Hi. I don't really know what all I'm supposed to say here, but I'll try not to bore anyone.
I just stumbled across this forum today after doing a Google search for Andrew Nugent-Head, who I Googled because I had just watched a couple of lectures he did on the Tao Te Ching. This seems like an interesting place full of interesting people, so I thought I'd register and join in.
I read the Tao Te Ching for the first time four years ago, and it made no sense to me. I thought it was meaningless babbling with a few wise proverbs thrown in. About four years ago, I reread it and could hardly believe it was the same text. It absolutely blew my mind. Since then, I've been reading different translations, read a bit of Chuang Tzu, etc., but really never had any idea if there was anything I could do about this new (to me) thing that I had discovered.
More recently, I came across a bit of discussion on "inner cultivation," and the idea of kind of scraping away the things that keep a person out of harmony with the Tao, and I'm interested in learning more about that. Which is another reason I joined here, since there seem to be people here who actually know Chinese, which means I can get advice from people who aren't just reading Western writers' interpretations of things.
Anyway, I hope I haven't been too boring, or accidentally said something foolish or offensive to anyone.
Have a wonderful day!
