ChiDragon

Yes, I agree. Your translation do agree with 陳鼓應. You have probably heard of him because he is one of the professors in Taiwan who is very familiar with the classic Tao Te Ching. All my translations are the reflections of his book. Edited to correct the name from 陳鼓感 to 陳鼓應.

It won't change anything but only we'll have a better understanding. That's all. BTW I am not picking on its effect or it's real or not. I just wanted to justify why it works.

I thank you...!!! I don't know why and how this thread was created, in the first place, to have such a relationship associated with Tao.

Yes, "virtue" has a different meaning in Taoism. For those who follow the principles in the Tao Te Ching was considered to be having the "virtue of Tao". However, it is different from the virtue of Confucian as the "moral of conduct".

I like the title of the OP. So, all types of chi described by the ancient Taoists are metaphorical chi. It is because all of them are set in our minds with no substantial evidence. Thus we just took it as is. However, there is no reason why that we couldn't link it to modern science; at least to make some sense out of it.

I believe that the moral of the story was: Chuang Tzu was an optimist. He felt why should he be bothering with the worries and problems of others. He would rather be wandering and live as a free individual.

ChiForce.... You already have enough "chi force" to go on by having the name. Namaste....!!!

There are many posts on the same subject. It would be advisable to go back to find them in the earlier pages. IMMHO There is no distraction. I do zhan zhuang every night while watching TV for years. I have no drawbacks. PS.... I think most people are complicating the practice of zhan zhuang. It is really a very simple method for all martial arts.

Have you translated Chapter One of the Tao Te Ching, into English, in your own words...??? If you have, then I would like to read it. It might be interesting from you....!!!

Dynamictao..... The Chinese has a big distinction in the Tao terminology between 道家 and 道教. There is also another term called 道學 which is "Taology", the study of Tao; but there is no such word as "Taology" in English. A Chinese has no problem distinguishing the terms 道家 and 道教. 道家 are scholars who are mainly concerned with the study the true meanings of the principles of the Tao Te Ching, and 道教 is a religion. Based what I have gathered from the internet, It is the westerners that do not wish to separate the two by summing them up as Taoism. They make the definition of the term "Taoism" is very broad. Thus one must explain which side one is on, 道家 and 道教. Hence, that falls into the dilemma in the last part of your post. If you think like a Chinese, a Taoist can be a 道士, one who practice the Tao religion. From the term 道士, right away, a Chinese has no problem with that. However, the meaning of "Taoist" to a westerner is very broad and inclusive. Like you said, it would be a big frustration for a Chinese to communicate with a westerner because the same old thing has to be repeated over and over. Indeed, It was frustrating.

Yes, somebody will. Someone did ask me to post it and I did.

I think those are Tai Chi moves in the demo . At first, he did the basic moves of cloud hands of Tai Ji quan. BTW I do have couple of his books in the Chinese language.

Please keen in mind, I am only speaking from a Chinese point of view. The main difference are not believing in the same thing. The philosophical side are scholars and atheists who just study the concepts or principles of Tao Te Ching. The religious side are those who interpret the Tao Te Ching as dogma and create their own deities to worship. Therefore, from the Chinese point of view, one who accepts some Taoist concepts and incorporates them in their own life and worldview, their own "personal philosophy", can be seen as a "real" scholar. Only one who practice the Taoist religion are considered as a "real" Taoist.

Sorry, I didn't know there are so many unanswered questions. These questions require long explanations. I can only do them one at a time. - But what does practicing the religion include? I would really much like to be a true Daoist, but I'm not sure what I'm supposed to do, that's why I ask for help." First of all, a true Taoist is one who dedicate his full life by seclusion in a Taoist shrine(道觀), up in the mountain, where there is close to Nature. The highest realm for a true Taoist is to be an immortal. It may be considered integrating oneself with Nature. To be an immortal, a Taoist will practice Chi Kung to preserve his life for longevity. The highest form of Chi Kung, in the Taoist world, is the alchemy or neidan. The reason that Taoist called it neidan is a long story. The requirement for a true Taoist is to practice the Taoist religion 24/7 in a shrine. A true Taoist does not have a family to attend to as a celibate. However, there are Taoists who do have a family to attend to may be called part time Taoists. A part time Taoist only practice the religion eight hours a day in a shrine then goes back home in the evening. After what has been said, before I go any further, do you still want to a True Taoist....???

Please put some emphasis on the words in red under the preset conditions, so, the original thought does not get distorted. Thank you....!!!

hehehehe.....I'm not chen ping.... The latter example is not to do with frugality which is good economically. It is less attention to the people from the government, so the people will live freely. It means that there are less laws which set forth to burden the people. Another words, leave the people alone and let they live in a way with minimal interference. Remember, Wu Wei is to take no action to interfere with the course of Nature. I'll have reservation on the western reading about Wu Wei.....!!!

Bull's eye. I think I can address this issue simple enough. Yuan Chi(元氣) is the basic minimal energy which is required to sustain a body to perform its vital functions. Yuan Chi is a very common term in the Chinese language. For example, when one ran for a distance until exhausted, then one needs to be rested to recuperate. Under the state of exhaustion, it was said to be that the Yuan Chi was lost but need to be restored. After a resting period until the body was back to normalcy, then it was said to be that the Yuan Chi has been restored. Thus Yuan Chi is equivalent to the "original power".

silas.... When we are start saying my definition is different than yours, that is where trouble begins. In Chinese classic, using a set of limited modern definition of the characters and translation done by semantics is not the way to go. Your definition is "an extension of the practice of meditation in the TTC" deffer from my is because you are not looking at it from a philosophical point of view. Besides, interpreting the Chinese classic is not feasible to do it by semantics. It should be done by logical means within context.

silas....... I think you are doing a great job. You have my most honorable respect for that.....

Let me give it a try...... Ref: http://taocurrents.org/2012/10/09/anarchy-and-a-classical-tao-of-laws/ The above quote has a western flavor to it. The mistake lies on the words "sage-ruler enters". The Tao Te Ching had never said that the sage-ruler enters a state of wu-wei. Rather Lao Tze was only suggesting that they should rule the people with Wu Wei because the rulers never did. The last two statements should interpreted as: 故聖人云 我無為而民自化。 我好靜而民自正。 Hence the sage says(form the native point of view): I am Wu Wei; then, the people will be self contained. I am quietistic; then, the people will be self imposed. Wu Wei, here, has the meaning which implies that the ruler is "rid of desires and craves for luxuries". Thus less tax burden on the people. Just leaving the people be and let them live on their own with less decree from the government. Things like that will make a lot of difference in the interpretation of the Tao Te Ching.

Greeting..... Here is what I have to say about the philosophy of Lao Tze in Tao Te Ching. I think Lao Tze was using dualities to set up all his examples, throughout the Tao Te Ching, to reflect the principle of Tao. Lao Tze was using "Oneness" as another name for Tao. The Oneness comprise of the duality of Yin and Yang. The Tao Te Ching does not emphasize on religion at all. Indeed, the "vague and indeterminate" language was used by Lao Tze are paradoxical but it must be interpreted with reverse logic to invert his thinking, in order, to comprehend his philosophy.

Of course not, you have to read and study the Tao Te Ching to find out how Tao was defined. Tao is not just in thin air for us to grab.

I think there was a little misinterpretation. The above statement was talking about Tao which cannot be described with few mundane words. In order to perceive Tao, one must use all the five sense.

I am accessible to all the versions. Let's do that. I was hoping that someone comes along to discuss the Tao Te Ching with me objectively... @ Silas...please joint in too.....

It's okay, guys. As long we can understand what we are talking about, then it is fine. It is too difficult to set up a standard, here, in the forum. It just won't work that way. We have all kinds of people here from allover the world and think differently. The terms that I had used might not be suitable for other part of the world. I was having a communication problem with the wonderful folks, here, in the first year when I signed up for this site. Let's stay in harmony with each other. Thank you.....