Who knew I was a Taoist all along? I thought I was a nihilist. Not the kind with black turtlenecks but another kind. I've always been a bit interested in Dao/Taoism but never studied. All of the western weirdos who were into Eastern philosophy scared me off. I didn't want to turn into one of them like Steve Jobs or that hippy book about motorcycle maintenance. I believe in living in the moment and always have. Back when I was first studying Chinese I learned all the words for moving around: directions, street signs and so on because those are immediately useful. A lot of them had the character dao in them somewhere, like dadao, boulevard or daoda, arrive.
One day, I step into the vestibule of some random temple and there is a two-story high scroll of the character 到.
As I craned my neck to see the top, I said, "ooooh, I get it! Dao! The way!"
Upon seeing this, I was enlightened.
Daoism is wacky and I like it.
I also like the western "Daoism" which is only about "going with the flow" "be like water" "wu wei" and all that. I say "western" because while these things are some of the foundations of actual daoism, the western version just stops there and imagines that it's just a "whoah, brah, it's all chill, and , like the universe"
actual daoism, as it's practiced in east asia, is intense. it's weird. it's about hell and the underworld. it's about death. it's about heaven or multiple heavens. it's about one or more earths. it's about thousands of gods and spirits. there are intense rituals. there is prayer. there is possession. there is exorcism. there are alchemical potions. there are martial arts that are not about martial arts. it's weird and awesome and I like it.
this is pretty funny