tiandizhijian

I have read it somewhere in reference to taijitu, that you can't have the soft without the hard, or the internal without the external.

I'm trying to determine the Traditional Chinese and pinyin phrase that essentially means "between heaven and earth". All of my research to figure this out was done through Wikipedia, and I think it's pretty accurate, but I was hoping to get an authoritative response on the matter. Tiān means heaven. Dì mean earth. These two are clear I think. I think jiàn in this context would mean between, so thus what I believe the phrase in pinyin would be is tiāndì jiàn. I need a bit of hand holding through the Tradition (or Simplified) Chinese characters for such. Please provide some insight if you can. Thank you in advance.

It does, thank you. I'm happy you found it in an authoritative text as well. I haven't read the DDJ yet, only browsed through specific sections of the text, so hadn't noticed chapter 5 until now. Thank you for the find Mig.

To expound on why I think it's jiàn, I found the word for between using an English to Chinese dictionary, then confirmed the pinyin and found both the Simplified and Traditional Chinese characters for the word. Hopefully this link will work: https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E9%96%93 Therefore, seemingly since I confirmed that each word means what I think it means, my question has evolved to this: can you properly say "between heaven and earth" as tiāndì jiàn? And how would you write out the Traditional and or Simplified Chinese characters?

No, I am not Jesus. And I am definitely not the way, the truth, and the life. Actually, I'm just interested in finding this way, truth, and life. Here's the deal. I'm Christian, though not in the religious sense. With that said, I'm not here for discussions on the Christian religion. In the last year of my life, while dealing with unbridled anger and ceaseless work, I started exploring what Tai Chi could offer me. This exploration led me to read more about Daoism, and needless to say (or perhaps needful to say), I've found a lot of truth in The Way, even as it related to my proclaimed religion. What God has said in Scripture regarding nature and his attributes, and from the wisdom I've gained from Proverbs and Ecclesiastes, Daoism and it's holistic approach to balance of mind and body has GREAT appeal. I've got a background in traditional martial arts, starting with Karate when I was a kid and then Tukong and Dim Mak in my teenage years, ending those pursuits after studying WWII Combatives rigorously. To put it simply, my love for combat and violence led me away from traditional martial arts and possibly (probably) was the catalyst for my anger problems. Now that I'm in my 30s, and seeing less and less value in knowing how to hurt people, I am again turning my interest back to traditional martial arts, though specifically the internal Chinese arts of Taijiquan and Baguazhang. My hope is that I can and will find balance within myself and everything. I don't know why I'm joining this forum. Perhaps I'm being led to do so. I'm ignorant of Daoism apart from the reading I've done in the last year. I'm definitely not here for a discussion on religion or even philosophy, though I want to establish some connections with others that are further along than I. In short, I want harmony within and without. To end this lengthy introduction, My name is Jonathan Boyd, and I live in Oklahoma City. At some point I'm going to blog at Tiandi Jian, which translates as Between Heaven and Earth. Beyond this, I guess there's nothing more I can say. Good to meet you.

OldChi answered a question with a question for another newcomer here. The question: what types of paths are there? The answer: where do you want to go? This post is my attempt to answer that question. Firstly, for myself to consider this path. Secondly, for you to help guide me. One of the biggest things that sticks out to me is a portion in chapter 42 of the Dao De Jing. It says, I had written about this previously on my blog, though that has since been removed. I won't explore it as much as I did there, though this portion of the Dao De Jing is also what draws me so much to Daoism. I guess the first thing I need to consider is what Dao actually is. I know Daoism was a collection of schools of thoughts in Chinese history and culture. It is a spiritual, philosophical, and religious pursuit of many people. To me, the philosophical aspects are what interest me most. Yet as I read what I wrote, I'm confusing what Dao means to me with what Daoism is to others. I simply don't know what Dao is. I can say no more about it right now. Dao gives birth to One. What is this one? I think it's referring to wuji. Perhaps that's the widely accepted understanding of this statement... I don't know. Wuji, the empty circle of the tajitu, signifies the unity of everything. One gives birth to Two. The wuji becomes the yin and yang. This is the dualistic nature of, well, nature and the universe. I like simplicity, and being able to view everything in a dualistic way is helpful when considering something. Two gives birth to Three. The yin and yang, when they become mixed together, become three... but what three. I see two sets of three as important to interpreting and understanding this. Firstly... tian (heaven), di (earth), and ren (human-ness). Secondly... jing (essence), qi (breath), and shen (spirit). Wjhat this means to me is still a mystery, and thus part of my journey to discover. Three gives birth to ten-thousand things. What are those ten-thousand things? Wanwu is the combining of the three to create an infinite number of things. I have a small idea of what this means to me, though I also need to continue a journey to discover more. This next portion of chapter 42 of the Dao De Jing leads me to finally answer the question of where I want to go. Wuji and taiji co-existing. Where do I want to go? To find harmony in nothing and everything. This is what I want, I just don't know how to get there.

Then it goes without saying that that's okay. It's also okay that I do. I really didn't bring up my background in Christianity on a Daoism forum to start discussions about Christianity. I was merely introducing myself and giving some of my own background.

Mysticism has always intrigued me.

Thanks for this statement.