dawei

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So I do think a big challenge was understanding the idiomatic meaning of certain phrases that we can now say show up in other ancient texts and help explain the meaning. Also, the discovery of the two oldest Laozi texts were not until 1973 (Mawangdui) and 1993 (Guodian). Hendricks is the only person to translate both, although several have done the former. A challenge that was revealed by these discoveries was that the oldest version, Guodian, is actually written in Chu script... which means later editions attempted to update the text with current characters. The Guodian Laozi on bamboo slips was written in Chu script prior to unification. Chu was considered the southern 'barbarians'. see TDB Thread: Timetable of the tao te ching In the end, I think they were greatly handicapped at attempting for the first time a classical chinese text that was not likely as straight forward as say one of the Confucian texts. This is an interesting thesis: A comparison of the Guodian and Mawangdui Laozi texts

I guess I'll share a general thought... while some might translate more verbose to get the meaning across or more literal to stick to the brevity of characters, most scholars and sinologists are usually not going to go after a more mystical or spiritual sense. And for me, this is one aspect they overlook as that is not their training, practice, and focus of such texts. Having said that, I read a wide range of translators as it is interesting to see the lens they have viewed the text through.

Interesting question... I'm not sure I'd put Hendricks in that group as he seems more contemporary. One anecdotal story about Legge... hope it's not fake news I read that when he completed his translation of the I Ching, he still wasn't completely sure of what he had written and understood... He has done a tremendous amount of translation... and just look here for various older translators: Internet Sacred Text Archive - Taoism

I think this is the same Q&A as here: http://www.thedaobums.com/topic/42941-what-is-dan-dao/

I think just to contrast the mindset of the so-called experts in sacrifice vs the spirit-man's... uselessness seems to be a repeated theme of having hidden benefits. The kind of paradox LZ spoke of too.

丹道 - Dan Dao Someone like Fabrizio Pregadio usually refers to it as 金丹道: The Way of the Golden Elixir

I take it to mean that by inauspicious for a sacrifice, you would not be used as a sacrifice... ergo... you get to live. This uselessness of not good enough for sacrifice has ironically saved that person or animal.

I think you're asking good questions but we're saying something else... the latter first: when you try to explain to chinese what you're doing... they have a limited grasp of practice or belief or even anything about energy... less seems best on some level. Anyone should be able to share their practice in general terms... otherwise, they may just be trolling to some degree as there is no reason to be here... My feeling Now, how to explain daoism? It is nothing and everything. When you can resolve that, then you might have a step in a direction to understand or explain dao.. the 'ism' becomes a prison... rap this line... not mine.... but in time... on your dime...

I would ask Daeluin to read and respond...

Mao looked at the Qin legalism as a little brother... and then Daoism rebounded after Qin.... after Mao.. it is more like a river flowing

I do the same thing...

Here is one I found very interesting as I like biographies, and this covers three generations of daughters: Wild Swans Not to give too much spoiler alert but the author was quite pro-Mao in the cultural revolution and then had a shift away... I think her husband wrote the other book shown in this link , Mao. I have not read it.

My experience is generally the same as you explain: Few would know a quote or meaning was from LZ but their quasi-Wuwei of living is a living testament... and agree with both of you, it is all embedded. I compare it like this: If a chinese wants to know about the next life, they'll likely visit a Buddhist temple; if they want to know about this life, they will likely go see a Daoist [seer]. IN the former case, they give burnt offerings, etc... while in the latter they can too, they can also do yarrow sticks, or just ask a seer questions. As for proverbs: I think it is a lost art. My wife can spout off proverbs in the most mundane situations and tie issues together but I don't find anyone else in all my travels who could unless they studied history. She was lucky to befriend a professor of history at a time her mind was enthralled with learning and they spent some years just talking history. This is the very, very few indeed. The rest may play out a proverb without even knowing it.

If the OP wants my comments removed, I am fine with that as I am not sure I really stayed on topic.

I think an example explanation is here: The Esoteric Codex: Alchemy I

Two thoughts on this: 1. What is the transcendence based on ? Is it personal effort on practices and methods alone ? Even with a teacher, there is really no real certainty that the path is to transcendence. One's path is likely more destiny than otherwise. I've thought more and more about this over the years so you have had it arise in my mind again. 2. The last part, 'back here in the world' reminds me of the Zen story of Mountains are Mountains, then no longer Mountains, then Mountains again.

Here you go http://www.thedaobums.com/forum/491-sagebrush/

Are you asking for Owner's Permissions ? If yes, then we ask that folks request it here and have read the requirements: http://www.thedaobums.com/topic/37997-how-to-request-owner-permissions/ Otherwise, your last statements are not clear as you can post where you want... but at this point I think you've outgrown in post total what we envisioned Newcomer Corner to be used for And some of your style of writing may benefit from a PPD... you can see here and if you want one for yourself, you can request it here: http://www.thedaobums.com/topic/38370-personal-practice-discussion-thread-request/

Interesting. thanks for sharing the video. Two points I pondered a bit: 1. He talks of 30 year population growth as if that is special... but they had the one child policy for most of that time... so the projections may not be accounting for an increase now that they policy is no longer enforced. 2. He talks of China as 'huge'... it is essentially the same size as the US but with a population 4x more. They are likely therefore more resource in using land that the US would otherwise not use. He does touch on this near the end: Too many people and not enough space. I think he's right about the civilized state, diverse, and decentralized and our western concepts cannot be use to understand nor explain their situation completely. What's interesting is this is juxtaposed with what he calls their 'unity'... so yes, there is a foundation of unity that allows for quite diverse outcomes and methods. I think his comment on 'race' (or cultural identity) is pretty accurate too... It is almost like asking chinese in the US, what citizenship are you... they will invariably still answer Chinese, even if a US citizen because they just register 'race' in their head. I'm not sure his example of Han superiority was a good one to compare to the two problematic majority groups. he puts a lot of emphasize on the Han but doesn't mention that not so long ago in the cultural revolution the powers to be essentially forced non-Han to adopt being Han... and even more recently, that they intentionally moved Han people west into non-Han areas... so there is a kind of forced unity and maybe subtle superiority that comes through with that. Maybe his best point was that the west has never seen or known anything like this in history... well... all we had to do was pay attention beyond our own shores if we wanted to... China's been this way for a very long time and it is maybe time the west paid attention.

If I agree then I likely shouldn't give any further opinion as I would be talking about a state that I don't exist in... and if I disagree, then I am likely to be viewed as humancentric narcissism who ravages the Earth But I would say that while things would be quite different, I think the world would eventual go extinct once again anyways as it seems to be a natural cycle regardless of what remains behind.

This is a question of Qi sensitivity to things... There is no right or wrong answer; there is only experience. If you're interested to explore Qi sensitivity training, look here: http://www.thedaobums.com/topic/41801-qigong-sensitivity-training-using-yi-quan/ But in general, start with palms facing each other... opening hands ( inhale) and closing in (exhale) with your breath... just focus on the palms center.... empty your mind, and let your body flow with Qi. You might feel a boundary form as you press inwards... if you do, then explore the roundness of that boundary.

I think in a huge area like China.... it simply can't catch up to the effects of the use of coal.... They are using solar but it is like a small dent in a sky rise.

As my wife said yesterday... the chinese are killing themselves... While smog is an obvious and current issue, at the heart of the matter is the irreverence for life on some level. She showed me a factory that buys plastic by the billions of tons and turns that plastic into everything from goods too food additives. Smog is just one of the visible evils going on...

When I see the title, The Power of Admitting Error I see: The Power of Admitting Error