ChiDragon

"Mainland Chinese have been sending gifts from this world by burning paper replicas of cars, houses, iPads and iPhones." Yes, I do aware of that. It is not just the Mainland Chinese but it is all the Chinese around the world. "I am still thinking. I see no concept of Hell, an immaterial soul or the afterlife from my reading of the Tao Te Ching. What about you?" Likewise, btw, I am an atheist too. Thus, as a philosophical Taoist, I don't need an altar to be set in my home.

This is my only basic understanding of Chi Kung. Chi Kung cultivates three things. They are the body, mind and breathing which will provide the body to a state of homeostasis. It is to ultimate goal for longevity to the Taoists. We can see that all the styles of Chi Kung do breathe with slow movements in synchronized with breathing. However, we must note that without breathing is not Chi Kung at all. It is because Chi Kung is the ultimate method of breathing. Please keep the fundamental concept in mind if you want your Chi Kung practice to be effective.

Okay, it is a long story with the hell in Taoism. Let's not go into that right now. But the ghost money part is the best seller to make real money. Why not change the religion beliefs for that.... I will worship your Philosophical Taoist altar of the West if, and only if, you tell me what it is........

No, it is only translate the meaning of the characters. FYI Most modern dictionaries do not indicate the characters are classic or not. It is up to the obligation of the reader to determine for their meanings and applications within context. If I put a space in between 善 人, then you will get "good man". A good man PS.... A good man may not be kind. But A kind man is always good.

You are right, the Tao Te Ching had never mentioned Tai Ji Chuan. The one you had read probably somebody misinterpreted.

FYI.... The is no hell in the Taoist religion; only the immortals raise to Heaven. There are hell and heaven in the Buddhist religion.

善人: kind person; Philanthropis Ref: 善人

故: therefor 善: kind 人: person 者，those who 故 善 人 者 ，不 善 人 之 師 ﹔ Therefore, those people who are kind, can be the model/teacher of the unkind people.

Let's put it this way, if you could think of these kind of things, thus that is exactly what the people believe in the Buddhist religion too.

..................................................

http://故 善 人 者 ， Therefore men who seek to live by perfection It seems to me this line need to look into more deeply for an accurate translation.....!!!

I don't think that her little cousin haunted her. Otherwise, he would come to her initially. Since he is like a little brother to her, she was only communicating with him through her meditation is because she couldn't let go of him. Thus she is not the one to tell him to let go but herself. IMHMO.

FYI: "ghost money" It is only for the ancestors in the under world to spend.

hmmm...I thought Taoists are only interested in Nei Gong......!!!

"Sometimes names are misleading." Yeah, there are really too many names. New names are created for the same old names which goes on and on. Before one understand the old name, then there goes another to confuse the original. Furthermore, the concepts are still the same.

In the Western Science(WS), they have sperm count to indicate that there is some kind of depletion but may not be the life force in particular. I think the Taoists had the same idea as indicated in red. That is why they came up with the semen retention idea for the same idea. The Jing in the body has to reproduced in order to sustain the life of the body. The idea about the post-natal jing is sustained by the pre-natal jing is coincided with Cell Respiration in the WS. The body cells are reproduced by mitosis(the split of the cells). The damaged cells are repaired by the white blood cells which the TCM was never mentioned about the repair of the jing. TCM made it sound like when the jing are gone then it is gone. In order to keep them arround, then the jing must be reserved like the idea about "semen retention". By saying that, the Cell Respiration made the concept of "semen retention" blushed. However, overall, the Taoist concept about the Jing was converted to Chi, Chi was converted to Shen, then Shen was converted to Void which did make some sense. If, only if, we are using the Western Science to explain it to have some conceptual. The Western Science has a good concept that the glucose is from the foods that we ate and react with the oxygen that we breathe. This corresponds to the TCM concept that the post-natal Jing are from the foods and the breathing of comic energy to sustain the pre-natal Jing. By this well know formula for the explanation of Cell Respiration: Glucose + Oxygen = H2O + CO2 + heat + energy. The WS formula fits perfectly for both systems. The biggest surprise was that, even though, the Taoists had no scientific knowledge at the time but they had come up with the same idea. If one has to put the concepts in the perspective, then one would write something which can be related with to above formula. Pre-natal Jing ---> post-natal Jing Jing from the foods + Jing from the air = Jing + chi + shen The formulas are not exactly the same, but the basic concepts are not too far off. In both formulas, the breathing factor do lays on the left hand and the energy on the right hand side. The foods are a must; and most importantly, the Taoist pay very close attention to the breathing. They knew the significance in breathing which will give them a tremendous body energy. The energy was known as Chi as shown in the Taoist formula. However, the term "Chi" has multi-meaning. It depends how it was used in context. The breathing method is called as "Chi Kung" in the modern days. Unfortunately, the term "Chi" is in question. Is Chi Kung a practice to cultivate energy or to cultivate a better method to improve in breathing.....??? Well, since breathing is a method to generate body energy, then breathing would be the dominant factor in both formulas. It is fair to say that "Chi Kung" is the ultimate method of breathing to the Taoists. By the linguistic definition, the character "Chi" in Chi Kung means breathing instead of "energy". Due to the difference in thinking between the West and the East, therefore, in the West, it is the ultimate method of cultivating energy. In the East, it is the ultimate method of breathing. I have to compromise as it stands for now. Unless otherwise, someone can come up with a better reason to rebut that.

*** It was for checking on you to see if you are conscientious....... :D 1) 自以為是 can be defined with one English word "dogmatic"

Here is a good reference for definition of 以為 以為 = to be under the impression 以為 used as "to be" - 人情以為田

https://sites.google.com/a/savantas.org/slaa/community/francis-li-chung-hung-li-zong-hong 1) “‘Not Laugh, Not be Tao’: The Application of Tao Te Ching in the Drawings of Yue Minjun” (「不笑不足以為道」

It is hard to find something for you. Here is a good translation for 以為 which meant "to be". http://chezcindyblog.blogspot.com/2012/08/without-laughter-tao-exit-no-where.html If there were no laughter, the Tao would not be what it is. 不笑，不足以為道。 In the mean time, I am still looking for a good reference for you. Edited to add: Here is another one. http://www.travel-silkroad.com/english/daodejing/text2.htm 第 二 课 闻 道 shang shi wen dao qin er xing zhi zhong shi wen dao ruo cun ruo 上 士 闻 [道]， 勤 而 行 之； 中 士 闻 [道]， 若 存 若 wang xia shi wen dao da xiao zhi bu xiao bu zu yi wei dao you 亡； 下 士 闻 [道]， 大 笑 之。 不 笑， 不 足 以 为 [道]。 有 jian yan zhe ming dao ruo mei jin dao ruo tui yi dao ruo dui shang 建 言 者： 明 [道] 若 昧， 进 [道] 若 退， 夷 [道] 若 堆。 上 de ruo gu da bai ruo ru guang de ruo bu zu jian de ruo yu zhi [德] 若 谷， 大 白 若 辱， 广 [德] 若 不 足， 建 [德] 若 欲, 质 zhen ruo chu da fang ruo zu da qi wan cheng da yin xi sheng da 真 若 储。 大 方 若 足，大 器 晚 成， 大 音 希 声， 大 xiang wu xing dao que wu ming fu wei dao zhe shan shi qie shan cheng 象 无 形。 道 却 无 名。 夫 唯 [道] 者， 善 始 且 善 成。 Lesson two After Hearing the Explanation of the Dao After hearing the explanation of the Dao, the best man begins to cultivate himself assiduously; the average man sometimes believes it and sometimes doubts it; the worst man bursts into laughter. If the worst man does not laugh, it can not be the Dao. He who likes to talk behind others' backs says: All who have a clear un-derstanding of the Dao are ignorant; all that make progress in their cultivation retrogress. Those who begin to cultivate themselves will meet many obstacles. Those of noble character and high prestige are judged as sunken in the abyss. Those free from any wrongdoing are subjected to indignities. The more virtuous, the more deficient one will feel. Virtues built (accumulated) by one will be regarded as but selfish desires, but they can be stored in the soul forever. Only generosity can satisfy people. The largest instrument must be fin-ished with care and precision. The greatest sound is seldom heard. The greatest image is often unseen. So the Dao is indeed too difficult to be defined by any name. One training his soul must start well and end well.

Sufidao..... You welcome...!!! I had googled this particular section. The translation of the interpretation was done by yours truly. I don't think that you can find a good translation for the complete text, not in English anyway. What you can do is post anything that you want it to be translated or interpreted. I am glad to be at your service.....

rene.... "Reject only cunning wisdom! or Reject only undesirable knowledge! or Reject only unpleasant experience!" ? I think we had brought the yin out of the Lao Tze's wisdom.

Are we under estimate Lao Tze's wisdom.....??? Or we don"t have the wisdom to interpret his wisdom.....??? In the paradoxical classic, Lao Tze never say what he meant and never meant what he said. But at the end, he always meant what he said and said what he meant. "Reject only cunning wisdom! or Reject only undesirable knowledge! or Reject only unpleasant experience!" ? PS.... As a general rule, when Lao Tze say thing in a negative logic, one must interpret it the opposite.

There is no knowledge to be forsake in this thread; let's forsake the thread......

The compound characters: 以為 will make it to mean as "to be".