dawei

Sessions recuse misses data points... he already meet with his ethics team and their second day to meet and decide on a final decision was the same they decided. So it was already set for a decision. Whether external influences were present can be discussed, but they had already a plan towards a decision.

Given Flynn's leak of a conversation on a phone ? How in the world do you explain someone had his conversation listened in on? Honestly. I willing to hear you out on this. We have to be honest to connect the dots. I'm willing to allow conspiracy leeway... but we have to use some common sense in the overall data points we have.

So you deny the FISA request, two times, for surveillance of members of Trump's campaign?

Trump claims he was wire-tapped... and all the major news sites suddenly want sources ... it doesn't get any better now

The title includes "Cultivators" , not cult. I find them rather religious with a slightly cult like mentality but not sure I'd call them a cult... but they are exclusionary if you don't agree with their ideas. But Derek Lin's translation and commentary on the DDJ is quite good. I've talked to him a few times and find him quite approachable and open to talk. I think they are more religious than not, but what does that matter. Not sure the problem here.

I get that some current events may re-focus our attitude about Obama but I think this thread is about his actual time as president and policy stuff. If you want to explore another issue about Obama that arises post-President, let's try another topic.

Is the manifest world a duality to pre-heaven world of Dao ? If yes, then a duality emerged from pre-heaven non-duality and your idea is not quite all encompassing. If no, then what is their relationship and how did the manifest arise ?

doesn't seem possible. Only the one member would know what s/he has read vs what is unread.

Just to speak to the title... The Tao is ALWAYS on vacation

That didn't help... go back to your room without dinner

Interesting that 'dust' is often thought to represent the negative aspects of life... to get beyond the dusty world but LZ says to merge with it. Feng/English say in Ch. 56: Be at one with the dust of the earth. This is primal union. So I think one can associate dust with Dao or at least Heaven and Earth... but being a primal union, Dao makes the most sense. There is some difference in whether the lines after the first two are then talking about Dao (Porter and Star) or the person (merge with dust).

I didn't give it much thought personally... I've rarely looked at this chapter... but shard it as he connects humility with Tao, as Flowing Hand's post seems to do.

Here is Derek Lin's commentary on that section: http://terebess.hu/english/tao/DerekLin.html#Kap67 By having compassion, one gains courage. True courage doesn't come from macho posturing or false bravado. Rather, it comes from love and commitment to something greater than oneself. By having the mindset of conservation, one understands how to allocate and direct one's efforts to best effect, and therefore reach the most people and have the widest impact. By having humility, one can connect with the Tao of leadership. Leaders who lead best do not focus on themselves. They have no wish to be the center of attention and prefer to let others shine. They direct their attention to what needs to be done, and do not need to take credit or remind others of their accomplishments. All three treasures are important and must work together. Courage without compassion would be nothing more than brutality. To reach widely without conserving one's resources will quickly lead to exhaustion. Forgetting the lesson of humility, becoming arrogant, and letting the ego run wild are the beginning stage of self-delusion. These negative consequences can only lead to failure and doom. Those who hold on to the three treasures can achieve extraordinary feats. Warriors who fight with compassion in their hearts achieve victory, because love gives them the strength they need. If they fight to defend loved ones or a cherished cause, they achieve security and protection. Because they follow the Tao, Heaven itself will come to their aid, events will seem to conspire in rendering assistance at just the right time, as if they are safeguarded by divine powers. All manners of resources and allies will appear and rally to their cause, in unexpected ways that no one could foresee. Anyone who witnesses this process at work will know that, indeed, the Tao is great beyond compare.

Summary, based on comments: Meaning of Chapter 2: 1. Duality vs Non-Duality The Manifest - the physical world of Dualities. The Mystery - the world of non-Dualities. 2. All Under Heaven vs Heaven All under Heaven (the world) is dualistic while Heaven is beyond duality The Sage lives naturally, beyond the ebb and flow of desires While cause and effect creates happenings in life The key is to just live and not get attached to any of it. 3. Cultivation While Ch 1 described two states of cultivation, Ch 2 described the way to cultivate The Way of cultivation is to let everything grow by itself without methods or any target 4. Dao The Dao has no boundaries, cultural, perspective or otherwise, it is the same in all cultures and can be found in all cultures. Traditional Daoism is of the feminine, most perspectives are of the masculine, Lao Tzu addresses the world and uses the masculine, (he) so that his words are taken seriously by others who are less understanding. So his words are valued even though they are of the feminine. Remember Lao Tzu is a great Immortal and that when he was last mortal when he wrote down his teachings he was a incarnate Immortal. He had already in his heart the Dao before anyone taught him anything. 5. Wu Wei Wu Wei is an active act to take no action or interference in the way all things go together. It does not mean that one never acts, it means that when one is wise enough to see the ten thousand things rise, integrate and fall naturally, then there is no need to act. A Sage of course does have to act when things are not in balance and the processes are being lost In modern time we have to act a lot of the time, because as a species we are setting up so many imbalances because people don't know the way The processes which are the way are ever evolving and reproducing; working with the way, if it is natural, requires no acknowledgement even though this work sustains and its processes go on and on.

From OP link: Until then... they have asked the turkeys to perform rituals...

I agree but wanted to know why make a note about LZ... could of said 'we all have Dao in our heart'...

IMO, he has created his own system of Daoist Alchemy. The subtitle of the book is 'the secret teachings of esoteric daoist magic'. The book is described at Amazon as: I don't think most would relate neidan with esotetic daoist magic unless you are willing to accept his is looking at much older approaches instead of the neo-modern 'neidan' more often talked about here. And his destination is the same but there are some specific goals which might be encapsulated as 'energy healers'. This requires training and eventual skills in energy communication and manipulation. Again, I don't think neidan folks think in this way, so I would tend to view his program as his version of what he calls Daoist Alchemy-Neidan-Waidan-Esoteric Daoist Magic.

I agree. I call it karmic destiny. The background is, there are stories that Guangcheng is LZ and others in other form. I'm just asking SFH, based on his tradition and comment, how he explains it. http://www.thedaobums.com/topic/43507-master-guangcheng/

As a real test... I told her to let his son apply to come on a visit... I'm 100% sure they will deny it despite the major shift to allowing chinese nationals to come. I'm happy to see the shift but visa overstays is a major method of legal entry

she is not talking visitor visa issues

I think you said a lot that should be considered. The casual connections are also direct connections and personal connections. We connect with others, including spirits, all the time. I would say that our degree of our awareness and depth of that process will reveal the ongoing process. When you say, "on my end" just means you may be understanding the 'receptive' side of the coin of energy exchange. My advice is that you continue to explore that side of the coin and see is against when you were the sending side of the coin. You may be in the midst of both/and merging.

I'm not following all the chatter but in general, visit approval is not merit based although there are some visas based on skills. A VO does an interview and they are looking at the application and software programs that give them additional information to arrive a a go vs no go. When My mother in law applied at the same time as my brother in law, the former was approved and the latter was not. A 80+ year old chinese lady with 3 heart surgeries who might not even want to return to China was approved over a young man married with a child and ever reason to return... Of course, the devil is in the details. He was chinese police and , OMG... who can trust that.

I think you should explain more. The Warring State Period was dominated by war and legalism, 475 - 221 BC. Daoism is sometimes referred to as the folk religion of China but it is closer to animism, and its spiritual leg likely traces to Shamanism. I think your topic has some very interesting room for discussion but maybe some more info on your thought would help to grasp the topic. Shameless link: http://www.thedaobums.com/topic/40778-3-the-warring-states-period-475-221-bc/

I have calendars with the proper animal.... I don't come to TDB in the midst of an update to look for one. And my wife is that proper animal, so I'm lucky to have it in real life too Anyways, the owner decides such issues... shoot the messenger and no more messages go to the owner But, I did ask why we can't get it put on the site now.... so the message was already sent months ago

How is it that LZ had Dao in his heart before anyone taught him? There is folklore that his mother taught him the Way. Is this correct or who was his teacher in your tradition?