Get It Now 365 Tao: Daily Meditations Put Together By Ming-Dao Deng Presented As Digital Format

started the book on January, so I had to read the firstdays all at once,
I have been doing really good with keeping up with the daily reading since then,
I hope to finish it this go round, The first time I ended up quitting,/

I made a community on LJ calledtao to help me keep up with my daily reading, As expected, some of the entries in this book contain clear hints of personal bias, Every writing on the subject of the Tao must, inescapably, be the result of passing the apprehension of Tao through a personal filter, In some cases e. g. Cleary's Tao Te Ching, this yields something so heavily slanted as to allow almost all value in the work to slide right off of it in others e.
g. Stephenson's Tao Te Ching, the result is very subtle and yields one of the better Taoist works I've read,

Tao is a relatively unique approach to addressing the Tao, as a "daily devotional" reader, in that it is divided into far more discrete, standalone chunks than almost any other book format.
Some of them I found actually contradictory with my own perception of the Tao, but they were exceedingly rare, Overall, I found it contemplative, inspiring, and interesting, I would recommend it with the same caveat that must apply to any other philosophical, contemplative work: it was written by a human, While I like the design of this book, I can't say it actually worked for me, I found it had a fairly low hit rate of daily items that resonated for me, and as a result, I found myself falling out of the habit of using it on a daily basis, even though it was sitting on my desk.
So I'd ignore it for a while, then catch up, reading five or ten entries at a go to get back into sync, Just not for me, I guess, Fire cools.
Water seeks its own level,
No matter how extreme a situation is, it will change, It cannot continue forever. Thus, a great forest fire is always destined to burn itself out a turbulent sea will become calmer, Natural events balance themselves out by seeking their opposites, and this process of balance is at the heart of all healing,
This process takes time, If an event is not great, the balancing required is slight, If it is momentous, then it may take days, years, even lifetimes for things to return to an even keel, Actually, without these slight imbalances, there could be no movement in life, It is being off balance that keeps life changing, Total centering, total balance would only be stasis, All life is continual destruction and healing, over and over again,
That is why, even in the midst of an extreme situation, the wise are patient, Whether the situation is illness, calamity, or their own anger, they know that healing will follow upheaval, This is a deceptively simple collection of thoughts on Taoism, which is so refreshingly uncluttered with dogmatism as compared to most other books on spirituality/religion I've read in the past that the author nearly could have removed all references to "Tao" or "Taoism" from the text without affecting the integrity of the ideas expressed.


It's such an accessible introduction that even though I read this on a whim and had no previous interest in this philosophy, I know I'll be reading more about it now.
That gets itfrom me, easily, Theth star is because it quite unexpectedly helped me to understand myself better,

One realization I had while reading fairly personal, . be warned was that in a way, I've been swimming upstream my entire life whenever I encounter a challenge my response is almost always to just put my head down and power through it, do whatever it takes to resolve it.
This attitude has helped me to be successful in many ways but also left me a debt of accumulated stress,

I know now that I have to learn how to go with the flow more not jump at every challenge that presents itself, be more prepared for situations rather than simply throwing energy at them as a reflex, seek out more alternatives and compromises, and appreciate more where I am and not think too much about where I should be.


Obviously, this book won't trigger such introspective thoughts for everyone, but you never know, Read it and find out! A wonderful book, with deep wisdom, If I were sent to a desert island with two books, this would be one, This is my goto book for reading before meditation, I've owned it longer than I've been marriedyears, and I had to replace my copy a few years ago because the old one was falling apart from use.
All of which is meant to say, I love this book! I can't imagine how MingDao Deng managed to include so much poetry, inspiration and wisdom in one small volume.
I recommend it highly. Even though I've been turning to this book for many years, I continue to find fresh and relevant insights,: "Even death is not a true ending, Life is infinite continuation Celebrate every turning. And persevere with joy. "
A great addition and stepping stone to the wider world of meditative practices,
And on a sentimental note, this book stayed with me through a lot, and I studied it in moments of seeking, a true companion, Each page is well worn! The book is organized by the topic, but those topics are random, There are short stories/meditations related to chosen topic, Personally, I found it lacking some depth, It didn't leave me thinking and I forgot about it the moment I finished reading, Not a good sign for this type of books,
I have read few books about Buddhism and Tao, but this was one of the least compelling ones, Perhaps, the tuning was wrong for me, Not sure. some kind of petit bourgeois zen corruption of tao

there's one chapter where the author writes bastardised beat poetry about fat consumers, prostitutes and winos

fuck off purity of the mind is an ontological project, not a moral one

you don't get to body and class shame people, while telling them to disavow judgemental thoughts Use a mirror in difficult times:
You will see both cause and resolution.


When faced with adversity, you must ask whether you have done anything to bring misfortune upon yourself, If the present difficulties are the unforeseen outcome of events that you yourself set in motion, then it is necessary both to learn from your mistakes and to search for any possible way to correct them.
If the difficulties are due to character flaws, then the situation should be resolved, and the basic fault must afterwards be eradicated,

As the title suggests, it took me a year to get through this book, Some days are profound and interesting, some are confusingly mundane, judgmental, or even contradictory, But that's the author's reflection of Tao, When I got to the end I started again, it's become my firstthing morning meditation, This is one of my alltime favorite goto books for quick centering, With literally a different concept for each day of the year, it is concisely written and easilydigestible with onepage for each concept, including a single word, the Chinese character, a poem and a Taoist principle.
It is the perfect bitesized collection of Taoist "snacks, " It is amazing how appropriately each concept lines up with each day of the year there is a different calendar for the Northern and Southern hemispheres for example.
I once used it to make a mix tape ofstraight days of contemplation and personal growth, every one of which fit the day's theme perfectly, I have even read pages from it at weddings, An absolute must for any Eastern philosophy/religion library, I did enjoy setting time aside to read this book sometimes I kept up with it day to day and sometimes I caught up, Every page made me think and then not think, whether I agreed or disagreed with the concept/metaphors/wording,

Some pages did occasionally make me roll my eyes for the spiritual personification and writing didn't match my scientific grasp of things, not in a way that I think means I need to transcend science, but that the metaphors needed to be adjusted or reconsidered.
I suppose that withpages some were bound to not fit quite right,

I did tag the pages that really fit with me, though, so I'm excited to keep this book nearby and take a look at those pages again through the years.
Ši knyga tikra meditacija. Mums labai norisi aštrių pojūčių, stulbinamų pramogų, ir tai mus dar labiau įpainioja į gyvenimo sumaištį, Knyga apie vidinę darną, ramybę, atsisakymą stimuliuoti realybę, A book I will theoretically never be finished with, My day starts with this book, year after year, as my daily meditation and starting point for a journal entry, There areentries, one for each day of the year, except on leap year. Each entry contains a short poem and then two or three short paragraphs explaining the word for the day, By the time you finish reading each page, your mind shifts into new awareness of that word and its meaning and how it applies to your life.
I have never found another book that feels so aligned with my inner beliefs as this one, Even things I'm not sure about seem to click into place once I read what Deng MingDao has expressed so simply, The pages are now falling out and I probably should get a new copy, but this is my bible for life philosophy and spiritual understanding and if others were in alignment with this book, I feel the world would be better for it.
TopFavorite Shelf for me, I loved reading this daily reminder of my practice, The stories were wonderful and always gave me something to consider and get my day started with, I read it foryears straight, Will do it again this next year, This book is filled with unique quotes and interesting philosophy for every human dilemma,days of the year, I found it a great book to have on hand when feeling confused or overwhelmed about any aspect of life, or life in general, I give it an A plus for it's perspective, "wind in the cave
Movement in stillness
Power in silence"
"Thunder and rain at night
Growth comes with a shock
Expression and duration
Appear in the first moment"
MingDao Deng ,Tao: Daily

Meditations This is a book that I have both read and am currently reading.
As a former devotee of the Christian religion, I grew up with daily devotional readings being a regular part of life, Both sets of grandparents read "Our Daily Bread" every morning with their cereal and toast, Having a Taoist equivalent is refreshing at this later stage of life, Dao is an excellent writer and proponent of life in the "Way, " The daily readings I've found to be insightful, though on occasion forgettable or a bit trite the one on 'War' for example where the message is 'war bad peace good.
' Still this is an excellent book for those looking for daily reflections of an alternative religious paradigm, I read this as a daily mailing list, with each day's writing sent on that day, Many of these writings were so germane to my life, and I would guess to that those of many others, Each writing included an extract plus MingDao's interpretation and modernization, Many of these writings spurred me to write in my journal, and that alone made this a worthy read! Calming yet challenging blurbs of zen wisdom, Combines short poetry, familiar maxims, and common sense into bitesize chill pills goes perfectly with morning coffee,

I've read thisx now, It was just as helpful and refreshing each time around, One of the best sources of guidance made accessible to an English speaking audience, With the end of the year, I'll be saying "so long" to this little book like lots of people I usually read something before I meditate and for the past year Deng has been providing that for me.
He almost always has something to say worth thinking about, even on those occasions when I don't particularly agree with him, Once in a while he's a little obscure, but then I'm not a Taoist, and if that's your tradition the same things might not be obscure at all.
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