Cobie

Yes, I agree with this as a statement. * Thanks for posting that. ~~~ * please note this is not referring to it being or not being a correct translation of Ch.1, that topic is closed.

A native speaker would associate all the possible uses when seeing a character. To translate a character with one English word, will never capture this richness in meaning. But to use more words is imo not an option, because then I’d lose the beauty of the terseness of the DDJ language. The DDJ is so beautifully crafted, all thought through to the extreme.

Yes, that I see a lot in the DDJ. It makes the verses so rich in meaning.

Yes, indubitably so. The meaning of a character depends on the context. The context is the whole of the DDJ.

Yes I agree, this is indubitably so. Yes I agree, it’s quite different.

Terebess Henricks 2000, Ch. 25 又状虫成， 先天地生， 敚[糸禾]， 独立而不亥， There is a form that developed from primordial chaos That was born before heaven and earth. Silent and still, it stands on its own and does not change. ... 可以为天下母。 未智（知）其名， 字之曰道。 吾强为之名曰大。 It can be regarded as the mother of all under heaven. Not yet knowing its name, We refer to it as the Dao. Were I forced to give it a name, I'd call it the Great. 大曰筮， 筮曰远， 远曰反。 The "Great" means "overflowing"; "Overflowing" means "going far"; "Going far" means "to return." 天大、地大、道大、王亦大。 国中又（有）四大安（焉）， 王居一安（焉）。 Heaven is great; the earth is great; the Way is great; and the king too is great. In this realm there are four greats, and the king counts as one of them. 人法地， 地法天， 天法道， 道法自然。 Humanity takes as its model the earth; The earth takes as its model heaven; Heaven takes as its model the Way; And the Way takes as its model that which is so on its own.

@Daniel re. entities Ch. 25 (*) , mentions 5 entities ( 人, 地, 天, 道, 自然 , see last 4 lines). Dao “developed from” (first line: 又状虫成 ); Dao takes 自然 as “its model” (last line: 道法自然 ). 自然 does not have a “model”, it’s “that which is so on its own” (last line: 道法自然 ). The origin, 自然 , is unknowable (** ). ~~~ * Terebess Henricks 2000, it’s in the next post ** see my 自然 thread https://www.thedaobums.com/topic/54593-zi4-ran2-自然/?do=findComment&comment=1003399

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in the Stone Den. Shi Classical Chinese, cannot easily be read.

Shhh Shh Shh Shh Shhh The Lion-Eating Poet in the Stone Den. Shi

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Lookup dictionary on my iPad: “nondualism … is a fuzzy concept …” indeed.

Hmm. Let me guess what was there. I’ll go for this for answer: re 自然 please see https://www.thedaobums.com/topic/54593-zi4-ran2-自然/?do=findComment&comment=1003399

In the DDJ (as far as I know) water and spirit are only used as metaphors.

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Yeah, I would have never guessed that. That’s what I thought too.

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達摩 da2 mo2 and 菩提达摩 both mean Bodhidharma. 達 traditional characters = 达 simplified characters 菩提 pu2 ti2 is the ‘Bodhi’ bit. 達摩 is enough to be understood to be Bodhidharma.

as I said

I thought the whole request to go to pm or another forum was creepy, abusers like to stay out of the public eye. The reason given (past complaints) daft, as future complaints easy to avoid by starting to listen instead of endlessly repeating the same point.

I would like to read your opinion. We are all equal on this forum, qualified teacher or not. Personally I tend to find the opinions of some qualified teachers extremely boring. Some seem to me to be just be reciting their particular rule book. To me they seem to lack creative personal thought from own experience. What I read from you up to now I found interesting. I’m not bothered by disagreeing, I (mostly) appreciate reading another’s way of looking at things.

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