Taoism and the Art of Living

Taoism and the Art of Living:

Living the Wisdom of the Tao

By: Kristina Benson

Taoism and the Art of Living: Living the Wisdom of the Tao

ISBN: 978-1-60332-241-6

Smashwords Edition

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Table of Contents

Basics of Chinese Philosophy

Teachings

Chinese Proverbs

Quotes from Confucius

Introduction to Tao

Taoism and Longevity

Listen to Your Own Nature

Benefits of Developing Your Awareness

Meditation

Guided Meditation

Non-Guided Meditation

Meditation Techniques

Grounding/ Centering

Pathworking

Yoga and Taoism

Hatha Yoga

Kundalini Yoga

Ashtanga Yoga

Iyengar Yoga

Suggested Poses

Tao and Tai Chi

Martial Art

Chen Style Tai Chi

Chen Wangting's corpus of seven routines

Closely Related Chen Forms

Chen Style xin yi hun yuan tai chi

Modern Chen forms

Yang style tai chi chuan

Wu/Hao style tai chi chuan\Wu style tai chi chuan

Sun Style Tai Chi

Origins of Tai Chi

Modern tai chi

Solo Practice

Health benefits

Underlying Concepts of Taoism and Chinese Philosophy

Qi

Qi in traditional Chinese medicine

Qi in Feng Shui

Qi in martial arts

Qigong

Sex and the Tao

Jing (Essence) and Sex

Jing (Sexual energy)

Yin/Yang

Women, Sex, and Tao

Acupuncture

Shiatsu and Qi

Herbs Used in Chinese Medicine

Useful Herbal Recipes

The Tao Te Ching

Central Ideas

The Tao Te Ching and the Tao

Basics of Chinese Philosophy

"Master Kung," 551 BCE – 479 BCE) was a Chinese thinker and social philosopher, emphasizing morality, correctness of social relationships, justice, and sincerity. Confucius' thoughts have been developed into a system of philosophy known as Confucianism (儒家).

His teachings may be found in the Analects of Confucius (論語) which was compiled many years after his death. According to tradition, Confucius was born in 551 BC, in or near the city of Qufu, in the Chinese State of Lu (now part of Shandong Province). Early accounts say that he was born into a noble family that had seen a sharp decline in wealth due to hard times.

Confucius’ father died when he was three, and he was brought up in poverty by his mother. He married a young girl named Qi Quan (亓官) at nineteen and she had their first child Kong Li (孔鯉) when he was twenty. Confucius is reported to have worked as a shepherd, cowherd, clerk and book-keeper. When Confucius was twenty-three, his mother died and he entered three years of mourning.

He is said to have risen to the position of Justice Minister (大司寇) in Lu at fifty-three. He eventually became disenchanted with his master, and resigned, then beginning a long journey around China.

According to the Zuo Commentary to the Spring and Autumn Annals, at sixty-eight Confucius returned home. The Analects pictures him spending his last years teaching disciples and transmitting the old wisdom via a set of texts called the Five Classics. Saddened by the loss of both his son and his favorite disciples, he died at the age of 72.

Teachings

In the Analects(论语), Confucius presents himself as a transmitter who invented nothing. He put the greatest emphasis on the importance of study. The purpose of his teachings was to get his disciples to think for themselves and relentlessly, passionately study and learn from the outside world.

In times of division, chaos, and endless wars between feudal states, he wanted to restore the Mandate of Heaven in order to spread peace throughout China, and bring harmony back to the people. He advocates a new political agenda consisting of a unified royal state whose rulers would succeed to power on the basis of their moral merit, not their pedigree. In his vision, these would be rulers devoted to their people, reaching for personal and social perfection. Such a ruler would spread his own virtues to the people instead of imposing social norms with laws or fear.

One of the most consistent teachings of Confucius may have been the superiority of personal exemplification over rules. Because his moral teachings encourage self-cultivation, emulation of good examples, and the attainment of skilled judgment rather than knowledge of rules, Confucius's ethics may be considered a type of virtue ethics. His teachings rarely rely on reasoned argument. An example of this is a famous fable about Confucius:

When the stables were burnt down, on returning from court, Confucius said, Was anyone hurt? He did not ask about the horses.

To understand this fable, it is important to understand that at the time, horses were extremely valuable and very expensive. The passage conveys the lesson that by not asking about the horses, Confucius demonstrated that he values human beings over property; readers of this lesson are led to reflect on whether their response would follow Confucius's, and to vigilantly strive for self-improvement if it would not.

Confucius's teachings were later turned into a very elaborate set of rules and practices by his numerous disciples and followers who organized his teachings into the Analects. In the centuries after his death, Mencius and Xun Zi both composed important teachings elaborating in different ways on the fundamental ideas associated with Confucius.

In time, these writings, together with the Analects and other core texts came to constitute the philosophical corpus known in the West as Confucianism. After more than a thousand years, the scholar Zhu Xi created a very different interpretation of Confucianism which is now called Neo-Confucianism, to distinguish it from the ideas expressed in the Analects.

Although Confucianism is often followed in a religious manner by the Chinese, it is not a religion. Confucianism lacks an afterlife, there is no God, and it is relatively unconcerned with