Mig

I highly recommend Eva Wong's book to give you an idea and better understanding. Easy to read and understand. HTH

I still don't understand the translation nor the message. I have trouble with the saying go with the flow as being Daoist or new age saying and not meaning what was in the original text and the way is understood.

Indeed, it seems this is what Mair translations say: Repose in what has been arranged for you and leave transformation behind, then you will be able to enter the unity of vast heaven. 大宗師 7: 造適不及笑，獻笑不及排，安排而去化，乃入於寥天一

The Philosophy of the I Ching 2nd Revised Edition by Carol K. Anthony I am wondering if someone has read this book and if it is an useful reading??

Just found his YiJing translation and wonder how his translation is different from other as Al Huang or other classic translations?

In which way was valuable? How helpful is this book to understand the philosophy of the Yijing? How this reading helped you to understand better the book and the impact of those ideas into Chinese culture, language, philosophy, religion, traditional medicine, among many other fields?

What makes them excellent? Is there a reason why he's not been well know in the book of changes enthusiasts or scholars, just wondering

I still don't understand the rationale of Daoists or Buddhists about no killing precepts where in many instances you need to kill insects because of their intrusion. I am learning to live with them in the garden and so far we were in good understanding that I wouldn't bother them if they are in their territory in the garden but then sometimes they go to flowers in an orange tree or flowers and damages it, so have to find ways to diver them and indeed Borax works marvelous. I don't think too much as in the garden, I let nature do its thing, birds, insects, racoons, skunks, possums, coyotes and domestic pets do their thing. Just finding the balance and everyone is living their thing.

All I can say is that Karlgren had worked on the archaic Chinese pronunciation based on old texts and rhymes dictionary as guanyun to reconstruct old pronunciations but I haven't seen old texts in archaic Chinese except excerpts in textbooks.

And what is the difference with the Prajñāpāramitā version?

Ants had to make a choice, either get their food and water somewhere else, I had put all that at their disposal, but no, they prefer good food from my kitchen, so at the end I made the decision to eliminate them with a sweet poison so the colony will die. So far it is controlled and we are happy to have that piece of mind. As for mosquitoes, no other choice but to have citronella plant near me, citronella candles and wearing white cloths, they are less aggressive and stay away for the time being. Now the reason of my question was because as I was reading precepts both in Daoism and Buddhism about not to kill, I wondered if they follow that precept to animals or insects that become a nuisance and invading your territory.

I didn't know much about him until I found him on the web. What do you like about his works and how fluent was he in classical Chinese or the spoken Chinese language? Thanks

I found this that may help understand a little better: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/16/opinion/religion-taoism-death.html Yancy: How does Taoism conceive of the soul? Ziporyn: Taoism has no concept of “the” soul per se; the person has many souls, or many centers of energy, which must be integrated. All are concretizations of a more primal formless continuum of energy of which they are a part, like lumps in pancake batter. These are neither perfectly discontinuous nor perfectly dissolved into oneness. Ancient Chinese belief regarded the living person as having two souls, the “hun” and the “po,” which parted ways at death. Later religious Taoists conceived of multitudes of gods, many of whom inhabit our own bodies — multiple mini-souls within us and without us, which the practitioner endeavored to connect with and harmonize into an integral whole. Yancy: The concept of a soul is typically integral to a conceptualization of death. How does Taoism conceive of death? ImageProfessor Ziporyn is a scholar and translator of some of the most complex philosophical texts and concepts of the Chinese religious traditions. Professor Ziporyn is a scholar and translator of some of the most complex philosophical texts and concepts of the Chinese religious traditions.Credit...Devin Oktar Yalkin for The New York Times Ziporyn: In the “Zhuangzi,” there is a story about death, and a special friendship formed by humans in the face of it. Four fellows declare to each other, “Who can see nothingness as his own head, life as his own spine, and death as his own backside? Who knows the single body formed by life and death, existence and nonexistence? I will be his friend!” We go from formlessness to form — this living human body — then again to formlessness. But all three phases constitute a single entity, ever transforming from one part to another, death to life to death. Our existence when alive is only one part of it, the middle bit; the nothingness or formlessness before and after our lives are part of the same indivisible whole. Attunement to this becomes here a basis for a peculiar intimacy and fellowship among humans while they are alive, since their seemingly definite forms are joined in this continuum of formlessness. The next story in the “Zhuangzi” gives an even deeper description of this oneness and this intimacy. Three friends declare, “‘Who can be together in their very not being together, doing some­thing for one another by doing nothing for one another? Who can climb up upon the heavens, roaming on the mists, twisting and turning round and round without limit, living their lives in mutual forgetfulness, never coming to an end?’ The three of them looked at each other and burst out laughing, feeling complete concord, and thus did they become friends.” Here there is no more mention of the “one body” shared by all — even the idea of a fixed oneness is gone. We have only limitless transformation. And the intimacy is now an wu-wei kind of intimacy, with no conscious awareness of a goal or object: They commune with each other by forgetting each other, just as they commune with the one indivisible body of transformation by forgetting all about it, and just transforming onward endlessly. Death itself is transformation, but life is also transformation, and the change from life to death and death to life is transformation too.

Does someone knows or can explain about the difference between spirit and soul in Daoism? Maybe there is a distinction between the religious or philosophical point of view. Your input shall be appreciated. Thanks

I wonder where that image come from? Does it have a particular meaning?

I have noticed reading stories about the Master Lao (laozi) riding an ox or a water buffalo when he left to the Hangu pass. Some images he's riding the water buffalo facing backwards and others facing forward. I wonder why a water buffalo? Is there the position important or does it have a specific hidden meaning?

The Ten Precepts of Initial Perfection (chuzhen shijie 初真十戒) parallel those found in the early eighth century Chuzhen shijie wen 初真十戒文 (Ten Precepts of Initial Perfection; DZ 180). The text is transmitted to ordinands of the first level of Quanzhen 全真 (Complete Perfection) and represents the school’s most fundamental guidelines and practical precepts. It also includes conduct guidelines for women entitled the Nüzhen jiujie 女真九戒 (Nine Precepts for FemalePerfected).

Desmonddf, thank you for your kind response. It makes sense and wonder where those concepts come from? It seems those concepts have been used by Daoists, Confucianists and others

thelerner, recently I saw a doc regarding mushrooms and trees. Based on their study they claim they have a very sophisticated way of communication to live together and mushrooms to develop and live in their environment. There is some kind of processing information like we humans do, so shall we say they don't have brains. I have met humans they have brains but for whatever reason they cannot use it for basic purposes, i am not talking about handicapped or mental ill individuals, just normal dudes. The reason of my question is because you see in some monasteries many vegetarian followers and in their religion one of the precepts is not to kill so it made me think, don't we kill plants before we eat them?

Thelerner, you are very right, none of them but interested reading old scripts and trying to understand how people paraphrase or understand the commentaries of those old texts. The ants, I tried many options and none of the natural wonders didn't work until I found a natural poison where ants will bring to their colony and will die or will move to a different location. In the environment where I live there are plenty areas where they can eat what they need but for whatever reason this year they chose to invade the kitchen and even the house. Fortunately, the solution worked but they still persistent outside damaging some trees. The solution of offering different locations seems a short term solution, still I know they will come back and I can hear them saying: we shall return.

Hello peeps, Wonder what do you think about Brian Bruya translation of the DDJ from the comics author Cai zhizhong?

Just found this, it may interest you:

Why both? I thought Wilhelm translation was originally written in German?

I think it is an interesting observation as I can see we can fall short if we talk about translation. There are several stories in Daoism that come from common sayings and then it is understood the way it was expressed in ZZ. It is not a translation but an interpretation then it becomes a translation in the target language, here English language. So it seems to me about the interpretation of those short stories in ZZ that makes more sense, not just how well the story was translated into English. So it is the same for many other Daoists writings where the cultural context is much important than knowing the meaning of each character. The question remains how can you understand ZZ without the cultural and linguistic context other than the English translation?