No 409 of Living Life Series 1
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| Jade Emperor |
Stuart Shaw has given a good insight and reconciled the myriad divisions of Taoism from Taoist philosophy to practices, from deity worship to mere Tao way of life. Please go to site by Stuart Shaw for the full write-up but salient extracts of it reproduced below
Extracts from writing by Stuart Shaw
"As a preamble, the very first issue that needs to be addressed is the question: 'Which Taoism?'
The reason why I say this is because Taoism is pluralistic in nature, meaning that within the tradition there are various sects and traditional divisions that will have a varied range of beliefs, and thus each will answer these questions with varying degrees of difference.
"As a preamble, the very first issue that needs to be addressed is the question: 'Which Taoism?'
The reason why I say this is because Taoism is pluralistic in nature, meaning that within the tradition there are various sects and traditional divisions that will have a varied range of beliefs, and thus each will answer these questions with varying degrees of difference.
For example, Taoism ranges from Polytheism, with its belief in a pantheon of deities, through to Monotheism, believing in single unified essence of life, all the way through the spectrum to physicalist Pantheism, with the view that material nature, and its physical laws, is the 'ultimate being'.
You also need to be mindful that contemporary Taoism can be quite different from the Taoism of even just a few centuries ago. To complicate the issue further, there can be stark differences between Taoism beliefs in the Western world and Taoism beliefs within China itself.
However there are some common threads in amongst this mosaic of Taoist ontology.
Taoism believes that there is a more subtle, mysterious sphere of life; that there is a spectrum extending beyond the physical level extending into the more esoteric or sublime levels of universal nature.
One Taoist model that demonstrates this is the individual microcosmic trinity of Ching (精 jīng), Chi (氣 qì ), and Shen (神 shén), which corresponds to the macrocosmic model of Earth, Humanity, Heaven. Within this model Ching is our physical bodies and vital fluids, Chi is our vital energy, and Shen is our heart/mind or soul/spirit. There is the belief that Shen comes from (or is aligned with) the subtle realms of the universe (i.e. Heaven) and joins with our Ching and Chi to form our individual being and life.
Discussion by inner truth netizen 2.
In simplicity, there is the apparent and the real.
God is a person but yet not. God is conceptualized in physical form by those who practise deity worship. The deities too are conceptualized in forms. But at the higher level, they are real but exist as energy that pervades everywhere.
That is why there is the God and saint in us and everywhere. That is why they the saints can respond to call for help at the same moment to many and not just one man or being.
So the pure divine energy of the various deities or saints do co-exist and pervade the same space and are in all nature and dimensions. They pervade the bodies of all men. They are in men and all around men. It is just like the magnetic field but more than that.
But the energies must synergies and balance out in the lives of men. Man must grow and nurture the energy of saints and God in them and this calls for equilibrium of what sages refer to as yin and yang, the soft and hard aspects of life and nature.
It is not wrong to say there is only one God for all saints and God exist as one in universe and yet they are separate. Thus it is not wrong to say there are many saints or gods. It is also not wrong to say that there is no God or saints - only divine energy. This the West refer to as the Holy Spirit and Chinese refer to as the 'leng' or divine energy or presence of Heaven.
As the divine energy is everywhere, we can say that Heaven is everywhere and in us and outside us. Person experiences heaven when he is at peace with life, at peace with yin and yang, or rather at peace with the chi or divine energy. One must be in harmony with yin and yang, the soft and hard aspects of life and nature. Then he has divine peace and is in heaven. Heaven is in him and around him. He is enlightened and has the divine light in him.
At this juncture, readers will now understand why a saint like Lord Bo Tien says He is like the great ocean that reaches out to many lands and shores. He is omnipresent. His divine energy and presence pervades to all corners of the world.
Followers and devotees of the lord saint too were given the key to unlock and tap on to the divine energy of God and saints through invitation of the art of divine power. They sit cross legged and and clasp their hands in prayer to invite the energy and the energy of one of the saints will course through their upper limbs to move it.
A similar version connoted as divine martial arts invoked by praying to four corners and inviting the divine energy of saints. The energy of one of the saints will descend and course through the limbs and person will perform moves of martial art.
These two gifts are peculiar and special in a few temples in the world. Bo Tien temples at Singapore and Sitiawan are two of the few. The spiritual usefulness depends on the individual and beyond the purview and discussion of this post.
The usefulness depends on harmonizing the yin and yang of the divine energy with those of the individual. But unfortunately, even at Singapore, the two gifts are regarded as not part of mainstream spiritual practice and even considered lowly practice, unappealing and old fashion, bordering on superstition and spirit practice vis-a-vis trancing.
But no one will say that talking in tongues of some modern day charismatic movement at temples and churches is backward. In fact, talking in tongues is yet another example of harnessing the divine energy of God and saints.
One Taoist model that demonstrates this is the individual microcosmic trinity of Ching (精 jīng), Chi (氣 qì ), and Shen (神 shén), which corresponds to the macrocosmic model of Earth, Humanity, Heaven. Within this model Ching is our physical bodies and vital fluids, Chi is our vital energy, and Shen is our heart/mind or soul/spirit. There is the belief that Shen comes from (or is aligned with) the subtle realms of the universe (i.e. Heaven) and joins with our Ching and Chi to form our individual being and life.
The important implication here is that we all have a small 'piece of heaven' within us. This is a vital understanding within Taoist ontology - that, to know or communicate with Heaven, we need only to look within in the "right manner".
OK so let's briefly revise ... Yes Taoism believes in heaven in the form of the vastness of naturally occurring celestial bodies (i.e. sun, moon, stars etc.), but also heaven in the form of a subtle, mysterious energy that extends beyond and interpenetrates the mundane physical reality and also exists as an integral part of the human being.
....we must talk about the a fourth 'element' or 'sphere' within Taoist ontology, and that is Tao (道 dào). Calling Tao a 'fourth sphere' is a bit misleading because Tao encapsulates and interpenetrates the other three and in fact, as you are about to read, is the 'cause of being' of all other universal manifestations.
In Chapter 25 of the Tao Te Ching, Lao Tzu profoundly says:
Man follows Earth,
Earth follows Heaven,
Heaven follows Tao,
And Tao follows its own nature.
Heaven follows Tao,
And Tao follows its own nature.
Therefore we might be led to assume that Tao is the equivalent of God, and certainly the more orthodox Taoists have aligned this belief. However Tao is not "a God" in the contemporary use or imagining of the term.
Tao quite literally translates as "Way", as such it is more of a verb than a noun; it is more of a "doing" rather than a "being". Tao is neither a "thing" nor an "it", but rather it is the way or process through which life evolves. The Taoist observation is that the never-ending and mutually dependent evolution of life (i.e. the trinity of dì , rén, tiān) occurs in a rhythmic fashion; that there seems to be some sort of cyclic universal constant in the apparent randomly chaotic changes of life. That "universal constant" is Tao.
Long before Taoism was formalized in any way, the ancestors of Taoism symbolically represented this "universal constant" in the commonly known Yin and Yang symbol (known traditionally as the Tai Chi Tu - 太極圖 tài jí tú ). The mutually dependent binary relationship between the black portion (yin) and the white portion (yang) demonstrates the Tao/Way in which life evolves. The art of "being one with Tao" then is about harmonizing with the dynamic changes of Yin and Yang within whatever situation in which you find yourself.
However, to give acknowledgement and respect to the more Polytheist/religious expressions of Taoism, there is within these branches the reification of personified Gods. Some sects venerate Lao Tzu himself as the principle god; others worship The Jade Emperor (玉皇 yùhuáng). Others give benediction to a pantheon of "immortals" (仙 xiān) that were once mortals but have become enlightened and "ascended to Heaven" (e.g. the Eight Immortals etc.). "
However, to give acknowledgement and respect to the more Polytheist/religious expressions of Taoism, there is within these branches the reification of personified Gods. Some sects venerate Lao Tzu himself as the principle god; others worship The Jade Emperor (玉皇 yùhuáng). Others give benediction to a pantheon of "immortals" (仙 xiān) that were once mortals but have become enlightened and "ascended to Heaven" (e.g. the Eight Immortals etc.). "
Discussion by inner truth netizen 2.
In simplicity, there is the apparent and the real.
God is a person but yet not. God is conceptualized in physical form by those who practise deity worship. The deities too are conceptualized in forms. But at the higher level, they are real but exist as energy that pervades everywhere.
That is why there is the God and saint in us and everywhere. That is why they the saints can respond to call for help at the same moment to many and not just one man or being.
So the pure divine energy of the various deities or saints do co-exist and pervade the same space and are in all nature and dimensions. They pervade the bodies of all men. They are in men and all around men. It is just like the magnetic field but more than that.
But the energies must synergies and balance out in the lives of men. Man must grow and nurture the energy of saints and God in them and this calls for equilibrium of what sages refer to as yin and yang, the soft and hard aspects of life and nature.
It is not wrong to say there is only one God for all saints and God exist as one in universe and yet they are separate. Thus it is not wrong to say there are many saints or gods. It is also not wrong to say that there is no God or saints - only divine energy. This the West refer to as the Holy Spirit and Chinese refer to as the 'leng' or divine energy or presence of Heaven.
As the divine energy is everywhere, we can say that Heaven is everywhere and in us and outside us. Person experiences heaven when he is at peace with life, at peace with yin and yang, or rather at peace with the chi or divine energy. One must be in harmony with yin and yang, the soft and hard aspects of life and nature. Then he has divine peace and is in heaven. Heaven is in him and around him. He is enlightened and has the divine light in him.
At this juncture, readers will now understand why a saint like Lord Bo Tien says He is like the great ocean that reaches out to many lands and shores. He is omnipresent. His divine energy and presence pervades to all corners of the world.
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| Lord Bo Tien |
Followers and devotees of the lord saint too were given the key to unlock and tap on to the divine energy of God and saints through invitation of the art of divine power. They sit cross legged and and clasp their hands in prayer to invite the energy and the energy of one of the saints will course through their upper limbs to move it.
A similar version connoted as divine martial arts invoked by praying to four corners and inviting the divine energy of saints. The energy of one of the saints will descend and course through the limbs and person will perform moves of martial art.
These two gifts are peculiar and special in a few temples in the world. Bo Tien temples at Singapore and Sitiawan are two of the few. The spiritual usefulness depends on the individual and beyond the purview and discussion of this post.
 |
| Bo Tien Temple Singapore does not look like a Taoistic temple but it has the five flags of such a temple |
The usefulness depends on harmonizing the yin and yang of the divine energy with those of the individual. But unfortunately, even at Singapore, the two gifts are regarded as not part of mainstream spiritual practice and even considered lowly practice, unappealing and old fashion, bordering on superstition and spirit practice vis-a-vis trancing.
 |
| Side view of Bo Tien Temple Singapore |
But no one will say that talking in tongues of some modern day charismatic movement at temples and churches is backward. In fact, talking in tongues is yet another example of harnessing the divine energy of God and saints.
 |
| The yin yang Ba gua at the Bagua shrine floor identifies it as a Taoistic temple symbolising the harnessing of yin yang of Heaven with Earth under the pyramidal glass dome |
