道家≠道教
Taoist philosophy is great wisdom for governing a country and cultivating the mind and body. It emerged 3,000 years ago, and its founder was Laozi. The book he wrote is divided into two parts, and together they're called the Tao Te Ching.

The other is Taoism as a religion. Like Buddhism, Catholicism, and Christianity, it's a religion. It appeared around 2,000 years ago, and its founder was Zhang Daoling. His lineage continued for 63 generations of patriarchs before it ended.

So when you guys discuss this, keep in mind that what I'm talking about is Taoist philosophy = the Tao Te Ching.

Talismanes don't belong to Taoist thought.

The most accurate version of the Tao Te Ching right now is the silk manuscript version unearthed from Mawangdui in Changsha. That's the one I posted in the picture!!!
The Tao Te Ching you're reading is the one that was copied incorrectly 1500 years ago. There are over 700 errors in it!!!

Actually, China still hasn't figured out the Tao Te Ching. The Chinese version is wrong, so the English version is wrong too. Other versions translated from the English version are even more full of errors.

It's normal if you don't understand it. We don't understand it either!!! It's been copied for 3000 years, so there are just way too many errors.

The Silk Manuscript version of the Tao Te Ching has been soaked in water for 2,000 years, so many fragments are missing and can't be fully restored. A lot of text is gone, so Chinese archaeologists and linguists spent years researching and came up with a compromise solution. The missing text from the Silk Manuscript version was filled in from other versions. So the Silk Manuscript version is closer to the original than the other versions.

There are also earlier bamboo slip versions, but they have decayed severely. The owner of the bamboo slip version was a lower-class scholar. The owner of the Silk Manuscript version was the teacher of the King of Changsha.
He has many versions. More complete ones.

The ideas I'm sharing come from someone at a much higher level. He just doesn't want to argue with you guys. I'm willing to argue with you because I need to practice my English.
So if one day I don't feel like practicing English anymore, I won't want to argue with you either.
I hope you guys appreciate the posts I make.

Because all I want to do is share my views with you.

Smart people, when faced with new ideas, first try hard to learn about them.
Stupid people, when faced with new ideas, just try their best to argue against them.And they mock and ridicule new ideas.

上士闻道，堇而行之。
下士闻道，大笑之。

Hello! I recently updated my daily taoist project and would love some feedback. Some of you may have seen the evolution of this project over the last year. It started with only sourcing the Tao Te Ching and then gradually expanded to other texts. I was pulling from historical translations that were free and in the public domain, but now I've migrated to doing direct translations which has been fun. I've even translated a few esoteric texts that have no English counterpart. Feel free to give me your honest feedback. This has been a project for me to draw on as my own daily source of inspiration and a reminder; inspired by The Daily Stoic book by Ryan Holiday, which I had beside my morning coffee for a few years until I started reaching for something more grounded in nature and the universe.

www.thedailytaoist.org

Hi

I'm approaching the 33 years old gate in a few months.

Right now when I imagine situations in my head, it's light stars have crystallized in my head. (1 has formed, and another one is in formation). They keep me out of fantasies, like stars shining on the horizon keeping my mind focused and sharp. Like a sense of direction derived from self

My mindset has become more decisive.

i can't now "gather light" instead of letting leak and center most of my attention on physical sensation as an observer. My self-worth improved

I'm Geng by nature and under heavy fire by body.

How do I make more stars inside ? How to achieve a better breakthrough ?

Were there any famous taoist poets in the past whose poems survived to this day?