Precepts

Daoist Guidelines for Online Activity

Embodiment, community, and place are central Daoist concerns. "Virtual reality," a series of humanely-designed and computer-simulated constructs, is un-Daoist by definition. The rise of virtual reality directly relates to the loss of body, community, and place. Every moment that one is online is a moment when practice is neglected. For Daoists who choose to use the internet, specific principles and values should be cultivated. The following guidelines are intended for developing awareness concerning online activity and its relationship to Daoist ways of being.

1. Attend to your locatedness and commitments.

2. Attend to what you are cultivating and what is influencing you.

3. Cultivate virtuous thought, speech (writing), and action.

4. Be responsive to the energetic qualities of specific experiences and the effects on your internal condition.

5. Familiarize yourself with traditional Daoist conduct guidelines, values, and ethical practices. Apply them to your own life and contexts.

6. Avoid activities that increase physical atrophy and disconnection from place.

7. Moderate your online activity.

8. Reflect on the unreal nature of "virtual reality" and its hidden functions.

9. Use personal lesiure time for meditation, movement practice, and scripture study.

10. Use the internet for simple and essential purposes.

11. Decrease distractions and mediation.

12. Develop an informed perspective about the Daoist tradition.

13. Seek out reliable sources that deepen your understanding and practice.

14. Cultivate discernment concerning content.

15. Do not become confused by the ignorant and deluded.

16. Avoid blogs and chatrooms.

17. Avoid websites and postings based on rumor, scandal, and slander.

18. Avoid those who contend over Daoist identity, especially those without formal standing in the tradition.

19. Avoid individuals and organizations based in self-promotion and materialistic concerns. Certification, trademarking, copyrighting and marketing go against basic Daoist principles.

20. Avoid those who benefit from Daoism without supporting the tradition.

21. Avoid those who sell Daoism, including initiation and ordination.

22. Avoid individuals, groups and websites that disrespect, distort and denigrate the religious tradition which is Daoism.

23. Avoid those with uneducated opinions and unsupported views or who are prone to disputation.

24. Avoid those who claim to be infallable or call themselves "master."

25. Avoid those who manipulate perception, discourage conversation, deny ambiguity or marginalize other people's experience.

26. Avoid those who use a "rhetoric of tradition" without a root in the Daoist tradition.

27. Avoid content that creates vexation or dissonance.

28. Do not become overly concerned with divergences in practice models and systems.

29. Do not initiate or promote disrespect and disharmony.

30. Do not ruminate about what is untrue or confused.

31. Do not uncritically accept the self-representations and claims of teachers and organizations.

32. Do not be acquisitive, especially for the external trappings of identity, affiliation and belonging.

33. Abstain from contention, gossip, and recklessness.

34. Abstain from egoism and dissipation through excessive searching.

35. Remain committed to direct interaction and honest communication.

36. Inquire into the source and degree of connection behind appearances.