rene

It is? Oh, okay. Seems I've got a lot to learn about how things work here. Thanks everyone for helping me understand! Most appreciated. (-: warm regards

Hi Apech (-: Too much work! If something like that was felt to be useful then establishing the framework early makes more sense. It's fun to watch the Chapter discussions develop: first a handful of translations, then the newb/newage/philos comments, then the knowledgeable scholars debates, then....? Who knows what will come as the Chapters wane; maybe the natural emptiness.

Doesn't that kinda nuke the concept of karma?

dawei - I agree re having a bit of organizaiton, but disagree with your recommendation in this case. Next month, or next year, I wont recall that your and TianShi's and majc's discussion on these points will be in the "Chapter 3, additional discussion" thread. But a thread called some variation of "TTC In Situ" ... now that I'd be able to find. For that matter, that thread could easily reference the various chapters to support the various positions, and... Oh well.

TianShi - not itchy, just lazy.

Hi dawei, thanks for the reply! I definately yield to you and others as to the "proper way to run a topic". I'm not a mod in this or any other forum; Twinner/Aaron can decide what he wants to do regarding those things. My thinking was that while relevant, the discussion you guys are having would be relevant (if such is the case, and I agree with your point that it is) to the entirety of the TTC - not just chapter three. Rather than have various versions of this discussion appear in other Chapters - or have to go looking for this discussion after there are dozens of Chapters up and going - the idea for a General Discussion thread was to capture these kinds of things - that were relevant to the entire body of the work. In this case though, it might be that this discussion warrants a thread of its own... "How did the history of ancient china at the time of Lao Zi influence the TTC?" or some such for the title... that way those of us who are interested (I am) can better follow the ideas - without them being pinned to a specific chapter or repeating in other chapters. That way, if I want to research or revisit it later, I'll know where the hell to find it. FWIW - the FAQ Aaron posted facilitates nicely your starting a seperate thread for this. A topic on overall china history? Not so much. A topic on the TTC in situ ? Oh.. I'd very much think so. Thoughts?

Umm... TianShi, dawei, majc - you guys are so far off Chapter 3 - maybe two pages of this is enough. Can you take this over to the TTC Subforum General Discussion thread, or down into the Taoist Discussion forum, if you want to continue? Thanks!

I call it the method of Wu Dao : no 'fixed' path. The pathless path. Or if you prefer, the Way of Wu (Wu-Wisdom, ala Dr.Wang) warm regards

string of pearls, is yours tiny snowflakes fill our eyes breathing full circles

Aaron, that was really nice. And this, "This is one chapter, where differences of translation seem to not matter so much, because regardless of the correctness of words, nothing can accurately define the unfathomable nature of the Tao. The best we can do is look at it with awe and accept it as something beyond definition." - pretty much reflects how I feel about the whole book. warmest regards

the ancient mother everywomans grandaughter suckling on the wind

But he can still laugh. Native American. Not. He is Lakota.

Mahalo, my friend The same in any language; Pilamayaye.

Hi Dusk, great nick! Welcome. (-:

majc - thanks for the link reminder! Semantically, 'than' and 'for' are sometimes interchanged in conversations, but it's the context that determines what is being conveyed; I disagree that it's an automatic implication hooked to the word 'better'. With that picture you'd posted - along with the question - Which part of the water is 'better'? My first thought was: Better for what? Languid floating? The still part. Washing my hair? The waterfall. See? Some parts of the water were better... for something specific. What is the difference between 'than' and 'for'? One of them is situationally dependant, the other is not. I think you can sort which is which. I put this post over in the other thread as well, if you want to continue on this please do so over there. Thanks! warm regards

YAN, hi, I enjoy the stories attributed to Hakium; I'll keep an eye out for what you seek. warm regards

[Discussion brought back to this thread to not further interrupt the TTC Chp 1 in the subforum.] majc - thanks for the link reminder! Semantically, 'than' and 'for' are sometimes interchanged in conversations, but it's the context that determines what is being conveyed; I disagree that it's an automatic implication hooked to the word 'better'. With that picture you'd posted - along with the question - Which part of the water is 'better'? My first thought was: Better for what? Languid floating? The still part. Washing my hair? The waterfall. See? Some parts of the water were better... for something specific. What is the difference between 'than' and 'for'? One of them is situationally dependant, the other is not. I think you can sort which is which. (-: warm regards

I really like Ch 4. It's the first time (at least in the F/E rendition) that the tone, the feel, moves towards the poetic; and it's the first chapter to focus just on Tao.

MudLotus... hidden No onion to be peeled, the center blows hot.

Aaron, That's why I like W.Wang's approach on this (see post #29, just above). He speaks to the knowledge/wisdom of the manifest, and Wisdom of a bit different nature.

Getting their house in order?? Yeah, with US funding. US TO BAIL OUT EURO US to insert ONE TRILLION into Euro Stability Fund I bet more than one country hopes the US doesn't face its own debt, so all those dollars just keep coming.

Here's the link to "175+ translations of Chapter 1".