ChiDragon

What is 火候(huo hou) Definition of 火候 English translation of 火候 火候, a noun, is an expression to indicate how much effort that one puts into doing something. By the ability that one can demonstrate a particular form or style of the martial arts, people can tell how much 火候(huo hou) you have or how much effort that you had putted into the practice.

I have found myself standing on a piece of flat land and I called it "Earth". I called my first day on Earth "Day Zero". I saw something that is round and bright, above me, moving from my left side toward the right side. I called this bright round object the "Sun" in Heaven. I also, see Mountains, Water, Fire, Wind, Thunder, and Marsh. When the Sun goes down, I saw something shiny above and I call it the "Moon". I would like to call myself 伏羲(Fu Xi). I would like to come up with a diagram to represent all of what I saw and called it 八卦(Ba Gua).

Hey, this is in Japanese.

I like the coke better...

I think we had ruined this thread. It is dead now.

Come to think of it. I have heard a lot of talk about definitions and experience about alchemy. However, I really did not get anything from the talk about somebody's prior alchemy experience.

Whisper in my ear Only way to tell the truth They don't want to know

That was what I am thinking too. Now, I am searching through some Chinese documentations. Things are seem to be clearing up. I have found the meaning of the term 天帝(tien de); it was bothering me for sometimes. Now, as I went through the documentations, I have discovered that it is a name was given to the North Star.

Who said that the Ancient Chinese mapped out the constellations...??? I have not seen any Chinese documentation had mentioned the Milky Way. However, the most popular stars or planets were mentioned are the Sun, Moon, Venus, Jupiter, Mercury, Mars and Saturn. It was amazed that the Ancients had observed the sky and seen them with their naked eyes. It's more amazing was that the names of these stars are correlated to the five elements, metal(金), wood(木), water(水), fire(火), and soil(土). 金星: Venus 木星: Jupiter 水星: Mercury 火星: Mars 土星: Saturn Yes, I am sure that I have not read any ancient document that supported this idea. The reason you asked this question because you knew this modern fact. At the time, the ancient Chinese thought that Heaven was round and Earth was flat which has four corners.

Straighten them out yourself and make it positive. Bye bye.

The thing here is what I am getting at. If we want to bring ourselves back in time, please do not bring the modern knowledge into the past to make some erroneous interpretations. We must think back to see what were the conditions and what the ancients knew at the time. We just cant bring a microscope back two thousand years in the past and expect the ancients to see things in a cellular level.

Let's stop.... You are impossible. I rest my case.

If you don't have anything to contribute into the discussion, please do not hesitate to hold your silence. You are doing the worse BS here. 為政以德，譬如北辰居其所而眾星共之。 "Rule with benevolence, it's like that all the stars are living together, in a shelter(其所), with the North Star." Confucius was trying to point out the harmony of the people. It has nothing to do with the rotation of anything. PS... It doesn't matter who you bring up to substantiate your argument, if the translation is incorrect, then it is incorrect.

问曰：何谓三田？ Question: What are the three fields? 答曰：脑为上田， Answer: "The brain(脑) is the upper dan tian(上田); 心为中田， The heart(心) is the middle dan tian(中田); 气海为下田。 The Chi Hai(气海 or 氣海) is the lower dan tian(下田). 若得斗柄之机斡运，则上下循环如天河之流转也。 It seems like the motion of the Hand of the Big Dipper, thus it was repeatedly rotating up and down like the flowing motion of the heavenly river. PS.... This is a DIRECT translation from a given Chinese classic text without any outside influence.

Where does it say all the stars are rotating about it...??? You just do not comprehend what your are really quoting. It is a very poor translation. PS... I am doing a direct translation from the given classic text. However, you seem to be always bring up something from another document which is so irrelevant to the materials are being discussed. I am sorry. I just do not have to communication skill to deal with your thoughts.....

Modern interpretation 【译文】 子祀(Zi Si)、子舆(Zi Yu)、子犁(Zi Li)、子来(Zi Lai)四个人在一块摆谈说：“谁能够把无当作头，把生当作脊柱，把死当作尻尾，谁能够通晓生死存亡浑为一体的道理，我们就可以跟他交朋友。”四个人都会心地相视而笑，心心相契却不说话，于是相互交往成为朋友。 子祀(Zi Si)、子舆(Zi Yu)、子犁(Zi Li)、and 子来(Zi Lai) these four persons are talking together and said: "Who can let Wu(无, invisible) be the head, and let life be the spine and let death be the Coccyx(尻尾), who can understand that the principle of life and death was integrated as a whole, then we can become friends with him. The four looked at each other and smiled, there was a mutual agreement within their hearts in silence. Then, they all became friends. 不久子舆生了病，子祀前去探望他。子舆说：“伟大啊，造物者！把我变成如此曲屈不伸的样子！腰弯背驼，五脏穴口朝上，下巴隐藏在肚脐之下，肩部高过头顶，弯曲的颈椎形如赘瘤朝天隆起”。阴阳二气不和酿成如此灾害，可是子舆的心里却十分闲逸好像没有生病似的，蹒跚地来到井边对着井水照看自己，说：“哎呀，造物者竟把我变成如此曲屈不伸！” Not long ago, 子舆(Zi Yu) got sick, Zi Zi when to visit him. Zi Yu said: "Almighty, the all creator! had made me in such a crooked figure and unable to straight out my body, crooked waist and hunched back, all the five holes on my face looking up toward heaven; having my chin buried below my navel; with my shoulder above the top of my head; with my neck piled up like a tumor toward heaven. It was the disharmony of Yin-Yang causing such tragedy; but Zi Yu was so calm in his heart and seems like he was not ill at all. He limped to the edge of the well and looked himself from the water. He said: 'Oh ah! The creator made me to look such crooked and bent." 子祀说：“你讨厌这曲屈不伸的样子吗？” 子舆回答：“没有，我怎么会讨厌这副样子！假令造物者逐渐把我的左臂变成公鸡，我便用它来报晓；假令造物者逐渐把我的右臂变成弹弓，我便用它来打斑鸠烤熟了吃。假令造物者把我的臀部变化成为车轮，把我的精神变化成骏马，我就用来乘坐，难道还要更换别的车马吗？ 至于生命的获得，是因为适时，生命的丧失，是因为顺应；安于适时而处之顺应，悲哀和欢乐都不会侵入心房。这就是古人所说的解脱了倒悬之苦，然而不能自我解脱的原因，则是受到了外物的束缚。况且事物的变化不能超越自然的力量已经很久很久，我又怎么能厌恶自己现在的变化呢？” 子祀(Zi Si)said: "Are you disgusted the way you look? 子舆(Zi Yu) answered back: "No, How would I be disgusted this look! Suppose the creator made my left as a rooster, then I would use it the morning call; suppose the creator made my right hand as a sling shot, then I would use it to hunt turtledoves and cook them for food. Suppose the creator made my buttock as a wheel and made my soul as a horse, then I would use it as a ride, perhaps do I need to replace them with other carriages? Regarding to the gain of life, it was because at the right time; the lost of life is because it was at the suitable time. By placing oneself at the right time and attending at the suitable time, hence, sorrow and happiness will not enter the heart. This was what the ancients called the relief of the hangover of pain. Otherwise, the reason one cannot free of the pain by oneself, then, it was by an external fetter. Though, all matters cannot be changed beyond by any natural force for a long long time, how could I be disgusted about my present condition of mutations. 不久子来也生了病，气息急促将要死去，他的妻子儿女围在床前哭泣。子犁前往探望，说：“嘿，走开！不要惊扰他由生而死的变化！”子犁靠着门跟子来说话：“伟大啊，造物者！又将把你变成什么，把你送到何方？把你变化成老鼠的肝脏吗？把你变化成虫蚁的臂膀吗？” Not long ago, Zi Lai also become sick. He was in heavy breathing and dieing. His wife and children were crying beside his bed. Zi Li came by to visit him and said: "Do not disturb him; he is in the process of changing from life to death!" Zi Li leaned against the door and said to Zi Lai and said: "It's almighty, the creator! What will it change you into and where will it send you to? Will you be changed into the liver of a mouse? Or Change you into a leg of an ant?" 子来说：“父母对于子女，无论东西南北，他们都只能听从吩咐调遣。自然的变化对于人，则不啻于父母；它使我靠拢死亡而我却不听从，那么我就太蛮横了，而它有什么过错呢！大地把我的形体托载，用生存来劳苦我，用衰老来闲适我，用死亡来安息我。所以把我的存在看作是好事，也因此可以把我的死亡看作是好事。现在如果有一个高超的冶炼工匠铸造金属器皿，金属熔解后跃起说‘我将必须成为良剑莫邪’，冶炼工匠必定认为这是不吉祥的金属。如今人一旦承受了人的外形，便说‘成人了成人了’，造物者一定会认为这是不吉祥的人。如今把整个浑一的天地当作大熔炉，把造物者当作高超的冶炼工匠，用什么方法来驱遣我而不可以呢？”于是安闲熟睡似的离开人世，又好像惊喜地醒过来而回到人间。 Zi Lai said: The children with respect toward their parents, regardless of what, they only can obey what they were told. The natural change about humans, thus it was not just implied to their parents. If it makes me incline toward death, then, I cannot obey. However, I was told to be barbaric, is there something wrong with that! The great earth gave a place for my physical body, using survival to torture me; using old age to put me into dormant, using death to to put me into peace. Treating my existence as a good thing, hence it can treat my death as a good thing too. Now, if there was a superior blacksmith to make a metallic instrument. After it was finished, I'll raise it and say: "I will make it a good sword to get rid of all evils." Then the blacksmith would say that is a piece of inauspicious metal. Perhaps, now, human once became into the form of human, then it was said to be a human became human. Then the creator will say this is not a auspicious person. Suppose, letting the great heaven and earth become a big kiln; and let the creator become a superior blacksmith. How can he not use any method to manipulate me?" Thus one was leaving this world as if one was in deeply sleep. Perhaps, surprisingly waken up and then returned back on earth.

Yes, you and I knew that; but the ancients thought it moves at the time.....

To answer your questions, this will stop your worries. 1. All teenagers have acne, so don't worry about it. Eventually it will go away. Your friend told you a fallacy which is not true. 2. Wet dream is completely normal for a teenager. It is because you are in the development stage to be an adult. Another words, you are in a very Yang state, you have lots of energy. When your Yang state has reached to the ultimate it will try to go to a Yin state. E.g., your wet dream releasing the sperms is one good example. Then, your body will manufacture sperms again in the next three days and bring you back to the Yang state again. By the law of Nature, the Yang-Yin cycle repeats itself. 3. Wet dream is normal for the same reason in 2. It is very natural because it went on its own without any intent on your part.

Yes, me too. 自然(Zi Ren)

Yes, it was related to the golden essence in the above statement. It was saying that the golden essence was circulating up and down in the dan tian(s) seems like the spinning motion of the Handle of the Big Dipper.

HE... Could someone explain the original term (by the way, would that be Mandarin, or just "Classical Chinese?")? FYI The Chinese written language is almost the same, except some localities. By locality, I meant people speak different dialects in different regions. There are two versions of the original: 1. 道大 天大 地大 人大(Man is great) 2. 道大 天大 地大 王大(King is great) Number 1 is the consensus by the modern Chinese scholars.

Bai Hu... 道法自然 "Tao models itself after Nature" At one time, I had translated as such, but then I realized that Tao is above Nature. The only thing that I can come up with was Tao follows its own nature. Tao models itself as being natural.

There are two ways of looking at it: 1. One revolution of the Earth. 2. One revolution of the Earth around the Sun. 1. During one rotation of the Earth, the "Handle of the Big Dipper" acts the "hour hand" of the clock. 2. During one rotation of the Earth around the Sun, the Handle points toward one direction determines the seasons of the year. a. If the Handle pointing at the East, then it is Spring. b. If it is pointing at the South, then it is Summer. c. If it is pointing at the West, then it is Autumn. d. If it is pointing at the North, then it is Winter.

This is only a translation from a given Chinese classic to English.... Why should I say more to cause confusion....???