Apech

Just read through this. Very interesting. As someone has already said ... seven car accidents in seven years ... bloody hell! Anyway glad I was part of putting this together. Maybe TTBs should interview more teachers it would be a great resource for us all.

You are going to have a rest. I am suspending you for 180 days for your other post.

As long as its transmitting old Seinfeld repeats or Kung Fu the TV series I don't mind.

Wizard of Earthsea wasn't too bad from memory - although I did read it in my Tolkein starved youth. I think you are right that she is being held up as a symbolic hate figure - which is unfair really.

Falling asleep and waking up ... yes, yes yes! The akh appears in the akh-et ... the horizon ... the space between day and night .. the twilight of dawn and dusk that's where consciousness transforms from what the Egyptians called 'wn'-being to 'kheper'-being ... that is being as a kind of passive absorbtion in the void (wn) and being as a becoming/transforming shape shifting self (kheper). Its a cycle of becoming and return. Night is sleep, day is wakefulness. Decibelle, Readiness to act ... yes also ... the akh is about a kind of total responsiveness and the ability to cross the boundaries ... fluidity perhaps ... readiness ... awareness ...

The OP is a good reminder not to fall for the popular or commercial. But it has an element of throwing the baby out with the bath water. It is no surprise for instance that Ursula Le Guin is not a Taoist scholar and these are easy targets. It is helpful to have some rigorous and accurate scholarship on the subject of Taoism but there is something missing which is ... one would have thought that a source text like the TTC being inspirational to thousands if not millions of people across the western world would be held up as evidence of the wise and profound nature of Taoist teachings ... i.e. that they can cross cultural boundaries, be subject to some dubious translation but still ring true in hearts if so many readers. Ok their understanding might be limited and lack the nuance that serious study would give ... but still it is true that the Tao has made an impact in the West. This is something to be built on and it is perhaps a criticism of the 'serious' Taoists that they have left a vacuum into which Ms. Le Guin and others have stepped. Buddhism suffered similarly in the early days but then it made serious efforts to spread authentic teachings. Now Buddhism is better understood in the west. So if the writer quoted in the OP is pointing the finger of criticism then quite a lot of that should rebound straight back on him.

Hello and welcome ... I'm looking forward to your contributions.

Really? I've got that on DVD somewhere ... Lost in Translation that is ... thanks for the reminder

I just deleted it and banned member for posting this. To anyone who does want to see Scarlett Johansen's ass ... well sorry 'bout that ... you'll just have to go and ask her in person.

Now a serious comment. There seems to be an implication in this whole train of thought about Taoism that somehow the cultural phenomenon of Taoism in China is more important than the core of Taoism, the Tao itself. This might be partly a reaction to the Tao being trendy and subject to New Agey type interpretation ... i.e. nice sounding words without any real understanding .... or it might be a kind of protectionism. Also to somehow to suggest that it is easier or lesser to pick up a copy of the TTC and get some meaning from it that is relevant to your life and understanding of reality than it is to pick up the robes and trappings of ancient China and follow their rituals, is quite frankly bizarre. And even more so to suggest that the cause or basis of those (mostly) Westerners who do become Taoists is anything other than the Tao itself, if one is a Taoist, then is illogical. If a western taoist finds meaning in the Tao and puts this into practice then what are we supposed to call this other than Taoism????? And why isn't this perceived by the Chinese orthodox Taoist as a source of renewal ... rather than say ... 'oh another sympathizer????' There needs to be rigor in thought and practice that is true ... so I am not saying just anything goes - but if Taoism has a future surely it is here with people like you guys.

Lucky its not called The Arse Burns ... that would be bad.

I'm sympathetic because of my other interests/studies. Some say less sym and more pathetic. (ha ha).

I agree. Keep posting Manitou - your poems or anyone's - all welcome. I'm enjoying this thread.

Great contributions everyone!

We are all qualified to speak.

Perfectly normal and ok - just don't stop meditating ... keep going ... don't get upset by these thoughts and reactions ....

Anti-religious = good Anti -spirit ??? what do we mean by spirit? Spirit is not being 'spiritual' IMO but more about finding your own way ... or perhaps spirit is our true nature ... religion is just a way for other people to confuse you about this for political purposes.

Time - what is it? About three o'clock. (sorry about this joke but I had to get it out of my system). Time is very interesting. As I see it there are two aspects of time experience - i.e. subjective time. One is time looking backwards - which is really memory. When we think about where we are in relation to what we know ... then we make an inventory of how we got to the present moment. e.g. I got up, ate some breakfast, went out, came back and now I'm sitting at the computer ... this is a kind of mapping of recent events to place ourselves in time. The other is time looking forward - which is looking at time as this unstoppable flow which comes towards us every minute - it is like a stream of permutations and fluctuations of possibility ... like a kaleidoscope of the possibilities of being .... (don't think I put that very well). We stand in the 'now' looking both ways like Janus (god with two heads) and we create our own subjective assessment of time from these two views. What has been and what is to be. My 2p.

Right I'm going to PM you just for saying that ... maybe not .... I love this place ... I only worry its slightly obsessive ... occasionally life intrudes ... and I am supposed to do some practice.

Nice article on BBC website My link

Very interesting Marblehead. Thanks for feeding back the results of your study so far. Do you get the impression that the meaning of Tao or any related concepts is very different in this text - or is it just a matter of a different order of chapters with bits missing? A.

Hi and welcome, Suggest you post your questions in Taoist Discussion - you'll get plenty of answers. A. PS> Different books give the location of the middle tantien as either the heart or the solar plexus ... some say both. Best to think of it as an energy field located in the middle of the body.

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