Michael Sternbach

In my view, whether those activities you mentioned would be conducive to a Daoist way of life or not is mostly a question of how you do them. A "hard" martial art like Karate can become like Taiji eventually, if you focus on relaxation, development of ki, hitting pressure points rather than brute force - and meditation, of course. There is a reason why it's called Karate-do sometimes ( "do" being "dao" in Japanese) - and why so many other martial arts have this word in their name as well. Weight lifting can be a kind of "hard qigong", if done a certain way. Actually, Jwing Ming Yang categorizes it as such in one of his books. We once had a thread on this. I will see if I can retrieve it later... Having a social life and meeting people? Well, here again, whether this would be supportive of a Daoist way of living depends on how those people affect you - and that involves how you handle and affect them! Are the encounters exhaustive and pulling you down? Or strengthening and uplifting? I think the question that this boils down to is: Are you looking as Daoism as a set of rules and exercises? To me, Dao is something highly personal. As personal as it gets, actually. Following the wishes of your innermost self will set you on your way and bring you to a state of wu wei or effortless action. This is the essence of Daoism, in my understanding.

Yes, there are definitely many parallels. Probably you know the short treatise Evola wrote on the The Secret of the Golden Flower in comparison to Western spiritual Alchemy? While even in the West, the internal aspect of Alchemy has been the emphasis of many traditional texts (although by no means of all of them, as Jung and, arguably, Evola believed), and the Alchemical symbolism readily lends itself to psychospiritual interpretation, we don't find the detailed explanations, much less practical applications, of subtle anatomy that we see in Chinese texts. Comparisons of the commonalities that we do find are interesting, but not too easy a topic. Personally, I work with both approaches, but I keep them separate from each other for the most part, while remaining open to acknowledging equivalents as they present themselves.

Could you elaborate on this please? Any connection to Tree of Life and the qliphoth, respectively?

Cosmic

Dillman was one of the instructors who greatly popularized the traditional Okinawan methods. I did not claim anything else. A video of what? Not sure what you mean. What I meant is that these aspects (originally derived from Okinawan Karate, of course) are being studied and reintegrated by numerous Karate schools and teachers, including some that represent the younger Japanese styles; examples being Iain Abernethy (Wado-ryu), Chris Denwood (Wado-ryu), Werner Lind (Shotokan). Well, when Funakoshi introduced Karate to mainland Japan, he changed the Chinese sounding names of many kata to Japanese ones in order to make them more acceptable to the new audience. It is hard to know if the exciting story of Matsumura being unable to beat that thief and subsequently learning his fighting secrets from him really happened. "Chen tou" is the name of a form in the Fujian style Five Ancestors Fist, a blend of White Crane with other arts. Chen tou has many technical similarities especially with the Tomari version of the Okinawan Chinto kata. - So the video you present in your next post is also incorrect in stating that there is no Chinese form known that corresponds with Chinto kata. According to Funakoshi (in a 1914 newspaper interview), the Chinese castaway on Tomari taught various forms to a group of advanced practitioners. The Budostudienkreis around Werner Lind, which did a lot of research into the history of the forms, concluded that the first Okinawan Chinto version was actually Tomari no Chinto, passed on by Gusukuma Shiroma. It is quite different from Kosaku Matsumora's version which was the one picked up (but perhaps also influenced) by Sokon Matsumura. Nungali, seriously... You should wait with lighting your joint until you're done commenting on my posts.

Yes, there is. Some of the more famous advocates of this movement include George Dillman, Shiro Asano, Vince Morris, and Iain Abernethy, but there are also many others. As an indication of the vivid interest, books and videos available on bunkai, kyusho, tuite etc. are increasing fast. I loved the Shotokan version of that kata at the time I was practising that style of Karate. It is called Gangaku ("crane on a rock") there and is believed to be derived from an old version of White Crane Kung Fu. Nowadays, I would cross-reference the form to its oldest extant variations, of course. It's called "cross training."

The reasons why the original forms and their applications were modified include the aim to keep potentially dangerous knowledge away from children and foreigners and turn Karate into a sport. But it seems like interest in the old ways has grown during the last few decades.

Yes. Arthritis is very common among long-standing Karate practitioners.

Last month I saw a Daoist prehistoric giant sloth that rested safely underground until it was dug up when Diamond Valley Lake in Southern California was created. Now it is welcoming unsuspecting visitors like me in the Western Science Center near Hemet. I first thought I was looking at a prop from the new Alien movie...

More generally, as in "seiken-choku-tsuki". But even there, a good teacher will tell you not to fully lock the elbow out. That's bad for the joint in the long run. Also, I never rotate my fist fully (so the palm would face the floor) but only to approximately a 45° angle, which further helps preventing hyper-extension.

And public executions are drawing closer.

One day a man called Malunkyaputta approached the Master and demanded that He explain the origin of the Universe to him. He even threatened to cease to be His follow if the Buddha's answer was not satisfactory. The Buddha calmly retorted that it was of no consequence to Him whether or not Malunkyaputta followed Him, because the Truth did not need anyone's support. Then the Buddha said that He would not go into a discussion of the origin of the Universe. To Him, gaining knowledge about such matters was a waste of time because a man's task was to liberate himself from the present, not the past or the future. To illustrate this, the Enlightened One related the parable of a man who was shot by a poisoned arrow. This foolish man refused to have the arrow removed until he found out all about the person who shot the arrow. By the time his attendants discovered these unnecessary details, the man was dead. Similarly, our immediate task is to attain Nibbana, not to worry about our beginnings. Unquote While this illustrates well the position taken by many Buddhists, I strongly disagree with this view. Our outlook on the universe (the macrocosmos) does carry implications for our microcosmic existence in it. Many people interested in cosmology feel that way and actually are motivated by a quest that is metaphysical in nature. Case in point, I have repeatedly explained the impressive parallels between the revised Big Bang theory called Conformal Cyclic Cosmology on the one hand, and Hinduist and Kabbalistic conceptions on the other, both on this forum and, prior to that, on a congress held by the founder of this theory Roger Penrose and his supporting colleagues. Funnily enough, their reply to me was pretty much the same like Buddha's reply to Malunkyaputta in the parable above, just from the other side of the fence - namely that such religious considerations were outside the scope of science. While this was honest enough, I did not find this position satisfactory. Scientific and religious/metaphysical/philosophical perspectives on the development of the universe can and should meet, eventually. Nothing less will be required in order to heal the split in modern human consciousness, And prior to that, there will be no true Theory of Everything possible.

Nice cyber art. It brings to mind "2001 - A Space Odyssey."

Which Buddhist sources state this? I recall reading somewhere that Buddhism assumes the universe to have existed and to continue to exist forever, and nothing needs to be in a hurry... Reminiscent of Fred Hoyle's cosmological Steady-State theory, BTW. Well, Hinduism assumes a universe that ends and is reborn in cycles of incredible duration, thereby approaching Roger Penrose's Conformal Cyclic Cosmology. Brahman probably has its existence beyond time and space though. I don't remember having heard of a clear cut Daoist view on the development of the universe, even though some passages in the DDJ seem to suggest Creation having a "before" and "after". A cyclic view would seem to be most in line with Daoism's general outlook on things, however. Once again, sources that help clarify this would be appreciated, if anybody here knows any.

Some say that this is the only kind of lie we should never commit.

Firewater

There is an interesting parallel here to Platonic cosmology. Before the creation of the cosmos, there was chaos. The four elements were already there in that seething soup, but they were intermingled, thus constantly cancelling each other out. Much like yin and yang in wu chi, I think. And much like the the modern physicist's quantum vacuum, which is charged with energy; from it, countless virtual particles of opposite polarity (matter/anti-matter) issue forth and annihilate each other at an incredible rate.

Cosmos

It actually occurred to me not too long ago that Confucianism played a similar role in Asia as official Christianity in the West. The missing equivalent to Daoism could be seen in the Gnostic schools of Christianity, which were ruthlessly fought against and forced underground by the Catholic Church. This started already in the first centuries CE and continued to the eradication of the Cathars in the 14th century, and beyond.

The part about martial arts is a bit inaccurate, as Karate was developed on Okinawa as a method to defend both against bandits and occupying soldiers. It combined "hard" and "soft" methods at the time, as it was strongly influenced by Southern White Crane Kung Fu and some other Southern Shaolin styles that employed sophisticated methods of generating "internal power", directed against vital points of human subtle anatomy, in line with Daoist concepts. These styles are related with the so-called Wudang styles like Taiji and Bagua. Only after it had reached the Japanese main isle did Karate fully transmute into the linear and more externally power oriented arts as which it became known in the West. In this form, it indeed resembled Buddhist Northern Shaolin Kung Fu more than anything else, and also strongly influenced the development of modern Tae Kwon Do in Korea.

I'm good with that. After all, the old books say that Alchemy is "woman's play and child's work" - or was it the other way around?

And remember that it was me who found this.

Welcome back to the DB, DB! The dichotomy between Daoism and Confucianism is a recurrent topic already in classic Daoist literature, with parables that invariably highlight the superiority of Daoism and make the Confucianists look like dumbasses. The epitome of this is the famous story of the alledged meeting of Lao Tzu and Confucius, published by Ssu-ma Ch'ien in his Historical Records: Confucius once went to Zhou wanting to ask Laozi about the rites. Laozi replied: "As for the things you are talking about - those people along with their bones have already rotted away! All that remains is their words. Moreover, if the gentleman lives at the right time he rides in the carriage of an official; if he does not, then he moves about like a tumbleweed blown by the wind. I have heard it said that the good merchant has a well-stocked warehouse that appears to be empty; and the gentleman, though overflowing in virtue, gives the appearance of being a fool. Rid yourself of your arrogant manner, your many desires, your pretentious demeanor and unbridled ambition. None of these is good for your health. What I have to tell you is this, nothing more." Confucius left and said to his disciples, "As for birds, I understand how they can fly; with fish, I understand how they can swim; and with animals, I understand how they can run. To catch things that run, we can make nets; to catch things that swim, we can make lines; and to get things that fly, we can make arrows. But when it comes to dragons, I cannot understand how they ascend into the sky riding the wind and the clouds. Today I met Laozi, and he's just like a dragon!" -- (From Robert G. Henricks - Lao Tzu's Tao Te Ching, Columbia University Press, 2000.) The hostility can easily be explained, as much of Confucianism is about proper conduct and social harmony (its impact on South-East Asian societies in this regard can hardly be overestimated), whereas Daoism emphasizes liberation from the limitations imposed by convention. However, in practice, in the countries where these philosophies are mostly being followed, they co-exist peacefully, as both are seen as having their place. This brief comparison summarises the differences: http://www.diffen.com/difference/Confucianism_vs_Taoism And if I am getting this right, your topic is suggested as a theme for aspiring writers : https://www.bestessaywriters.com/uncategorized/lao-tzu-vs-confucius/

Wolf-Rayet star

Ignorance may be seen both as a cause and a result.