Taoist Meditation?

[Edwin]

Originally Posted by GilesC

Oh Booger! You can tell I don't have attachment to cars like most blokes; just so long as my car gets me from A to B reliably....

Indeed not what most blokes would say... The A to B remark is kinda what you would expect from a female actually

But I know you have a beard as your avatar shows so...

Conclusion: You are the bearded lady from the circus

[Grey]

Originally Posted by Edwin

But I know you have a beard as your avatar shows so...

Conclusion: You are the bearded lady from the circus

not so fast. Giles could be the reincarnation of my gran Lizzie Stewart. a hug from her was a near certain case of whisker burn.

[stelusia]

from meditation to the cars..that's funny))
i'm new myself..and i have to say that practising meditation actually got me thinking about change of religion..at the moment i'm reding buddhas teachings and i absolutely love it...it has a lot in common with "the secret"...
i think whatever style makes you feel comfortable, is good))

[Edwin]

Originally Posted by stelusia

i think whatever style makes you feel comfortable, is good))

You got it !

[GilesC]

Originally Posted by Edwin

Indeed not what most blokes would say... The A to B remark is kinda what you would expect from a female actually

But I know you have a beard as your avatar shows so...

Conclusion: You are the bearded lady from the circus

Shhh, don't tell everyone. If they find out, they'll come and drag me back again! "No! I don't want to go...."

[Itlandm]

Originally Posted by RedOgre

While learning about meditation, I've had to brush to the side Buddhist and Hindu meditation namely because I don't agree with their backgrounds, and using the meditation without agreeing with the concepts that conceived of the meditation just feels wrong.

I do agree with Taoism in most aspects, and feel that I could utilize that style of meditation, but I have no resources on how it's done. The scattered websites I've visited are not very helpful at all, with vague instruction and terms I'm not familiar with frequent.

So, this is my question: Does anyone here have any sort of resources for Taoist-style meditation?

Just to clear things up a little, you are aware of Qigong? Like Taoism itself, it is rather fluid, and cover the whole spectrum from what we in the west call yoga to meditation. Some practices are more physical, others more mental, as the concept roughly translates as "cultivating energy" which could be on several different planes. Indeed, Taoism tends to view energies as interrelated, so that physical energy can be converted into mental, and mental into spiritual - or the other way around, presumably - but of course not on the same scale, since they are not equivalent in effect.

So - if you have not looked at Qigong, that is probably what you are looking for. It is integrated with Taoism kind of like Yoga was with Hinduism until fairly recently. Unfortunately that means there is not a lot of native Western literature on it yet.

[bakol]

Originally Posted by RedOgre

I'm new here, and new to meditation in particular, but that won't stop me from asking.

While learning about meditation, I've had to brush to the side Buddhist and Hindu meditation namely because I don't agree with their backgrounds, and using the meditation without agreeing with the concepts that conceived of the meditation just feels wrong.

I do agree with Taoism in most aspects, and feel that I could utilize that style of meditation, but I have no resources on how it's done. The scattered websites I've visited are not very helpful at all, with vague instruction and terms I'm not familiar with frequent.

So, this is my question: Does anyone here have any sort of resources for Taoist-style meditation?

I also would not prefer to be referred to this site's supplementary courses, I came here for the meditation community, not to be preached to

Hi Red Ogre

I'll try to answer your question.

I have been practicing daoist techniques of meditation for about 15 years, and must say its abit hard to answer your question.

In Daoism there are a whole array of practices that can be called "daoist" and hundreds of meditations. Probably the most well known are the "sitting and forgetting" that are most similar to some Buddhist forms of sitting. In addition, there are alchemical meditations focusing on opening the different energetic cavities in the body, animal meditations, meditations to connect with the environment, the stars, the sun and moon. In addition, more modern daoist meditations focus on health and longevity.

I'd say what is unique about many daoist meditations are their inherent energetic aspect: the nature of chi (universal energy) is always directly or indirectly accessed or utilized with intent.

At its core, there is no real benifit to gain from most daoist meditations without the transmission that comes from the tradition to which the meditation belongs. Its like trying to get access to money in a cash machine without the pin code.
Hope this was of some help.

Anders