Harmonious Emptiness

yeah, learned it from a Ginger Baker instructional video. He said it used to be part of the requirements to get into the musicians union as a drummer.

It may help to look at more uses of 然 for example: 當然 = to be as + ran = only natural; as it should be; certainly; of course; without doubt 突然 = sudden + ran = suddenly It appears after a word to mean "in the way of" the word preceding it. So 自然 would appear "just as itself." The etymology of English words are similarly revealing of their implications, as is the case with Classical Chinese, at least to get a sense of the direction. I think "self-igniting" shows some of this direction as would taking "然 right/correct" to mean "self-permitting/self-correcting" though, again, this is just a direction of the meaning rather than literal meaning.

Thanks for your input CD.

I would also say virtue, but then some have misunderstood and extracted seemingly out of place phrases from Daoist literature, and followed these misconceptions on a path away from Dao while thinking they are Daoists. So it's really a difficult question to answer accurately.

Yes, they are not too bad right now, but I'd like them to at least stay that way or get better

Good advice already here, to which I'll add: Just say "I don't know" and be okay with that, without making a new tip out of it. Wu wei is mostly to do with ordering things, imo. These tips order your way of thinking about or doing things. We can't order everything, so best to learn how to be okay with that. This takes humility too, to accept that we are not in control. It can also take quite a bit of courage to have humility, strange as that sounds..

Ancient Chinese grammar is sometimes fascinating to me, but we are certainly among the few here, understandably.. Where are you getting 燃 for zi ran? From what I see, even the Guodian slips had just 然.

Hey, speaking of low stance, what do you all recommend to keep the knees in good condition when practicing low stance? Thanks.

Striking up conversation with some cab drivers might get you somewhere, but probably just get you scammed. In my experience, people from the regions where this stuff is common always have stories - maybe you've heard of the dishes and silverware crossing the street? There are a number of individual practitioners, but I don't know about any communities. You could talk to owners working in African deco and drums stores, though I would expect to be rejected since these things are as misunderstood as they are misused. Unfortunately, it seems that the negative stereotypes have led to the negative sides being more commonly used for gain by non-practitioners from the same ethnicities. It's not uncommon for Hatians to have some way of contacting a reliable priestess to remove curses, but again, to find a community of practitioners would be like uncovering a spy network. You might find someone at the drum circle, not sure...

Maybe. I should clarify better that I was really just making a pun by saying "ego trip," meaning "does Buddhism offer you anything more in the way of living your life in harmony with humanity, or is it all just focused on yourself?" True, it's important to love one's self as well in the whole "unconditional love" thing. And I agree, this is a worthwhile struggle if it is as such. I agree with you here that compassion is one of the blossoms that comes from practice. I just get the sense that a lot of people's practice never gets there. Yes, there is room for others too in "nothingness," imo. The Surungama scripture explains mind and self quite a bit. You can read it at sacred-texts.com

That's what happens when the external illusions don't give back the labels they borrowed. Not that they asked anyone, but these labels cannot not defend themselves, and it's hard for people to defend the labels that can't defend themselves.. A pear is always a pear, right and wrong create something else.

Well, just as I said, and you showed throughout this post, these are external illusion with borrowed labels. At least counter my point if you're going to "argue" with me..

As I see it, both Buddhism and Christianity have hopes to transform the world we live in by transforming the people who live in it; however, there that transformation takes place on the internal plane. When the external plane is in chaos, the best that can be done is to be like the water trigram (of two passive lines surrounding one solid line): there are external situations that need to be acted on, but if that internal line is disrupted the whole thing is destroyed. As we can see by how this situation developed, it was people who got angry and fearful of being taken over and this reaction led to a destruction of the external and internal worlds. What's going on is directly political. True Christianity and true Buddhism can effect politics indirectly by changing behaviour, but what's going on is a departure from the confidence in the power of the teachings of the religion and engaging in external politics instead. To say that these situations are related to the religion is just an illusion created by the external politics which has no more confidence in the power of what those religions teach. This is not to say that fearing for the safety of your neighbors and family is only for weak people, I'm just talking about the mob mentality and other reactions that resulted.

Just wanted to restate that this is the cause according to the dharma. This time Buddhism is the religion being used as this instrument. This is how religious, cultural, and political imperialism develop.

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Fear short-circuiting wisdom is the cause of these things, not the dharma.

This was interesting. I guess it works together sort of like: 自然 zi ran/nature/self-correcting and self-permitting 自名 self-naming 為稱 putting in balance How did you see the use of zi and ming?

I'd add to those rudiments: just practice the paradiddle (RLRR LRLL) and change the accent to fall on different beats: Rlrr Lrll repeat rLrr lRll repeat rlRr lrLl repeat rlrR lrlL repeat

You're welcome. You can probably find some good lessons on youtube too. Doumbek technique is traditionally a bit different but you can use all kinds of techniques on any hand drum. Start with learning how to hit the bass and rim properly to get the natural tones out of the drum, before getting into rhythms. It's kind of like dribbling a basketball - more of a bounce/slap/whip rather than a smack. Also keep your fingers together (at least) at the start so they are not too loose. Basic rhythm: 1 e & a 2 e & a 3 e & a 4 e & a (repeat) bass on the 1 and 3 / rim on the 2 and 4 / ghost notes (light touch) on the "e & a" to get better timing, find an online metronome. Once you get used to it, I suggest setting it at half speed, like 40 beats per minute, so that it only clicks on the 2 and 4 and your own groove and ghost notes fill in the rest. This way your ghost notes will keep the time steady and your rim shots will be tight. Let me know if you're interested in more.

I eat vegetarian about 97% of the time, however, I find it difficult to get enough protein when skipping meals. I wonder how monks manage to fast regularly, eat basically vegan, do demanding stuff like violent exorcisms and daily mountain climbing, and still feel their getting enough protein. I suppose the meditation and lifestyle have something to do with it, but not everyone can maintain this lifestyle outside of monastery life.

MWD: 無名萬物之始也, 有名萬物之母也 I think this still comes down to "the beginning of all things was limitless; the mother of all things can be percieved." As I had before: 無名天地之始 One cannot conceptualize where Heaven and Earth came from (as they did not come from a concept.) "Without name: the origin of Heaven and Earth" 有名萬物之母。 There can, however, be a concept of where the myriad children of Heaven and Earth came from (: they came from the concept(s) of Heaven and Earth). "Existing: the name of the mother of the myriad things" These concepts are considered further in later concepts, but I think the sum total of Chapter One is almost like a translators introduction: "to understand this, keep in mind...." I guess would say "Dao can be (Dao is), Dao not (Dao is not), eternal way (all is Dao)." Interesting possibility. The rhythm is important to catch the rest of the punctuation, imo. At least the meaning here would stay the same though, as "the Dao is beyond codification."

'scuse my wikipedia reliance here, but Shen Dao and Shen Buhai both show up later than the Guodian manuscripts, no?

Sounds like you'd be best off with a ceramic doumbek. They are usually the cheapest (around $70US and less) of any hand-drums and they have a really versatile sound with big bass and cool sounding rim and treble. I find the ceramic ones actually have a lot more versatility than the metal and vinyl ones - lot's more overtones can be found in the ceramic. I'd say they have most Eastern mystical tone which judging by your music choice is probably more what you would use it for. Just be careful not to tip it over or it can crack. The big wooden African ones you see at drum circles are djembes (Gem-bay). They are extremely vesatile. Only buy them if they have real African goat skin, and preferably made in either Mali, Ghana, Senegal, Gambia, or Ivory Coast. The other skins don't have the same sound, will go out of tune, and you'd be better off with a $60 ceramic doumbek. Good djembes go from $250 to maybe $600US, depending on the size, type of wood, design work, and origin. Congas are not as versatle as doumbeks or djembes, which is why you generally need two of them (as with bongos). If you find an inexpensive one ($200) with a thick bison skin head, it will sound better than all the medium, non pro-level, stuff. One really nice conga will cost you the same as a full drumset. Here's a ceramic doumbek/darbouka:

Having a bit of trouble understanding what mean. Maybe write it out in your native tongue first? Or use more longer description rather than shorter terms? It's a tao or to tao; it isn't always the tao. (the Tao that is, nor the Tao that does, are not always the Tao?) It's a name or to name; it isn't always the name. (names that are named, are not always the name?) In the beginning of everything isn't a name. (In the beginning of everything is the absence of names?) The mother of everything is a name. As a consequence: It is always desireless with regard to its virtue. She is always desiring with regard to her offsprings. It's a pair of the same origin. They are different parts of speech having the same meaning. Darkening dark and The gate of the numerous virtuous. "numerous virtuous" - as in "many virtues?" "great virtue?" In Chapter Six, to translate "valley spirit," which in the Mawangdui text actually shows "washing, spirit," I'm using "pure numinous force." While we're at it, I might as well say that I think this "pure numinous force" is also De (as described in Chapter 10 and Chapter 28)! So I think in this case "gate of numinous virtue" would be a great translation. Note that numinous is very different from "numerous" though most people are not too familiar with the term.

Yes, it's a interesting word which does not exist in English with the same versatility - subtle, mysterious, feminine, beauty, wonder yet also in subtle mysterious feminine beauty and wonder there is a wisdom and virtue, and all of this can suggest something more and yet more specific when used in certain contexts, such as following Chapter 27's descriptions. I see the combination of woman 女 and small 少 to suggest subtle femininity or something of that sort. It's sort of an indefinable term.