Harmonious Emptiness

For some people, there are religious reasons that they do or don't do certain things on account of following the precepts of that path. For example, Muslims pray 3 times a day no matter where they are, Jews don't eat pork, some Buddhists don't eat vegetables. These might need to be explained in some cases as "this is part of my spiritual path." When I'm thinking "I refuse this as part of my Taoist path" what I'm usually referring to are these precepts in Chuang Tzu's story "The Old Fisherman": http://terebess.hu/english/chuangtzu3.html#31 ".... there are eight faults that men may possess, and four evils that beset their undertakings - you must not fail to examine these carefully. To do what it is not your business to do is called officiousness. To rush forward when no one has nodded in your direction is called obsequiousness. To echo a man's opinions and try to draw him out in speech is called sycophancy. To speak without regard for what is right or wrong is called flattery. To delight in talking about other men's failings is called calumny. To break up friendships and set kinfolk at odds is called maliciousness. To praise falsely and hypocritically so as to cause injury and evil to others is called wickedness. Without thought for right or wrong, to try to face in two directions at once so as to steal a glimpse of the other party's wishes is called treachery. These eight faults inflict chaos on others and injury on the possessor. A gentleman will not befriend the man who possesses them, an enlightened ruler will not have him for his minister. "As for the four evils which I spoke of, to be fond of plunging into great undertakings, altering and departing from the old accepted ways, hoping thereby to enhance your merit and fame - this is called avidity. To insist that you know it all, that everything be done your way, snatching from others and appropriating for your own use - this is called avarice. To see your errors but refuse to change, to listen to remonstrance but go on behaving worse than before - this is called obstinacy. When men agree with you, to commend them; when they disagree with you, to refuse to see any goodness in them even when it is there - this is called bigotry. These are the four evils. If you do away with the eight faults and avoid committing the four evils, then and only then will you become capable of being taught!" .... Confucius looked shamefaced and said, "Please, may I ask what you mean by `the Truth'?" The stranger said, "By `the Truth' I mean purity and sincerity in their highest degree. He who lacks purity and sincerity cannot move others. Therefore he who forces himself to lament, though he may sound sad, will awaken no grief. He who forces himself to be angry, though he may sound fierce, will arouse no awe. And he who forces himself to be affectionate, though he may smile, will create no air of harmony. True sadness need make no sound to awaken grief; true anger need not show itself to arouse awe; true affection need not smile to create harmony. When a man has the Truth within himself, his spirit may move among external things. That is why the Truth is to be prized!

Okay well, sorry if I hurt your feelings. But any seemingly straight man with hair under his arms should expect odd reception to saying he's in love with this show. That's just the facts of life, which maybe one of these ponies made to look like sexed up 8 year olds neglected to tell them... Sorry if that is too dark for the prouncing pink ponys, but this is not the nickelodeon channel either.

Great article. Good stuff to go back to. So true. Goes back to the whole Buddhist "interdependency" thing and beyond. Thanks for your responses folks

I always had the impression that older males that watch My Little Pony were there same types of people that think they're buying school girls underwear from vending machines in Japan.

Cultivating positives. contentment and gratitude over craving selflessness/not-self over pride love over jealousy will over sloth generosity over greed awareness over ignorance

hate that.. True. There seems a lot of lower type foot/leg traps with this step, also with the MCO type movements, you need to be rooted (though some tai chi players can root pretty heavily on one foot). True. This is the "dancing" thing. A lot of foot work is just moving, but then even in boxing the fighter usually roots before striking too. Yeah, I've been lurking there a bit lately...

The self-massage in Light Warrior's Guide to High Level Energy Healing (Stillness Movement lineage/Michael Lomax) is to bring energy down to avoid just the problem your describing. It's only $10 for kindle to read on your computer or smart phone (if you're in the States (no pun intended)). Considering the potency of the healing power of this lineage, I'd say it's possibly your best bet.

I downloaded this too, though kindle doesn't work on my smartphone in Canada, so I'll only be able to read it from home. Thanks! I'll send comments when I get through some of it.

You might try dandelion leaf tea to help cleanse the liver. Every once in while I make some dandelion/sage/lemongrass/oatstraw tea for extra nutrients and cleansing. It's pretty mild but it's nice. For a bit of a mood boost sometimes I'll also add licorice root and peppermint. "jerkiness, irritability and anger" yup, liver symptoms. 8 section brocade is good to massage all the organs with all the twisting and deep breathing. It gets some stagnant chi out that can cause irritation.

I dunno about not using circle walking in combat. Seems most of the side steps and angled approaches come from circular shifting and spinning. I can definitely see the advantage of circle walking, I just don't yet see how mud-stepping is always the best option. Another example being that it would be easier to do ko bu and bai bu when the foot is up in a ready position. I guess its mostly for small circle walking/turning that I'm looking at. Yes, I can see how he is shifting quite quickly without lifting his feet up too. But then on a rougher terrain, or even rough concrete where the feet can get caught, this could maybe put someone in a narrow stance with nowhere for the feet to go (from what I know/can see). Well, the stomp has a lot do with using the downward force as well, which could add another 30 pounds or so to the strike fairly easily with enough practice. Seems tai chi uses mostly the latter MCO. Is the former used for "dancing" as they call in boxing?

Still, to me (in my admitted ignorance of the actual baguazhang skill), it seems like having the feet planted in these positions makes the knees very open to a low kick, whereas having the feet higher up allows more flexibility to absorb the force by moving with it, as well as trapping a kick or striking from the stepping position. This does make sense, as the palm changes redirect the weight. On the downside, they also give away which direction you're striking. Probably has to do with being more comfortable with one method vs. the other though. It seems to me that crane stepping keeps the balance centered more, while mudstepping is always in motion. Once somebody is adept at mudstepping though, maybe they are just as centered as crane stepping. (got to go, will get back to MithShrike....)

I have no real experience with baguazhang, but just for balancing the discussion, the mudstepping technique does seems a bit limited in way of drastic direction changes. With the feet so close to the ground and far away from the body, it sort of commits you to the direction your facing, whereas when doing something more like tai chi stepping (crane stepping?), where the back foot comes up to the other leg, there are more options for shooting in any direction with full attack. Also having the foot come down with each step allows for a stomping fa jin, or alternatively a low kick rather than a step. For example, if I'm mud stepping and suddenly someone comes from an unexpected angle, I can only root myself, whereas if my foot is not committed to the ground I can quickly choose another direction or attack the legs. How does one apply mud-stepping in a way that the weight of the body can change direction at all times? thanks

Check out the Secret Smile meditation. The warm up involves contracting and expanding the toes and then bringing the energy up through the legs.

My alter ego Listening to itself talk On the internet :wub: :wub: :wub:

I understand it is no easy task, especially not even knowing contemporary Chinese. However, I would like to get started somehow. At least, find out how to interpret some radicals/characters so that when I read a translation with the Chinese next to it I can understand how they arrived at the words. I speak English and enough French to have some familiarity with detaching my grammatical preconceptions. I know this is hardly worth a dime, but hopefully more useful than not. Any suggestions? Maybe free online resources?

Thanks for sharing your thoughts and research here dynamictao. It's great to see some additional scholarly input. For a writing like DDJ Chapter One, with such an economy/sparseness of words, each one rich with meaning, it feels like looking at a talisman, where each symbol takes one to the depth of it's meaning. From this perspective, 可道 seems like it might even hold a meaning about kě, using the same grammatical rule that 無極 Wu Ji (Emptiness to the Ultimate) follows where the adjective word/function comes after the noun. Could it be possible that kě dào implies "可permission/ability (comes from Dao) 道?" or 道，可道，非常道；名，可名，非常名 Dao, things are enabled by Dao, but there is no constant Dao; Names, things are enabled by names, but there is no true name.

Thanks Mithshrike!

Were these all from after the quake? There appears to be a number of them still in good condition.

Daoist-Eco-Handbook, distributed by and to Daoist temples .

@ Marblehead and Mr. T: Yes, I think Taoism also shows it's ecological virtues in much of it's just "way of being" and appreciating the natural aspects and realities of our place in the Dao. Humanity often fails to benefit from this relationship by over-inflating their position in relation to the Earth, as the statement linked above illustrated. When we refuse to listen, we might just miss out on an invitation to dance . Very interesting stuff fulllotus! Thanks. Looking forward to that documentary too.

Official statement by The China Daoist Association, based at White Cloud Temple in Beijing which speaks about Daoism and Ecology.

It might help to compartmentalize the many connecting aspects of Daoism. Starting with: Social/moral/political Personal/spiritual/mental Environmental Nature Health Spirit World The interconnection of these things The study of change in these things What happens when they are imbalanced within and in relation to other things Strategies for living with them effectively Ways be able to learn and understand these strategies beyond the intellectual level Main written sources: The I Ching Dao De Jing Nei Ye (predates the Dao De Jing) Nei Jia (said to predate the other three) Chuang Tzu A Taoist is often a "renaissance man" who studies many arts on a path to self-refinement; including visual, herbalism, physical/martial, musical, tea, poetry, and philosophy. Basically anything he/she puts their hands too becomes a doorway to the second list above.

Sure it seems to be the jack of all trades-master of none, but it's mostly just spiritual exploration, imo. Sort of like the new frontiers of the explorers. The doors are now open and people like to go in and poke around. Sounds like I don't really know much of what "New Age" is though.. like it's more of a set thing now, rather than just non-committal exploration of "foreign" traditions.

little by little sip by sip and step by step poems write themselves

Nothing to do with countries, only to do with the overly suppressive dogma that all of these people hold as "right" which of course they can't live up to, and so not being connected to their nature in a healthy way, it expresses itself in an unhealthy way. Fact of the matter is that homosexuality is not the evil. Unrealistic suppression is what leads to real problems. What do you or I care if someone wants to eat hot dogs with soy sauce. It might seem weird to us, but who cares? Other people's taste is of no consequence to us so long as it's not violent.