Wei Wu Wei

"When you give a shilling to a beggar
- do you realise that you are giving it to yourself?

When you help a lame dog over a stile
- do you realise that you yourself are being helped?

When you kick a man when he is down
- do you realise that you are kicking yourself?

Give him another kick - if you deserve it!"
​

 

"Why are you unhappy?​

Because 99.9 per cent​

Of everything you think,​

And of everything you do,​

Is for yourself -​

And there isn't one."​

 

i'm not even going to try and top either of those. i'll just say they both made my day.

made me cry tears of inner joy and laugh from the depths of my chakras at the same time.

=^^=
.../\...

 

So far as my studies of Taoism go I have never come across the idea that there is no self. That is very much a Buddhist doctrine.

 

Good point! These were written by a Taoist/Buddhist philosopher.

 

"What is your trouble? Mistaken identity."​

"There is no mystery whatever - only inability to perceive the obvious."​

"Let us live gladly! Quite certainly we are free to do it. Perhaps it is our only freedom, but ours it is, and it is only phenomenally a freedom. 'Living free' is being 'as one is'. Can we not do it now? Indeed can we not-do-it? It is not even a 'doing': it is beyond doing and not-doing. It is being as-we-are."​

 

"Men and women who seek doctrines, study them, endeavour to follow them, are impeding their own progress. The Masters, from the Buddha down, in their frequent condemnation of 'discoursing' have made that clear, and in declaring that there must be no attachment to, or identification with, the Dharma itself (or any dharma), that even the teaching of the Buddha himself must be discarded, have left no room for doubt on that score.

Doctrines, scriptures, sutras, essays, are not to be regarded as systems to be followed. They merely contribute to understanding. They should be for us a source of stimulation, and nothing more.

We must create each his own dharma, understanding, and may use those of others to help us to that end; they have no other value for us. Adopted, rather than used as a stimulus, they are a hindrance. As the Zen master stated to the monk whom he found studying a sutra, 'Do not let the sutra upset you - upset the sutra yourself instead.' Some Masters expressed themselves more forcibly, as when they recommended that Buddhas (statues of) were for burning and on a cold day used one as firewood, and in advising, 'If you meet the Buddha, turn aside and look the other way.' Such statements shock the sense of reverence inculcated by the devotional religions, but their meaning, their aim, their importance, are evident."
-excerpt from "Why Lazarus Laughed, Buddhas for Burning"

 

Yes, and in my view, it deviates from Taoist teachings.

 

Cool. You're right too. He was also a Buddhist scholar.

 

OK - It's not that I have anything against Buddhism - but there are differences between even the most Taoistic of Chinese Buddhists, and 'pure' Taoism.

These differences are quite subtle, but meaningful.