Section
The East
Tao, Buddhism, Sufism and their interpreters.
TraditionTen lessons from Taoism on living without forcing life's rhythmTaoism proposes acting in harmony with the natural course of things; ten popular lessons help explain wu wei, action without forced effort.TraditionKrishnamurti on freedom: no guru, no method and no conflictJiddu Krishnamurti, groomed to be a world teacher, spent his life rejecting gurus and methods; he held that only direct observation dissolves problems.TraditionThe Book of Mirdad: Mikhail Naimy's parable on the self, silence, and the wordPublished in 1948, the Lebanese writer's novel follows a stranger's arrival at a monastery, arguing the ego imprisons the soul and the word creates reality.AccountSexual transmutation: what Taoism, Tantra, and Alchemy propose about conserving energySeveral esoteric traditions view sexual energy as a resource that can be conserved and refined; science does not confirm the promised benefits.AccountWhy we suffer: Buddhism, Taoism, and karma in Laércio Fonseca's readingLaércio Fonseca joins the Four Noble Truths, Taoism, and karma to argue that suffering educates the spirit and ends through forgiveness and compassion.TraditionFear, envy, anger, and hatred as refusals: a reading inspired by Rumi and SufismA text by Vozes do Silêncio, inspired by Rumi, Mira Bai, and Sufism, defines poison as a lack of measure and sees in love the answer to fear, envy, and hatred.AccountBruce Lee and the Philosophy of Water: Adaptation, Self-Control, and a Fighter's LegacyBruce Lee became a symbol of adaptation and discipline; the quotes attributed to him, the image of water, and his death at 32 explain the myth's staying power.TraditionŚūnyatā: what Nagarjuna meant by emptiness, and what it is notNagarjuna argued that nothing exists by itself; a video lecture explains emptiness and compares it to Śaṅkara's Advaita Vedānta.