I have always (well, since college) had an affinity for the philosophies of the Far East.

I have read and tried to embody the Tao (yep, that's a pretty pompous statement), and now I have just started reading a bit about Zen Buddhism.

I can hear many of you rolling your eyes out there and calling it "a bunch of hocus-pocus bullshit" or some such thing. That's fine. I felt kinda the same way at first.

Anyway, I am not going to evangalize. I just wanted to know if anyone else here is into this.

And did you ever notice that Zen is kinda a spiritual Chaos Theory? (Yeah, I know it's an oversimplification, but what description isn't?)

Love,
Toddiewhoyouthinkhasgoneovertheedge

I haven't read much stuff about Zen actually, Todd (any starters you'd suggest?), but have been down with Taoism for a while (12+ years). Love it. Not necessarily practical in a Western sense with its focus on non-action (or effortless action, I guess), but it really resonates a lot with me.

Give me some more details about the connection with Chaos Theory. What are the similarities you see?

Early on in College I took a course on the intro to eastern religion and I found it very interesting...I have always found the ideas of Zen and yin & yang etc. much more interesting than the western ideas of religion...Don't really know much to speak on the subject...Just my small bit of interaction in college...

I've really only just begun exploring the philosophy of Zen and have not yet learned any actual methods of practice. So take into my account my extreme beginner level with all this stuff when I describe it as "similar to Chaos Theory".

But of the few pages I have read, so far, the strong emphasis has been placed on the interconnectedness of all things.
That we all come from the same source.
And are all, essentially, a part of the whole.

But apart from that, it also teaches that all we know is perception, yet there is a true concrete reality out there that we cannot know through our own senses. Hence, the focus on meditation and the pursuit of enlightment. It also seems to tie in very nicely with Taoism... they appear to be highly interconnected.

(Which, obviously, keeps with both philosophies.)

It's a beautiful method of thought (or, non-thought, actually) and it can be practical in Western culture, in many ways.

As to starters... I can't even remember the name of the book that I'm reading now; or the name of its editor.

outside of alcohol and my desire to acquire music, i do my best to adhere to the tenents of buddhism...

the idea that my desire for material things leads to my eventual unhappiness is an idea that i leave at the forefront of my mind

i have been practicing Buddhism for 6 years.

todd, check out this link: http://www.buddhanet.net/ebooks_ms.htm

Sketch in 5... oh, wait

I'm interested in anything that involves "non-action".

sketch, you still a member of beliefnet?

A Buddhist Bush supporter. Now I've seen it all

Not going to get too far into this one, but Buddhism, to me, like ALL religion briefs well. Its putting it into action (or non-action) where it falls apart.

Yeah, I get the daily Bible/Jewish/Muslim/Buddhist/Hindu/Prayer emails but don't read the articles as often as I used to. Stuff I get is still pretty quality.

Todd: As I understand it, Zen is a sort of Taoism/Buddhism hybrid. That's how it was described in my college class anyway. I find a lot about interconnectedness and ultimate reality in what little I've read of western mystics as well (Rumi, Meister Eckhart... sp?, Blake, Emerson et al)

Haq is funny.

how dare people have faith in something.

dude, give it a break. i don't follow blindly.

i was brought up as a buddhist. i don't really follow it or anything. but if you strip it off (all the legends and the hundred thousand years of priests fagging it up with their own bullshit) to its bare essence, its actually more intelligent (in a extremely paradoxical manner) than 99% of the stuff out there. that said, stuff lao tzu said is prbly all the more amazing cuz how so goddamn motherfucking concise all of it is. its like you expand on a dot, and there you have it, EVERYTHING.