Taoism in China

[renshanrenhai]

I have no idea this thread should be put in which part of this forum, I am writing this thread to talk about something interesting in Chinese culture when i was enlightened by this sentence in the news of Steve Jobs' resignation.

史蒂夫•乔布斯，出生于1955年2月24日。他是一个禅宗佛教徒，曾一度考虑出家为僧。

http://caicai98.tom....S/02276390.html

Due to the domination of Confucianism, every Chinese born and growing up in the mainstream Chinese culture get very limited information and education about Chan and Taoism. 李白、杜甫、白居易ect. are well-known poets in Chinese literature and almost every Chinese can recite one or two poems written by them whilst Taoism or Chan poet is known by fewer . It's also the case to me. I never read any poem with the philosophy of Taoism and Chan until I took a course on literature translation in college.

Hanshan , a Tang Dynasty poet, represents the philosophy of Taoism and Chan in poem.

It's very interesting to note that the non-mainstream Chinese culture(especially Chan Zong in Boddhism) seems to be more acceptable to the western world than Confucianism. It's even more interesting to note that Hanshan, the Chan poet, was not popular and even got frustrated in Tang Dynasty. My professor who gave me the course on literature translation once made a comprehensive lecture on Hanshan and its influence in western literature. I roughly remember she analyzed the link between the BEAT GENERATION of America and the popularity of Hanshan in American literature during those days.

I am not an expert at literature so this topic is more about culture than literature.

A human being is a part of the whole called by us universe, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feeling as something separated from the rest, a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty.

———— Albert Einstein

One month ago i saw this quote of Albert Einstein which cause me to link it to the philosophy of Boddhism (precisely Chan Zong) and Taoism. When i was watching the BBC Drama- Doctor Who, the quote of Albert Einstein stroke my mind again. I feel the Albert Einstein's word best conveys what i learn from the Drama-Doctor Who.

So i am enlightened again when i read Steve Jobs is a 禅宗 (Chan Zong ) disciple. Living in a competitive society and globalized world, I believe there must be a time one need to free himself or herself from personal feelings or stereotypes. Only in this way can we drive ourselves closer to the universal rule of the world.

Hope this topic can give you more ideas and inspirations on non-mainstream Chinese culture.

Any thought from you about this topic is welcomed to discuss here.

[paperbagprince23]

I find it odd that the author of the article see Taoism as a religion

I'm going to have to agree with the others, Taoism is a religion. The way I always understood it was that 道教 refers more to the religious aspect and 道家 refers more to the philosophical aspects. But I am not so sure on this, so maybe someone else can here can clarify this a bit more?