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I would imagine that if one has a master, one has decided to accept and follow his teachings; in which case it would not be too presumptuous for Zengzi to suggest that one does indeed remember to accept and follow the master's teachings, otherwise one is guilty of being a poor student. The 3 checks then cover everyone who has a master, whether or not the master teaches loyalty and honesty (which I would imagine most do, but don't necessarily remember to teach it daily). (I suppose the problem would be if one's master teaches disloyalty and dishonesty.) My only problem is that my master is me, and sometimes I forget to teach myself things. Or follow them. Not very authoritative.

Which master?

sabretooth, Bearing in mind that you do not know me, nor I you; that you have not specifically asked for my advice; and that I am not a medical professional of any kind; I would like to point a couple of things out. It is not often that there is a consensus on this forum, but it would appear that there is a general consensus at the moment that what you claim to be happening regarding organized crime and the NCA trying to kill you is quite fantastical, and more likely either a misunderstanding or a figment of your imagination. A "blue pill" could easily be a water purification tablet, or any number of other things. If there really are people trying to hurt you by creating gas leaks, unscrewing sockets, coming to your home with guns, etc, I would seriously consider calling the police. What does your sister say about all this?

There is a difference between "practising medicine without a licence" and giving advice, though. He has come here for advice and, keeping legalities in mind, it would be remiss not to point out alternatives to "the NCA is trying to kill me".

http://guardianlv.com/2014/04/ice-age-melting-rice-may-no-longer-be-the-treatment-of-choice-for-injuries/ Really, this should be common sense. Of course you don't try to freeze an injury! Practitioners of Eastern medicine have, of course, known this all along, and I'm sure it won't be a surprise to most of you bums, but I thought it was worth noting -- particularly that even the apparent originator of the RICE treatment himself has, eventually, realized his mistake. He should go further though, no? Stillness, cold, compression, lack of blood... every part of RICE is counterproductive (& the last two parts of MCE remain so). Life itself begins with movement, warmth, space... what would make us think healing is any different?

Haha! Yeah, my OP was about 'RICE', which as far as I'm aware is not recommended for treating death... But my other post was asking if ice could be recommended in any particular circumstance. Sounds like this might be one.

Thanks Aetherous. Very informative. Songtsan -- I wasn't aware of the cold being used for resuscitation. Interesting. Yeah, if anyone has studies they can point out, might be interesting..

In the greater Daoist scheme, I suppose it depends on who you ask? I don't see Laozi as being particularly big on honesty.. (Just to be clear, I am a fan of honesty. And loyalty when it is deserved.)

OK, that makes sense... most if not all travellers between China and Japan would have gone through/via the Korean peninsula. But this doesn't mean that the Korean kingdoms themselves introduced all new things to Japan. What I mean is, a lot of Chinese culture, such as the writing system, was introduced to Japan from the Chinese mainland, only passing through Korea out of convenience. Of course, I was wrong about Buddhism either way. Buddhism was introduced to Japan by Korea, or more specifically Baekje. Should've done some research before I opened my big mouth! Learning some fun stuff though. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korean_influence_on_Japanese_culture#Religion http://www.academia.edu/11315765/The_Role_of_Korea_in_Cultural_Transmission_Between_China_and_Japan_during_the_Three_Kingdoms_Period http://history-world.org/Chinese%20Civilization%20To%20Japan.htm

The article suggests Buddhism arrived in Japan from Korea. Is this true? Why wouldn't it have arrived from China, or indeed straight from India (more accurately Gandhara, now Pakistan/Afghanistan, as is suggested elsewhere)? This Wikipedia page (with citations for the stats) suggests that Buddhism has been on the rise in Japan in the last few decades. Perhaps it is Zen that is becoming less popular, not Japanese Buddhism as a whole... I feel no loss in thinking that any religion is shrinking. In my experience, the "Buddhism" that the average Chinese practises (as the Christianity that the average Englishman practises) is a jumbled nonsense of meaningless prayer & ritual. Incense burning and statue worship. Far better if it does disappear. The 'genuine' version, the ancient psychology, the non-religious Buddhism that actually invites people to engage themselves with themselves and the universe, requires too much effort from the average person who simply wants an easy fix for their problems (blame it on a god).

OK. Some good points of discussion. Bear in mind I don't know anything... Surely inflammation/swelling has 2 purposes? To increase circulation and surface area in the injured area, increasing blood flow; and to tell you how much it is OK to move (pain = stop). I don't know why (purposefully applied) external heat is generally not considered to be pathogenic as cold is. It would seem logical that yang balances yin and yin balances yang. In this case, though, inflammation is not a cause, it is a symptom, right? Treating the symptom is not the same as treating the cause For sure, treatment should be patient-appropriate. OK, so let's say the case for short periods of ice has something to it But is this how the treatment is usually applied? I've been around a few times when someone has been injured, usually an ankle sprain/twist or a knock/blow to some area, and at least one person has said "Get the frozen peas!" The injured then proceeds to sit there with something very cold attached (and in the case of leg injury, with the leg up), and usually for a lot longer than 20 minutes -- ice is applied until the pain seems to be gone. The general consensus is that if it's not hurting, it's getting better. So they say "Oh, yeah, ice works wonders!" But of course little healing has taken place in this time, and I would argue that this was the primary, most important, time for extra blood to be getting in and starting the healing process..?

Out of interest, Can a case be made for ice? And in what cases of injury/illness would cold be considered beneficial in TCM/other Chinese medicine? (if any)

They really are. The clouds seem to mimic other natural elements -- rocks, lake, waves. I also love seeing distant clouds spread across the horizon that look like mountain ranges.

Again sticking my nose in where it doesn't belong..apologies in advance for the foolish rambling. I appreciate both of these comments, and though you seem to be disagreeing, I think there's probably a middle ground. I'm no qigong master, but to look at it for a moment from a more general perspective (of similar practices making use of movement patterns, such as yoga, gymnastics, martial arts, etc): Attempting spontaneous practice of anything without some (in)formative practice is probably not going to be much use, right? One needs to learn how to breathe, speed of movement, the range of potential movements, etc. So one learns a discipline first, from people who have been practicing/training for a long time and have a better understanding than oneself. In any single discipline, there must be a limited number of forms/postures/movements. They should be beneficial -- for flexibility, strength, qi flow, whatever, and for informing the body of possible patterns of breath and movement. Once someone has learnt all the forms/movements in one discipline, practicing them regularly for life at the exclusion of other movements might indeed end up doing more harm than good. Spontaneous practice might then be beneficial: loosening up, breaking free of these forms. But any spontaneous practice within a discipline is going to be somewhat limited to patterns learnt during the (in)formative training; movements will be fairly repetitive, as Aetherous says. These days, I'm trying to learn (some) basics from a number of disciplines: qigong, yoga, gymnastics, athletics, and more. My hope is that each will inform each other, and that though I will never be a master of any, my overall health and energy will be improved beyond what would be gained from mastering one; and any spontaneous practice will have greater potential for spontaneity.

Yeah..I got a bit carried away. Sorry. I'd be interested to know thoughts on the difference between the heart-mind 心 xin and the spirit/mind/psyche 神 shen

This is just not true. b. heartfelt c. warmhearted d. kindhearted f. blackhearted, coldhearted, heartless Also, brokenhearted, fainthearted, halfhearted, hardhearted, heavyhearted, lighthearted, softhearted, wholehearted, heartsick, disheartened So... there are lots of words in English that use the word 'heart' in good and bad ways referring to people and their emotions or intentions. And phrases, too: change of heart know by heart to know in sb.'s heart bleeding heart eat your heart out cross my heart after sb.'s own heart (You're a man after my own heart) in my heart of hearts pour sb.'s heart out take heart with all sb.'s heart from the bottom of sb.'s heart etc So...yeah.. that article is basically rubbish. I would ignore it. Find an article to explain xin that isn't trying to simultaneously undermine the variety and depth of the English language.

I know you're looking for a special Daoist idea of 心 xin, but out of interest: in general use in modern Chinese, it's not much different to the modern English word. The below definitions come from English Google but can be applied pretty much the same in Chinese. a hollow muscular organ that pumps the blood through the circulatory system by rhythmic contraction and dilation. the region of the chest above the heart. "holding hand on heart for the Pledge of Allegiance" the heart regarded as the centre of a person's thoughts and emotions, especially love or compassion. "hardening his heart, he ignored her entreaties" one's mood or feeling. "they had a change of heart" the central or innermost part of something. "right in the heart of the city" the vital part or essence. "the heart of the matter" Some examples from linedict, where xin and heart/mind are used in the same way: 眼不见，心为静。 Out of sight, out of mind. lit. Eyes don't see, heart/mind is quiet. 我最终还是伤了她的心。 I ended up breaking her heart. 我总怀着一颗感恩的心。 I have always had a grateful heart. 他把这些全部暗记在心了。 He has learned all this by heart. 那声尖叫穿透了我的心。 The loud scream pierced into my heart. 他把胜利的一刻铭记于心。 This winning moment was embedded in his mind. 你给的建议，我会牢记在心。 The advice you give me, I will take to heart. 他的心真黑！ He's so wicked! lit. His heart is so black! I suppose one meaning not strictly included in English is that of intent. 你安的什么心？ What are you plotting? edit: The authors of the article in the OP are correct that 心 has an important place in Chinese language and culture; but they seem to believe that because English doesn't have a one-size-fits-all word exactly like 心, there is no similar use in English-speaking places, no similar idea of a heart-mind, or of the heart being related to feelings. Of course there is. The examples above illustrate some ways in which we associate 'heart' with emotions, physical and mental feelings, memories, etc, and how the Chinese use 'heart' in the same way as we do in many cases, including when referring to the centre/core of things (e.g. city centre = 市中心).

edit It should be noted that the Thames Valley Police are not the originators of this metaphor, and that the original article http://rockstardinosaurpirateprincess.com/2015/03/02/consent-not-actually-that-complicated/ is a reaction to the fact that consent is viewed as a "complicated" issue by some people. The point of comparing tea drinking to sex is to highlight that consent is not complicated at all.

There seem to be two ways to interpret this..? I assumed you meant, "Are your days filled more with optimism or pessimism?" but most replies so far seem to have interpreted it as "Do you believe in God?" As for my original interpretation: I'm easily annoyed /angered /confused by the things people do; I realize that people have been the way we are for a long time, and that there is, relatively, about the same amount of joy and suffering as there ever has been; I try not to concern myself too much with it all. As for the "Is there a God?" interpretation: I don't think this question has any real meaning, and I try to approach life from the position of never having been asked. Perhaps both interpretations can be answered like this: Never having been asked, and not having the apparatus to consider or respond if it were, a bird flies around not bothered by such questions; water flows and forms clouds and ice, and doesn't seem to be either optimistic or pessimistic, full of belief or entirely lacking in it. I am water; I am a bird.

Please do make a topic. Could be very interesting. Till then, I will remain dubious that people are that sensitive to specific devices, or that any of it is particularly dangerous at all. As pointed out here, "the wavelength of Wi-Fi signals is the same as the cosmic background radiation: 12cm. If you're worried, don't go outside." Sorry, will stop going off-topic now.

Regarding wi-fi.. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_WLAN_channels http://gizmodo.com/5629814/giz-explains-why-everything-wireless-is-24ghz Unless you live in the middle of nowhere, there are phones / radios / wi-fi devices near you pretty much everywhere you go. All of these devices operate using radio waves, generally at 2.4 GHz. (Even if you do live in the middle of nowhere, the waves are still there.) Are you saying you're sensitive to a very specific frequency within the wi-fi device range?

My favourite foods tend to be high in all 3 so-called "macronutrients" (fat, protein, carb), such as peanuts & beans. Edible legumes, nuts, seeds, grains, etc -- all are fruits. As vonkrankenhaus says, grains are actually high in protein as well as carbohydrate. I think they're OK. One thing I've noticed about subculture diets (paleo, keto, vegan, raw til 4, etc) and regional diets considered to be healthy (Mediterranean, Okinawan, etc) is that they ALL involve cutting out processed, inorganic (pesticide etc) foods. I know that, as much as I love a sugary chocolate bar, I feel very much healthier and more energetic when my diet consists of fresh organic produce, and not processed sugars, preservatives, flavourings, cheap pesticide-ridden veg, hormone-ridden meats...

I know a few... IMO in my opinion IRL in real life LOL laugh out loud FTW for the win My favourite is: orz Took me a while, the first time I saw it, to realize that it's not an abbreviation but a pictograph of someone kneeling down and banging their head on the floor. orz

I might be pedantic but I'm also wrong most of the time, so...

May I also have a PPD? Thanks (dawei, I assume )