ChiDragon

One Buddha had a quest of stopping suffering and at some point the wheal of samsara came up. Seems like there's an endless cycle of suffering that comes with living and attachment. Some Buddhist people came up with an idea of removing attachments. The key word is 'some', the detachment almost became cannon if it wasn't for the other ideas. If you understand what Buddhism was all about, then you wouldn't have had came up with this thread....!!!

Yes, indeed it was. I do admit I do get carried away sometimes. However, I'll make sure that this situation will be rectified as part of my cultivation process. Peace...!!!

5. 故常無, 欲以觀其妙。 6. 常有,欲以觀其徼。 Let's look at the text by paying close attention to the punctuation, coma 5: 故常無, Hence(故), when Tao is always invisible(常無), 欲以觀其妙。 One would (欲) grok its mystery. 欲 means desire. I think you got confused with 肉(flesh). These two characters are pronounce the same in Cantonese. The reason I use grok for 觀(observe) is because one cannot observe a mystery; but one can only comprehend it by grokking. 6. 常有, 欲以觀其徼。 When Tao is visible(常有), one would(欲) observe its(其) boundary(徼).

Kaaazuo.... Yes, there is a good dim sum place close by where I live. I like 龍 井 more than poh lei. Thank you very much for your hospitality...!!!...

kaaazuo... Go into this site: http://www.oddcast.c...ple.php?sitepal 1. Copy 閻 羅 王 and paste in the "Enter Text:" window. 2. Select "Chinese" in the "Language:" window. 3. Select "Sin-Ji(Cantonese)" in the "Voice:" window. 4. Click the "Say It" button.

It seems this is to be a more proper translation to begin with: 1. xian tian 先天: early stage; early period; pre-natal; inherence; innate; natural 2. hou tian 後天: post-natal; later stage; later period

A good place to start is with the basic properties of these phases: Water descends(true) Wood expands(partial true) Fire ascends(true) Earth rotates(it means soil here) Metal contracts(partial true) Wood expands only when more water was absorbed. Earth means soil in the five elements rather than the Earth which rotates. Metals do contract and expend with different temperatures. It seems that is not so 善哉！after all.

sufidao.... You got a point there. It is worth something to look into. Let's see when 天 was first put into use as "day".... "the first gua is the Heaven (the Chinese always begin from south)," The first gua(Heaven) was on top of the Bagua was because when one looks up, that is where Heaven was. When one looks down, that's where the second gua(Earth) was at the bottom(north).

Of course, the meaning of day(天) was borrowed from Heaven..... How do you think the old Chinese expressed today(今天), yesterday(昨天) and tomorrow(明天). In the same token, the month(月) was borrowed from the moon(月). Heaven is Heaven; it doesn't make any sense to have an Early Heaven or Later Heaven. The difference of the two configurations of Bagua should be expressed as the Early Version BaGua and the Later Version Bagua.

FYI.... xian tian 先天 (earlier Heaven) and hou tian hou tian 後天 (later Heaven). are very poor translations to begin with. The proper translations: 1. xian tian 先天: earlier days 2. hou tian 後天: later days.

Beauty is only in the eyes of the beholder. Who are we here to insult the wisdom of the great ancient philosopher...???

ooh......

Stosh... "And thats why I said that the two fields are complimentary." Do you mean Complementary....!!!

kaazuo..... Welcome back...........

Welcome! Why did you quit....???

Didn't I tell you once or twice already that you are a scholar and a gentleman.....

kaaazuo..... Dull the starkness, Diffuse the chaos, Cut the glare, Be like dust Deep within yet ever present. I don't know what gave rise to it. It precedes the Emperor. Sorry, I do not see that this translation is about life nor the emperor. If "it" precedes the Emperor, then Emperor is not the subject that we are really interested. What do you think that the "it" was"...???

It seems that you have a good understanding of Taoist's De. Taoists follow the path of Nature was considered to be having the De of Tao(道德). You are very correct about morality that is inclusive within the cultivation of Taoism practice.

The idea of 'Metal to water" was from when metal(solid phase), in high temperature, molten into the liquid phase. "Water" does not mean water but the liquid phase. BTW We must learn to have a flexible think when we are talking about the five elements. They are, sometimes, referred as classes, categories, phrases, or elements.

imb... I'm noticing a lot of wobbling in my legs during and after practice. By what you are saying, it seems to me you have not practiced too long. May I ask how long have you been practicing in months....??? Normally, practitioners have weak legs to begin with, especially, stress was applied to them. Also, strangely enough, I feel a bit unstable and dizzy when near sinks and while operating taps! This seems to have increased the more I practice. I was tangibly wobbling during today's session. It's not accompanied with any emotion or thought, so it seems to be a physical thing. Your unstable and dizziness maybe caused from your tinnitus. Most lightly, people with tinnitus have a sense of unbalance, especially, when some heavy breathing was done. BTW how was your breathing during and after your Tai Ji practice...??? Another thing, possibly unrelated, is that I notice is that I get an odd, mild shock sensation; it's particularly noticable when I'm trying to get to sleep. What do you mean by a mild shock sensation...??? I have a constant mild tinnitus too, and as I get one of these shocks it becomes louder during the split second of the shock. This seems to be unrelated to practice, I get these even during periods of non practice. Yes, I do agree that was unrelated to practice. Really I only do 30 minutes of tai chi a day and 10 minutes of zhan zhuang, in the neutral posture. I used to meditate back in the day, but don't any more. Most people have a different definition about zhan zhuang, what do you mean by the neutral posture.....??? Did you bend your knees while you were doing your stance....??? Any suggestions. Incorrect posture. Maybe my arm position is wrong, as I rest my thumbs on the outside of my legs. Some blockage manifesting itself? I feel there to be a big, inpenetrable one roughly behind my sternum. That seems like you have a breathing problem. Hmm, come to think of it, I can sort of feel it now as I'm sat in my chair, it almost seems to be coming from my chest, and I'm mildly wobbling in my chair. Almost as if something is trying to free itself. Any insight would be much appreciated, my tai chi teacher didn't have much of an idea.

That's great, but that was only the basic concept. Now, let's put it into applications. In TCM, these elements become categories. In terms of internal organs, they were categorized as such: 1. Meta(金)l: lung, large intestine 2. Water(水): kidney, bladder 3. Wood(木): liver, bile bladder 4. Fire(火): heart, small intestine 5. Earth(土): spleen, stomach Based on your understanding, 1. Metal supports Water vs lung supports kidney 2. Water weakens Fire vs kidney weakens heart What that is saying was if something goes wrong with the kidney, you don't go fix the kidney but the lung. In TCM, they think that the lung was weak which does not have enough support for the kidney. The heart was categorized as Fire. When the heart was too weak, in TCM, they'll say that the fire in the heart was too weak. This is the language that they spoke in the TCM world. We should not take that too serious literally. It is because the fire in the heart does not actually burn.

Mandarin was being taught by a westerner. [media] [/media]

I had posted my explanation here yesterday but it is gone today. Anyway, I will wait and try again. Maybe the system was not all the way ready yet. Does anybody know how to interpret this TCM chart and would like to give it a try....???

Thank you for the kind words. Please do show me your translation...!!! BTW I had edited my post, please read it again. Thanks...!!! PS.... Actually I am not as courageous as you thought that I was. The conclusion brought to my attention was based from the most knowledgeable native scholars.

Chapter 4 - The Fathomless Tao. 1. Tao is a vessel and its function seems inexhaustible. 2. Abyss, aha! It seems like the ancestry of all things. 3/7. Fathomless, aha! Unconscious or conscious. 4/8. I don't know whose son he is, 5/9. It seems like Tao was before the heavenly god. ***** lines 3 through 6 seem to be out of context. They were reappeared in Chapter 56***** 1. 道沖而用之或不盈。 2. 淵兮似萬物之宗。 3. 挫其銳 4. 解其紛， 5. 和其光， 6. 同其塵， 7. 湛兮似或存。 8. 吾不知誰之子， 9. 象帝之先。 Chapter 4 was describing the characteristic of Tao by Lao Tze. Lao Tze was an atheist, he does not believe in god. He doesn't believe that Tao is a god neither. He wanted to emphasis that Tao is just natural which does not govern by any god. However, Tao is the creator of all things with inexhaustible power. I think Chapter 4 was saying that. The reason that Lao Tze was using the vessel as an example for Tao because the vessel symbolized "encompass" and it is limitless. Tao is the creator of all things even before the existence of god.