Albion

D.A.D. Laughs Out Loud!

This is very interesting. In the Celtic way of reasoning (the four Celtic 'Fire Festivals') are November the 1st, [pronounced Sow-wen] "Summer's End" (The Celtic beginning of Winter). February the 1st (Imbloc) [pronounced Em-mulk] the time of the beginning of the lactation of the lambs. Bealtinne, May 1st [ pronounced be-el tinna] meaning 'Bright Fire'. And lastly, Lughnasadh August 1st [pronounced Lew nessa] meaning the 'The (funeral) Games of Lugh', which was a Harvest festival, and also was the beginning of the end of the Sun's (Lugh's) Reign. These are three days different from some of the Chinese Calendar, and if you think of where China is in relation to Northwestern Europe, those few days could easily account for the three day time difference! Fascinating! Thanks so much for this! I found it very enlightening! Keep on Daoing! Differently abled Daoist

For Dawei, THIS, is the kind of merde that I was talking about. D.A.D.

We are very much like otters. Our purpose is Happiness. I'm sorry if that's too 'NEW AGE' for you, but I honestly believe that. I hope that it's true for YOU too! Peace, D.A.D.

Mind Too Loud asked: this is most interesting, i do wish i coudl've had a long lengths telepathy experience too, mines are usually short and happen rarely, the longest was with the same person for about an hour or so. similarly my experiences are too when im under the influence of a drug. i am hoping soon after lots and lots of practice i will be able to commence telepathy at will. a question for you, when you were telepathically communicating with others, were they aware of this? were they surprised? or confused? Yes, my ex-wife pretty much had the same experience. You DON'T need a drug. I've been sober for 29 years now. Telepathy has LITERALLY saved my life twice. Which I will not go into, on a public e-list. Peace, Differently Abled Daoist

I've had (many times) pre-cognitive experiences. Once back in the 1980's, when I lived out in New Mexico, I tried a kind of 'peyote tea', I spent HOURS throwing up, which I hated. But after the stomach upset was over, I was extremely telepathic for probably 4 or 5 days. It was easier to speak to some one in their mind, then it was to have an actual conversation with them. It was extremely simple to see what I'll call 'thought patterns' of others, for several days time. I honestly believe that most of us are 'telepathic', but we live in such a busy society that we most of the time fail to 'listen' as we should. And to *believe* in our seeings, when we have them. In most cities life moves at a very fast rate, I think that most of California is especially this way. I know, I lived there. This kind of fastness, this busyness, complicates us listening and *hearing* even our own thoughts. Much less those of others. I say this to you in Peace, I wish no arguments to come from this, and if they do, I will NOT participate in them. Thank you for your understanding. Peace, Differently Abled Daoist

Movie Censorship. Those are two very powerful words. I'm going to give you 2 excellent examples of how these affect even *very famous* movies. These two scenes are gone FOREVER, except in some movie censorship lab. In 'Little Big Man' Faye Dunaway is bathing Dustin Hoffman and she reaches down into soapy water to get the bar of soap that she was using to bathe Dustin Hoffman with. And he (Hoffman) holds up the bar of soap and says "Here's the soap Mrs. (whatever her movie name was)!" What was Faye Dunaway grabbing? The censors decided FOR ALL OF US that we shouldn't even THINK about that! Scene # 2 'Goldfinger' with Sean Connery and Honor Blackman. James Bond gets shot with a knockout gun, and he awakens aboard Goldfinger's jet plane. Honor Blackman (the pilot of the plane) leans down (with plenty of cleavage showing), and says: "My name is Pussy Galore". James Bond says: "I must be in Heaven!" lol Those two scenes were deleted FOREVER by movie censors. About 3 to 5 seconds was cut from 'Little Big Man'. And they had Sean Connery say in the "cleaned up" version: "I must be dreaming!". Connery KNEW THIS, and went along with it, to the point of dubbing the film with a whole new line! Movie censorship IS VILE, and sickening. It goes against the very fabric of artistic freedom! And it pisses me off! Big time! Yours in Dao. D.A.D.

Dear Dawei, I wanted to say 'Thank you' for keeping the Dao Bums up, and running! Thank you to all of the Moderators too, you do a really good, and necessary job! I used to operate (a longggg time ago) a Yahoo website/e-list, and it was small, not a giant one like this, and it took a lot of time and energy! So, to a lesser degree, I know some of what it takes to keep an e-list up and running. Thanks, it feels like 'coming home' here, and I always look forward to turning on my computer, and coming here (after I check my e-mails!)! You do GOOD WORK! Thanks, D.A.D.

Dear Dan, Welcome to 'Dao Bums'. I used to live in Iowa (along with 8 other states), and for sure, trying to find anything Daoist there is a pretty long shot. Maybe some Tai Chi classes at some of the local university's, but I bet even that is a pretty hard to find thing. I used to (weekly) put up posters at my local public library there, to study the Tao Te Ching (Dao de Jing), but they were always torn down in a few days. Not too many open minds in Iowa, I'm glad that you are one of those! Welcome aboard! Peace, Differently Abled Daoist

Well, let's see, I collect movies so.......... 1. 'Out of Africa' (With Robert Redford, Meryl Streep and Klaus Maria Brandauer, and many other great actors) 2. 'Resurrection' (the old one, with Ellen Burstyn and other great actors, like Sam Shepherd) A GREAT and powerful movie! 3. 'Broken Arrow' (with John Travolta and Christian Slater) 4. 'Somewhere in Time' (with Christopher Reeve and Jane Seymour) 5. 'The Tao of Steve' (with Donal Logue, Greer Goodman, Kimo Willis, and Jenniphr Goodman) [see my review of this movie elsewhere here at Dao Bums] I Love this movie mostly for the Land (New Mexico). 6. 'The Summer of '42' (Jennifer O'Neil and Gary Grimes) 7. 'The Day After Tomorrow' (Dennis Quaid And Jake Gyllenhaal) 9. 'The Matrix' (With Keanu Reeves and Laurance Fishburne and many other great actors) [The first Matrix movie.....the other two shouldn't haven't been made, imo] 10. 'Last Summer' (It's out of print now, but it stars Barbara Hershey, Richard Thomas, Catherine Burns, and Bruce Davison ) I found out after I wrote this, that Amazon.com still sells the old original VHS version for around $75.00 a pop. It's a really good movie, but unless you're rich, I wouldn't spend $75.00 on it myself. I further found out that this movie originally got an X Rating, but because they wanted to sell it, they cut out some footage, and it became an 'R' rated movie. And after that, when the cable companies got a hold of it (think HBO here) they cut it even further, to 'clean it up', it then became a 'PG' rated movie. The original X-rated version has only been seen by the censors, and in 2012 by some film academy, I forget which one. I found this interesting piece on wikipedia: All original 35mm prints of the film have been lost for years. In 2001 a 16mm print was located at the National Film and Sound Archive of Australia after a two-year search and was brought to Los Angeles. Apparently it was the only surviving film version of the movie. Another update here: 'The Vermont Movie Store' sells a region 1 DVD version of this movie for $19.99. 11. Up in the Air (With George Clooney and Vera Farmiga) 12. The 'Taken' series (If I remember correctly, there's either 6 or 7 DVD's) The BEST UFO movie ever made! Executive Director Steven Spielberg 13. 'The Last of the Dogmen' (with Barbara Hershey and Tom Berringer) 14. 'The Last of the Mohicans' ( With Daniel Day-Lewis and Madeleine Stowe) 15. 'The Note Book' (A lot of people call this "a chick flick". But I thought that it depicted Love in a very powerful and realistic way!) (Starring Ryan Gosling, Rachel McAdams, James Garner, and Gena Rowlands) 16. 'Red Eye' (With Rachel McAdams, and Cillian Murphy) 17. 'Saving Private Ryan' (With Tom Hanks, Edward Burns, and Tom Sizemore) [and many more great actors!] Basically an anti-war movie. If you can watch the entry of Tom Hanks and his crew onto Omaha Beach, and not understand the insanity of war, then you obviously are not paying attention! 18. 'Dr. Strangelove: Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love The Bomb' (Peter Sellers [who plays plays multiple characters] and George C. Scott) 19. 'Into the Blue' (With [the late] Paul Walker and Jessica Alba) If you love "short skirts and bikinis", then THIS MOVIE was made just for you! lol 20. 'Alien' (With Sigourney Weaver and Tom Skerritt.....and many other great actors!) 21. 'Aliens' (With Sigourney Weaver and Michael Biehn.......and many other fine actors) I honestly feel very strongly, that Aliens 3 and 4 should NOT have been made, they were "money movies" and that's it, and that's ALL! 22. 'The Last Samurai' (With Tom Cruise and Ken Watanabe) 23. 'Soldier Blue' (A very OLD, but excellent movie, with Candice Bergen and Peter Strauss) Another powerful anti-war movie! 24. 'Little Big Man' (With Dustin Hoffman and Faye Dunaway) 25. 'Braveheart' (With Mel Gibson and Sean Lawlor and many other great actors!) 26. 'Three Days of the Condor' (With Robert Redford and Faye Dunaway and many other great actors!) Another (in a way) anti-war movie. The book: 'Six Days of the Condor' by James Grady, is far better, and is a great read! 27. 'Dave' (With Sigourney Weaver and Kevin Kline) MAYBE, just maybe, this is a movie that WE ALL need to see right about NOW! I won't tell you any spoilers, but it's about crooked and corrupt politicians at the highest level.....if you get my meaning! 28. Serpico (with Al Pacino and John Randolph, and many other great actors). This movie follows the Peter Maas book closely, but as almost always the book is far more comprehensive, and realistic. This movie shows more then perhaps any other movie that I've seen that if De is followed, then one can do ANYTHING! Including stay alive! I saw a comedian (Tony Randall, I think) bitching on Johnny Carson's 'Tonight Show' that the word "fuck" is used way too much in this movie. To which Carson came back and said, that this is a word used in the street, in real life, a lot. In a lot of the movies that we see now in 2016, that word is used far more often, then it was in this fantastic movie!! I claim NONE of these as consciousness raising movies (with the possible exception of 'Resurrection', with Ellen Burstyn). But all of them are great, and some of them are very, very famous movies, who will out live, you and I. I could go on for about another 20 or so movies, but there's my list, and I hope that you like it! Keep on Daoing, Differently Abled Daoist

Heads up for Mark. Check out this book: 'Daoism Excavated' by Wang Zhongjiang: https://www.amazon.com/Daoism-Excavated-Manuscripts-Contemporary-Scholarship/dp/1931483620/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1474149442&sr=1-1&keywords=Daoism+Excavated#customerReviews It doesn't go into the DDJ/TTC MSS until about 3/4 of the way through the book. But it's the best (newest) reference work to the MSS that you spoke about here. It's only got one review at Amazon.com but I bought it anyway, and I wasn't disappointed, I don't think that you will be either. If you purchase it, when you finish reading the research, I'd be interested to know what you think of Wang Zhongjiang's writing, and his research. I thought that it was very well done, and I hope that you will like it too! Keep on Daoing, Differently Abled Daoist

Here's what I fall asleep to: 'New Life' by Paul Cardall, Stanton Lanier 'The Voice', Renee Michele 'Seasons of the Heart'. Danny Wright 'Soul Mates', 'Another Place and Time.....' By Heidi Anne Breyer, and 'Letters From Far Away' by Heidi Breyer. These are all what I call "Neo-Piano", a category that I made up. They are mostly Piano pieces that are quite beautiful, with an infrequent vocal piece, added for good measure. While awake, I listen to 'Sound Scapes' (which used to be called [the]'New Age' channel.......it's channel 942 [on TV] here in Southeastern Wisconsin). A lady who works for me 3 days a week, says that coming to my place is like going to her Tai Chi lessons! I took that as a compliment! Stay in Dao, BE Dao, Differently Abled Daoist

Extraordinary! I just found the 'Watching the Birds' area! I'll have to post here soon, I so much love the birds in our neighborhood. I kept a sort of log (at one time), of the birds I've seen in the 36 or 37 states that I lived in, or visited. I've seen a few very rare one's, but that was the exception, not the rule (of course!). I'm so glad that this section is here! Thank you for so many interesting posts! Keep on Daoing, Differently Abled Daoist

Hi Folks, I would not have seen any of this, except Rene kindly notified me that it was here. I want to say 'Thank You' to everyone who wrote here. I will especially look into getting the book, I think that it was called 'Waking The Tiger'. I've had well, I guess that you could say severe PTSD since probably 2002, but it got 'amplified' in 2005. I would go into this more, but the person who helped to cause this, is here on this list. The less he knows the better. You know? But I do thank you ALL very much for your input here! Deep Peace & my Love to you all! D.A.D.

Dawei said: "You could then relate that the guiding force in the universe and life that gives everything its 'way' to come and go is also referred to as Dao. That instead of a religious undertone it is as Ni says, 'the subtle reality of the universe' that is in everything but asks for nothing." This is the explanation in that paragraph that I like the BEST of all! D.A.D.

I think that the second issue is better then the first one. I Love the nature focus, I find it tender and Lovely. Could anyone here tell me how to register at Lulu.com so I could purchase that Taoist book? (It's mentioned in the Daoist poetry magazine, I believe) I realize that this is a side issue, but if you could help me, it'd be cool! Thanks, Differently Abled Daoist

D.A.D. Laughs Out Loud!

Hi, this is WAY off topic. But I'm 64 years old, in a wheelchair, but honestly, I get around my apartment pretty well just walking. I'm looking for another disabled/retired 60ish year old lady that loves the Tao te Ching/Dao de Jing, as much as me. I'm in Southeastern Wisconsin, and I'm witty, I consider myself to be intelligent, and I love to laugh, and I'm looking for the same in a lady. I really LOVE music, especially Celtic, and New Age music. I really like the term "Laoist"(but it's NOT my term, I just borrowed it from 2 friends here), as a doer of what Li Ehr/Laozi spoke about in those 81 chapters of the TTC/DDJ. You can look at my little profile around my screen name here, it tells quite a bit about me. And if you wanna know more, you can ask, and my writings are here to read, as well. I'm tired of being alone the vast majority of the time, and I have a lot to offer to the right lady. Welp, that's about it. I'm from the South (Western Arkansas) but I've lived in 9 (nine) states, and I'm a part of those places too, especially New Mexico. Where my Heart will always be. They don't call it 'The Land of Enchantment' for *nothing*! So, if you're a 60ish year old lady, and you might fit what I said above, feel free to PM me! Thanks, and I hope that it's OK that I put this here. If it's not, please let me know. Thanks, Differently Abled Daoist P.S. I'd be glad to send a photo of myself to you, you just need to ask! :-)

I suppose that you could say that it's come to my attention that MOST of the versions (and I maybe have at least 45 different translations now--and maybe quite a few more!) of the Tao te Ching/Dao de Jing, have a distinct Buddhist slant to them. I guess that I'm wondering if that's a good thing or not. Nothing against Buddhist's mind you, I've only known a couple of them, and they were very nice people, as people go. Well, I'd like to start a conversation about this.......it may have been covered in the past, but maybe we could cover it again, if that's so! I know SOME parts of Daoism and Ch'an (Zen) Buddhism are very similar, but I'm wondering if there are any translations of the TTC/DDJ that are free of Buddhist ideas, and Buddhist spirituality? I'd sure like to discuss this with lovers of the TTC/DDJ. So.........till then, Keep on Daoing! Differently Abled Daoist

Thanks to both Marblehead, and to Dawei! I appreciate it! Peace, D.A.D.

Dear M.H. His Tao Te Ching and 'The Wisdom of Laotse' are NOT the same book? Because I thought that they WERE. Does 'The Wisdom of Laotse' contain his TTC (at all)? And I'd like to read your 'Father and Son of Taoist Philosophy' could you put up the URL for it? Please? Thanks, D.A.D.

Question for Marblehead? Have you ever seen or read this version of the TTC translated by Lin Yutang (with additional commentary by Zhung Zi): Here it is: https://www.amazon.com/Wisdom-Laotse-Lin-Yutang/dp/B00243GGLS/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_pdt_img_top?ie=UTF8 Because of a hacker plaguing (spelling?) me, I couldn't order it from Amazon.com, but I DID find one from our British cousins. I had no idea that this book was/is even still IN PRINT! Since you are a Zhung Zi fan, I thought that you might know of it. Do you have it, is it as great as all the reviews say that it is? Thanks for answering my questions. Keep on Daoing, D.A.D.

Friends in Dao, Could one of you explain to me the Qi Gong technique/energy work, called "Gods Playing in the Clouds". I'd like to learn this, and do it daily. Please remember that I'm in a wheelchair. If you could lay it out in simple steps, it would be really helpful too! Thank you all very much! Differently Abled Daoist

I posted this first to Derek Lin's 'Tea House' forum. I see a lot of thinking here at Dao Bums, that there is *NOTHING* after death, for the reasons stated below, I strongly DO NOT believe that. I'm NOT trying to say that anyone else here should believe in life after death because of my experience's, but just read the story with compassion, and please try to hear what I'm saying. I died for about 3 to 5 minutes back in 2002, during surgery (in the recovery room). There IS a life after death. 1. I did NOT see any tunnels with a bright radiant light at the end. 2. I did NOT see any sort of "God", Jesus, Buddha, Laozi, or otherwise. 3. I floated to the ceiling, maybe 6 or more feet up. 5. Every alarm in the place was going off, all at once. 6. The surgical crew completely freaked out. I had told one (several of them really) of them if they did not do a certain thing, that I would go "code blue" on them. They did not do what I said, and I "died". 7. There was complete peace where I was, in a silvery/grey kind of cloud looking down on all of this complete chaos. 8. I heard EVERYTHING that was going on and saw it all too. I was amazed that all of that medical school training went out the window during a real crisis, like this. lol I knew where each person was, and exactly what they said and did during said time of crisis. 9. I DO believe that there is Something bigger then we are, I call it Dao, some may call it "God", or The Great Spirit, or many other names. 10. I personally believe that we continue Living (capitol "L") after what we call "death". This is an *OPINION*. 11. I was gifted with something that is very hard to put into words. I'm more telepathic, more empathic, then I ever was before this life changing incident. I "feel" people's emotions a lot more, I'm able to Love more then I ever was before this incident. I'm a Seeker more then I ever was before this incident. Frankly, I have not really put these gifts to as much of a useful purpose, as I'd like to. Perhaps that's a kind of failure, perhaps not. I'm still processing this. Still learning. 12. After all of this, I read Dr. Raymond Moody's book 'Life After Life', and there was a gentleman in Dr. Moody's book, who had an almost identical experience to the one that I had, right down to the silvery grey cloud, and I was just completely blown away. I *think* that death is a kind of transition, but I firmly do not believe that it's "the end" of our human lives. I don't wish to offend anyone here by saying any of this, I just want to tell you what happened to me. The Peace of these several minutes of being "dead" was more profound then any kind of peace that I've ever experienced before. More peace then falling deeply in Love. More peace then the best physical/sexual Love Making that I've ever experienced. This also includes some tantric experiences that I've had in the past. I *THINK* that there is more beyond this, that I never got to, because I came back into my body. Which was like riding on a rubber band shot across a room. It was bizarre, literally. There is so much more that I could say, but I'll stop there. Thank you for listening, thank you for giving me a chance to share with you. Deep Peace, Differently Abled Daoist _________________

I read the TTC/DDJ every night before bed, when I am the clearest mentally/spiritually. Last night I read verse's/chapter's, 11 and 12. I read from three translations: 'A Translation of Lao Tzu's Tao Te Ching And Wang Pi's Commentary' by Paul J. Lin. And 'The Way of Lao Tzu [Tao-te Ching] Translated, with introductory essays, comments, and notes' by Wing-Tsit Chan. And 'Lao Tsu Tao Te Ching' translated, by Gia-Fu Feng and Jane English. After reading all THREE translations, I got the clearest understanding from Gia-Fu Feng and Jane English. And that's NOT me being partial, that's simply the truth as saw it, and as I read it! Go, Gia-Fu Feng and Jane English!! Keep on Daoing! D.A.D.