baiqi

Because it is formless. When we talk about the soul, it is about the "heart" (not just the physical organ). It is about what you feel deeply. It is close to the Tao, which doesn't have any shape.

Most of the time, when people talk about "dantian", they mean the lower dantien. In traditional taoism, they are three: - The lower dantian , corresponding to the physical center of the being. - The middle dantian, corresponding to the emotional center - The upper dantian, corresponding to the intellectual/spiritual center. You can search the forum, I'm sur you'll find more about it.

Wrong question: it doesn't look like anything. Rather ask: what does it feel like?

Just one thing: This isn't Wu Wei: Wu Wei is doing without being attached to the results, it also can be....well read the threads related to Wu Wei, godamnit! I follow this conversation with great interest, BTW

If I learn that I might have testicular cancer, I am not going to have my balls removed. I might do it if and only if the cancer is already here (or I could simply choose to die ... ). I don't understand A.Jolie. I don't understand why so many people are supporting her choice. Well, now it's done and hope she gets well with it, but in no way I can see this as something people should follow. She acted out of fear, which is not always good. She could just do some regular check-ups (she has enough money for it), and if the cancer is here, it should not be too big and coul be removed. I am no expert in this field but it is common sense, right? If I were a bit paranoid, I would say this is part of surgeons/medical world domination hidden agenda.

I also feel some kidney deficiency from what you wrote. But this need to be checked by a tcm doctor. Contradiction spotted here!! You do care, but you don't have enough energy to fight. Try to start with the simplest things you can do. You can't stop smoking weed? Alright, just reduce it for the moment. See if you feel better. See if you can take it. Reduce again. Eventually, stop completly. ...That part sounds healthy to me! Continue to speak to them . Hug trees. Get grounded. Go out. Do whatever it takes to get out of this state of mind.

Depends. If it's a working day, I keep things basic: I drink a cup of Chinese tea, get dressed, and eat some breakfast. If I have a little time, I try some simple qi gong (ba duan jin, not always the whole set) or baguazhang's single palm change. I do standing or seating meditation only if I have more time; on a day off or if I'm not working too early. I think it's not so efficient if it lasts less than 20-30 minutes.

There are actually five elements in the western cosmology as well, if consider "ether" as the fifth element. I see connections between the western elements and the bagua. (eight trigramms). This is my understanding only. Air: Qian (heaven) and Xun (wind) Earth: Kun (earth) and Gèn (mountain) Fire: Li (fire) and Zhen (thunder) Water: Kan (deep waters) and Dui (marsh) ... the gua have their (traditionally Chinese) correspondances with the five elements.

Yes, probably. It is absolutely normal for eskimos to eat meat, it is a matter of survival. (well mainly fish, I guess?) Not so much for us. Clearly, yes. And I would eat meat if I had to as well. If I were an eskimo, for example. The key word here is survival. You cannot talk ethics when in survival mode. Or you accept to get killed, which is not my case. But people in modern societies don't eat meat to survive anymore. It's a cultural thing. Actually, I am not too much concerned with this "fall of man" in the Abrahamic or even Taoist sense. People started to eat meat a long time ago, for good or bad reasons, possibly both. I am more concerned about what's going on here and now, and how to do best. I know. And I don't judge you as a person. I was just tired yesterday o falways hearing the same BS over and over again. About choices: I was a carnivore (almost!) for many years , too. I cannot say I really had a choice, I just would not think about it, it was just part of my life. I had no idea about the alternatives, nor the consequences. ...But this would lead us to another topic about free will, so I'll leave it here from now on!

I am absolutely bored with this: I've heard it around a thousand times. Pretty much like the "Hitler" thing. Don't you have any originality when you try vegan-bashing? Plants don't have a central nervous system, animals do. No, I don't hear my carrots scream when I cut them. But I've certainly heard animals scream when they were killed. Now, even if plants had feelings: if you breed animals, you need: - to cut down a forest, in order to grow some transgenic soy - to take the soy and give to the animals you're breeding. - to kill the animals for their meat. So in the end, you have killed more plants than a vegetarian (or vegan) did. And I didn't talk about the pollution caused by intensive breeding. I am not, although it would be enjoyable. I am waiting for the day man and the lamb have a nap together, both go out. The lamb would eat grass, and the man vegetarian dishes that taste a little better than grass!

So was Musashi...in death and life sword-fights. And the second sentence is not true: That's not too bad already....

Not sure. It's not because one great master said something that it's right. Some people might misunderstand the idea of filling the dantian with qi, but that doesn't make the idea wrong. Other masters with as much ability as Wang's said the opposite. And you have this concept in many of internal martial arts classics. I'd be very surprised if there was nothing. Actually my own experience is that there is "qi". But, granted, this is only one component of the internal martial arts. Another thing about this article: I don't particulary like Wang critisizing all schools of martial arts (except bagua maybe...). He reminds me of Musashi in the chapter "wind" from the Book of the five rings. The big difference is that Musashi did not name the schools but rather talked about their flaws and advantages. (Ex: the schools that use only big or small swords). This is much more ethical, and realistic as well: I'm sure you can find great experts in any of the aformentioned schools, there are always gifted individuals.

...which made us intelligent enough to destroy our envirronement, create the nuclear bomb, the internet (on which I am wasting my time right now), cigarettes, fanatic religions.... Perhaps this is the "fall of man" mentioned in the topic title!

Oh, I believe he is! Probably. The creation of the term "internal martial arts" was made a short time before this, It seems that he wants Chinese arts to get rid of this distinction. Absolutely. I think this is partly due to the western "rational" thinking starting to prevail in China at the time... I also wonder if (but that would mean he really didn't have clue about qi) he coniders qi to be air (which is one possible translation...However in that context it is a totally different thing!) By the way, it is now proven that the abdomen is the "second brain", there are some neurons there! This was unknown at that time, but daoists had this understanding.

No. Most of the vegetarians I know are no monks, nor qi cultivators. They most of the times are just normal folks. And they get very well with it. Almost anyone could become vegetarians, if they knew how to do and had the courage to do it.

Oh, I disagree with Wang on the health preservation stuff. Lots of people are benefiting from Taiji, I don't see how it could "damage the nerves". As far as I know, all scientific studies show good results on people doing it. Even the "learning a long form" process is good for the brain, and could prevent degenerative sickness according to some studies. (I don't have the source, sorry) I agree, however, on the combat part. Too much choregraphy makes you lose your spontaneity. Which can be very, very dangerous in a real fight. I stopped being a taiji person after realising I could have the same benefits (and more) from other stuff. That doesn't mean taiji is ineffective.

This is WXZ's point of view. I do agree with most of what he said. I think Taijiquan's main problem is too much forms. However, there are some Taiji masters who were and are very good in combat. Wang was not "against taijiquan", but believed it could be improved. He actually had much harscher criticism of the Shaolin schools of boxing.

I remember watching dr Xie Peiqi, thinking "this must be the ugliest bagua I've ever seen". However, he was indeed very good at bagua as a fighting and healing art. Most of baguazhang is beautiful, but I also believe this can be one of its flaws: you want to look beautiful, and so what you finally do is...dancing. Nothing wrong with that, except if you believe you're doing martial arts! It's no coincidence that bagua has its modern wushu comptetitions. In Wong Kar Wai's last movie, you see Zhang Ziyi perform baguazhang as a dance (she was a dancer before, actually), and in the whole movie all bagua practicioners are women, which makes it look like a " girls martial art". I really question this idea of aesthetics, while I sometimes enjoy it. When some people say my baguazhang is beautiful, I get angry and kill them all with my iron palm prefer to say that I try to make my movements "harmonious", which is not the same. Especially, it's not about flowery movements. I find a bagua master doing something very simple, like the single palm change with internal energy far more "beautiful" than those who do crazy athletic stuff. Generally speaking, I would say that "looking good" is an enjoyable by-product of bagua, but should not be the goal (unless you want to do bagua dance)

1. Karma and Rebirth: in philosophical taoism, nothing is said about rebirth (as far as I can remember), in religious taoism, lots of ideas taken from Buddhism. There are some ideas close to karma in the DDJ, such as " the violent man will meet a violent death" or "Heaven does not make a difference, it always help the virtuous man", but it might differ a bit from the Hindu/Buddhist concept. 2. Enlightenment:. I do believe some Taoists have this idea of a complete understanding, but I am not sure it is the same as the Buddhists. Here I make no difference between religious and philosophical taoism. 3. Meditation: yes, there is meditation in Taoism. 4. The monastic order: the last school of religious Taoism, called Quanzhen, is a monastic order. In earlier Taoism, it did not exist, but there were hermits, people leaving society, which is not so different from being a monk. 5. Ethics: in religious Taoism, some ideas come from Buddhism and Confucius. The philosophical Taoist ethic does exist as well, but is a bit harder to understand: real ethic does not come external morality, a set of rules, but rather from the understanding of the Tao. 6. Other realms of existence: lots of them in religious Taoism. Quite a few in taoist philosophy as well, especially if you consider the many points of view of existance. Some texts by Zhuangzi talk about it, I believe.

http://www.dailymail...akes-manly.html Oh yeah, I knew it. Mike Tyson is gay, and I would easily beat him. You can do a lot of stupid things just to prove you're a "real man". This is one of them. There was some truth when we were hunters/gatherers maybe. But nowadays? Buying a piece of an animal bred/ killed for you in exchange of some money? I don't see "virility" here.

Always the same BS...Sorry, I've heard this a 1000 times, and no, he wasn't. Check your sources again, please. But, yeah, some vegetarians are bad people. Not as bad as Adolph, but I prefer the company of some omnivores than some vegetarians for sure. So what？ People can be vegetarians without thinking "ethics" for one second. About guilt: guilt is bad when you don't do anything about it. If you stay with your guilt all your life, that's terrible. However feeling bad when you watch such videos (or, as in my case,when you see this right in front of you) is perfectly normal. So...yes I want you to feel guilty for all that, YOU are part this. But I want you to be guilty just for a few moments, long enough to think: "OK what can I do to change this situation, at my own level?" , and act accordingly. Then you can (and should) be peaceful again.

...you just forgot religious taoism! And some greek philosophers as well...

Well, I agree that communism is (let's say was; basically it's dead even in China, just North Korea is now really communist) bad, however I think this is a bit simplistic. There have been other ideologies that were at least as bad as communism, such as nazism, islamism, and other religious/non-religious totalitarian ideologies. Some of these are still very much alive! The only difference is that communism was widespread in the whole world, and with 20th century technology it made a lot of damage. It also was successful because, contrary to fascism for example, it seemed "humane" in its rhetoric, and attracted a lot of people who were rightfully fighting injustice. So BTW there are some people I admire who were communists.

Really？Well, you're wrong It's 辟 bi4谷 gu3：stopping the cereals （谷 gu3 means valley...and cereals as well!) , literaly, not 闭 bi4 (closing, sealing)谷 gu3, same pinyin but totally different meaning. So yes, it is about diet. Maybe metaphorically, but diet anyway.

Yes and no. Bigu actually means "stop the grains" and some took it very seriously. There are actually different diets/ ways of fasting in China... and this is true for taoists as well. Your interpretation may have some truth in it, but some people take it literally. Bigu is not stoping to eat completely, from what I've seen: usually it's done for a period of time (months, years?), and people will eat very little. (Fruits, almonds and stuff like that) As for vegetarianism, it is a prequisite to bigu.