The Books of Taoism

Disclaimer: This is all written by me as an essay for my world religions class. It has been graded by my teacher and is now being posted purely for your entertainment.

The most common first language in the world is Chinese. One of the many Chinese religions is Taoism. Though Taoism as a religion might not be well known by the westernized civilization, many westerners use symbols and words from Taoism every day including chi and yin-yang. However, despite its influence on Chinese civilization, Taoism has been hard to define. Taoism talks about how life is ever changing. This being said, most of our contemporary understanding of Taoist philosophy is deeply rooted in the Tao Te Ching and the Chuang Tzu, but there are many other Cannon books that have been a part of Taoist culture throughout the ages.

The Tao Te Ching is also known as the Daodejing or Dao De Jing and provides the basis for Taoism. It is a brief text of just over 5,000 Chinese characters. Literally translated Tao Te Ching can be broken into Tao, the way, Te, strength or virtue, and Ching, scripture. The Tao Te Ching has been translated into English more times than any other Chinese document, this being said it is almost impossible to render an ancient Chinese text properly into English without losing some part of it. The Tao Te Ching is thought to be written in the sixth century BCE by Lao-tzu. Disappointed with court life, he left for the western mountains on top of an ox. When a guard asked for his teachings he gave him the Tao Te Ching. The text is now thought to be written by multiple people and was possibly started in the fourth century BCE.

The second most influential book in Taoism is the Chuang-tzu. The Chuang-tzu was named for its fourth-century BCE author, Master Chuang, otherwise known as Chuang Chou. The Chuang-tzu is addressed more towards the individual than to the ruler. This work took the Taoist position of Lao Tzu and developed it further. He even speaks of the Immortals, which are the “perfected individuals who live on mountains, feed on the wind, sip the dew, and experience ecstatic flight.” In the Chuang-tzu, a new notion was brought into Chinese philosophy. He believed in life as dynamic and ever changing. Like the Tao Te Ching, it is thought that only seven of the chapters were written by Chuang Chou and the other twenty-six chapters were the works of his students.

Other than the Tao Te Ching and the Chuang-tzu, there are many other widely accepted Canon texts. In the year 471 CE, the first Tao Ts’ang or Taoist Canon was brought together. The first Taoist Canon had some of the Tao Te Ching in it, but also had interpretations by later masters in it. This first Taoist Canon had 1,200 scrolls and included writings on alchemy and immortality as well as philosophical essays and folktales. The second Taoist Canon was compiled in 748 CE. The Tang emperor Tang Xuan-cong ordered scholars all over China to collect Taoist works. The scholars returned with 7,300 scrolls. In 1016, the Second Canon was revised under the direction of the Song dynasty. Some of the works that were collected in the Second Canon were thrown out and so the Third Canon was then only 4,565 scrolls long. The final Canon was produced in 1444 by the Ming dynasty. This work of 5,318 scrolls is the largest body of scripture in the world. However, much of the Tao Ts’ang is not able to be understood today. The Tao Ts’ang is full of cryptic symbols and has many references whose meanings have been long lost. The modern Tao Ts’ang is still the primary source for Taoist thought. It still contains the root of Taoist belief. It also contains the tales and parables as well as rituals and practices.

Though the Tao Te Ching and the Chuang-tzu are the root to Taoist thought, the modern Tao Ts’ang is still the primary source for Taoist thought. Though some of these books are impossible of being perfectly translated to English, there are many that are close enough to be read by English speaking people. Although the Tao Te Ching is the most translated Chinese text and is regarded by Taoist as the essential guide to living an ethical life, all three text are very important to the Taoist religion.

Meditation and Buddhism

Disclaimer: This is an essay I wrote for my world religion class. It has been graded by my teacher and is now being posted purely for your entertainment.

           Meditation in all forms has been known to be very peaceful. Meditation, in many religions, can be used to center a person and relax their senses, as well as bring someone closer to their believe form of god. In a religion such as Buddhism there is a discord in what a person should be achieving when meditating. True Buddhist meditation should not be done in an attempt to escape from daily activities of life, nor should it be done to gain some sort of mystical or spiritual power. In Buddhism, meditation is used to achieve three main things, Shamatha, Vipashyana, and perfect mental health.

            In Buddhist culture, Shamatha literally means “calm abiding”. When trying to achieve this, it is best to achieve the proper body position. A small, but firm cushion should be put under the buttocks. The legs should then be crossed in a Full Lotus position with one leg crossed over the other and both of the feet should be positioned such that the sole of each foot is faced upward. If this is uncomfortable, the Half Lotus position can be taken. The Half Lotus position, similar to the Full Lotus position, has only one sole on top of the other leg. However, in both positions the knees should be touching the floor, creating a tripod with the buttocks. A person’s back should be straight, but not too stiff such that the back as a slight natural curve. Shoulders should be loosely dropped from the neck and neck should be straight with the head balanced easily on top of it. The meditator’s eyes should be slightly closed, restricting vision. Face should be altogether soft and relaxed. Hands and arms can be set in multiple different ways. The most common ways are all with the palms of the hands facing upwards. The purpose of this positioning is to create a position conductive to relaxed alertness. From this, a person may then practice breath observation. In Buddhist meditation, unlike Hindu or Taoist meditation, the breath is to be just observed. It should not be judged or try to be controlled. This is very difficult to do at first because people would rather be doing something more fun than observing their breath. From this a person may then move into Vipashyana.

          The second thing wished to achieve in Buddhist meditation is Vipashyana, or insight. With insight a person wants to open their awareness to everything in general and not judge or select. Two of the more popular insight trainings are Zen and Tibetan. In Zen insight training, a meditator just sits. In Zen meditation, it is not even necessary to observe breathing. If thoughts come into the meditator’s mind, the meditator should just let them disappear. Though this sounds much like making the mind blank it is nothing like that. In Zen meditation, it is not possible to blank one’s mind because if they were to do this they would destroy consciousness. Tibetan meditation is the opposite of Zen. In Tibetan meditation visualization is the key. An entity of purified mind in the Buddhist culture is visualized and the meditator interacts with this entity. People that might be visualized as this entity of purified mind could be Buddha (pictured on the left) or Bodhisattva (pictured on the right). When a meditator is finished with their visualization, they dismiss it my dissolving it into light and then into space. When westerners protest asking if the being visualized was really there the answer is that nothing has inherent existence. This is why the visualization is dissolved into space.

        Perfect mental health is the last thing to be achieved in Buddhist meditation. Meditation aims to cleanse the mind of disturbances and impurities. These disturbances include lustful desires, hatred, and ill-will. It is used to cultivate qualities such as concentration, awareness, energy, joy, and tranquility. It is in hope that this will lead to the final attainment of the highest wisdom to see the nature of seeing things as they are and realizing the Ultimate Truth, Nirvana.

        Buddhist meditation, contrary to popular belief, is used to achieve three things, Shamatha, Vipashyana, and perfect mental health. This is different from the popular believe of obtaining spiritual powers or mental escape from everyday life. This kind of thought is known as spiritual perversion in Buddhism.

Work Cited 

Corless, Roger. "Meditation: The Centered Mind." The Vision of Buddhism: The Space Under the Tree.
          New York: Paragon House, 1989. 144-52. Print.
Rahula, Walpola. "'Meditation' or Mental Culture: Bhavana." What the Buddha Taught. New York: Grove,
         1959. 67-75. Print.
Snelling, John. "Meditation (Samadhi)." The Buddhist Handbook: A Complete Guide to Buddhist Schools,
         Teaching, Practice, and History. Rochester, VT: Inner Traditions, 1991. 51-53. Print.

Probably my one and only true story.

Disclaimer: This is all written by me unless indicated. This is probably going to be my only true story. Thank you.

You think you feel fear everyday. Wither its do I have enough money for food or am I going to get to the gas station fast enough, but it's not true fear. I don't think I've felt anything closed to it. I can't imagine I have, but I guess to explain I'll have to go back a bit.

So I was afraid I wasn't going to make it to the gas station before I ran out of gas. The same gas station my boyfriend works at. Thankfully he was on shift. I was bribing my car to not die and I got there, but as I was pulling in I could feel my pocket vibrating. I felt a slight annoyance that someone was calling me and I was trying to concentrate. So I got to the pump and I pulled my phone out to see who it was. I could see it was my grandmother, but didn't answer it fast enough. So I called her back.

What she told me I really don't 100% know. All I know is she said the words someone never wants to hear in one sentence, grandpa and paramedics. My body shifted into flight mode. I jumped out of my 2002 Kia Spectra and bulleted for the door. The girl at the register, Heather, well I didn't know if she knew I was panicking, but she knew who I was looking for. She pointed to one of the aisles and I ran for it.

My boyfriend and his boss turn to look at me and I said something to the effect of will your or my car get me to the hospital faster. He asked why and who, I said Grandpa and I don't know. He handed me his keys and told me to park my car in the back, but I guess as I was moving my car him and his boss had a small conversation that ended in letting Brett drive me. Which now that I think about it was probably the best thing. I've been known to let my emotions control my driving.

Some how even though I was farther away than the ambulance we beat them to the hospital. I'll never understand that one. All I could feel was panic. My boyfriend tried to keep me calm, but I knew it was probably hard. I didn't cry thankfully and Brett had to leave as soon as the ambulance came.

When I saw Grandpa with an IV in his arm and Oxygen in his nose all I remember feeling is nervousness. Nervous that it was something more, nervous that he wasn't ok, and above all nervous that I was going to loose him.

I can't loose my Grandpa. To some people a grandpa is just a person who gives you presents, but to this day and for the rest of my years I will always know him as something so much more. I think the biggest reason for that is because he cried tears of joy just because I was born. He's been my rock and watching him at the emergency room I was afraid I was going to see my rock crumbling.

I've never known any man care more about me than this almost fragile looking person. I don't even think my dad cared for me as much as this man. Not that I'm doubting my fathers love I just have seen how much grandpa has done for me and how he will stop at nothing to protect me. His face was beet red and you could see he had been working all day. Wither he was red because he was hot or red because he was burnt was not known until hours later. Which I know was because of heat.

Apparently he had not had enough to drink, which you would think would be common knowledge in FLORIDA! He had Dr. Pepper instead of water. Yeah the Dr. Pepper I got out of the hospital vending machine had 100 mg of Sodium. (If you didn't know, Sodium is bad when you are outside in the Hot Florida sun).

He was admitted a couple of hours ago and my boyfriend came and got me to go get my car from his work, but I just had so many emotions flying around that I needed to write. So there it is, my probably only true story.

Hoped it wasn't too all over the place which is what it felt like to me,

Brittany Rose

Story # 1

Disclaimer: This is all written by me unless indicated. This is also pure fiction accept for possible historical events. Thank you.

I'd never seen anyone so depressed. The young girl sitting in front of me was so battered and bruised that she couldn't even move. You could tell from her face she wanted to cry. I wondered what this poor girl had to go through to get here, but part of me didn't want to know.

Most children came in like this. The area fed off of it. I could never understand why anyone would want to hurt anything so innocent. Outside the very hospital doors I worked at was a world that no one loved. Groups of teenagers trying to prove they were men fed off of weakness. In my opinion all I saw them as was cowards.

These boys did nothing, but pick on the weak. From the sight I could see this little girl had run all the way across town to get here. The hospital was in the nicer part of Clearwater, but just beyond a couple of lights there was a world that I only knew through my patients.

When we got children in like this the first thing we do is treat them. The receptionist calls the police and we eventually find their parents. My first thought is to get them cleans and healed. I hated what these kids did to children, but they were never caught because the children that come in are too afraid to talk. Most of them came from loving homes and most of them didn't come back.

When your child is harassed like that you won't let them go out again alone. Unfortunately there was always someone to pick on in this big of a city. Sure Clearwater wasn't as big as Orlando or Miami, but there was always just another kid to tease. For some reason I hoped one would accidentally be killed from the bullying. I hoped if that happened the bullying would stop, but I knew it wouldn't. It never would go that way.

As I looked at the young girl, I could only guys she was about 11, I wondered why they chose her. I always wondered that and I knew I would never honestly know. I approached the dark hair girl sitting on a waiting chair in an empty lobby. It had been a slow night even though it was only 6 o'clock. I knew the girl was probably on her way home to dinner. I crouched down next to her and gave her a warm smile.

"Hi sweetie, I'm nurse Allison." She looked at me with deep green eyes. "Can you give me your name?"

Her eyes started to water slightly. "Alexia Cooper. My phone number is 654-3337. My mom's name is Mary."

I knew that was hard for her to say and I wrote down every word she said. Well thank you. That was everything I needed to know. Can you stay here for me? She gave me a small nod and continued to stare at the white tile floor. I got up and handed the information to the receptionist. "Please call her parents. Are the police on their way?" The receptionist nodded and I turned back to the girl. "Can you come with me or do you want to wait for your parents?"

She slowly got up and I could see her eyes squeeze as she winced. I felt so bad for her. I took her into a more private waiting room. I knew that she would be more comfortable in there and if the bullies came in they wouldn't know she was here. I turned on the small tv. "Do you like Disney Channel?" She nodded. I turned the tv to channel 40 and put the remote in front of her. "I'm going to be right outside that door. If you need me you can pull this cord. Ok?" She once again nodded and I left the room.

It wasn't much longer after the police had come that a woman and a man came in. The dark haired woman looked frantic and the equally dark haired male looked like he was out of breath. The receptionist point towards me and they came running. I opened my mouth to speak, but I couldn't even say anything before the woman blurted out, "Where is she?"

"Alexia is in this office and she is fine. Nothing major which is why we called you before doing any treatment. I wouldn't suggest hugging her though she does have some injuries." I slowly opened the door and the woman flew past me. From what I could tell she loved her daughter very much. "We didn't want her to talk to the police before you got here so we aren't sure what happened."

"Oh trust me we know what happened." The rather tall man sat down next to his daughter. "These kids down the street have been teasing her lately, but it was only words until now."

"Well then do you want us to treat her injuries and you can talk to the police after wards?" I had to handle this too many times. It was not fair. Why would anyone want to hurt something that looked this fragile? The male stood. "Yes please and we would like nothing more than to press charges."

"Ok well then lets get Alexia into the back." I gave a smile because I knew it would help with the situation a little.

This was horrible. Why did this happen? I couldn't tell anyone, but all I wanted was for it to end. I knew that would never happen though.

This is not a true story, but it could be. People bully other people everyday and it will never end. We as a society have to stop it. Calling people names hurts and there is nothing worst than attacking people. For another fantasy possibility of what bullying can cause, check out Bad Girls Don't Die by Katie Alender. It is very supernatural, but if you can handle something like that it is perfect. It is also very creepy so if you are younger this would not be a good book for you.

Thank you for reading,

Brittany Rose

Welcome

So this is going to be my story blog. I have another blog that is my random blogs and reviews on things. Mostly just my everyday thoughts. This is going to be different. This is going to be stories that I come up with on the spot. I might edit a little, but not much. I think it will be better that way though. It's much more spontaneous.

Please do not take anything from offense. The things I write aren't my thought, they are just my muse coming into written word form. I needed somewhere to put this. The things that are going to be on here may be dreams or just stories. I maybe in them, but they will not actually have happened. Pure fiction.

Thanks for stopping by and hope that you enjoy,

Brittany Rose