dawei

When I read it the very first time... I thought it was a laugh of joy or similar to the 'Zen laugh' (I've had occasion for the latter). Or the laugh could be not about something funny but internal discomfort which gets masked with a nervous laugh. In any case, the traditional rendering seems to mean they don't really understand or know Dao.

And the latter directs the former... an interesting loop How would this tie back to the topic? I liked your toolbox analogy. The toolbox has no attachment or preference but there is a right tool for a task.

If people want to "try" something... then maybe more should just try not to be a pain in the arse As to 'try to live'... In a Word: Live I would probably say "is open in regards to"... In a word: Allow

Wouldn't it be easier to just make some magic money

Admin Message The Staff had moved this from the Buddhist section to Steve's PPF, per his request. As a reminder to members: You can report PMs if you feel they warrant staff attention. Thanks.

I don't want to speak for you, but I hear in you the focus I have: Path over Practice.

I think you need two generic options: 1. I commute to work (any work not listed above) 2. I work from home (most or all of the time) I fall into this last one.

Yes. I typed the wrong one although this was the intended one. thanks.

Flowing Hands relates a line in DDJ 38: Confusion always arises when the Dao is lost, people then must find something to replace it. A sense of separation from Dao is a sense of confusion for the mind-body-spirit in relation to its source... we replace that separate with cultivation. Somehow we think we must 'do something' to restore that separation. Doing something translates to cultivating a practice... and this is why Baopuzi called practice "not natural"; Not Wu Wei Lost of Dao... lost of Wu Wei... a 'desire' to restore ourselves and thus we find something to replace the source. IMO, Tao = simultaneous: Source-Mind-Body-Spirit

That notation is Wades-Gile... the trick is to convert it to Pinyin and then using the English and Pinyin, try to find the chinese. I found that my copy/paste shifted some of the characters. The proper characters are: Shih Chung Hsuan Chi = Shi Zhong Xuan Ji = 市中玄机 At least that is my best investigative guess... but it still does not turn up a text

I found another name / translation for the book name: Indescribably Skillful Devices from Within the Master’s Quarters Reference Chuangunglu (傳光録), The Record of Transmission of Light; http://www.shastaabbey.org/teachings-publications_denkoroku.html When you download the section for pp.99-225, it has: It says in the Indescribably Skillful Devices from Within the Master’s Quarters (J. ‘Shitsuchâ Genki;’ C. ‘Shih Chung Hsu¨an Chi’), ‘Once, whilst Eka was attending Bodaidaruma, they were climbing Scant Houses Peak (J. Sháshihá; C. Shao-shih-feng) when Bodaidaruma asked, “Which way does the path go?” Eka replied, “If you will please go straight ahead, that is it.” Bodaidaruma responded, “If you try to go straight ahead, you will not be able to move even one step.” When Eka heard this, he realized enlightenment.’ Maybe someone will get closer

My first reaction to 'signs and omens' was that some may not see this as a connection to the more obsessed, Chinese materialistic view of 'fortune vs misfortune'.

I think even paisanos can recognize the ancient obsession with correct names (rectification, a white horse is not a horse) vs LZ's handling.

I have seen variations on the opening line to include: 道可, 道非, 常道 - This stresses the receptive and negative side of Dao... eternally moving between these. More a metaphysical view of the line. 道, 可道，非常道 Dao, when Dao'ing (manifest), is not the eternal Dao (void). I find TT is using this second idea (knowingly or not) but applying it the manifest world as only that is capable of Dao'ing; As the DDJ is often viewed as advice for a ruler/king, it is easily applied as such.

Now you've done it... there is a website to counter your 'sad Joe Biden'... and they are putting some teeth into this website.... even the link http://joebidensteeth.com/

I just think we sometimes get too 'cookie-cutter' in our explanations on these matters. To me, it is an internal issue not external but most apply Wu Wei as an external thing. I was curious what H.E. has to say...

I'll take up a comment from another thread... H.E. Said: This made me wonder about a so-called Daoist saying to 'heal self first'. This seems somewhat motivated, but is that selfish?

I hear you... but this seems counter-religious, secular utopian ideas... that's not going to happen... Let's move on to more substance at least.

One has to truly recognize where those desires come from... it is not really internal; they are all external... The belly has no nose to smell, nor eyes to see. It is a system unto itself; it is a self-preserving system... The eyes... on the other hand... believe 'the world is my oyster' (Shakespeare)... self-promoting system...

The quote is interesting to say the least... the prison situation is very true indeed. It does call into question 'how we got here' but I don't think it was not just an evolving thought on crime; A witch-hunt is a witch-hunt. There is a strange sense of justice which seems to turn to retribution even though it spreads way beyond crime... why do we hunt that bear who mauled someone? Or try to find that shark who bite someone? Or that alligator? We walk into their natural habitat and they act in their own way... but we want to hunt them down to kill them now...

Interesting point... but not sure where you'll go with it... From fear or guilt? Which can include a fear of losing some sort of perceived power

I think your getting stuck at times in a 'word', but it may be hard to see the entire flow of the explanation and how it ties together. I'll speak to his last line: I like that he broke out of the normal translation of Xuan 玄 as mystery and went with the code-word heaven; my code-word for 玄 is 'origin' (primal origin). There is a similar meaning in The Nei-yeh (Inner Cultivation or Inward Training), which some think pre-dates LZ... Roth translates the section as: Within the mind there is yet another mind. (mind = XIN; Heart-Mind) That mind within the mind: it is an awareness that precedes words. Only after there is awareness does it take shape; Only after it takes shape it there a word. Only after there is a word is it implemented; Only after it is implemented is there order. (order = ZHI, govern, regulate) Yet the work as a whole shows this is but a spirit-like understanding; attain One is to attain the spirit-like nature of Dao. --- If I were to re-write TT last line meaning: There is a heaven within heaven; this inner heaven is the gate of mystical/Spiritual [Dao] I think this is also in that same direction/idea...

Several years ago, on a chinese mountain known to daoist of old... there I was walking along the foot paths... and walking in and out of monasteries for a day... I walked away with this: 道可道，非常道 Dao, once Dao'ed (put in motion the ten thousand things) is ever changing. I turned the negative 'fei' into a positive explanation; ever changing (not static). Later I called this: Singularity (Dao) and Multiplicity (Manifest). Dao is eternal in essence; ever changing in function. Later I discovered these works which seemed related: http://worldreligionsjourney.com/taoism/ In these works is something almost sacrilegious: That there is no cyclic nature between opposites in Dao because in Dao there is no cause-effect; no willful determinism; no opposites. If something is cyclic then it is determinism of a system. Just a new thought to interject...

Laozi was the freak'n Keeper of the Archives for the royal court of Zhou He was a freak'n keeper of B O O K S .... When he left, the gate keeper asked him to do what? To record his wisdom in WRITING... Laozi then wrote a FREAK'N B O O K On BAMBOO

The Taoist Tradition: A Historical OutlineTHE HISTORY OF TAOISM Russell Kirkland University of Georgia http://faculty.franklin.uga.edu/kirkland/content/taoist-tradition-historical-outline