Hi sg Folks..
An interesting thread regarding God's existence!
Take your time to read! Be patience!......
Wisely_ Xu wrote;
In Taoism, it says 'the tao give birth to One, the One rises the Two, Two give birth to Three and Three rises all beings...'.
In the Begining, there is only Tao. As a scathered form, it is a spiritual force, but sometimes, it gathers and accumulated and compressed, into a 'perfect divine'. Taoism calls it the Supreme Lord(Tai Shang Lao Jun). Supreme Lord, or rather Tao, is the only thing exist in the begining and nothing else. Then, after eons, the time is ripe, the Tao (Supreme Lord) using his vital breath, created Pangu.
Pangu aka known as the Lord of the Primival Origin (Yuan shi tianzun/yuan shi tian wang) is often considered the 'One'. He is the divinity of the Tao, He reprsent the ultimate Wuji, nothingless. From Him, came the 'taiji' period, from His vital breath came anoter divinity of Tao - Lord of the Numinous Treasure(Lingbao Tian zun). He holds a Jade ornament or a taiji symbol, He represent the two major forces in the cosmic -Yin and Yang.
Finally, the Three came, from the Two divinity, they split into Three - come another and final divinity of the Great Tao - Lord of Tao and Virtue aka Supreme Lord Lao Tze (Tai shang laojun/Daode Tian Zun). From him, all beings rises and the world is set. He is also the avatar of Tao.
So the diagram goes like these -
Tao(Tai shang laojun) -> One(Yuan Shi Tian zun) -> Two(Yuan Shi Tian zun, Lingbao Tian zun) Three ->(Yuan Shi tian zun, Lingbao Tian Zun and Tai Shang Lao Jun(yes, he again))
Nu Wa creating man, can be viewed as a divine representing the femine side of Tao. Tao is the mother of all things and the whole cosmic. Human and everything came from this 'mother'. thus we have this ancient divine, a female divine to represent Tao, and man came from tao(Nuwa created mankind).
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Wisely_xu
Member
Joined: 15 Nov 2004
Posts: 216
Send Message 22 February 2005 · 09:48 PM
i need to point out certain issues.
Taoism base on the teachings of lao tze and uphold Tao Te Ching as the Bible. BUT it does not have this only 1 scripture. Taoism has thousand of scriptures written by Sages and immortals. Many of them, but ALL revolve around Tao Te Ching.
How can we know that? cos those who wrote these classics, are enlightened beings, such as Partirachs Wang chongyang, Qiu Changchun, Lu Dongbin, Zhang Sanfeng etc..
Some are heavenly divines, passing down these words personally.
Tao Te Ching does talk about deities and spirits. Worshipping many deities is NOT wrong in Taoism view and certainly still consider orthodox taoism.
We must see the meaning behind worshipping them.
Not that most taoist divines, heavenly ones, are ALL enlighthened. only certain lower ranked divines are not, but they still follow the way of heaven, way of tao.
Superstious come in only ppl have lack of proper knowledge on Taoism and thus add in these unwanted elements.
Taosim rituals and rites are NOT superstious too. It was the Yellow Emperor who advocate worshipping of heaven, and it was Celestial Master Zhang Daoling that teaches the ppl rituals and magic.
Rituals and magics are all about easing sufferings, REPENTENCE, blessings and accumulating of merits.
Achelmy etc..improve standard of living and indirectly assist ppl in learning the way of tao more convienently.
A healthy body promote and enchance a healthy and clear mind for cultivating.
Taoism has 3 treasures too, they are the Tao, Jing, and shi, namely the Tao (Lord of Primival aka Yuan shi tian zun), Jing, teachings, scriptures(Lord of Numinous Treasures aka lingbao tian zun) and lastly Shi, Spiritual teachers( Lord of Tao and virtue aka Daode tian zun, tai shang lao jun or lao tze)
NO rituals or worship in Taoism is complete without acknowledging the 3 treausres. The heavenly Jade Emperor was from the 3 treasures aka three pure ones too. Thus worshipping heaven, is equavilent to worshipping and paying homage to the three pure ones and jade emperor. both represent the ultimate Wuji and Taiji - the tao.
Life is like a box of chocolate, you never know what you going to get -- Forrest Gump
A journey to a thousand mile begins with the first step - Lao Tze
http://taoism.sgforums.com
Be Blessed...
