There are many “Taoism” videos on TikToks and YouTube these days, and all I see is a “showcase” of useless stuff, while many people think they are genuine “learning materials” to learn from. Some people thought you could copy this guy doing handsigns, and it will have magical power. Some people followed a video doing a FU and thought he could make one and have magical powers. It’s crazy. This trend of video just somehow drives me crazy.
A Taoism FU doesn’t need to be done with a calligraphy brush; it could be done with anything from pencils to chalk as long as the agreement with the god is there. However, many people tend to fall for the look, so they would believe these “artists” doing the FU with a brush with a nice flowing vibe. That’s how “surface” we are sometimes. It looks good, then we all fall for it. How often have you heard of “Don’t judge the book by its cover”? But you would still fall for the fancier packaging and “look” of things.
Handsigns or hand seals are the same too. It doesn’t work just by copying them off a video because you are not even in that sect/lineage, then the handsigns don’t work for you. Everything is about your agreement with the gods, not what they “look like” on the surface. What’s even funnier is that the guy doing the video on TikTok might not have a real connection with any god. Flashy videos with flashy effects are the perfect formula for useless videos; that’s why people who create meaningless videos love filters and flashy effects. Even the Kungfu videos are like that too. The “good ones” are often dull and plain, while the ones that look flashy are all trash. However, what saddens me is that the flashy ones got more views, and more people believe them to be “real and good” while the good ones are ignored.
It’s like Chinese food when it first got introduced to the west; no one likes it because everything looks “brown” and nothing “looks” good to the eyes. Once they started to make it vibrant and colourful, like the sweet and sour sauce, then people loved it because of the look, not because of the food.
For Taoists like my disciples and me, I strongly suggest that you accept this brutal reality – we got the good stuff here, but we must not forget that most people only judge our stuff from the surface. Therefore, we must learn to also adapt to today’s trends and crazy nicer videos, content, and even our FUs and magic must look better to bring our good stuff to the bigger audience group. Just sitting there and complaining doesn’t help us get better; we need to learn and advance to present better. Yes, there is much flashy trash out there, but we can also be one of the ones that are not trash. You should see how important it is to advance with time and not be stuck in the past. Taoists must move forward and not get outdated, or else even our Tao will not be able to survive.
