ChiDragon

Chapter 39 Tao is Unity or One. 1. Since those who gained Unity: 2. Heaven gained Unity became clear; 3. Earth gained Unity became peaceful; 4. God gained Unity became miraculous; 5. Valley gained Unity became full; 6. All things gained Unity became alive; 7. Rulers gained Unity made world peace.

Tao is One. Tao is singular. One engenders Two. Two is Yin/Yang which is duality.

The thing that I am getting at was there is something more to Zazen than just sitting still and doing nothing. I guess you didn't follow the logic. The logic here was that you liked something which made you agreed to something without realizing that is invalid. I will ignore the last remark due to somebody's ignorance.

Mr. CT.... No offense, I saw that you liked Post #33 which something was invalid.

Here is my superficial understanding about Zazen is definitely not just sitting doing nothing. If so, any non Buddhist and Taoist can do it. @Mr. CT... You don't even have a superficial understanding of what Zazen is.

Tao Te Ching Time table 老子 LaoTze Born: Around 571 BCE. 道德經(TTC) Written: 500 - 491 BCE. 1. 郭店 Guodian 476 – 278 BCE; 篆書(Seal style); Unearthed:1993; Published: May 1998 2. 馬王堆-甲本[MWD-A] before 206 BCE; 篆隸(Seal/Official style); Unearthed:1973 3. 馬王堆-乙本[MWD-B] 206 – 195 BCE; 隸書(Official Style); Unearthed:1973 4. 河上公(Heshang Gong) existed in the Han Dynasty (Heshang Gong is not a name. His name was unknown). 5. 王弼(Wang Bi) 226 – 249 CE 6. 傅奕(Fu Yi) 555 – 639 CE; Unearthed from the tomb of a favorite concubine of the last ruler of Chu(楚霸王) Emperors of the Han Dynasty(206 BCE - AD220) 漢朝 - 皇帝 Emperors of Han Dynasty 1. 高祖 - 劉邦 Liu2 bang1 206 – 195 BCE (The 隸書(Li4 Shu1) official style of character was perfected) 2. 惠帝 - 劉盈 Liu2 ying2 194 – 188 BCE 3. 呂后- Queen Lu3 188 - 180 BCE 4. 文帝– 劉恒 Liu2 heng2 180 – 157 BCE 5. 武帝- 劉徹 Liu Che4 156 - 087 BCE Notes: 1. LaoTze was born around 571 BCE and wrote the DDJ in his seventy's. 孔子(Confucius): 551 - 479 BCE. 庄子(Zhuang Zi): 369 - 286 BCE. 2. The first emperor of the Han Dynasty had used the Tao Te Ching as his ruling guide. Before the Han Dynasty, the Tao Te Ching was written in Seal style characters. 3. Warring States (Zhanguo or Chan-Kuo) refers to the era of about 475 BCE to 221 BCE. Correction notes: 1. The character style of MWD-A was changed from 篆書(Seal style) to 篆隸(Seal/Official style). 2. Revised the existing period for MWD-A to: before 206 BCE. 3. Change the period for MWD-B to: 206 – 195 BCE. 4. Added 武帝- 劉徹 Liu Che4 156 - 087 BCE

Okay! I guess it is not the same under the Chinese feudal system(CFS). In the CFS, an emperor can assign a royal person to a feudal land as a king or remove him any time from the post as well.

秦始皇 was not 王(huang, king), nor 帝(di, emperor) but he was 皇(self crowned king). There are kings under an empire. Since there was no king under him, there he has a kingdom, then he has no empire but a country which was ruled be a self crowned king. Indeed, he wants to be different from all other systems. This is my only argument.

It was not a matter up to Sima Qian what to use. It was the preference of each dynasty how they wanted to address the first ruler to be recorded in history. It was to be assured that the same names will not be used to avoid confusion for mistaken one dynasty to another.

No, there is no need to define "good". It would be understood as in Chapter 2. If one recognize good is good, then, there is evil. When there is evil, there is good. One is just the complement of the other. Again, Lao Zi was only concerned with the negative aspect to reflect the positive. Unfortunately, if we don't know what "good" is and there was a need to define it, then, I am speechless.

Exactly, but you are still missing the point. There was no kingdom after the unification of China, by 秦始皇 (Qin Shi Huang), at the time. The first ruler of Han(Liu Bang) did claim himself as 帝(emperor), the supreme ruler of the land. 秦始皇 (Qin Shi Huang) wanted to do away with the feudal system. Unfortunately, Liu Bang went back to the feudal system again despite to the intention of 秦始皇 (Qin Shi Huang).

That is true. So, one should have no intention to do anything good or evil. However, doing something good cause no harm and can be ignored. In the other hand, something evil cannot be ignored because it violates the principle of Wu Wei. Wu Wei is more concerned with the negative part than the positive. Do you see the logic behind this.....???

You are right! The Tao Te Ching did not have anything supporting mindfulness. Btw I believe that the caterpillar story is not the the Tao Te Ching. It is in Zhuang Zi rather.

The OP has the right idea about meditation for Taoists. A Taoist do not meditation like a Buddhist. However, there is one thing in common, both may be doing Chi Kung while in the sitting position. The Buddhist may be in contemplation for exploring the principles in Buddhism for enlightenment; while the Taoist is thinking of nothing to be putting his mind in a neutral state. What I am getting at is that the people do not have a good understanding of the definition of the word "meditation" for different religious groups. All the confusion was that they are trying to apply the definition from one group to another without knowing the intended purpose of meditation.

Before the Warring State Period, there was a king for every state under feudal rule of one emperor(Zhou Dynasty). However, the central power of the feudal system was out of control. Therefore, the states were try to steal more lands from one another. Then the Warring State Period begins. Since the King Of Qin had unified all of China, there will be no more kings under his reign. Therefore, he does not fit the definition of an emperor but the King of China.

Again, Wu Wei is do nothing to harm others. Wu Wei has no intention. One has an intention to harm others is not natural.

None of the above.

He is 皇(Huang), a self crowned king. He unified all of China, thus there was no land to be conquered by an emperor. Zhong Guo is 中國, how did you get China out of that......???

Yes, it is only a matter of semantics which help us to lead to a final conclusion. By definition, an Emperor uses his arm force to conquer foreign lands. In this case, the ruler of Qin did no such thing but only using his army to unify China. Therefore, he was the first King of China rather than the emperor. Actually, the first King of China was called himself as 秦始皇 (Qin Shi Huang), the initial king of Qin. 皇(crowned king) is a character invented by himself. Normally, the character 王 is "king". However, he wants to be different than the other kings; then he place the character 白 on top of 王 and became 皇. It was his prestige of showing superiority by crowned himself as the king of kings. By the way, do you know how the name "China" came about....??? Well, after the unification, the land was under one rule of Qin. There was a western visitor asked a native where is this. The native answered "Qin na". When the Qin people speak, it was customary to put a phonetic "na" at the end of a name. Hence, "Qin na" becomes "China".

It all depends on the initial breathing condition of the practitioner. Some take longer than another. If one can inhale deeply into the abdomen which known as the lower dan tian, without getting light headed, then it was considered that the practitioner has been accomplished the goal of Chi Kung. Normally, the duration of inhalation and exhalation is equal and it doesn't matter really. It would be ideal to breathe as slow as possible.

I wouldn't be thinking about finding a solution to my personal problems while walking. I would keep my eyes on the road and do the following. While one is walking, one should be aware of the immediate environment with the five senses to detect any signs of danger. 1. Use the sense of vision to see what is ahead of the road. What or who is coming toward and away from you? Observe if any obstacles in front of you? 2. Use the sense of hearing to listen what is behind you. How far is the moving object, if any, behind you? 3. Use the sense of smell to detect is there any offensive gaseous odors which might harm you? 4. Use the sense of feeling to sense the ambient temperature which might be harmful to the body? 5. The sense of taste may not be applicable but one may use it with one's own discretion.

I am practicing Chi Kung every minute; I guess I do everything with it at all times.

秦始皇 (Qin Shi Huangdi), the first emperor of China An interesting question, should he(秦始皇) be the "first emperor of China" or the "first king of China".......??? Please state your reason for your answer.

Yes, one would be conscious of his surrounding by witnessing the birds singing and the wind blowing to achieve awareness. While one is walking, one should be aware of the immediate environment with the five senses to detect any signs of danger. 1. Use the sense of vision to see what is ahead of the road. What or who is coming toward and away from you? Observe if any obstacles in front of you? 2. Use the sense of hearing to listen what is behind you. How far is the moving object, if any, behind you? 3. Use the sense of smell to detect is there any offensive gaseous odors which might harm you? 4. Use the sense of feeling to sense the ambient temperature which might be harmful to the body? 5. The sense of taste may not be applicable but one may use it with one's own discretion. A good cultivator would be conscious of his surrounding to be alert and vigilant with awareness of danger for his safety.