ChiDragon

whitesilk... The lesson in Chapter 11 was suggesting us not to just look at matters superficially. e.g. Most people looked at a cup as a cup was being useful, but LoaTze would like to look at it differently. He sees the space in the cup was useful rather than the cup itself. He does not follow the traditional way of looking at things. He looks at the Yin to reflect the Yang. In other words, let's not see things as they are appeared which might be deceiving. Thus we must look at them closely and get to the bottom of things to find the truth.

Where was the sick energy come from...??? It was from a malfunction of the body somewhere. One just need to find a way to cure the bad area inside the body with the good energy which will get rid of the sick ones....!!! Nature provide the body with a self-healing capability. The body will heal itself with the proper ingredients. One thing is Chi which can be provided through breathing or by Chi Kung. Chi Kung will cure an illness quicker than normal breathing.

To answer the Title...!!! Zhan zhuang is mainly to develop the muscle tone in both legs while breathing down to the abdomen(lower dan tien) slowly but surely.

You got the right idea about what Chi Kung can do for you. If you really understand what it is, then, it will help you in your weight lifting. May I ask you this....??? What is the first thing that you do before you lift the weights....???

Classic text: 1. 谷神不死(The spirit of the valley never dies.) The spirit of the valley is in the first line of the original classic text. Your masters verse had been ignored it.

Really.............???.....

Can we generalize it by its nomenclature superficially...??? Medical Qigong is any Qigong method which was utilized in healing or curing an illness.

anamatva... Yes, it seems ZhuangTze always put words in Confucius mouth by saying that ZhuangTze was a better teacher than Confucius. The metaphor was that Confucius should be bowing to and worship ZZ as his master...

whitesilk... Chapter 11 of TTC: On the last line 無之有用(the function of empty space) was indicated that LaoTze was pointing out the usefulness of the empty space of some objects. There was nothing about the mind was mentioned. He was comparing the empty space with solid objects in his philosophy. He was putting emphasis on the empty space of an object rather than the object itself. In the case with ZhuangTze: ZZ was using human affair to point out that one was being useless apparently to others. So, others will leave him alone. However, ZhuangTze was useful to himself and tried to make an easy and comfortable life without any outside influence. Please keep in mind we are talking about two philosophers with different ideas. It was not wise to interpret one's idea into another. ZhuangTZe's character was very individualistic while LaoTze was very holistic. Thus we must not mix the ideas of the two for a better understanding of their philosophies individually.

How about a little introduction for now the way you think that Chapter 6 was all about....???...

Chapter 6 The Mysterious Female 1. 谷神不死 2. 是謂玄牝。 3. 玄牝之門 4. 是謂天地根。 5. 綿綿若存， 6. 用之不勤。 In PinYin 1. gu shen bu si, 2. shi wei xuan pin. 3. xuan pin zhi men, 4. shi wei tian di gen. 5. mian mian ruo cun, 6. yong zhi bu qin. English translation: 1. The spirit of the valley never dies. 2. It is called the mysterious female. 3. The door of the mysterious female, 4. It is called the root of heaven and earth. 5. She seems existed eternally, 6. With her endless reproduction capability. Annotation: 1. The spirit of the valley was referred as Tao by LaoTze in this chapter. Gu(谷) means valley. 2. 谷神(gu shen) actually means the "god of the valley". Perhaps, it may sound better in English as the "spirit of the valley".

Please keep in mind that Zhuangzi was being individualistic. His basic philosophy was to be freed from external influence which might affect his life style. He was thinking about himself being not useful, so, others cannot and will not take advantage of him. Hence, he can enjoy life in his own world. In this scenario, ZZ was preferred that the tree to be not useful. So, the tree can grow naturally throughout its lifespan instead of dying young.

When you are in Tibet, just be sure your hotel room is above the first floor and sleep with all your cash and documentation under your pillow. I have all my cash stolen inside my hotel room on the first floor with the widow opened while asleep. The thief only took my cash and no other items to prevent from self incriminated evidence. I was told by the tourist guide to leave the windows open, at night, for fresh air because of high altitude. In addition, I was told that the people in Lhasa or Tibet believe in Buddhism and they do not steal. However, on the third day, our cash and other tourist couple in the next room has the cash, passport, and plane tickets stolen. He was unlucky because he had an upset stomach. At the moment he just got out of the bathroom and saw the thief. So, the thief ran and took the whole bag with all the valuables with him. His wallet was found by a lady worker there by the hotel, but his wife's big bag was not insight. I was waken up by the policeman outside my window. There was a lot of cigarette butts outside the window which indicated that the thief has been there for awhile waiting for me to go to sleep. I went the bed at 2:00am after watching TV. AT first I thought I lost my passport and airplane tickets. After I got on the airplane, I had found them in the other compartment of my carriage bag. They were placed there by the thief after he took all the cash. My wife's video camera was by the window but all her cash was gone also.

So, you don't think ZZ was putting words into Confucius' mouth for his own behave....???

Get a good laugh out of this....

Acupressure was intended for temporarily release of pain or other symptoms. In my wife's case, sometimes, she gets gas in her stomach. The symptom was causing her abdomen to expand and very discomfort. Then she run over to me and ask me to perform acupressure on her back for few minutes to release all the gases. After the performance, I can really hear her burps releasing all the gas through her mouth. BTW I applied acupressure around the Throacic 6(T6) area. It works every time. In your case, may be a little difficult to do.

American speaks Mandarin: Chinese spoken by a Black person: College students in Boston UMASS http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=49v_gUJFSf4&feature=related

Do you think that the Confucius ideas mentioned by Zhuang Zi were really from the heart of Confucius....???

Yes, I do speak mandarin. Ni hao ma(how are you)..???... Singing a song and being fluent in a language are two completely different things. Yes, if one being fluent in a language and singing a song is completely different. In a way, I mean really different. BTW She sung this song in Western style which made it sound so good and different. I love to sing too, I'll try to sing in her western style tone. I was really fascinated with her western diaphragm tone. Her voice(western way of singing) has a magnetic attraction as how we would describe it.... As a matter of fact, I'd heard many westerner learned Chinese and sung songs. The Chinese songs from a western singer are very different. Here is another good example. A comparison between western and eastern. The western style with diaphragm.

The acupoints have the same effect as long they were stimulated by any means. The acupoints are located within the innervation of the nervous system. The acuppoint can be located in any nerves of the human body. If one look close enough, one will see that the meridians are coincided with the nerves of the body. e.g. The Quchi(曲池, LI-11) is on the radial nerve(撓神經). It is 1 to 1.5 inches deep and that is where the radial nerve was located.

The answer is yes. There are three ways to stimulate those acu-points: needle, heat and pressure. Pressure was applied by the mechanical pressures from any object. The needle method is called Acupuncture. The heat method is called Moxibustion. Of course, the pressure method is called Acupressure.

This British 19 year old girl, only been two months in China, learned a Chinese song in two weeks and won the competition in China.

The first thing I was wondering about your breathing. I am glad that you have told us. Your breathing problem was causing you to fatigue due to hypoxia. Hypoxia, lack of oxygen, causing your body not to produce enough energy for the vital functions of your body. You had said this was not happening before, thus it sounds like you have an allergy problem which causing your sinus to be clogged up. However, breathing through the mouth is not desirable for your health. All the germs will go into your lungs may cause infection. The lack of oxygen to the brain will cause you to loose confidence and self esteem. Thus you must clear your sinus problem ASAP to normalize you body. Wish you all the best...