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He who rules men lives in confusion
He who is ruled by men lives in sorrow.
the Tao therefore desired
Neither to influence others
Nor to be influenced by them.
The way to get clear of confusion
And free of sorrow
Is to live with Tao
In the land of the great Void.
If a man is crossing a river
And an empty boat collides with his own skiff,
Even though he be a bad-tempered man
He will not become very angry.
But if he sees a man in the boat,
He will shout at him to steer clear.
If the shout is not heard, he will shout again,
And yet again, and begin cursing.
And all because there is somebody in the boat.
Yet if the boat were empty.
He would not be shouting, and not angry.
If you can empty your own boat
Crossing the river of the world,
No one will oppose you,
No one will seek to harm you.
The straight tree is the first to be cut down,
The spring of clear water is the first to be drained dry.
If you wish to improve your wisdom
And shame the ignorant,
To cultivate your character
And outshine others;
A light will shine around you
As if you had swallowed the sun and the moon:
You will not avoid calamity.
A wise man has said
He who is content with himself
Has done a worthless work.
Achievement is the beginning of failure.
Fame is beginning of disgrace.
Who can free himself from achievement
And from fame, descend and be lost
Amid the masses of men?
He will flow like Tao, unseen,
He will go about like Life itself
With no name and no home.
Simple is he, without distinction.
To all appearances he is a fool.
His steps leave no trace. He has no power.
He achieves nothing, has no reputation.
Since he judges no one
No one judges him.
Such is the perfect man
His boat is empty.
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>>35311245
what am I supposed to take from this, OP?
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>>35311322
The reason the human is unhappy is because he is confined by society and other humans.
Live like the water. Flow effortlessly
Arrive without travelling
See all without looking
Do all without doing
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>>35311322
If I were some varg poster, I might tell you to
>stop judging others
With some black hand holding the head action.
But I'm not.
I enjoy the boat part. Very moving. Thanks OP
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OP take this pretentious shit to wizchan.
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bump
laozioregano
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gondola is the perfect taoist
be like gondola
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If an empty boat collides with my own skiff im gonna be very angry and curse the boat
Fuck off boat
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>>35311546
>anything intellectual is pretentious
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>>35312868
To get angry at the empty boat is to get angry at nothing or even at everything
Useless anger yields nothing and benefits no one
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>>35311245
Stronger men than you seek to take advantage of men who will stand up against anything. I inherently disagree with this statement, anon. The honorable man defends his beliefs to his very death. Opposition is the path to greatness.
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>>35313106
I think you might have misunderstood, anon. Taoism isn't similar to hedonism.
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I approve of taoposting.
No one can really live the words perfectly though.
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>>35313106
The sage realizes that "greatness" and the search for it will only yield unhappiness. To want to become "great" is to succumb to the lowest of human-made pursuits deeply rooted in materialism.
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>>35313275
What of great men who knew the truth, like Krishna and Jesus? Would it have been better for them to live in a forest eating insects and berries? I think not. Don't forsake your god-given duties in search of Tao.
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>>35313340
Of course not. But they didn't seek greatness for greatness.
I'd leave Krishna out because he is basically the Tao personified. As for Jesus, he didn't just want to be great. His "duty" was to love and to show love. His duty was not to become "great"
There is a very big difference between wanting to become great for material gain (not just money) and wanting to fulfill your purpose.
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>>35314181
>I'd leave Krishna out because he is basically the Tao personified
interesting. where do i start with hinduism? i know basically nothing.
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>>35311245
>A wise man has said
WE ALL DEAD FUCKER
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>>35314232
I'm only starting out myself so I cannot help you much but it's all mostly in the Bhagavad Gita
Also my branch of hinduism is called Gaudiya Vaishnavism, where we view Krishna as the ultimate supreme Being. Indeed as the very personification of the Tao.
This differs from some branches of Hinduism which view Vishnu instead as the supreme Being. In reality, they're exactly the same being, just different names/avatars.
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>>35314232
Bhagavad Gita is the be-all end-all source of hindu knowledge, imho.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PC0FW407FVs&list=LL3dXVUZVbMrKNRrl_jThu3Q&index=5
This audio-book version is pretty good. Enjoy.
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>>35314335
ok. what's the best english version to read?
>>35314388
thanks. i'll check that out but i really do prefer reading.
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Why wouldn't you shout at the man in the boat, if you get his attention he won't crash into your shit.
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>>35314483
Bhagavad Gita As It Is
No other version.
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>>35314483
I agree with you about reading. I read it long before I found the audio-book. It really comes to life in this spoken word version though.
Just be careful about annotated versions of the Gita. Swila Whatever-his-name-is completely brushes aside some of the most important passages in the Gita in his annotations.
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>>35311427
Where the fuck am I supposed to get good, fucktard?
Go fuck yourself with your eastern bullshit
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>>35312957
not anything intellectual but certainly this rambling shitfest of an OP
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>>35314388
How is it structured? Is it a story of a different world with metaphor sprinkled in or does it not have a narrative?
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>>35315130
>he's the type of person to disregard any statement made with the slightest bit of creative liberty
You really are low IQ...
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>>35315168
The Gita has an overarching narrative of a great and righteous warrior seeking advice from the personality of godhead before a great battle. In this sense you can think of the Gita as a body of information written in a question and answer format, as Arjuna queries Krishna on many subjects and receives detailed answers.
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>>35311245
you might be interested in this. it's about the application of stoic values.
http://media.hoover.org/sites/default/files/documents/StockdaleCourage.pdf
there is a bit of overlap but i think this is a better way of looking at things.
your boat doesn't have to be empty and in fact, it can never really be empty. you will be judged and you will have a reputation no matter what. the key is not to worry about what you have no control over and focus on what you do have control over. what you posted seems to urge a person not to try at all for fear of doing something wrong or drawing negative attention. it seems cowardly to me.
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>>35315476
>seems to urge a person not to try at all
Not to try at all at what? Being "successful"? Having fame? Being loved by all?
All of those are unimportant and meaningless to the sage.
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>>35315476
The taoist does not try not because he is afraid of failure
The taoist does not try because success is undesirable.
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>>35315595
Taoists are mystical, but ultimately lame and impotent in modern society. The man working in krishna consciousness achieves the greatest worldly success, though he does not even desire it. In doing so, he restores order to the planet as all lesser men working in corrupted consciousness strive to be like him.
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>>35315803
I actually agree with you 100%, I'm the other dude who suggested the Gita.
I was just explaining the taoist view
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holy fuck a taoism thread was the last thing I'd expect on r9k
>>35315476
>what you posted seems to urge a person not to try at all for fear of doing something wrong or drawing negative attention. it seems cowardly to me
You're misinterpreting it somewhat. From my understanding, to be one with Tao is sort of like being cool. You can't "try" to be cool, in fact, you make yourself less cool in the process of trying so! Coolness is a byproduct of simply not trying in the first place, it naturally arises. Similarly, one becomes in harmony with Tao and becomes successful by not actively trying to be successful at all. Once you have done so, success and harmony will naturally begin to crop up around you. It seems very paradoxical, but the universe works in very strange ways
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>>35316114
Actually, to me r9k seems like a perfect place to discuss taoism
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>>35316166
how so?
I never come to this board, I just so happened to decide to check it today and I saw this thread. From my understanding of this board, it's just a sea of anons wallowing in their own suffering. I suppose the anons here are the ones who could benefit most from Taoism, but I doubt their ability to thoroughly consider it as a legitimate philosophy that can change one's life.
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>>35313248
To post is to become, and be nothing no more. But it's anonymous, so I forgive myself. Usually
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>>35316292
You are greatly generalizing.
There's many many robots who are simply socially isolated by choice. Well, perhaps not choice itself but we simply do not fit in with society/people in general.
Once this is accepted, the robot is free to live a life of independence, freedom, and loneliness. Whether this is good or bad is up to the person. And taoism (and eastern philosophies/religions in general) is a perfect philosophy for this
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>>35316618
ah okay i see your train of through now
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It is not such a difficult concept to understand, but I think people want it to be more mysterious than it really is.
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>>35316868
To understand tao on an intellectual level, even the mentally disabled can manage to do. To live and breathe tao, seemingly no one in this world below heaven is capable.
Thread posts: 42
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Thread images: 9