Taoism Main Text
Hello, this is AJ again. Welcome to our next lesson, this one's a really interesting one
from one of my favorite writers. Absolutely love him, his name is Alan Watts. He
actually died back in the '70s but just an amazing man, so intelligent and actually quite
funny actually, just a great sense of humor. And Alan Watts is a very interesting guy.
He was one of the first western people, meaning American or European, to learn about
eastern spiritual practices, eastern religions. So he studied Buddhism, Taoism and
Hinduism, most especially Buddhism. He was a Buddhist. He became a Buddhist. And
then he came back, for example, he lived in Japan actually for several years and
learned Buddhism there in a monastery.
And then he came back and he wrote in English about these religions. The other
interesting thing about him is that he was a Christian minister before he became a
Buddhist. I believe he was Episcopalian which is a kind of Christian, but he was a
minister, he was a preacher. And so the very interesting thing about Alan Watts is that
he has a great understanding of both the western and the eastern religious practices,
religious beliefs. And not just the normal kind of religion, just go to church and pray and
read your little book, but really the deeper meanings of both Christianity, Buddhism, etc.
And he has a great way of teaching eastern religions, especially Buddhism and Taoism,
to western people in a way we can understand.
So anyway, he's also just a really funny, interesting guy and a very intellectual guy, very
intelligent. So this is from one of his books about Taoism. Now Taoism is actually
spelled with a "T", T-a-o-i-s-m, but it's pronounced "Daoism" like it's a "D". Why is that?
Because English spelling is crazy. English spelling, as you already know, is very difficult
and there's no logic about it, or very little logic about it. So it's spelled with a "T" but
pronounced as a "D". I don't know why. Why didn't we just spell it with a "D"? I don't
know. It comes from Chinese words so I guess they wrote it, they heard it wrong and I
don't know. Anyway, it's pronounced "Daoism" and the book is called "Taoism Way
Beyond Seeking" by Alan Watts, A-l-a-n and then his last name W-a-t-t-s. And by the
way, he has a great podcast, alanwatts.com I believe is his podcast. So in this book
Alan Watts talks about Taoism.
Taoism is a philosophy, not really a religion, I don't think. Maybe it is, I don't know, but
in my opinion it's really more of a philosophy. It's a way of living. It's a philosophy about
life. And it's a very natural philosophy. The basic idea of Taoism is that you should live
in harmony with nature. You should follow nature, be part of nature. And if you live with
nature instead of fighting it, your life will be much more successful and happy and easy.
It's a little bit like Thoreau's idea. Remember Thoreau, Walden, remember that lesson?
Well, Taoism has a similar kind of feeling. This idea that we don't fight against things,
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Taoism Main Text
Hello, this is AJ again. Welcome to our next lesson, this one's a really interesting one
from one of my favorite writers. Absolutely love him, his name is Alan Watts. He
actually died back in the '70s but just an amazing man, so intelligent and actually quite
funny actually, just a great sense of humor. And Alan Watts is a very interesting guy.
He was one of the first western people, meaning American or European, to learn about
eastern spiritual practices, eastern religions. So he studied Buddhism, Taoism and
Hinduism, most especially Buddhism. He was a Buddhist. He became a Buddhist. And
then he came back, for example, he lived in Japan actually for several years and
learned Buddhism there in a monastery.
And then he came back and he wrote in English about these religions. The other
interesting thing about him is that he was a Christian minister before he became a
Buddhist. I believe he was Episcopalian which is a kind of Christian, but he was a
minister, he was a preacher. And so the very interesting thing about Alan Watts is that
he has a great understanding of both the western and the eastern religious practices,
religious beliefs. And not just the normal kind of religion, just go to church and pray and
read your little book, but really the deeper meanings of both Christianity, Buddhism, etc.
And he has a great way of teaching eastern religions, especially Buddhism and Taoism,
to western people in a way we can understand.
So anyway, he's also just a really funny, interesting guy and a very intellectual guy, very
intelligent. So this is from one of his books about Taoism. Now Taoism is actually
spelled with a "T", T-a-o-i-s-m, but it's pronounced "Daoism" like it's a "D". Why is that?
Because English spelling is crazy. English spelling, as you already know, is very difficult
and there's no logic about it, or very little logic about it. So it's spelled with a "T" but
pronounced as a "D". I don't know why. Why didn't we just spell it with a "D"? I don't
know. It comes from Chinese words so I guess they wrote it, they heard it wrong and I
don't know. Anyway, it's pronounced "Daoism" and the book is called "Taoism Way
Beyond Seeking" by Alan Watts, A-l-a-n and then his last name W-a-t-t-s. And by the
way, he has a great podcast, alanwatts.com I believe is his podcast. So in this book
Alan Watts talks about Taoism.
Taoism is a philosophy, not really a religion, I don't think. Maybe it is, I don't know, but
in my opinion it's really more of a philosophy. It's a way of living. It's a philosophy about
life. And it's a very natural philosophy. The basic idea of Taoism is that you should live
in harmony with nature. You should follow nature, be part of nature. And if you live with
nature instead of fighting it, your life will be much more successful and happy and easy.
It's a little bit like Thoreau's idea. Remember Thoreau, Walden, remember that lesson?
Well, Taoism has a similar kind of feeling. This idea that we don't fight against things,
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