The Church of the Latter-Day Dude - The Dude De Ching

The Dude De Ching

A Dudeist Holy Book inspired by The Tao Te Ching of Lao Tzu and The Big Lebowski of Joel and Ethan Coen

By The Church of the Latter-Day Dude (Dudeism)

I llustrations by Colin Cotterill

Tao Te Ching Interpolation by Peter Merel

The Church of the Latter-Day Dude
www.dudeism.com
Chiang Mai Los Angeles

Preface

After the Christian Bible, the Tao Te Ching is the most widely-translated book in the world. But thats only part of the story: There are no fewer than 100 translations in English alone

This is because this Taoist holy book was written in a such a poetic Chinese idiom that no one can say for certain what it means. As a wiser fella than ourselves once said: Sometimes you read the book, and sometimes the book, well, it reads you. The Tao Te Ching is that sort of book.

The Church of the Latter-Day Dude is heavily inspired by Taoism, and so it was that in the beginning of 2009 a few enterprising members of our forum started a Tao Te Ching interpretation of their own, translating it into the parlance of our times. By this we mean they incorporated material from the film The Big Lebowski , one of Dudeisms more obvious influences.

After our compeers made it to the finals, the editorial board of The Dudespaper honed the verses a bit so that this here Dude De Ching would more closely match the message of the original Tao.

Here is the result: A book of levity and brevity which helps identify Dudeism as a modern incarnation of Taoism. Plus, to help illuminate the literal connection between the two traditions, the corresponding Taoist verse has been placed below each new Dudeist one. We hope you dig our style.

A big thanks goes out to those fellas from the forum who did the bulk of the series and set the ball in motion (Pastor Dirt and Digbys Kid especially, plus Laughing Dude, Digitalbuddha and Lone Dude). You dudes sure can roll. Also, thanks to Peter Merel for letting us use his lucid interpolation of the original Tao. Gratitude as well goes out to mystery novelist/cartoonist, Colin Cotterill for providing us with the whimsical illustrations which help tie the book together. And last but not least, a special thanks to our very own Arch Dudeship Dwayne Eutsey for the far out Inner-duction which begins on the following page.

Furthermore, this should be a living document, so if you see any room for improvement, please contact us and give us notes.

Dudeism abides,
REV. OLIVER BENJAMIN
The Dudely Lama of
TheChurch of the Latter-Day Dude

Links:

Main site: www.dudeism.com
Online version of this work: www.dudeism.com/tao
Dudeisms official publication: www.dudespaper.com
Dudeism Forum: www.dudeism.com/smf
Illustrator: www.colincotterill.com
GNU for Peter Merels Tao Te Ching:www.chinapage.com/laolicen.html

Inner-duction

In Dudeisms Take It Easy Manifesto, we pose questions that fellas wiser than ourselves have contemplated across the sands of time:

What makes a religion? Is it being prepared to do the right thing, whatever the cost? Isnt that what makes a religion? Or is it that along with a pair of testaments?

As for definite answers to these timeless queries, well, Dudes, we just dont know. There are just too many theological ins and outs and ecclesiastical strands to keep in our heads, man. Besides, we smoked a lot of Thai stick back in seminary, so, truth is, we dont remember a lot from our world religions class.

One thing we can say for certain, though: Most religions have a sacred book, a pile of holy writ that most adherents believe is the uncompromised first draft direct from God or what-have-you that really ties the cosmos together, wraps er all up. For instance, Jews have the Torah, in addition to 3,000 years of beautiful tradition from Moses to Sandy Koufax; Christians have Gospels that tell the miraculous story of how the Jesus rolled; and the fanatical cult of rich fuck reactionaries, well, they have The Wall Street Journal .

Scriptures, epistles, laws, prophecies, psalms, commandments, stock market analyses. So many learned men and women throughout the ages have disputed what they all mean, it can be quite stupefying. Even the religions that are some kind of Eastern thinglike Hinduism and Buddhismhave produced endless reams of Vedas and Sutras and rituals and chants and whatnot.

One exception to the whole divine-revelation-through-written-word thing, however, is Taoism. According to religious scholar Huston Smith, Taoism has only one basic text, the Tao Te Ching (or, in English, The Way and Its Power ), a slim volume that, as Smith says, can be read in half an hour or a lifetime. Legend has it that a Chinaman by the name of Lao Tzu one day said Fuck it (loosely translated from the Chinese), hopped on a water buffalo (possibly with rust coloration), and started heading a-way out west to Tibet.

On his way out, someone stopped Lao Tzu and asked if he would write down the tenets of his ethos before leaving town. Being a lazy man, Lao Tzu lodged his water buffalo against an abutment long enough to write the Tao Te Chings 81 short verses. When finished, he kicked his water buffalo into gear and, tossing his ringer to the man, rode off into the misty horizon of legend and myth.

Regardless of whether the legend is true, or whether Lao Tzu even really existed, the Chinaman is not the issue here, Dudes. The issue is that the Tao Te Ching is the perfect expression of Taoisms wu wei of life, or in the parlance of Huston Smith, a life of creative quietude in which the conscious mind must relax, stop standing in its own light, let go so that it can flow with the Tao (or Way) of the universe.

Dudeism has a lot in common with Taoism, of course, being its philosophical compeer. Taoists, for example, revere the fella Ive innerduced by the name of Lao Tzu (literally The Old Boy, not something most folks where I come from would self-apply); we have The Dude. Lao Tzu rejected uptight Chinese imperial society and rode off to the mountains of Tibet, while The Dude rejected uptight American imperial society and became a roadie with Metallica. Lastly and most importantly, Dudeists share Taoisms wu wei ethos of just taking it easy, man, and rolling with the cosmic flow.

Although Dudeists have The Big Lebowski (a film you can watch in a couple hours or over a lifetime), Dudeism has lacked the equivalent of our very own Tao Te Ching until now.

In this Dude De Ching that youre about to read, you have the perfect expression of Dudeism written by ordained Dudeist priests. While not riding water buffaloes to western climes like Lao Tzu (not for lack of trying, mind you), these priests have said, each in their own way, Fuck it to the stressed-out square community and have chosen instead to follow their inner Dudes calling to find some kind of metaphorical Tibet or Tao or whatever you call it in their lives.

You have your way of understanding a story and I have mine, but I think the best way to read these here verses were about to unfold is to slow down, kick back, fire up a J or sip a Caucasian, and deliberately savor these stanzas as casually as possible. This aint no spiritual In-N-Out Burger, Dudes. The Dude De Ching is just right for pondering as you soak in a tub surrounded by lit candles or when you lie on the rug that really ties your room together, digging some Dylan tunes or the clatter of your favorite bowling tournament.