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From: !
Newsgroups: alt.philosophy.taoism
Subject: Re: Tai Chi and Taoism
Date: 27 Apr 1995 04:40:08 -0700
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|Could someone supply this newsgroup with a FAQ 

no, FAQs are 'Frequently Asked Questions', and as this newsgroup is very new,
 we can't very well have an idea what questions will be frequently asked

I am compiling a running file of posts in response to those which may be among 
 their number (e.g. 'what is the best translation of _Tao Teh Ching_?'), and I
 will be happy to repost these occasionally, though I wouldn't call this a 
 FAQ until somewhere down the line

now what you may wish to generate are REFERENCE FILES containing particular
 perspectives on taoism (philosophic, religious, popular, arts, as well as
 various slants on even these).  such files will be incomplete but that is
 fine and good.  a FAQ is more for redirecting questions which come up over
 and over and over again.  possible FAQs might be:

'what is tao/ism?'
'is taoism a philosophy or a religion?'
'who was lao tzu?'
'is taoism Chinese only or does it come from other places?'

we cannot be sure, however, and only time will tell.  as you shall discover
 if you study these subjects long enough (I contend), there are no 'single,
 authoritative answers', and good overviews are often quite hard to come by,
 their authors always being short-sighted or overly biased in some direction

|or perhaps a rundown on how Tai Chi relates to Taoism?  

does it?  now this is a rather specific question which should be addressed
 by those knowledgeable in (both?) field(s).  you might also check on a
 martial arts group or in soc.religion.eastern.  if you ask here again in
 a few months I'll consult my library and see if I can dig up a response

|I'm willing to upload some poemms by Lao Tze if needed.

'poems'?  hehehehehe, very nice

I suspect we'll have many people quoting translations of Mr. Longears,
 and yet is he really an authority on taoism?  perhaps so.  I like the
 book _The Tao is Silent_, by Raymond Smullyan, but I'm sure this would
 seem silly to the serious (and dour!) student