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Do Taoists believe in the atman?
Comments
Wouldn't it be better to access a Tao forum and ask them there...?
Just asking..
Taoism starts and ends with observation of nature. In this way, it is just like science, but it is different in that science observes nature objectively, separate from the observer, whereas Taoism observes nature subjectively, seeing the observer and the observed as one entire system. This is the first principle of Taoism: Oneness. There is not "just us," or "just nature," but both.
is an expression of the Tao.
It springs into existence,
unconscious, perfect, free,
takes on a physical body,
lets circumstances complete it.
That is why every being
spontaneously honors the Tao.
The Tao gives birth to all beings,
nourishes them, maintains them,
cares for them, comforts them, protects them,
takes them back to itself,
creating without possessing,
acting without expecting,
guiding without interfering.
That is why love of the Tao
is in the very nature of things.
[Tao Te Ching -Mitchell translation, Chapter 51]
This is not to say that there is not a distinction. We're always separating things into "us and them," in one form or another. Quite often we do this with nature, seeing "us" as the human race, and "them" as nature. However, just because there's a distinction doesn't mean there has to be an opposition.
Taoism views the Universe as an interconnected, organic whole. Nothing exists separately from anything else. The Universe is governed by a set of natural and unalterable laws which manifest themselves as a flow of continuous change. This natural order and flow is referred to as the Tao, or the Way. By recognizing and aligning ourselves with these laws, humans can attain a state of being which combines the experience of total freedom with one of complete connectedness to life's processes - being at one with the Tao.
Taoism tries to integrate man and nature, knowing that man and nature are not two things, two separate entities, but are always one. They have a holistic, ecological view of life, in which our existence on earth only makes sense if it is linked with the sun, the moon and the stars, the wind and the rain, and all the other processes of nature. Alone, we are nothing. All life depends on all other life for its existence. In reality nothing can be separated.