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This is not a myth to hide the real location but a confusion about ancient writings which did make such claims. the problem was people forgot 2.5 or 1.5 inches below the navel refers to a location while lying face up, i.e. a few inches into the body cavity. There is also a real point called Ocean of Chi on the outside of the body below the navel sometimes called the false dan tian (tan tien), which is an important acupoint.

To be a little more precise, wei means defense or protect and weiqi is the surface or external from of bodily qi. Wai is the actual chinese term that means external, as in waidan (external alchemy)

It is actually called the Can Tong Qi (The Key to joining the Three) and was mentioned by exorcist in his list. This translation is not of the oldest variation of this text, supposedly going back to early external alchemy. Even the external alchemical version was one of the key texts for the inner alchemy tradition. I don't know about this "modern version" 16th c. but my guess is it should contain worthwhile information for the neidan practitioner if the translator is any good. The key focus of this text is the relationship of the yijing hexagrams to the process of transformations.

I like "in accordance with" as a general phrase vs. follow, but I am curious why no one likes the word follow? Is it because it smacks of conformity, or obedience to authority? As for the word "law" 法 fa, I would say it is neither law or follow in Ch 25. My preferred translation is "to emulate," which comes from a basic meaning of 法 as "to model." I might also translate it as "follow the order of" (what I think is implied by some translators who use follow) which then captures both meaning of law and model, but then we have the bugaboo term "follow." In this case accord with is also strong.

Based on this, it seems I haven't been clear enough. The division is not between Dao and ziran, but the ziran of Dao or the ziran of the individual. If we embody our own ziran, our points may remain different, but if we embody the ziran of the Dao they would be the same.

Yes, ideally there is no distinction, but in practice it does exist. If not why then say "reject the Sages/ Discard Knowledge." This implies that people have lost something by engaging with worldly learning, or even just socialization (this later one is debatable). Thus one must "realign" with the cosmic Dao. (perhaps a better word choice than follow, though that term becomes importantly in Daoism quite quickly to explain the meaning of the DDJ, and similar writings. Most simply following ziran is to follow the natural order, in an agrarian society that is structured around planting an harvest to order all things according to such natural cycles. While this might not be explicit in the DDJ, as little is, the line in Ch. 8 "In Action, excel at timeliness," "timeliness" 時 most likely refers to seasons, as this is the main meaning in that early period.) align, works a bit better with the term wuwei, though if the dao is like water is does "flow" also not explicitly stated in the DDJ, then we want to flow with it. i.e. go with the flow. (ha ha)

Yes, I agree about the concentric circles. My point was to critique the overly individualistic interpretation of the DDJ that boils down to do what you feel (your ziran). The DDJ, as I see it is about relinquishing the self, a structure build up by learning about distinctions, to then realize pure communion with the Dao. To describe such a realization we must contrast it with normal human life because most people distance themselves from the Dao because of their individual desires. I also hoped to address a contrast sometimes used to explain differences between Daoism and Confucianism. The first focuses on attaining the Dao, modeling oneself on the cosmic order (to model is a good translation of 法 in Ch 25), while the second focuses on the human order of family and social relations, which are ziran to humans but contrast with the universalism of the cosmic order. As for the "water clings to the ground" problem. We agree it is a metaphor for humans, the question is how to read the metaphor. You read it as an example of ziran, either individual or cosmic. I was reading it as a metaphor for a quality of the cosmic order to model in ones life: humility. Taken a little farther this also indicates submission to the greater order of things, the Dao. Both are possible, though concerning the question of emphasis in your reading either individual nature or dao, I would side with Dao.

The best scenario was described by Zhou Xuanyun a Wudang priest. We need to "polish" our qi in the quite of the mountains to reach a deeper level, but then we need to come down from the mountains and work at applying this attainment in the world. After a time we should return to the mountains to once again strive toward a new refinement and then come down to the world again. This alternation of stillness and action as a way of life manifests the ideals of yin and yang, allowing for both asceticism and engagement.

The divergence here drives to a common debate over whether the ziran of things means to follow their own "nature" or to follow the Dao. More specifically for people, do we properly to follow human nature, sometimes described as ren dao (the way of humanity) or a more universal nature tian Dao (The Way of Heaven/Cosmos/Natural World). I tend to fall in the later camp, where people should model themselves on the qualities of the subtle order of the Cosmos, the Dao (tian dao). Water is then a metaphor that reveals the qualities of the Dao, one of which is to follow its nature, but it also shows the primacy of humility, clear reflection, adaptability while following the natural cycles like freezing and thawing, selfless giving, purity, non-striving (its movements on controlled by its surroundings). This is not as individualistic of a reading, but since one of the qualities of the Dao is emptiness and limitless potential it does not necessarily reject the role of individuals, though a mystical reading of this leads us to the dissolution of the self into the Dao. Thus to follow HIS nature is to lose himself to the Dao.

welcome.