Question about merging with Tao :)

[DanielR]

Hello all,

I have another question that I can't seem to find an answer to. When I die and merge with the Tao, will I be manifested after that again? Is this an endless cycle of manifestation - unmanifestation ? I hope you understand what I mean

Thank you

 

[bobhikes]

As I understand the Tao, I don't believe your question could be answered correctly.

The Tao is the way. Your question as I understand it is about the result.

 

[SaintAugustine]

most religions say you came from the divine....your matter for short while..and then you go back to the divine. Some say this process is repeated to you learn all you need to know...reincarnation. Others say its a permnant place.

 

[Ben Dhyan]

As bobhikes says,..but for my mind it can be inferred from this piece from Chuang Tzu.

Birth is not a beginning; death is not an end.
There is existence without limitation; there is continuity without a starting point.
Existence without limitation is space.
Continuity without a starting point is time.
There is birth, there is death, there is issuing forth, there is entering in.
That through which one passes in and out without seeing its form, that is the Portal of God - Chuang Tzu 23

 

[zenzero]

Friend DR,

Question about merging with Tao

When I die and merge with the Tao

We are always merged with TAO but we have bind ourselves with chains and unable to realize IT. Till then the cycle of birth/death continues. Do you follow?

Love & rgds

 

[zenzero]

Friend bobhikes,

As I understand the Tao, I don't believe your question could be answered correctly.
The Tao is the way. Your question as I understand it is about the result.

Yes when we our *self* become the way, we could be said to have merged with IT!

Love & rgds

 

[zenzero]

Friend SA,

most religions say you came from the divine....your matter for short while..and then you go back to the divine. Some say this process is repeated to you learn all you need to know...reincarnation. Others say its a permnant place.

Everyone is right from their own perspective.
It all depends what the perspective is from the definition as posted by friend ben.

Love & rgds

 

[zenzero]

Friend ben,

Birth is not a beginning; death is not an end.
There is existence without limitation; there is continuity without a starting point.
Existence without limitation is space.
Continuity without a starting point is time.
There is birth, there is death, there is issuing forth, there is entering in.
That through which one passes in and out without seeing its form, that is the Portal of God - Chuang Tzu 23

Beautiful insight!
Beautiful recall by you, friend!

Love & rgds

 

[Ben Dhyan]

Friend DR,

We are always merged with TAO but we have bind ourselves with chains and unable to realize IT. Till then the cycle of birth/death continues. Do you follow?

Love & rgds

Wonderfully explained friend zenzero,...

 

[ChrisP]

He's pretty good at that.

 

[Jainarayan]

Friend DR,




We are always merged with TAO but we have bind ourselves with chains and unable to realize IT. Till then the cycle of birth/death continues. Do you follow?

Love & rgds

This may answer a question I have about Tao. The following paragraph sounds uncannily like Advaita and Brahman. Is there some connection between Tao and Hinduism? I picked up a copy of the Tao Te Ching and thumbed through it. It seemed to be a collection of verses. Would this be a worthy addition to my Hindu and Buddhist library? If it helps expand and expound on Advaitin concepts, I'd welcome reading and exploring it.

Within these contexts Tao signifies the primordial essence or fundamental nature of the universe. In the foundational text of Taoism, the Tao Te Ching, Laozi explains that Tao is not a 'name' for a 'thing' but the underlying natural order of the universe whose ultimate essence is difficult to circumscribe. Tao is thus "eternally nameless” (Dao De Jing-32. Laozi) and to be distinguished from the countless 'named' things which are considered to be its manifestations. There is a close analogue in the Western tradition, with the German philosophical term "Dasein", generally translated as Being, but it would be more accurate to understand that Tao also would include Nothingness as well.

In Taoism, Chinese Buddhism and Confucianism, the object of spiritual practice is to 'become one with the tao' (Tao Te Ching) or to harmonise one's will with Nature (cf. Stoicism) in order to achieve 'effortless action' (Wu wei). This involves meditative and moral practices. Important in this respect is the Taoist concept of De (德; virtue).

In all its uses, Dao is considered to have ineffable qualities that prevent it from being defined or expressed in words. It can, however, be known or experienced, and its principles (which can be discerned by observing Nature) can be followed or practiced. Much of East Asian philosophical writing focuses on the value of adhering to the principles of Tao and the various consequences of failing to do so. In Confucianism and religious forms of Daoism these are often explicitly moral/ethical arguments about proper behavior, while Buddhism and more philosophical forms of Daoism usually refer to the natural and mercurial outcomes of action (comparable to karma). Dao is intrinsically related to the concepts yin and yang (pinyin: yīnyáng), where every action creates counter-actions as unavoidable movements within manifestations of the Dao, and proper practice variously involves accepting, conforming to, or working with these natural developments.
Tao - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[atanu]

This may answer a question I have about Tao. The following paragraph sounds uncannily like Advaita and Brahman. Is there some connection between Tao and Hinduism? I picked up a copy of the Tao Te Ching and thumbed through it. It seemed to be a collection of verses. Would this be a worthy addition to my Hindu and Buddhist library? If it helps expand and expound on Advaitin concepts, I'd welcome reading and exploring it.

Hello TBL

IMO, the citation of BEn D and especially the last line is more like it.

That through which one passes in and out without seeing its form, that is the Portal of God - Chuang Tzu 23

There are two aspects to Brahman, the immutable one and the measuring out one -- the fast moving one. The form/s of the fast moving one is perceived. But of that through which one passes in and out no form can be seen.

 

[Jainarayan]

Yes, I can see that now. It also reminds me of verses in Bhagavad Gita ch. 2, when Sri Krishna speaks of the eternal existence of the soul:

12. Never was there a time when I did not exist, nor you, nor these rulers of men. Nor shall all of us cease to be hereafter.
17. Know that Reality, by which everything is pervaded, to be indestructible. No one can cause the destruction of this immutable Being.
27. For the born, death is unavoidable; and for the dead, birth is sure to take place. Therefore in a situation that is inevitable, there is no justification for you to grieve.

I know that people say that all there is for a Hindu is contained within Hindu scriptures, but sometimes other writings support and expand on scriptures (truth is truth, after all).

I just might pick up a copy of the Tao Te Ching. I like to learn.

 

[Jainarayan]

I have got to read the Tao Te Ching after seeing this verse. I have never considered something like this:

We put thirty spokes together and call it a wheel;
But it is on the space where there is nothing that the usefulness of the wheel depends.
We turn clay to make a vessel;
But it is on the space where there is nothing that the usefulness of the vessel depends.
We pierce doors and windows to make a house;
And it is on these spaces where there is nothing that the usefulness of the house depends.
Therefore just as we take advantage of what is, we should recognize the usefulness of what is not.

 

[zenzero]

Friend TbtL,

Sorry had missed your post earlier.
However to personal understanding all paths or ways point towards the same *sky*.
Realization/experience of TRUTH is the same and that happens only when the mind stills. Till one carries any notion of even of THAT labelled *god* would mean that mind being not still and the experience cannot be total.

Love & rgds

 

[Jainarayan]

No worries.

I agree with your statement "Realization/experience of TRUTH is the same and that happens only when the mind stills". I did just pick up a copy of the Tao Te Ching, The Barnes & Noble Classic Series version, translated by Charles Muller. I don't know how accurate it is. I read some reviews from taotechingme.com (what a name ), and everyone had an opinion on the different translations. I'm always interested in expanding my horizons and learning experiences, especially when I learn exactly what you said above.

 

[bodisat]

Whatever shape the divine mind takes with you, be one with it.