or... what is the difference between practising Dudeism & Taoism?
Lots of questions drifting around the internet wondering if Dudeism is an off-shoot of Taoism, is it just a shadow of the main religion, are they related, I'm sure you get the idea.
These are fair assumptions when we look at some of the main books written by His Dudely Lama, (Dudeism's founder Oliver Benjamin) for example, The Dude de Ching' A Dudeist Interpretation of the Tao Te Ching, 2015.
But the answer, from this Dudeist priest, who has also been involved with Taoist groups for over thirty years... is no.
er, and yes.
Is Dudeism the same as Taoism - No
For the sake of putting things into boxes and making them appear nice and neat without any rough edges and difficult things floating around that kinda fuzz the picture... there are two types of Taoism (so I've written three):
Religious Taoism ZhengYi tradition - think exorcisms, weddings, funerals, selling charms, hand talismans, dudes walking around in a cloud of incense wearing silky robes of bright coloured dragons and butterflies. Dating back to around the 2nd C CE.
Religious Taoism Longmen Quanzhen tradition - which has its roots in Wang Chongyan's epiphany around 900 years later. These dudes, tend to wear navy blue outfits with long white gaiters to protect their holy garb from the wear and tear of trekking wild paths, and they also have a little black hat. They combine Taoism with Buddhism and Confucianism. Unlike ZhengYi which tends to have small temples in the cities or houses, Longmen (which means Dragon Gate) often has them up mountains, near forests, but also in towns. They focus on Taoyin (think yoga mixed with qigong - stretching and pulling exercises), meditation, qigong, herbs, scripture and so on. Both are current today.
Philosophical Taoism which is quite a Western thing - is usually based on the Tao Te Ching and Chuang Tsu. There are other classics that come into the fold, such as Huainantzu, Wen Tsu, and Lieh Tsu - and those often refer to the ancients which leads one to the understanding that Taoism is far older than any of these books. The three of these "parts" of Taoism all focus on immortality (but read below).
Dudeism is none of these things, right? Yes, Dudeist priests can do wedding ceremonies and the like, and I'm sure if you fed them enough and threw some alcohol their way, they'd probably exorcise a ghost or two. But it bears no resemblance to those things.
Is Dudeism the same as Taoism - Yes
Where the Taoist classics often describe the Sage, as being a person who has seen something about life that is different than common people, and who has their roots in a different sort of Wisdom than where normal folk are looking, we begin to see some similarities between the Sage and the Dude.
The Taoist sage can appear quite unconventional.
They can be very untroubled by matters of life. They are uninterested in wealth and fame. They go with the flow and naturally abide by life's strikes and gutters because their mind is unaffected by them.
They aren't following conventional rules, they follow the One Law of Tao; our inherent wisdom.
They are difficult to control because they don't want anything, other than to be left alone, in some mountain cave, or pottering around urban streets where nobody recognises them.
They prize a vacant mind but aren't disturbed by one full of thought. And they take it easy. They shun the crazy busy life of humanity and its self-belief. They aren't materialistic, or even spiritual. They don't overachieve. And they'd probably go to the store and write a 69-cent check for some half and half and think nothing of it.
On reflection, perhaps the question shouldn't be whether Dudeism is like Taoism, but rather:
Is the dude like the sage?
Yes! And, er, no...
Yes for all the reasons mentioned above but no for some critical points that make a significant difference. And it is these differences that I began discussing in the early days of this Dudeism blog from the first post... What makes a dude a Dude?
A dude is not the same as a Dude. And a dude is not practising Dudeism for non-being, no-self, inner alchemy, and immortality.
But the Dude? Well, that's something different...
What's the difference between a dude, and a Dude?
A dude is a normal guy or girl who might seem like a dude to us. Maybe they are cool without trying. Perhaps they are following Dudeism, have become a Dudeist priest, have studied philosophy at The Abide University, and are regular online visitors to The Church of the Latter-Day Dude.
Maybe it's someone sitting quietly at a corner of the bar, a man for their time and place. Not drawing attention to themselves. Pretty chilled.
None of this is the Dude.
The Dude has seen through the lie of the self. He or she came to know they are the One Single Totality that gets labeled Tao, God, or the Flying Spaghetti Monster but is without name. It is the endless, infinite, Oneness of Being. An unborn, undying, infinite no-self of no-thingness.
And nothing's fucked here, dudes.
The universal ball of goodness is flowing down the alley of heavenly strikes and gutters, and everything is fine as it is. Pins get hit without trying. But no one's rolling.
There's nothing to do. No one to do it. No one getting dinged up by meatheads. No one is bent out of shape when their rug gets pissed on.
Just life, life-ing itself.
Here is the Dude. Here is the Sage.
Looking at the world and all its noise and chaos, knowing that it will return to stillness. A great settledness through which they are present.
And the Dude finds great peace in this. Does this make the Dude a Taoist? No. It makes them the Tao.
The Nameless.
Er what-do-you-call-it-thingy-me-bob.
When all is One, all opposites are the same One. Yes and no, is the same answer.
Natural radicalness.
Rev. Thomo
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