http://www.dnot.net/tao.shtml

great read

Thanx.

Mahakashyap, what did you find so great about the Tao Te Ching? I've read it, but didn't get much from it. Perhaps I didn't understand it due to lack of the cultural background, or maybe it just didn't speak to me.

It's short, so I'd on that basis alone I'll agree that it is a great religious book. Religious books that are too large have too many loopholes for people to argue about.

I think it takes time to understand the essence of these books. I started reading Art of War translated by Thomas Cleary and it was a difficult read. The thing is that it takes time to absorb the thoughts of these books. Atleast for me.

The meaning becomes clearer deeper and much more profound as we read and our thinking evolves.

Mahakashyap, what did you find so great about the Tao Te Ching? I've read it, but didn't get much from it. Perhaps I didn't understand it due to lack of the cultural background, or maybe it just didn't speak to me.

It's short, so I'd on that basis alone I'll agree that it is a great religious book. Religious books that are too large have too many loopholes for people to argue about.

I dont think its a cultural thing at all. And which religious books are you talking about?

Love the Tao,and i would assume he's talking about the bible aman.

Love the Tao,and i would assume he's talking about the bible aman.
I need to read bible soon bro. This guy paulo coelho has got me interested in it. It could be misunderstood by both believers and non believers.

You either get what the book is about or you dont there is no other way about it, and it does grow on you. It give u th first taste of the darkness within darkness.....

you seem to read too much on religion aman and when you comment you always take things at face value without getting the bigger picture.

you seem to read too much on religion aman and when you comment you always take things at face value without getting the bigger picture.
Elaborate? About not getting bigger picture..

You either get what the book is about or you dont there is no other way about it, and it does grow on you. It give u th first taste of the darkness within darkness.....
I suspect its not that simple a case.

P.S. I havent read a lot about religion.

Religious books that are too large have too many loopholes for people to argue about.
I dont think its a cultural thing at all. And which religious books are you talking about?

I'm talking about any of the book based religions that believe that the "truth" is found in their holy book. The larger a book becomes, the harder it is to keep out self contradictions. The most well researched example is of course the christian bible.

I got a lot more out of the Upanishads than I did the Tao Te Ching.

I need to read bible soon bro. This guy paulo coelho has got me interested in it. It could be misunderstood by both believers and non believers.

The best (and the worst) thing about the christian bible is that you can find quotations to support any agenda you have. I wonder if that alone is the reason for it still being around after nearly 2000 years.

If you come from a primarily christian culture, then it really is worth taking the time to read it. It's quite an eye opener. All the biblical stories you've grown up with are turned upside down once you read that book. God is a wonderful, loving, benevolent creator that cares about you? Not in that book. Jesus was the best of men? Prepare to be shocked by the things he does. Reading the bible really makes you take a second look at all the things you have unquestioned belief about.

I am not a christian. I am a sikh. And I plan to read all the significant religious texts. Plus I'd be interested in knowing about the athiest's point of view.

And I dont think I take the things at face value without getting the bigger picture. I actually try to give it a thought, so I'm pretty confused and unclear to what jimmybro might be saying.

The best (and the worst) thing about the christian bible is that you can find quotations to support any agenda you have. I wonder if that alone is the reason for it still being around after nearly 2000 years.

If you come from a primarily christian culture, then it really is worth taking the time to read it. It's quite an eye opener. All the biblical stories you've grown up with are turned upside down once you read that book. God is a wonderful, loving, benevolent creator that cares about you? Not in that book. Jesus was the best of men? Prepare to be shocked by the things he does. Reading the bible really makes you take a second look at all the things you have unquestioned belief about.

Matt hughes, is that you?:shok:

I am not a christian. I am a sikh. And I plan to read all the significant religious texts. Plus I'd be interested in knowing about the athiest's point of view.

And I dont think I take the things at face value without getting the bigger picture. I actually try to give it a thought, so I'm pretty confused and unclear to what jimmybro might be saying.


I tried christianity and a couple of other religions when younger.I've actually evolved into an aetheist/agnostic.
Im aetheist inasmuch as I dont believe in any God of the major religions but agnostic in the sense I cant be 100% certain that there isnt something out there.
Personally I dont believe in an afterlife and that opinion is based on MY lifes experiences and what Ive learnt.I dont need religion to be a good person or to feel safe and happy.
From my point of view when ANYONE professes to hold the key to answers of the afterlife they should be viewed critically because anyone making these claims obviously has an agenda and/or suffers from delusions of granduer.
Again thats my opinion.

ALL religions have their imoral teachings & wise proverbs but so does philosophy,yet philosophy doesn’t inspire the same fanaticism.
Ask yourself why?

I dont think fanaticism has anything to do with religion. Its more about the person and his state of mind. The religions also have their philosophy bro.

And I cannot give an argument but I feel that there are somethings that cannot/need not be proved. I do believe in rebirth. I cannot really PROVE it but maybe someday I'd be able to. Maybe someday I might agree to you. I do think that we are missing something. A point which is quite obvious but is not striking my mind right now.

And I'm curious to know how I'm not seeing the larger picture.

No offence though.

If u dou dont think religion and fanaticism go hand in hand u dont know much about it.

Religion has blatant psychological mechanisms that coerces many,but not all,of its followers into total devotion.Thats the bigger picture.

If u dou dont think religion and fanaticism go hand in hand u dont know much about it.

Religion has blatant psychological mechanisms that coerces many,but not all,of its followers into total devotion.Thats the bigger picture.
There is a very fine line between faith and fanaticism. Athiests and philospohers too are not immune to being fanatics in their ideas.

I agree that religions do demand unquestionable faith before a person becomes a follower but he can ask all the questions he needs to ask to reitrate that the person he's puttinghis faith in is right.

There is a very fine line between faith and fanaticism. Athiests and philospohers too are not immune to being fanatics in their ideas.

I agree that religions do demand unquestionable faith before a person becomes a follower but he can ask all the questions he needs to ask to reitrate that the person he's puttinghis faith in is right.

Of course he can,supposedly.But part of the faith process involves eliminating the want to question anything contrary to the religions beliefs.
What is faith but believing in something that u dont fully understand.

Of course he can,supposedly.But part of the faith process involves eliminating the want to question anything contrary to the religions beliefs.
What is faith but believing in something that u dont fully understand.

Faith and Science - Both have postulates.Jimmybro

And I dont think religion doesnt encourage questioning. Take buddhism for example.

And the thing is that if you dont know about the road you're walking on, sometimes you get a better idea of an action you commited after its done. The only thing is that it shouldnt be against the spirit of humanity.

I know I'm not very clear here. Hope you get the point I'm making.

Can you name me a demonstrably true postulate of faith in religion?

Faith in religion seems to me to be no more than a placebo.We know from clinical studies that placebos work in a certain percentage of people.So for example, if a man has total faith that drinking urine will improve his health it may well do so for him.Does this then mean that drinking urine has a proven postulate?
Believing without doubt that Jesus is coming back to keep his promise that the last will be first and the meek will inherit the earth will bring about a definite heartfelt feeling of joy & comfort to believers.Does this then prove in any way that Jesus is indeed coming back?


In effect religion smothers objective thinking under the guise of spiritual advancement and salvation

lol. who said anything about jesus coming back. I think the common postulate of all religions is the existence of god.

Every other thing is build on that. I am not saying that every conclusion they could draw from will happen but it is possible. What else is called open mind but accepting the possibility that weird and insane which seem improbable are possible.

And faith and religion to me are one and the same thing to me. That is religion if not the act invoking highest the highest amount of faith a man can can muster. Faith in someone of whose existence we have no proof of except for our feelings and intuition, that's the pinnacle of faith. Beyond this line lies hallucination and illusion.

As I have said time and again, I cannot comment on something I havent read. We're discussiong the existence of god and I feel utterly ignorant talking about it. I can only provide whatever insights my mind provides me coz I cannot resist pondering over such a thing.

I read a very interesting thought while I was searching for a book online.


"Some things you miss because they’re so tiny you overlook them. But some things you don’t see because they’re so huge"


"The real purpose of scientific method is to make sure Nature hasn’t
misled you into thinking you know something you don’t actually
know"


"You are never dedicated to something you have complete confidence in. (No one is fanatically shouting that the sun is going to rise tomorrow. They *know* it's going to rise tomorrow.) When people are fanatically dedicated to political or religious faiths or any other kinds of dogmas or goals, it's always because these dogmas or goals are in doubt." This might actually favour your point of view and make all religious folks look like mad or something. :)

Some more quotes.

"To doubt the literal meaning of the words of Jesus or Moses incurs
hostility from most people, but it's just a fact that if Jesus or Moses
were to appear today, unidentified, with the same message he spoke many years ago, his mental stability would be challenged. This isn't because what Jesus or Moses said was untrue or because modern society is in error but simply because the route they chose to reveal to others has lost relevance and comprehensibility"

"For every fact there is an infinity of hypotheses" <---This was what I was talking about. There are some things you cannot prove. Beyone our intellect. Ok maybe just mine. :)

This might seem a bit unrelated but has a relation. So we can just comment on the way. Go on arguing about whether a certain thing exists or not, but sometimes even if it cannot be proven. Our hearts know that there is something there. Can we trust our instincts even when there is no REASON. Can we afford to follow aur hearts?

"[...] the real evil isn't the objects of technology but the tendency of technology to isolate people into lonely attitudes of objectivity"



"(The One in India has got to be the same as the One in Greece. [...] The only disagreements among the monists concern the attributes of the One, not the One itself.) Since the One is the source of all things and includes all things in it, it cannot be defined in terms of those things, since no matter what thing you use to define it, the thing will always describe something less than the One itself."

"- Will you show me all of them?
- Sure
- Is it hard?
- Not if you have the right attitudes. It's having the right attitudes
that's hard"

Religion just isnt for me.I dont believe in heaven,hell or the afterlife.
Thoughts,emotions and beliefs are the resxult of brain chmistry.When the brain ceases to function all that makes us unique dies along with it.
The soul is an imaginary concept.

The christian bible agrees with you, Jimmy.

Ecclesiastes 3: 19 Man's fate is like that of the animals; the same fate awaits them both: as one dies, so dies the other. All have the same breath; man has no advantage over the animal. Everything is meaningless.

The christian bible agrees with you, Jimmy.

Ecclesiastes 3: 19 Man's fate is like that of the animals; the same fate awaits them both: as one dies, so dies the other. All have the same breath; man has no advantage over the animal. Everything is meaningless.

Good post bro.
Another classic bible contradiction.
Reps!

I realy hate organized religion, i think they were designed to herd people like sheep, although i have great respect for spiritual concepts like tao, zen, kundalini etc.:)

Man do you even understad the concept of Tao? Its complex stuff, even most of the Chinese back in the day didn't get it, the Taoists were looked at as weirdos from what Ive read.

you donot understand tao,u taste it, inside you, andonce you do, tere s no going back.............

Right, just like I thought, you have no idea. But hey if it makes you feel like an intellectual to post about old Chinese philosophy than hey, break a leg.

edit - I dont need to explain shit, i posted the link because i enjoy reading the book tremendously and i wanted to share it with people who have not yet, if you like it, great, if not GTFO, no point arguing about it lke 16 year olds on an internet forum.

edit - I dont need to explain shit, i posted the link because i enjoy reading the book tremendously and i wanted to share it with people who have not yet, if you like it, great, if not GTFO, no point arguing about it lke 16 year olds on an internet forum.

I believe if u post a spiritual belief and profess it the 'best religous book ever' u should be prepared,if not eager, to be questioned and answer questions reguarding ur beliefs, and the tenets of the teachings themselves.
Bean called u out when u couldnt do so.
Bean- 1
Mahakashyap- 0

Fixed

you donot understand tao,u taste it, inside you, andonce you do, tere s no going back.............

thats deep.
You do not understand choc swirl icecream.
U taste choc swirl ice cream,inside u,and dance u do, and when u start on a helping theres no turning back..

thats deep.
You do not understand choc swirl icecream.
U taste choc swirl ice cream,inside u,and dance u do, and when u start on a helping theres no turning back..

this post made me real hungry. MUST.FIND.FOOD