what does /his/ think of Taoism?

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I recommend this book. Anyone else read it?

Interesting monist philosophy and mysticism is turned into polytheism, elaborate liturgies, priestly classes, quests for immortality, divinization of Laozi, alchemy, etc.

For an example of "the Daoism that doesn't end with the Zhuangzi", here's some stuff from Introducing Daoism by Kohn:

Once they exist, the Dao as Great Nonbeing creates the three fundamental qi of the cosmos: mysterious, primordial, and beginning. They in turn intermingle in chaos and bring forth a primordial goddess called Jade Maiden of Mystery and Wonder, a name that combines the basic attributes of Dao with the formal title of a Daoist goddess. She next gives birth to the celestial version of Laozi through her left armpit. The god in this version is not Dao as such but its direct product, mediated through a series of transformations that bring forth heavens, spiritual powers, pure energies, and a mother figure. He is born supernaturally even in Heaven. His emergence from the left armpit, moreover, borrows from the birth story of the Buddha, who leaves his mother through her right hip.

>>1677919
I didn't read that translation, I recommend Red Pine's.

There's some interesting commentary in LaFargue's edition too.

>>1677885
Degeneracy.

t. high ranking, filial, scholar-bureaucrat who has graduated the academy with a jinshi degree.

>>1677978
Go away Confucius

>>1678004
>Metaphysics.
>Practical
Call me when you need me to buy something from town again, hermit.

>>1678020
Confucius pls go.

You're no scholar-bureaucrat, nobody wanted to hire you in particular, or Confucians in general back in the day.

The Legalists' opinions were those that mattered and united Tianxia under the first Qin emperor, Hanfeizi's book comments on the Daodejing and is part of the Daozang.

Yes, the Daodejing is a political treatise, too.

>>1677949
I've never read any Red Pine translations but I always just assumed he was Alan Watts tier, am I wrong?

Finished the Tao Te Ching, and just finishing the Chuang Tzu. I'll be checking out the Lieh Tzu and I Ching afterwards. What I've read so far is interesting and carries a lot of wisdom within it. I'm honestly surprised at how Chuang Tzu is covering in the third century BCE ground that wouldn't really be much touched upon in western philosophy until post-structuralism; there is a surprisingly modern bent to his opinions, or perhaps it's just that his opinions are easily cast in a modern light.

>>1678025
>Yes, the Daodejing is a political treatise, too.

I've actually seen it referred to as a manual of rulership.

Absolutely disgusting

No regard for filial piety or social order

An ideology for dreamers, lazy bums, and cucks

Laotse is not my philosopher, he is a collection of wildly different folk ideas and most likely fictional as well.

Duty and tradition, not weed and alchemy ok?

Praise the Master

very interesting

if you don't know classical chinese, try to read a range of translations, both poetic and literal

quanzhen is fun

Zhuangzi is so comfy

>>1678004
>>1678025
I'm not Confucius you fuckers. Confucius is obviously dead and there's no way I could even live that long.

>>1678452
can you prove that?

>>1678452
There's no need to be so modest Confucius. Though you were a wily hypocrite, you were ultimately a wise man who knew how to take care of himself, especially after your meetings with Lao Tzu. You clearly found the Tao and lived all this time, just to shitpost in anger.

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>>1678452

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>>1678687

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>>1678410

>>1677949
Anything that prizes mystery cannot be trusted

>>1678452
you can lie to yourself, but you cant lie to us.

>>1678904

And yet the most advanced sciences work with probability and fundamental uncertainty constantly

The highest good is like water.
Water gives life to the ten thousand things and does not strive.
It flows in places people reject and so is like the Tao.

In dwelling, be close to the land.
In meditation, go deep in the heart.
In dealing with others, be gentle and kind.
In speech, be true.
In ruling, be just.
In business, be competent.
In action, watch the timing.

No fight. No blame.

The original kind? Basically Heraclitus.

>>1680152
what do you mean? Heraclitus was born after Laozi died lmao

>>1677885
It's a /comfy/ kind of philosophy. The "everything will happen as it should" outlook can easily be seen as the perfect way of thinking for people who long to live a life in which they don't take initiative for it. I dig it though, personally.

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>Reading the Dao for an Eastern philosophy course
>"Hey whatcha reading?"
>It's the Dao, an eas-"
>"Oh like the stock market?"

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>>1677885
I heard Robert G. Henricks' translation is the best.
Here's the one based on the Guodian texts.
https://www.amazon.com/Lao-Tzus-Tao-Te-Ching/dp/0231118163/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1473585293&sr=8-2&keywords=robert+g+henricks+guodian

>>1677885
Dead religion. Anything mystical about it died off with Mao