ChiDragon

The year of the horse is coming. Have we pick out the horse yet?

There are many members had mentioned having a good teacher is a must. However, a good teacher can guide the student to do all the correct postures. At that instance, the student should discover something about the instruction. Otherwise, if the student just said "ok I got it" with no discovery, then it is a different story. If the student got it without practicing diligently, then there will be no discovery and remain in the non progressive stage.

If the body is malfunction to begin with, then it would have to be taken care of by external remedy. Normally, Qigong meditation would help to cure some areas where the trauma occurs. Again. the body is a self healing machine. The body itself is constantly doing body scan to find something to be repaired. Scanning is part of the body function. Taiji are considered as Qigong that may help to heal the body trauma, It is because the movements are soft and not as aggressive as other styles, e.g. the Chen style.

Mods, would you remove the empty posts. Thank you!

It seems to be a big issue for someone to understand the concept of Wu Wei. Perhaps it is so esoteric and philosophical. The definition of 無為 is "Take no action that cause harm to interrupt the course of nature." This definition was will defined in the TTC, There are few chapters in the TTC to substantiate it. Have are the some derivatives from the term of Wu Wei that was mentioned in the TTC. 1. 為無為: for Wu Wei; for the sake of Wu Wei 2. 無為而無不為: because of Wu Wei there was nothing that cannot be accomplished. 3. 有無: Take intentional action

Yes, when the breath is inside the body, we have no control of it. The body will take care itself by carrying out it's function. The only thing we can regulate is the breathing externally. Externally, we can breathe slowly going down to the LDT and slowly exhale. Exhale is more significant then inhalation. So the speak. The reason is that we want to keep the amount of oxygen in the lungs as long as possible. That is the only way to regulate the chi in the body. That chi will be stored in the body as the ancient Taoist claimed. If the chi loses for six minutes, people will die or become brain dead after an rescue. The so called stored chi won't do any good. The experience thought by someone is only an elusive perception of what was taken place inside the body.

Thank you very much for revealing the Taiji secret of discovery. Yes, you are very true about the internal discovery that no one can described as crystal clear as you have. Perhaps the other practitioners have not reached into inner stage. As you said, the teacher can only show you the external skills to help you to discover the internal transformation. People didn't feel the sensation of the internal transformation will never reach the realm of the fine art of Taiji. For example, the teacher always tell the students to breathe naturally as one normally do. At a stage during the practice, if they don't sense any change in the deepness of the breathing was because they were afraid to breathe in too deep is wrong. They couldn't forget what the teacher told them about breathing naturally. They will never realize that their breathing should be lower down to the dantien. Hence, they will never discover what it meant by "sink chi to dantien," 氣沉丹田。 BTW I'm a Yang style Taiji practitioner.

Chapter 25 1.有物混成 2.先天地生 3.寂兮寥兮 7.吾不知其名 8.強字之曰"道" 1. A thing formed 2. Before heaven and earth were born; 3. Soundless and formless 7. I don't know its name. 8. I'm reluctantly calling it "Tao". The character混 means mix; blend; integrate, form. First of all, let's see what the abvoe lines say: There is a thing was mixed/blend/integrate/formed together before the existence of sky/heaven and earth. It is soundless and formless. I don't know its name. So, I just have to make up a name for it and call it Tao. From the above description, the thing was not a solid physical thing. It is there but invisible. This was substantiated by the introduction of Tao in Chapter 1. 3. 無，名天地之始。4. 有，名萬物之母。5. 故常無，欲以觀其妙。6. 常有，欲以觀其徼 3. Invisible, was a name given to Tao at the origin of sky and earth.4. Visible, was a name given to Tao as the mother of all things.5. Hence, when Tao is always invisible, one would grok its quale.6. When Tao is always visible, one would observe its boundary.

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Sorry, how wrong I was for throwing the book at you!

It is 從 "無" 到 "有", from the "invisible to "visible". You have to interpret it philosophically. Tao, sometimes, is formless and sometimes not. LaoTze told us that in Chapter 1 to begin with! 1. 有物混成 … 1. A thing formed; Did you see something was add to form Tao in line 1? Perhaps the English translators thought it about the same way as you do. That was why they added chaos to blend in with Tao.

Experience is different from the true definition of Wu Wei. At least, not by interpreting the characters by themselves anyway.

Chapter 25 1. 有物混成 2. 先天地生 3. 寂兮寥兮 4. 獨立而不改 5. 周行而不殆 6. 可以為天地母 7. 吾不知其名 8. 強字之曰"道" 9. 強為之名曰"大" 10. 大曰逝 11. 逝曰遠 12. 遠曰反 13. 故道大 14. 天大 15. 地大 16. 人亦大 17. 域中有四大 18. 而人居其一焉 19. 人法地 20. 地法天 21. 天法道 22. 道法自然 1. A thing formed; 2. Before heaven and earth were born; 3. Soundless and formless; 4. Independent but unchangeable; 5. Orbiting but never exhaust; 6. It may be the mother of heaven and earth. 7. I don't know its name. 8. I'm reluctantly calling it "Tao". 9. I'm even more reluctant to have the name "Big" for it. 10.Big but dynamic; 11.Dynamic but far; 12.Far but reciprocating. 13.Therefore, Tao is great. 14.Sky is great. 15.Earth is great. 16.Human is great. 17.In space, there are four great's; 18.Thus human is one of them here. 19.Human follows Earth. 20.Earth follows Heaven. 21.Heaven follows Tao. 22.Tao follows its own nature

It was a copycat. I am revising it now to read: 1. A thing formed

Show me chaos in that version. PS In the Guodian version, I found Chapter 25 1. 有狀混成 1. A thing formed. No chaos!

Never mind. As long we and all understood the principle of Wu Wei the same way, I'll be happy. The rest is insignificant. Peace!

Chapter 1 The introduction of Tao 1. 道可道，非常道。 2. 名可名，非常名。 3. 無，名天地之始。 4. 有，名萬物之母。 5. 故常無，欲以觀其妙。 6. 常有，欲以觀其徼。 7. 此兩者同出而異名， 8. 同謂之玄。玄之又玄， 9. 眾妙之門。 Revised as of 2-27-12 / 9-28-23 1. Tao that can be spoken is not the eternal Tao. 2. A name that can be named is not an eternal name. 3. Invisible, was a name given to Tao at the origin of sky and earth. 4. Visible, was a name given to Tao as the mother of all things. 5. Hence, when Tao is always invisible, one would grok its quale. 6. When Tao is always visible, one would observe its boundary. 7. These two come from one origin but differ in name, 8. Both are regarded as unfathomable, the most occult and profound; 9. The gate of all subtleties.

That is the principle of Wu Wei. If it was understood in the first place, then why are we still going back and forth about it?

Chapter 25 1.有物混成 1. A thing formed There was no chaos. I don't see it in the first line. You are reading too many mistranslated version with misinterpretations. The translators wanted to add some extra ingredients to contaminate Tao.

That would be the effect from the intervention. It could be prevented by not having an intend to manipulate someone.