I will convert to Taoism for a day. Help me.

I'd be more interested in learning more about MIDI myself.....

 

wait..why would you convert to something (even if for a day) if you didn't know what it was all about? Also, I doubt you can gather the feelings and perspectives of a belief system in just a day.
I think its beautiful that you want to explore your options. But you don't need to "convert" to learn. Good luck with your adventure though.

 

Hmmm....I wonder what you'd do the next day - I mean after your day of 'conversion'?

 

Haha, not hardly. It's just that I read Zhuangzi more often than I do Lao Tzu, and his sense of humor rubs off.

You might enjoy these links, lots of free translations and a comparison tool:

http://www.exploretaoism.com/Ancientbooks.htm

http://www.wayist.org/ttc compared/index.htm

Have fun!

 

Ritual was the beginning of study.
Study was the beginning of learning.
Learning was the beginning of status and honours.
Status and honours were the beginning of chaos and unprincipled confusion.

This expresses what I mean.

 

Yay, thanks, I was looking for a translation of the Chung tzu. I dodnt think there was any around.

 

The Toa is a symbol of balance between two sides. Light/dark, sun/moon, god/satan, etc.. The point is,the two sides are at war within, until one is freed from the opposites.
Now both sides are brothers so to speak. They are one. They work in conjunction. Not
against each other.

 

Sounds like you're mindset is more of confucionism.

Want to be a taoist for a single day? There's only two steps.

1)Shut up.
2)Stay put.

Good luck speechless non-doer.

(I anticipate you'll mistake this post for sarcasm, which shows just how prepared you are to be a taoist)

 

I've been looking into Taoism for about a week now, and maybe im not experienced or enlightened enough to say anything at this point, but for a day thats a very bad idea. but if you want, this is what ive picked up. do not disrupt the flow of nature, do not allow materials to dominate your happiness, do not put yourself above others and live in harmony with all people, nature and the universe. my personal belief is that the tao links all things, and the tao is the path you try to reach in life that will lead you to everlasting happiness and the only way to reach the tao is to do the things listed above. there will always be yin and yang and it is useless to try and do anything about it. if there is one there will always be the other. there is no good without evil. i hope i made sense and please let me know if i sounded stupid.

 

Despite what the previous poster said, 'converting to Taoism for a day' isnt a bad idea, its just that it's not a very good idea, as much energy would be expended for little gain, you would be far better off lightly studying Taoism every day for a month.

One of the best things i gained from Taoism is that what you do every day is far more important then putting in one major effort for a once off thing.

To answer your question; a good simple book for an introduction to Taoism is Gateway To Wisdom by John Blofeld. It is simple, covers many different aspects of Taoism and is written for westerners, with an understanding of traditional western ideas of spirituality, which is important as Taoism is vastly different.

After reading the afore mentioned book i quit smoking, within three days of contemplating the ideas. It is worth mentioning that only half the book is dedicated to Taoism, the other half to Budhism.

I don't consider myself a 'Taoist' but the Tao has vastly expanded my understanding of the universe, and given me a much more satisfying sense of God. Even if you still decide to become a Muslim I would recomend studying some Taoist concepts.

 

Far from sounding stupid, you present the basic ideas concisely, in so far as that is possible in a poor medium such as print.

Of course, Master Lao goes out of his way to say that The Way is unspeakable, so to speak.