What - like shintoism in japan has been replaced by consumerism.?

Actually I don't agree Tao is no longer relevant - nor been replaced by Buddhism.  The Tao is.

Lao Tzu, (old man) was believed to have left China, stopping for some years at a Guardhouse on a western chinese border. Where he is said to have written down his wisdom, at the request of the guard, before disappearing , possibly into Tibet.  Accompanied by an Ox.  Or perhaps a Yak. Never to be seen again.
So we have Tao Te Ching a work with many western translations.
Certainly the Philosophy of the Tao was vital in the emergence of Buddhism.

I chanced upon an original edition of 'The Way of Zen' by Alan W. Watts, on top of a mountain, in an old book shop, many years ago.  I have not yet read it all, or even grasped all I have read - but it contains ideas that are very mind-stretching for a westerner, and compelling.   Sometimes the 'truth' ,  enigmatic  or allegorical, just IS.
It is - even tho I struggle to understand it.

Karnal is right in saying that it's not a clear cut religion, and you can't really separate the religion from the philosophy (or the dao jia from the dao jiao). He's also right in saying that the only place where such a separation occurs is in the West.

 In China (Singapore, Taiwan etc) the devotees tend to be old, and they mix in a lot of old Chinese religion, including ancestor worship and superstition, and quite often Confucianism.  The two philosophies are complimentary and go hand in hand.

Quote:


Probably arse about.  Buddhism probably had some influence in Taoism although they were roughly contemporaneous. It influenced just about every other religion, including Christianity.

It's probably a case of collected oral traditions if we put a historical perspective on both religions.  It's like Homer - he probably never existed, or if he did, he didn't single-handedly write the Illiad, the Odyssey etc. Like Laozi, he probably did a nice job of compiling old oral traditions in written form.  

The thing I like about the daodejing is the fact that you can't really put a name on the Dao (the way, the path etc). As soon as you start applying words to the Tao, you start up a whole series of (Karmic   ) ripples in the Tao.  That's a universal truth.

You see,  religions provide ways for human beings to  interpret  existence. They try to go a few steps beyond existentialism. They are all ripples in the Tao.

Emma wrote on Jul 22^nd, 2011 at 11:50pm:


I mean complimentary rather than competing in the way they are applied. It's quite common for older Chinese businessmen to practice both.   

I was going to explain further myself, but I found this article, which explains it much better than I could:

http://www.suite101.com/content/confucianism-and-taoism-the-yin-and-yang-of-chin...

This belongs in this thread as well then

Arrgh - don't know how to cut and paste on Mac OS. Yin and Yang basically imply a complementary relationship. Totally distinct - but "halves of the same whole"

Using a Mac in the Qantas Club. It's interesting.

revisiting old themes

the problem of evil?  is entirely of our own, human making. No deities necessary,  But,  very useful to further those aims.

the equation?  

1h + 1dx = e

Sappho wrote on May 5^th, 2011 at 6:43am:



Don't forget that there was that thought of religious belief/ cult that thought that since God was omniscient and omnipotent then what ever you actually thought was fine by God since He put that thought there. Thus if you had an immoral thought, it wasn't your fault, but Gods will.

For me I think its BS, but its interesting how different interpretations of the same powers of an Almighty God can arise.