Taoism > Email Courses

A 10-lesson online course
by Jhian and the Way of Perfect Emptiness

Status: Continuous

Description______
Tao-te ching is one of the most popular books in the Western world today. We feel there's something special and exciting in its teachings, but we don't know what. We have a lot of translations and much more essays and works approaching its meaning. Still we meet with difficulty when trying to read it. Just open the book right now and read the first verse: The Tao that can be explained is not the Eternal one. What is the meaning of this verse? What do this verse trying to teach you? Is there any key of deciphering this enigma?

Lao-tzu Meets Confucius

The difficulty of grasping the meaning of Tao-te ching teachings consists in the fact that we treat the Book like any other modern book. But Tao-te ching has been composed several thousands years ago and, what is worst, it is written in the ancient Chinese - a language that doesn't seem to fit the accuracy of our modern English. A language based mainly not on words but pictures. Imagine a language that uses images of things instead of words. Thus we may have something like: "mirror", "foot", "western pole", "sun", "water", and have to link all of them in a consistent phrase, something like: While going to the West I saw the sun mirrored by the lake. What a delightful day!

Moreover the book itself is rather a collection of texts without much connection between them! What a mess!

Fortunately specialists found that the book may be abridged to its basic themes. In short, we only should try to seize the meaning of several concepts or ideas such as Tao, Yin-Yang, Wu, Wu-Wei and Te. These concepts made the spiritual core of the so-called Taoism, a way of living in harmony with the Tao or the Great Pervader. So knowing much about Taoism is stepping further to the deciphering of Tao-te ching.

This course is about the life of Lao-tzu and the meaning of his concepts described in his Tao-te ching . We explain the basics by following the simplest path of revealing their plain significance. There's nothing academical or mystical with these concepts - nothing hidden. Everything is there and waits to be discovered!

Lessons______
1. Who Is Lao-tzu?
2. Lao-tzu Meets Confucius
3. Introduction to the Tao-te ching (name, structure, concepts)
4. What is Tao?
5. What is Emptiness (wu)?
6. What is Nondoing (wu-wei)?
7. Yin and Yang Principles in Tao-te ching
8. The Spirit of Mysterious Valley
9. The Art of Meditation in Tao-te ching
10. Lao-tzu and Taoism

Quiz and Bonus______
The bonus for this course is a PDF paper entitled: The Sage Walks on Tao. That is, a commentary of some paragraphs of the Book and their meaning from a Taoist adept point of view. There's also a quiz if you wish to test your acquired knowledge upon finishing the course. The quiz is not mandatory.

Interactivity______
We provide full email interactivity with this course. This means you may send your inquiries to Jhian, the teacher, and receive quick answers. You can ask about everything related to the course.

Online delivery______
This course is delivered through email directly to your email address provided upon the registration. Lessons are sent on a schedule of 1 lesson every 2 days. Thus you have enough time to read them.

Cost: US$ $25

Order now______
You may order this course through credit card/PayPal and start reading within minutes. Please click the button below and follow the instruction.

NOTE: By clicking the ORDER NOW button you'll be taken to our online order form. Please complete the form as required. Upon the completion you'll be given a link that leads to the confirmation page with further information related to the course delivery. Please click that link and follow the instruction.

Help______
Need help with this course? Please send your inquiry to Lynn at support@taopage.org . We are glad to assist you.

Copyright Way of Perfect Emptiness, 2012. All rights reserved.