The Tao & Confucianism

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The Tao Confucianism
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China
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Population
China population in year 2000 was approximately
1.3 billion people.
US population in year 2006 was approximately 300
million people.
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History of Knowledge

• Ignorance is the cause of all sufferring Buddha
  in India
• Ignorance is the cause of all evil Socrates in
  Greece
• Ignorance is the cause of all social chaos
  Confucius in China

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History of China

• 2500 BC ink, tea, silk invented
• 900 BC the I Ching invented
• 700 BC gun powder invented
• 500 BC Taoism Confucianism
• 100 BC paper is invented

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Religion in China

• A radical humanism with a desire to live in the
  world in harmony
• Humanity has no need for a savior since humans
  are not born in sin
• Humanity is basically good but needs proper
  education

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Thoughts at the time

• Ancestors could help or harm
• World full of spirits
• Shang Ti the ruler of the universe, though not a
  creator god
• ChI is an impersonal self-generating energy in
  the cosmos

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Ancient Traditions

• 2,000 BC in Yellow River Valley Chineses had
  written language
• Ancestor worship - called Li
• Taoism started with Lao-tzu around 500 BC in Chou
  Dynasty
• Chuang-tzu just after Lao-tzu

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Chinese Language

• Western languages are phonetic, thus more left
  brain and linear
• Chinese languages are actually pictures of things
  and ideas thus right brain
• Reading Chinese is like looking at a film strip

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Lao Tzu
Live a simple life, be free, be yourself, and be
close to nature. Do these things and you will be
wise and happy.
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Written by Lao-tzu, a curator of the royal
library of the Chou dynasty, given to a border
guard as he left society for the mountains at the
reported age of 160. It is second only to the
Bible is translations.
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The Goal of Taoism
The goal of Taoism is to align oneself with the
unnamable original forcethe Tao.
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Considerations
Taoism is concerned with direct experience of the
universe, accepting and cooperating with things
as they are, not with setting standards of
morality, not with labeling things as good or bad.
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Lose your mind and come to your senses.
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Considerations
The Tao sayscivilization, with its intellectual
attempts to improve on things and its rigid view
of morality, actually leads the world into chaos.
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Considerations
Wisdom lies in recognizing the ever-shifting, but
regular and balanced, patterns and moving with
them. This creative rhythm of the universe is
called the Tao.
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I Ching Book of Changes

• Throw three coins six times
• Divination
• Yin a straight line
• Look up 1 of 64 hexagrams

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Assumptions of the I Ching

• Human society like nature is hierarchical
• Nothing behaves haphazardly
• Things are complex but not chaotic
• There is a controlling principle in every change
  process
• Each hexagram represents a controlling principle

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How it works
Imagine our reality as viewed as a tube of time
extending through space. We are constantly
flowing through the tube along with everything we
perceive. If we could slice through the tube at a
certain moment with ourselves at the center, and
then study this fixed cross-section, we would see
all of the elements of nature that happen now to
exist as well as their immediate relationships to
one another. By evaluating these patterns would
allow us to see how the forces in the situation
are affecting our lives.
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Quantum Physics Today
David Bohm like Einstein maintained that there
were hidden variables at work in this process.
Bohm went further and suggested there were both
an Explicate Order of things visible in local
space-time, and an Implicate Order of things
hidden or enfolded in the non-local quantum
potential.
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Eight Forces of Nature
Heaven
Lake
Sun-Wind
Fire
Water
Thunder
Mountain
Earth
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Creating the Hexagram
Heads Heads Tails Yang
Tails Tails Heads Yin
All Tails Yang that is changing
All Heads Yin that is changing
Throw the coins six times and build the hexagram
from the bottom up.
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Judgment Image
Judgment is attributed to King Wen dated
1150 CE
Image is attributed to Confucius dated 500 CE
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Demonstration
http//www.eclecticenergies.com/iching/virtualcoin
s.php
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Considerations
Any extreme action will produce its opposite as a
balancing reaction, thus one should strive for a
middle way with subtle discretion and
moderation. The application of these principles
in a spiritual way is called Taoism. The
application of these principles in a political or
moral way is known as Confucianism.
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Considerations
The Tao-te Ching says it is best to harmonize
with life by being receptive and quiet. Later,
Chuang-tzu asserted that the best way to live in
a chaotic, absurd civilization is to become
detached from it.
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White Cloud Monastery
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Chi-kung energy training

• Body has chi the vital force
• Ching generative force
• Shen spiritual force

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Be indifferent to birth and death. Masters come
because it is there time. Masters leave because
they follow the natural flow. Be content with
the moment.
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Falun Gong
It is a combination of Taoist and Buddhist
practices that include developing chi, honesty,
benevolence, and spiritual insight with
meditation. It is in China today.
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Kung Fu-tzu

• 6th century BC
• Lord on High
• Mandate from heaven
• Moral virtues
• Orderly society

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Confucius 551 BC

• Society was in chaos
• Taught young men to be wise public servants
• Taught the Six Classics I Ching, poetry,
  history, rituals, music, and dance

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Confucian Basics

• All humans are born alike
• Human nature is neither evil or good, but humans
  can become either evil or good
• Objectives are ethical basis for the family and
  to increase social harmony

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Considerations
Peace begins with the moral cultivation of the
individual and order in the family. This peace
extends outward to society, government, and the
universe itself like ripples in a pond.
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The State Cult

• Rulers regarded as link between heaven and earth
• Confucius teachings in force in China for the
  last 2,000 years
• Civil Service exam on classics

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Communist China

• 1949 reaction against the old ways
• Confucius attacled as one of the four
  oldsideas, cultures, customs, and habits
• Mao hated Confucianism from childhood

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However
Mao kept and emphasized the Confucian morality
toward sacrifice and selfless service to the
country and to the world order.
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Tiananmen Square
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Today in Asia
For two thousand years, Taoism, Buddhism, and
Confucianism have co-existed in China,
contributing mutually to the culture. Both Taoism
and Buddhism emphasize the ever-changing nature
of things in the cosmos, whereas Confucianism
focuses on ways of developing a just and orderly
society.