Taoist

Tao is a Chinese word usually translated as the Way, or the Way of Nature, or the Natural Process. A Taoist is someone who follows the Tao. The key phrase for the Taoist is Forget self and become one with the Tao. So to follow the Tao we need to forget our selfishness, our self-interest, self-importance and self-image. We all forget self occasionally, for example when we become totally engrossed in something really interesting or enjoyable or dangerous. However, these occasions always end and are all too infrequent, especially as we get older. So how do we work on forgetting self? We need a method to practice which will gradually whittle away at self until it no longer has a strangle hold on our life and energy. An example of such a method would be Tai Chi, if it is correctly taught. However, almost any line of study would be valid if it is correctly taught (correct teaching is the most difficult thing of all to find). A teacher who teaches his method correctly we call a Master. The practice of a method under the tutelage of a Master we call the work. With patience and perseverance the work gradually enters our life, self-concerns slowly disappear and we begin to follow the Tao. As the years go by the work becomes so all consuming that the Tao begins to enter the student as the student enters the Tao – a joining and a becoming takes place. A person who has reached this stage would not really be called a Taoist – they cannot be labelled or described.