Michael Sternbach

I once saw an early translation that had one of the pithier statements reversed in meaning, without a doubt to make it acceptable to the average Western reader at the time.

Talking about studying martial arts on your own, this dude has some really useful advice.

Study Taiji. It derives its power from paradoxes.

This brings to mind a discussion I had awhile ago with my Kenpo instructor. I was wondering why style founder Ed Parker had chosen not to share certain knife fighting techniques with the general public. Instructor: "Because they are too dangerous." Me: "Well, they are hardly more dangerous than a gun. And that's something that, in a number of states, any of his students could buy at Walmart!" Instructor: "Hmm, yes, but he would not be the one who sold it to them." Okay, fair enough. The question of personal liability. Obviously, different people have different views on this though, because what in one school is considered extremely dangerous knowledge that only a few chosen ones are entitled to, may be freely available to all from another source, especially in our modern era of the Internet. (And that's something that holds true not only for the martial arts, to be sure.) Some of the traditional rationales for secrecy are not as valid anymore these days. Martial arts schools would often disguise knowledge out of fear of enemies using it against them. E.g., Bruce Lee was among the first sifus accepting non-Chinese students, and it earned him plenty of animosity from the more traditionally minded Kung Fu community. His reply was: "If the white man wants to harm us, he has other means of doing so. He is taller, after all." Another reason for secrecy can be exclusivity, for the sake of prestige and/or financial gain. Okay, to be fair, there may still be knowledge that does not belong in the hands of everybody for ethical reasons. But this is considerably less often so than claimed, IMO. On the other hand, it is an undeniable fact that many positive developments are much facilitated by the free flowing exchange of information. It just might. That's quite possible. Likewise, in Japan, you will often see foreigners taking more interest in traditional arts and philosophical teachings than the natives. E.g., in the Aikido studios I visited there, it was not uncommon that most attendants were non-Japanese. That's possible too. I have repeatedly heard Chinese Daoists say they enjoy communicating with Western ones so much because they can't find anybody in their own environment to talk about Dao and its associated arts with. Well, Judo has simply been disseminated to the degree that it is no longer a Japanese domain. And this is true, to varying degress, for other Japanese arts as well. Just part of the globalization process, I would say.

Also, it has been shown that, when under hypnosis, individuals are suddenly capable of feats that would normally require long practice. This has been demonstrated for a variety of activities, ranging from painting to shooting. What is more, back in their normal state of mind, they tend to keep some of their newly found skills! It is also known that a learning process can be greatly accelerated when undergone in a relaxed mind, with a brain wave frequency from about 7 to 14 cycles a second (a so-called alpha state). Children naturally dwell in that kind of state much more often than adults, and it is likely that this is a major reason why they generally assimilate new knowledge more easily than the latter. Bear in mind that Daoist texts often refer to the child-like state of the sage...

I pondered on this. Do you mean that wisdom is not binary (dualistic) in nature, whereas the words that convey it, are? Please explain.

Well, be my guest. However, it is my observation that for pretty much every piece of wise advice, there is an opposite that is valid under certain circumstances.

I wasn't quite sure in which of the two threads to post this... So here's the link.

On books vs. live teaching again: When the ingenious physicist Theodor Kaluza (who laid much of the foundation of String Theory) wanted to demonstrate the often underestimated power of intellectual knowledge, he (a non-swimmer) read a book about swimming, plunged into the water and swam!

Wisdom is binary too.

Your German could use some upgrading. Although I sympathize with all non-German speakers regarding their trouble with this language's subtleties. Wow!!! And now a quantum leap from dilletantism to mastery! This is beautiful, as most German speakers would surely agree. Much to my Star-Lordly liking anyway. However, for the uninitiated, I won't spill the beans...

In all likelihood, a society that gets rid of all its imbeciles, would also find all its geniusses gone. You actually often see this dynamic within a single family, where the intellectual brilliance of one member seems to be 'balanced' by the mental retardation of a sibling. Yet the mentally retarded individual may well excel in another area, such as emotional wealth. I think that's what this is actually all about: Excellence in different areas, whether recognized as such according to the prevalent socio-cultural standards or not. The Dao is always implementing such balances, which are necessary for the welfare of a society, even though we humans with our one-sided preferences don't have the wisdom yet not to try and mess with them. Food for thought...

Quite limiting. Actually, pretty dull in my view. At best, rules are a thumb pointing at the moon.

I believe you. But what has this got to do with card driving?

Same as the first, for the way is a circle.

The one "rule" that is missing is that that, rigorously, there are no rules in Daoism. For "the way that can be shown is not the real way" - as Laotzu lets us know first off. Other than that, your list seems pretty comprehensive.

Try this one...

Second reply: Nope. But it would indeed be possible to learn driving a card by reading about it - and practice.

Did you learn to read without books? See how that works? Did you get it?

That's a tricky one. For in infinite space, the centre I mentioned is everywhere.

I think that learning from books and other medias works better for some individuals than for others. I always did a lot of reading on any topic I was interested in. One of the effects this had was that it helped me realize that the knowledge of my 'live teachers' had its limitations too. That said, I did and do learn plenty from both kinds of sources. And there have been often enough been various 'interactions' between them. Sometimes, being informed about a topic beforehand by way of books turned out to be a good preparation for subsequent live instruction. By the same token, at other times, receiving live instruction was a prerequisite for really making sense of what I was reading. On some occasions, a teacher was actually transferring something more than "just" (intellectual) information to me. Yet the same could be said of certain books, especially the ones that played a pivotal role in my development. Sure enough, there are topics that I studied on my own for decades without ever receiving any live instruction, and without ever feeling I was missing something. In any case, personal practice was what mattered most. I may address some of your other statements when I find the time.

What is God? The Zero at the centre.

This reminds me of the joke about a tourist in Ireland who asks one of the locals for directions to Dublin. The Irishman replies: ‘Well sir, if I were you, I wouldn’t start from here’.

Those terms are referring to pretty much the same state in my view. Wu wei would be the most exact equivalent. Easiest to do with an activity you resonate with, performed in an environment you enjoy - at least initially. Eventually, you may be able to apply that state of mind to most or all of your activities. Various kinds of meditation (i.e. Zen style and meditative martial arts practice) can help you achieve it too. As well as reading books on the topic.

It reminds me of the paradox of Achilles and the tortoise. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zeno's_paradoxes Welcome to the forum! (I am often here and not here at once.) Besides the DDC, I too dig Alchemy, Tarot and Kabbalah.