ChiDragon

FYI To help you to get start it. "一" is Tao. 得一 means one who has Tao.

Yes, we have to get use to this five-year old kid.

Bruce Lee's famous quote. What is the art of fighting without fighting? Fighting without fighting means fighting on your terms, not theirs. You need a plan to render your opponents helpless without engaging in their idea of the battle. It takes both planning and resolve to ensure you don't sink to your opponent's level.

There is no real answer. Use your own imagination.

I think you did good! I do follow your thoughts. That is your understanding. However, if one look at the over all picture of the TTC, the definition of de had been defined already in Chapter 51. The de in this chapter was used as descriptive function. It was not redefining its definition here, as you thought it would be. It was describing the quality of a virtuous person rather than what de is. Again, in Chapters 54 and 55 are using de as descriptive function. These chapters describe the virtuous action of de rather than defining de.

Let me show how the interpretation was done? The word for word translation would be this: 1. 上德不德，(high virtue is not virtuous) 2. 是以有德。(thus it has virtue) or (it's virtuous) First of all, isn't it sounds paradoxical? How can a person with high virtue is not virtuous? The logic makes no sense. Therefore, it has to be rephrased it into modern language. So, it will make more sense! Let's rephrase it with a better logic. 1. One who has high virtue quality will not glorify its value, 2. Then one is virtuous. This is how the logic flows and make much more sense. The idea of "being boasted" is clearly hidden here. No? FYI In the ancient time, there weren't as many characters to express an idea. Most of the time, an idea was written with a phrase with no punctuation. Sometimes, it is very easy to misinterpret an idea if the last character of a phrase was connected with the first character of the next phrase. The lines 3 and 4 are also very paradoxical. 3. 下德不失德，(low virtue does not lose its virtuous value) 4. 是以無德。(thus it is not virtuous) To rephrase it, it would read: 3. One who has low virtue quality attempts not to lose the least virtuous value, 4. Thus one is not virtuous. Do you see what I mean?

Hi Beep, I think I can answer your question. I am a Taiji practitioner for forty years. Xingyi Quan is in the same family of practice as of Taiji. There should be no chemical change in the body. Thus it is ok the practice it without conflict.

Hi, whowoulditbe, This is classic Chinese, it is a whole new ball game for the modern people to understand. Especially, for a native or non-native who is not familiar with the classic literature. To interpret a phrase or sentence in classic is it based on logic by trial and error. The interpretation needs to be done many times until a most logical conclusion has been reached. "Sorry to stack the questions again, but: Where do "being boasted" and "tried" come from?" Good question. First of all, in the TTC, it talks about the quality of de(德). Classified by high(上德) and low(下德), 上德 is being the high quality of virtue and 下德 is the low quality of virtue. The 德, virtue of Tao, is the virtual quality of those who follow the principles of Tao. Those who do not glorify oneself being possessed the virtue of Tao was considered high virtue. The opposite is considered low virtue. This is the implication what Laotze was emphasizing in this chapter.

You welcome! Daniel In this case, by context, 無為 here interpreted as take no action. 為之, here, is to take action. This classic Chinese, it cannot be interpreted as word for word as in modern English or Chinese. It takes a high level of scholar to explain it.

This is the interpretation of a well known Chinese scholar who has the full authority on the subject. Chapter 38 The Virtuous De 1. 上德不德， 2. 是以有德。 3. 下德不失德， 4. 是以無德。 5. 上德 [無為] 而無以為。 6. 下德 [無為] 而有以為。 7. To be continued...... Sino-English 1. High virtue is not being boasted with virtue, 2. Thus one has virtue or virtuous. 3. Low virtue is tried not to lose virtue, 4. Thus one has no virtue or not virtuous. 5. High virtue with wu wei, thus committed with no intention. 6. Low virtue with wu wei, thus committed with intention. Notes: 1. [無為]wu wei: let nature take its course with no interference; to be natural; 2. One who has an intention was considered not to be Wu Wei.

May I suggest not to have Quan Yin placed on a plate. The purpose of the plate is for placing the foods on. It would not be very respectful to the goddess. Peace!

Yes, it is valid. The classic Chinese would be interpreted that way. Very good. You had grips and mastered the Chinese Language very well.

Welcome, Jeremy.

Hi Nintendao The character of 反 was used in the ancient as return(a noun). The modern meaning can be interpreted as rebel; opposite. The modern character for return is 返. I have not seen this character was used in the Tao Te Ching but the character 反. PPS As for 反 and 復 復 means to repeat; again and also has other meanings. To avoid confusion, it is better to stay with the meaning of interest here. Used as compound character 反復 : repeatedly

Hi, whocoulditbe FYI There are two separated sentences here. 物 should be 万物. It is the subject of the first sentence. What you said about 有 and 生 are very true. In this case, the sentence structure are the same for both Chinese and English here. You had raised a very interesting question here. Can 有 ever be a noun? Yes, in the Chinese language, any character can be used as a noun. One can tell if it is a noun by context as you did. As a matter of fact, LaoTze had used the characters 有 and 無 as nouns in many occasions. The first thing he did is in Chapter One. If one doesn't understand the usage of characters as nouns, one will never able to read or interpret the text correctly.

FYI These two characters, basically, have the same meaning and are interchangeable. The people in different regions are used each character as their standard. The simplified Chinese uses the former only but not the latter. All other regions use both, regardless of the standard requirement.

The teach has no scientific knowledge what took place inside the body. FYI The body energy dissipate in few seconds after you lift your arm.

3. 天下萬物生於有， 3. All things in the world came from 有(you). 4. 有生於無。 4. 有(you)came from 無(wu).

You may be correct about my input. However, It is the logic that I am really concerned with the Chinese sentence structure. All the other factors are immaterial right now. I just don't want people to follow this in the wrong direction. Peace! With all respect, I must say that you have the logic are completely reversed.

This is incorrect. The correct logic should be as follows: 物生 things are born 于 from 有 manifested(Tao)，有生 being born 于 from 无 non-manifested(Tao) 。

FYI These two characters may be omitted. They will not alter the meaning of the original text.

Hi Mig, we have to look at it this way. Earthquake is the course of nature. There is nothing we could do about it. Humans just have to cope with it. Thus only nature can interrupt human but not the other way around. In order to follow the course of nature by human is like you said: ".....and I better find refuge somewhere." "Of course I have to follow day after day or night after night because that is how it is, nothing I can do about it. " That is where "let nature take its course" comes into play. In order to study and follow the philosophy of Laotze. We must keep in mind that "let nature take its course" is to hope for the best in all aspects.

Please note that 有and 無 are nouns here. They are not compounded with the next character of 生。

19. 人法地 20. 地法天 21. 天法道 22. 道法自然 19.Human follows Earth. 20.Earth follows Heaven. 21.Heaven follows Tao. 22.Tao follows its own nature. "Earth often being the ways of the jungle, or of claw and tooth," that is the way of Earth. Human has to cope with that. Human follows Earth means that human does what Earth dictates human what has to be done. In your scenario, one would have to go upstream to higher ways is letting nature take its course. "to just letting things go downstream to the ways of the jungle and which some might take as not letting nature take its course." I couldn't agree more. BTW The philosophy is to follow nature for the good, rather than the bed.

So, he did his homework well. I wish he did the same in his translations. Peace!