Apech

can ten

Brazilian

a tad polish

toad

horny

not no how

dhow

The Middling Depression

a wretch ... like me!

to touch the face of God.

haggy musicality

Crime and Punishment

I miss you but then I could never aim this gun properly.

Someone once said we should all try to be like Yoda - hence Yodisattvas - long time ago now

I'm still a Yodisattva ... or trying

Well in the sense that I should have used the word 'compare' and not 'equate' as I don't like reading between systems - I agree that they are different - but otherwise I would stand by what I said - I think your explanation of what the uncarved block is another of your interpretations.

frozen smile

You have missed the balance and harmony of this chapter - it is about becoming p'u - and uncarved block which is the non-dual and natural state to which you refer but wrongly equate to being 'white'. In fact the whole chapter is based on three pairings which highlight the dual/ non-dual nature and the Way, using Feng English translation as follows: Tao Te Ching - Lao Tzu - chapter 28 Know the strength of man, But keep a woman's care! Be the stream of the universe! Being the stream of the universe, Ever true and unswerving, Become as a little child once more. Know the white, But keep the black! Be an example to the world! Being an example to the world, Ever true and unwavering, Return to the infinite. Know honour, Yet keep humility! Be the valley of the universe! Being the valley of the universe, Ever true and resourceful, Return to the state of the uncarved block. When the block is carved, it becomes useful. When the sage uses it, he becomes the ruler. Thus, "A great tailor cuts little." So we have three pairs of 'knowing one' and 'guarding or keeping' the other: man + woman = stream of universe white + black = example to the world honour + humility = valley of the universe 'stream' here means something like a channel (for qi). The white/black is very suggestive of the Taiji and thus yang/yin although for the time of this writing this might be anachronistic - but still valid I would suggest - thus the non-dual is expressed in exactly the ability to hold white/black, male/female, honour/humility and thus the value of the uncontrived state of the uncarved block (which I would equate to the Rigpa natural state of Buddhism).

herbal grimoire

It is beyond all of those things.

I was laughing with you not at you. 'See monsters and die' - I thought.

'see monsters' - ha ha.

To be honest I usually avoid discussion of the TTC because I think unless you completely immerse yourself in Daoist thought then it is the sort of text which can bear all kinds of interpretation. In this case I did find some online resources which allow some degree of examination of the original Chinese terms ( http://ctext.org/dao-de-jing and http://www.egreenway.com/taoism/ttclz10.htm). It seems to me the text is talking about unifying the parts of your being, specifically the hun and po souls - then it goes on to talk about 'softening' the breath/qi. It sounds like at least a nod towards Nei Dan - but of course a big time gap before that explicitly emerged. Part of the issue is whether it is talking about unifying by integrating parts of beings (hun and po) or if it is suggesting union with, merging with the One. As you can see the various translators are split on this - some saying just 'unify' and others talking about the One. It could be argued that without the oneness which comes from Dao it would be impossible to unify anyway. I don't really see anything in this which relates to 'merging' and I don't know if Daoism has such an idea - although obviously there is the idea of 'following' or harmonising with the way. What is Chinese term for merging? If they had it as a major concept then there must be a term for it. I know that late Yi Jing commentaries talk about 'the One' which comes from Dao and begets two and so forth. But it all sounds very neo-Platonic to talk about 'the One' with which you can merge. Anyway my thoughts.

sick sucks

Sorry but non-separation does not equal non-dual.