Taoist Texts

exactly. like Jung said 'they dont have thoughts, they have opinions'. It amuses me to repeat that there is no word for 'nature' in ancient chinese'; and whatever it is translated as nature, nobody is required to 'follow' it. "to follow nature" is a meaningless made-up phrase, its a word salad what does that even mean in english? to jump like a rabbit or something? so this phrase was always meaningless. people just repeat it, and 'explain' it simply because they do not think for themselves.

a lion is a cat. the first lesson would be called 'breakfast without hate'.

yes 4 keywords

no. What you listed are strengths not virtues . Strengths have nothing to do with ethics or morals. An unethical or an immoral man can have them. Virtues are: The Five Constants are:[58] Ren (benevolence, humaneness) Yi (righteousness, justice) Li (propriety, rites) Zhi (智; zhì: wisdom, knowledge) Xin (sincerity, faithfulness) These are accompanied by the classical four virtues (四字; sìzì), one of which (Yi) is also included among the Five Constants: Yi (see above) Loyalty (忠; zhōng) Filial piety (孝; xiào) Continence (节; 節; jié)

lets say a reader does not know anything about china or any kind of breath exercise. the sentence will inform him: 'real men always breath deep as if their breath comes from their heels up'. a reasonable reader will understand this sentence to a t. he will need no evidence nor experience nor explanation. he will surmise: 'deep calm breath=good'. thats what ZZ says and there is nothing more to it. now if you personally want to imitate the real men or to learn about ancient chinese culture and so on, you may do more research. but no research is necessary to understand ZZ for a reasonable average reader.

so at that age he was capable of lovemaking? thats amazing! my hat off to him!

that is exactly correct. the lesson to be learned from it is still 'taking it easy' tho i used wife simply to find stories about family life as most relatable to all of us

to be useless, of course to take it easy

they are all from the original no, we should not. commentaries do not add anything to the original. you can read Guo's commentary in regular font and ZZ's original in bold here https://cup.columbia.edu/book/zhuangzi/9780231123877 as you see Guo is merely paraphrasing no not really. what you see is what you get. its all there in black and white on the page. no Chinese mind necessary. if you formulate a question regarding a story i can answer it for you if you wish this is what ZZ also thinks. but he also proposes a way to do something about those issues

no, none of them are based on his commentary. all of them are based on ZZ itself in Guo's redaction it is not important per se. the only reason why it could be somewhat interesting is that Guo butchered ZZ from 50 to 30 chapters, so peeps read Guo trying to guess what is it that he cut out. Otherwise his commentary is meaningless paraphrasing of ZZ

i am not going to. i just wanted to ask, are you all right fren? me and my Himalayan fam are worried about you all in due time grasshopper...all in due time...and its a 'Doctor' my first diploma literally says 'electrical engineer'...just saying actually all of them do. in order to get paid for their esoterics on their discord channels you know i am that teacher and thank you. the poster made a long elaborate joke about me. sorry it mislead you to take the post seriously. it is a joke. as in 'ha-ha' joke.

i dont mind, anyone is welcome to say anything they want about me, i never get angry this seems to be aimed at me a lil bit so no, i am almost none of those things. i am just healthier than the most, that part is true we are not in competition. i deal in intangibles: old words and eternal salvation. while you do something totally different. to borrow an expression from my field: 'your students are as numerous as hair on a cowhide, mine are as few as horns on a cow's head'. however for my research i investigate the modern energetics, thats why i participate in these debates. well, and for giggles too.

yeah but you see, then he would have to go get one of those job things as to you i am pretty sure you have powers. you just keep them secret hmm may be you wanna read up on "cults" and "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mass_psychogenic_illness". they know all kinds of things about stoves and stuff

But how we know which one of his miracles is legit and which one is a trick? Does he claim his tricks are legit? Who is this Zhou, i lost track?

so... if the zapper-healer-donor gives his healing qi to the patient - from where does this qi come? if it is a healing qi why it heals only certain minor diseases if at all, and not all of them? it is a healing qi how long the healing effect lasts? if it is a healing qi how come the zapper gets sick and ages himself? if it is a healing qi how come the zapper at least does not look at all healthier/younger than a regular person his age?

a samurai has no goal, only a path go on i am listening! great idea , I did, when i was writing my PHD dissertation on intl. law

well there are good news and bad news. 1. any lawyer who would take your retainer would be stringing you on because such a lawsuit is not feasible nor legally nor practically. thats good news because not getting strung is always good 2. despite agreeing with that guy about the major delusion you entertain, i support giving him a time out because he overdid it on insults. thats bad news on account of me being pro-free-speech so i feel bad

they dont. hypnosis works due to a verbal/visual cue triggering an obedience mechanism and to understand the cue the patient uses his consciousness not the subconscious. It has nothing to do with the spirit of the operator being issued into the patient as 发神 implies. moreover there is no such term аs 发神 in general chinese or in chinese MA. It sounds made up. In taoism 发神 is a spirit of the hair on the head. In general chinese there is fā shén jīng (coll.) to go crazy As to the acupuncture the needle does all the work. In MA it is peng that does all the work. And NLP is fake news. Gotta get your ducks in a row.

I do. As you see, only I had the expertise to devise a definitive test on qi vs hypnosis. Moreover I know in advance every argument and counterargument from the both parties in this debate. Frankly it is like a bunch of preschoolers debating who is stronger Magneto or Superman. My wisdom is unique in the world. I am here to save those who can be saved.

hypnosis is very easy to distinguish from "real qi. Because hypnosis is based on an verbal and visual suggestion. All it takes is for a self-proclaimed qi zapper to silently lay "hands on an unbiased test subject from behind, without any warning, and try to zapp him. Of course it would not work. And of course the zappers would never agree to such a test. Because it will reveal their zapping to be a self induced feeling by the patient not some kind of a miracle qi transfer. Quite boring actually. But it is quite funny when simpletons get all cultish about an ordinary parlor trick like this. When they pay thousands of bucks for it it is even funnier.

trust the science (c)

what is going on with any kind of laying of hands is that 10% of humans atavistically feel and do what they are signaled by the leader. Its a survival mechanism hard-wired in the reptilian brain: a strong external signal from the leader switches off the individual volition. A flock of animals following the flock leader has a much higher chance of survival than a flock where every individual decides for himself. No neigong is necessary for an individual to experience a shock, as on the vid, note that the pastor has to physically touch the faithful to trigger the mechanism. They are been told that they will fall - they fall; if they would have been told they would get a healing electric shock - they would feel a a healing electric shock. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slain_in_the_Spirit

look man if you are so worked about the poor old me all you have to do is to start a thread on me and go full third degree. i promise to answer to the best of my ability, cross my heart. in the meantime can we please not to harsh everybody's mellow here? peace man

look amigo, i hate to break it to you but you are not the boss of me. my missus is. you addressed me first on this thread. i only reply because i was not raised in a barn. its a curse, i tell ya. your zeal rubs me the right way so gladly: the results i guarantee is that i explain the workings of the universe with all and any spiritual teachings in it via alchemy, according to...(drum roll)...taoist texts. Or your money back. Thats it. You see i am very comfortably retired for 20 years now. I dont need your money, it being just a courtesy. Hence i dont need to make clownish claims, as opposed to the shameless "teachers' who are greedy for your money. hehe no, thank you, i will not be baited into harassing a forumer. Do you see me questioning the guy who directs hurricanes with his magic? No, despite that being so much more thrilling than puny zapping. Now when you can knock a galaxy from its axis come back and let me know. Seriously though: i dont ask questions of the hurricane wizard or the zapping maestro because i know every word they say in advance. Seriously, i do. I admit i am guilty of occasionally cracking a good-natured joke at their expense. dont you mean ion machines fulminating? hehe;)

we are no fellows. when i take money i guarantee exact results. words do not prove anything so no, not really quaking in my boots. Please understand that on the interwebs there are different people claiming to change weather, to shoot laser beams out of their eyes; to be inheritors to a million year old "traditions"; to throw people at a mere touch; to have a third eye; to see spirits; and so on and so forth. Who heard one of them - heard them all. Zapping ppl is just wednesday on their planet. I saw thousands of them. All boring. But thanks.