturalist who believed that what we have is all we've got, Tao is among us in our every day life.

Where did you come up with this conjecture? Mine was supported by a direct and important quote from the Tao Te Ching, if you have counter evidence or some sort of alternate translation or interpretation please present it and I would be happy to consider it.

How does this imply a singular Tao or "way?" My point still stands. Taoists reveled in obscurity, the idea that an idea could be interpreted in a way that the speaker of the idea did not mean the idea originally, meant to the Taoists that greater meaning was created. The fact that every person receives a different interpretation, and has a different "way" is central to Taoism in that it means that each person must listen to their own individualized central Tao. Taoism is not like Christianity or other major western religions in that it does not claim if you pray a certain way, sing praise to a certain god, speak and act according to a set of rules, that you are following your "way" or Tao. Taoism instead claims that people must only listen to nature, and to their own inner nature in order to follow their own Tao (way), and thus each persons path is determined by their own selves and is unique. Ignorance from the view of the Taoist would be to assume that there is a prescribed path to follow that is universal and each person must walk.

It is to encourage you to experience and discover Tao for yourself, not to listen to others. Because the Tao that can be told is not the most precious Tao.

Yes.... Apart from Australia 😂

north and south are too harsh to live in the past no much room for thE groth of philosophy...n

In ancient times Australia's philosphers painted their myths and passed on stories; but not record keepers like ancient Mesopotamia and Greece.

Some country is not yet founded(exist) around that time.

When we go into space, how come we never go down?

Buddhism isn’t really pessimistic at all. The makers of the video and western Buddhists translate ‘dukha’ as suffering which doesn’t quite capture the meaning of dukha. Dukha also means change, impermanence.

Me too :))) but iam still fine with Buddhism and Confucius's ideas :3

In Confucius's defence most people adhere to the surface level stuff and not the authority should be wholly accountable to society. Still hella patriarchal though.

@@ANTSEMUT1 yr right but sadly most Asian politican do not see confucius style of rule like you. They only "selectively" like the control part. Same for buddhism, most Asian politican like it too. But of its non-violent teaching. But you dont see any politican will follow Taoism. Even a fraction of it, no one follows it. A sad reality.

As Im young i side more towards religon. As Im a working adult, i side more towards confucius for security. But as i aged, i side Taoism more and more. Now realised all the great taoist sage like Lao Zi, Zhang Sanfeng (inventor of Taichi) are all very old man. They reach a rich old age to see so many other man-made ideologies are rubbish and nonsence. Just flow with nature is the best.

FIEND same

ikr

Peter Stevens I'll seconf that emotion!...haha...it would have to be movie length though with CG effects to show Cook Ting do his thang..

Not true. You're ignoring the Western philosophies that are similar to the Eastern philosophies you limit yourself to, and vice versa.

Not all eastern philosophy is daoism lol

anthony vadala how

***** Thanks for your support bro, every bit helps! You stay strong now.

KorNfu To try to teach someone the art of wu wei, is virtually impossible.

Xuxhi I have finally deducted some ways of explaining Wu Wei, and here they are: Wu Wei is the art of doing without doing right? Well, think of it like this. What is it like to have something be "second nature? What is instinct? What is intuition? All of these concepts are related to Wu Wei. They are subconscious actions that don't take any thought to perform. Like riding a bike, or walking, you just have to focus all of your energy into taking as many things that you do in your daily life as you can, and find a way to do them without thinking about it. I have learned, through constant practice, to be able to look at something, and use my peripheral vision to look at everything in front of me at the same time. Most of the time I stare in one spot, and that tends to make others feel uneasy, but it allows me to walk, run, ride my bike, drive a car, and pretty much anything that I do, and never move my eyes once. Currently I am at a level where I can be mostly blindfolded, and ride my bike while holding the handle bars with one hand while standing up. All I can see is the floor, but that is all that is necessary for me to do it. Another thing I can do, is spar completely blindfolded. It all comes down to fully giving in to your instincts, and intuition. Like mind over matter, but far more advanced. I hope that helps! :)

***** I will do whatever the hell I want to. Fuck off bro, your not the boss of me.

LIBTARD SLAYER Agreed

Run13 Buddhabrot I am not speaking about myself. if this video is for making people to understand about Taoism, i think it's better slow down everything. I also think that purpose of making this video is not just simply explain about the theories. and I hope people to have more chance to understand this beautiful words and have time to taste each words.

+박민정 Yes, the narrators voice sounds anxiety ridden, like he's rushing through it. Relax. Breathe.

I personally treat these as brief overviews so I can look into something deeply myself.

From what I often read is that Lao Tzu inspired Sun Tzu, certain chapters written in the Art of War is Taoism made for military minds.

Thanks! This was quite confusing to me.