ChiDragon

Chuang Tzu does not quarrel. He says: "why should I be wasting my breath arguing something for nothing, I rather enjoy life with silence and have a peace of mind." Chuang Tzu was a Chinese Taoist.......!!!

Yes, you are an American Taoist because you do quarrel, and kill for food as a soldier. To me. Meridian_Man is Taoist because he does not quarrel. Period.

Yes, I agree. Feng Shui was started as an environmental science where the living quarters were made to be as comfortable as possible. Somehow, people start using the Ba Gua(八卦) and Lo Shu(洛書) to formulate some Feng Shui formulas to foresee the condition of the dwelling based on the birthday of the individual owner. Thus I would say that Feng Shi is not pure superstition nor pure science but also psychology. If something in a dwelling causing a psychological problem and discomfort, then, it was definitely considered to be a Feng Shui problem. "Another Feng Shui recommendation: don't stand too close to the edge of the platform while waiting for your train." This is obviously a hazardous environmental issue.

Meridian_Man..... I do respect and consider you as true Taoist. You've learned the lessons well from the Tao Te Ching. Welcome aboard......!!!

子曰：「巧言令色，鮮矣仁！」 孔子說：“花言巧語，一副討好人的臉色，這樣的人是很少有仁德的。” Confucius said: "Those whom are using blandishments with a gratifying face; this kind of people are seldom have any virtue of kindness."

In both versions, the observation was pointing to Tao other than the world. It is because Chapter One is all about Tao but not the world. Common Version: 5. 故常無欲，以觀其妙。 6. 常有欲，以觀其徼。 5. Always without desire, one would grok its quale. 6. Always with desire, one would observe its boundary. To be more explicit, I can rephrase lines 5 and 6 for clarity. 5. Always without desire, one would grok Tao's quale. 6. Always with desire, one would observe Tao's boundary. The illogical notion here lies on the state of desire. The question is do we need to be in a different state of mind to observe Tao's quale or boundary....??? Can we observe Tao at any time without depending on the state of desire....??? Received Version of Chapter 1 5. 故常無，欲以觀其妙。 6. 常有，欲以觀其徼。 I do the same by rephrasing lines 5 and 6. 5. Hence, when Tao is always invisible, one would grok Tao's quale. 6. When Tao is always visible, one would observe Tao's boundary. Over here, we observe Tao's quale and boundary under two conditions. 1. When Tao was in an invisible state, we observe Tao's intangible characteristic or quale. 2. When Tao is in a manifested state, we observe Tao's limitation or boundary.

If we have to translate "Tao" as "Way" without reading further down the line in the TTC, we are jumping the gun too soon. Later along in other chapters, "Tao" was fined by LaoTze with multi-definition. "Way" may only fits one of the definitions. You will see that "Way" may not fit all those definitions as you reading along the TTC. Besides, The first "Tao" in Chapter One is a proper noun. Sometimes, for consistency, a proper noun does not need to be translated. In the second character, 'tao' is a verb, thus it may be translated as 'spoken'. PS.... Can "takaaki" be translated.....??? If the answer is no, for the same token, 'Tao' may not be translated neither. The reason we can translate the character 道 because it has linguistic meanings. If it is a pure proper noun with no other meanings, then, people do not have the option to think otherwise.

That is a nice way to put it. I can't argue with that...... Thanks.

There is a big difference, in the meaning on lines 5 and 6, between the two versions. Let's go over it again. Received Version of Chapter 1 5. 故常無，欲以觀其妙。 6. 常有，欲以觀其徼。 5. Hence, when Tao is always invisible, one would grok its quale. 6. When Tao is always visible, one would observe its boundary. These two lines were referring to the states of manifestation of Tao. ************************************************************************************************************************** Common Version: 5. 故常無欲，以觀其妙。 6. 常有欲，以觀其徼。 5. Always without desire, one would grok its quale. 6. Always with desire, one would observe its boundary. These two lines were referring to the states of desire of a person. Since Chapter One was given an introduction of Tao, it wouldn't make any sense by jumping out of the subject and talk about someone's states of desire. There was no connection there, it was just out of context. Do you see the difference in the outcome, by place the comma in different a position, of the two versions.....???

To be honest with you. Your reasoning are lack of substance. It is monotonous that your presentation only goes back and forth between the first and third party without any of your own ideas. I have given you my legitimate reasons but you were just not able to digest. Anyway, this is only my most humble opinion. No malice was intended.

Yes, "ignore" is a silent way to express oneself that further verbal exchange is no longer needed. Hence, it means either that the last argument was not valid or just due to the lack of further interest in the subject matter.

Did you read or didn't understand their explained details.......????

Why is anything that was leaning toward the yin-side was considered to be a "troll". If there is yin, then, there is yang. Why are we so sensitive about hearing something that is being in the negative view a little bit.....??? If we only want to hear what we want to hear or just one side of the story all the time, then, everything will become stagnate.

Thanks for the warning. Sorry, he took it the wrong way. I thought it was impossible to have such effect in a week practice and I was expected to hear more from him which I did. My bad.

Yes, I thought you had done something, in the past, to substantiate the claim in your OP. Anyway, now, I know why that you have advanced so quickly in your qigong practice. Just keep up the good work.....

Sorry about that. I apologize. You see when people speak about qigong, I really don't know what they have in mind. Everybody seems to have a different idea. Anyway, before I can answer your question, I need to know how did you practice your qigong. I don't need to know what is your style but just tell me what did you do. Then we going from there. First thing, please tell me your breathing and health condition. How far can you breathe down like to the chest or abdomen.....???

Would you like to give it a try and see how far you get.....???

IMMHO If there is a distinction that was mentioned by someone, obviously, there are some discrepancies in the thinking among a group of people causing a split. Unless, all the people that are coming from the same background.

Begun a week ago with such efficacy...!!! WOW, you'll be a master in a month then.

So is the Capitol of California, in Sacramental, was used Feng Shui by hiring a Chinese Feng Shui Master Eagle Wong. He recruited many disciples in Southern California.

"so many Chinese people use Taoism simply as a means to money, using Feng Shui to bring money into the house, creating Buddha statues with money around them to bring in money, having Buddhist or Taoist shrines at the entranceway to businesses." I hope we meant this part. I see how things could be easily misunderstood.........

Have you ever heard of pseudo-Taoism.....???....

This is only the fundamental part of it. If one not able to grasp this much. How will you grasp the rest....??? Of course, there are lot more to Chi Kung. The thing that is can you get over the first hurdle...???.....

The bold statement says all.

非 is a negative character which negates any thought in conjunction with it. It doesn't work here. I was only translating what it says where the comma dictates. It is not logical and not proper Chinese in the phrase.