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Different Practices of Taoism Essay examples

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Different Practices of Taoism

Taoism applied to everyday life "Practice not-doing and everything will fall into place" (Chapter 3). In Taoism this is the concept known as "wu wei". Wei wu wei is the practice of doing and not-doing. This concept comes from the theory of the Yin and Yang. The Yang, along with wei, is the practice of doing. The Yin, along with wu wei, is the practice of not-doing. One compliments the other, and each cannot exist alone. The Tao tells people to practice not-doing because it will bring happiness in their life. By not-doing, the Tao means not performing actions, which are unnecessary and uncalled for. People should just take things as they come in life and they will live a life full of happiness and …show more content…

If you concentrate on the Tao, you will never understand it. You cannot think about it, you must just do it. This is very difficult because people always think about what they do, but this does not work with the Tao (Chapter 1). You cannot look for the Tao; you cannot listen for the Tao. You must just accept the idea that it is always there, omnipresent, and you can't see it. This is all very important because if one cannot understand these first simple steps in Taoism, they will be lost the rest of the way. In personal life, you should never define yourself. When you define yourself, you are actually putting limits on yourself. If a man defines himself as a doctor, he is limiting himself to science. If a man defines himself as a singer, he is limiting himself to music. By limiting yourself, you are not allowing yourself to experience life fully (Chapter 24). Also, you should never define any object because they will always have an opposite. If you define something as "good" then its opposite is defined as "bad", when in reality it might not be (Chapter 2). When a man is about to buy a car, he will want to buy a company with a "good name". He has defined one car as "good" and the rest are "bad". When he realizes he cannot afford the "good" car he is unhappy. He has to buy a "bad" car. While driving his "bad" car, he thinks about what people will say. He worries that they will not approve of his new purchase. If the man had not originally set such high

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