OldDog

What is much and what is little? Be grateful (to Heaven) for what you have. - Chuangtse

He who conquers the world often does so by doing nothing. When one is compelled to do something, The world is already beyond his conquering. - Laotse 48

Yes. Perhaps this is part of the indifference often displayed by the sage. Realization that ideas/concepts cannot be forced upon others no matter how strongly one feels about them. When the student is ready, the teacher appears.

Ah, yes ... the perennial existential threat! Maybe there is even a political lesson buried in there. ; )

This makes quite a lot of sense. What else is qi for? In the west we often learn of qi in the martial sense. This appeals to youth where there is this constant urge toward physicality. This connecting aspect of qi is often missed. So, it would seem that qi needs to be developed and healthy for there to be a strong potential for realization of unity and oneness. So here, the loss of the identity of the corporeal body is the loss of its identity as a separate and distinct thing of its own ... unity. Very nice. Thanks.

I struggled with the issue of sleep much of my life. Some of the most pleasant and refreshing and memorable times were awakening with the morning sun shining through the window and the sound of birds. But the modern world does not allow for this very often. We have to arise at an early hour (4:30am was typical for me) so we can be on the job, being productive. To manage this, I developed the habits Lost in Translation cited. Bedtime was around 9pm, after a quick shower to wash off the dust of the day. Laying down in bed, I would dim the lights, turn on some soft instrumental music and pick up my reading material and read for 30-60 minutes before turning out the lights and going to sleep. This worked well enough, but often, work would intrude on my routine and many times my rest would be limited to 4 hours or so. I would tell myself, "Sleep is overrated." Now that I am retired I have allowed myself to align more closely with the cycle of nature. The evening routine is still pretty much the same but now I arise with the dawn quite naturally. Do my morning cleansing and medition. Fix a cup of coffee and find out what is going on in the world. Guess the point here is not to underrate the value of aligning with nature.

Perhaps there are other lessons in this story. It appears that Yuan did not fully appreciate the situation. In his counsel with the marquis, what if Yuan presumes to be superior ... more sophisticated ... in his knowledge than the marquis. And rather than teach for the sake of the lesson, he is seeking favor. Should the marquis fail to understand, all he would see was is Yuan's impudence. So, instead of gaining favor Yuan risks punishment. Or, perhaps the teaching could cause the marquis to see faults in himself ... rather than correspondences. Not liking what he sees ... and having his faults exposed ... the marquis could be angered and punish Yuan. Either way, the fault is Yuan's. Chuangtse saw this potential and so was dismayed when Yuan went to Ch'i There lesson here is to know your audience ... the length of their rope ... and do not presume in the face of authority.

Glad you enjoyed it. We watched the whole thing the other night. The 20 min remark was referring to about a 20 min piece beginning at around 85 minutes from the beginning. Individual song performances you find out there are great but you really need to see live performances to see artists at their best. If you have never watched any of the Crossroads Guitar Festival dvds you really oughta. Its really enjoyable watching great guitarists get to perform with others that they might otherwise encounter. Joe Bob says, Check it out.

Y'all need to check this out. It's a long concert but about 85 min into it is a phenomenal bit of guitar work by Warren Haynes and Derek Trucks, lasts 20+ minutes. Whole concert is great but Haynes and Trucks show what it means to be great guitarists. Don't get no better.

This statement strikes a chord with me. People often ask about what what Daoists believe and from that ensues a great deal of discussion about the core texts of Daoism and what the various passages mean. All of which is useful in helping to develop a philosophical understanding of Daoism. But what about the "doing" side of Daoism. Seems to be often neglected. Generally people know of meditation but there seems to be such a great diversity in approaches that it is hard to know where to begin, how to begin. Seems that Buddhist literature is full of advice on various methods and I am sure there is some ... perhaps a lot ... of overlap in practice approach. But there also seems to be something inherently different in the Daoist approach. Seems like this is where the notion of "purifying the heart" comes into play.

Ha! I also read a lot of Greek mythology when I was young. Niw that I think about it ... that was probably my first clue that the world is full of wiley women. Speaking of Sirens ... any of you ever read Sirens of Titan?

True enough. What you describe as the drawbacks of trying to learn from a book or a video certainly exist. Anyone who has tried to learn taiji in this manner has struggled trying to make progress. The need for actual hands on instruction is crucial. I am reminded of the instruction I recieved from one of the masters I studied under. He was very traditional and spoke almost no English. But that instruction was the best instruction I ever received precisely because the use of language was minimal. Essentially, the master led the form, section by section, stopping at end of each section so that the students could absorb what they had just followed. The master then had the students perform on their own and as they did he would make individual corrections, hands on. All of this was done without words. Just a simple authoritative nod when things were correct. Many students found this very frustrating; they wanted to be told how to do it, they wanted to ask questions and get answers. But not having language available meant the student had to devote all his focus to what was happening physically. In the end, the quality of the training was very high.

The search for truth is the search for.meaning. Sooner or later we all end up asking what it is that we accept as true. It has nothing to do with proof but everything to do with meaning. In our individual searches, if something relates to our experiences that is all the validation we need. This is the basis of belief. Daoism fits in nicely with this. It is well suited as a personal guide. It asks nothing, demands nothing, yet is always there to help add perspective to our experiences and in this it never fails. We are not the first to tread this path. The sages before us have all gone thru the same process. We are fortunate that they recorded their understandings and they have come down to us to help us make sense of it all. We do not have to take it on faith. It can be realized in our own experiences. Just a couple of cents worth.

Yes, very nice, indeed. Dao Zhen's sincerity is refreshing. It is always nice when people share their experiences. Helps the rest n of us along the way. Thanks

If I am walking with two other men, each of them will serve as my teacher. I will pick out the good points of the one and imitate them, and the bad points of the other and correct them in myself. - Confucius

One who knows the truth about all-sufficiency seeks nothing, loses nothing. and rejects nothing. - Chuangtse

In a quiet reflective mood this morning.

I have a pretty fair collection of celtic music ... Irish ,Scots, whatever ... of which I am quite fond. Here's two of my favorites. ... and ...

Ch 63 ... Deal with the difficult while yet it is easy; Deal with the big while yet it is small. the difficult (problems) of the world Must be dealt with while they are yet easy; The great (problems) of the world Must be dealt with while they are yet small. ...

I am glad you pointed this out. I think I was generally aware of the TCM concept but had not really matched it to the more generalized notion of emergent change under heaven and earth. I think 'Golden Time' is a powerful image that really cements the concept.

Yes, thank you, I recall that discussion. The questions are very similar. I sometimes have a hard time locating threads I visited with particular content. Where you asked about Yijing in relation to Laozi and Zhuangzi, I had posed a more general question relative to daoism as a whole. The answer may very well be the same. I have been working on deeper readings and understandings of all three (Yijing, Laozi and Zhuangzi). I understand that the Yijing as we know it today is not the same as would have been avaiable in the time as Lz and Zz. Hence references to the Zhouyi. I am trying to gain an appreciation for the interconnectedness of these early sources. Each represents a particular line of development in thought. But their relationship to each other is not often clear. My sense is that they represent individual instances on a continuum that today we call daoism in a general sense. So, I guess what I am looking for is connections based on content rather than just a historical timeline.

My initial reaction is to reject the notion of a spiritual entity ... preferring, instead, to accept the notion that the Yi as the measure of heaven and earth (model) that is all encompassing and therefore capable of speaking to all situations without regard to spiritual bias. So, I have to admit of being a 'goat'. But all that means is that maybe I am just not consciously attuned to some manifestations of spirituality. I have seen convincing evidence of a spiritual realm that I cannot otherwise explain.

Some thoughts ... The advice here seems to be saying that if you get a response from the yi that does not make sense perhaps you should reevaluate your assumptions about the situation in the inquiry. Can one, indeed, approach the yi with a preconcieved notion of the situation that is at odds with reality? Goes to the quality of the question and how you approach the yi ... sincerity. Wondering if there is not a western bias at work that is influencing ability to use the yi. The western scientific oriented approach is to state a supposition and then determine if the evidence supports it. If one approaches the yi in that manner ... then is one really positioned to receive a furthering response?

Yeah, I saw that. Suspecting that any cajun influence in his music would have to be early in his career before his swamp-rock persona was fully developed, I went looking. Did not find anything in French but this song has a bit of the cajun mood.

Same here. Group practice is nice but solo practice really allows you to develop. It is hard to remain internally focused when others are present.