Is Tao another word for Emptiness or Shunyata?

misecmisc1

hi all,

today i was browsing videos on you tube and i came across the below video url for Tao Te Ching book by Lao Tzu :


i heard it completely and found it very insightful. so thought of sharing the above video with you all.

moreover, Tao (or Dao - don't know which is the correct spelling, but it seems to be pronounced as Dao) seems to me like another word for Emptiness or Shunyata, which we have in Hinduism and Buddhism. also the Tao approach seems to me like Zen approach or the Hsin Hsin Ming approach. any comments or suggestions are welcome.

Rodrigo

What are the first two phrases from the Tao Te Ching?

zenff

The Dao – the way I see it – is a natural force that takes care of things, provided we don’t interfere too much.
This aspect of trusting the natural way things are going is probably present in Chan/Zen because it developed in China.
I don’t see such an idea prominently present in Theravada or Tibetan Buddhism.

A nice example is the (Zen-) meditation style of Shikantaza. It could be described as trusting the natural way things are going without interfering too much.

David

The Tao is the way. The way things go.

It could be likened to emptiness in that it is the potential for everything.

lobster

1=0=infinity / 2

This refers to the paradoxical nature having both existence
without form and form empty of being
The myriad forms of this manifestation are infinite combinations
of this relationship
Duality; the division of reality into state-able claims
is seen as a way of limiting rather than encompassing.
A false dharma has a polarity. The truth is not expressible
with only the discursive (2) dual, dueling, conflicted mind wishing to
split into certainty.

Other way of expressing this are: Emptiness is form and uroboros is swallowing his own tongue.



or to put it another way when the oak is complete, the acorn is empty
or when the oat is reversed, Tao is porridge

but perhaps best of all
when the mind is still
Still Mined.

:wacky:

matthewmartin

When the first batch of Buddhist texts arrived in China, Buddhist jargon was translated to similar concepts in pre-existing Chinese religion and philosophy-- so "tao" (the way things are), filial piety (ancestor worship) etc were used. Later translations used different or new Chinese jargon since it became clear that Buddhist themes weren't just familiar Chinese themes repackaged.

This is similar to Jesuit Priests meeting Shingon monks and thinking Dainichi Nyorai and the Christian God were the same thing. Nothing of the sort-- the list of difference would fill a book. Imagining they are the same would just be uncooperative communication.

Also, trying to understand Buddhism in terms of Chinese philosopy is sort of like trying to understand Buddhism from a Christian standpoint (where gongyo = prayers to Buddha, statues are idol worship, the Buddha is actually the devil in disguise, Dukkha is god's retribution for sin and so on) -- if someone told you that is how Buddhism worked, you'd think, "No, that is how Christianity works"

DairyLama

zenff said:

A nice example is the (Zen-) meditation style of Shikantaza. It could be described as trusting the natural way things are going without interfering too much.

That's a bit reminiscent of Ajahn Sumedho's teachings on the "way it is", ie accepting the present as it is, equanimity, the absence of craving and aversion.

sova

Rodrigo said:

What are the first two phrases from the Tao Te Ching?