ChiDragon

"(Taijiquan does not have exclusivity of 'jin')." With all respect, this was an understatement about Tai Ji Quan. It is tolerable for one that does not understand what is (勁)Jin if, and only if, that s/he is not a Tai Ji Quan practitioner. However, if a Tai Ji practitioner does not know what Jin is, then s/he was not taught properly. I'm totally in agreement with the last statement in the above post.

To a Taoist, 天人合一(human and heaven united as One) is the most basic fundamental philosophy. The thought about going to the high mountains was being able to be close to Nature. The air are much fresher there than the city. Mountains are quiet for serenity. Especially in a green area, there are an abundant source of Chi. Hence, it is a good place to cultivate Chi.

Perhaps... One who says he knows, knows not. One who says he knows not, knows.

You are absolutely a practical philosopher.....

Yes, every form of Tai Ji is Chi Kung but one must reach at the highest level to be considered Chi Kung. Anyway, after one passed the basic level, then goes to the different levels such as push hand, fast Tai Ji, Tai Ji Kung. Now-a-days, Tai Ji Kung is called Tai Ji Qigong for some reason. As I had said before, I must emphasize that Jin was achieved from the long period of practice with the basic movements. At the beginning level, the basic practice must not exert any force on the muscles. It can be said that one is at the Yin stage. After years of practice with the basic movements, the Jin will be built in the muscles. It can be said that one is at the Yang stage. Then, one can do pushing hands. Without the Jin, one cannot do pushing hands. Without Jin, one cannot do Tai Ji Kung. At the stage of Tai Ji Kung, muscle strength were exerted to arms and legs by muscle contraction. Deep breathing must be done, in order, to generate the muscle strength or energy. Jin is much stronger than regular body strength. Someone had mentioned that some students have weaker Jin than the other. Actually, the weaker Jin was not Jin at all but just normal body strength. If one hasn't been practiced for years or just a beginner, then one will not have any Jin at all. PS.... What I had said, here, is the basic fundamental knowledge that all the Tai Ji practitioners should be aware of. Edited to add: BTW Jin can be achieved without doing any weight lifting. I used my Jin and beat my brother-in-law in arm wresting. He has been doing some weight lifting for quite sometime. After our match, his right lower arm had a little pain for couple weeks.

The demonstration shows the practice at a much higher level of Tai Ji which called Tai Ji Qigong using (發勁)fajin with deep breathing. I think you can hear the breathing in the video at 1.31 min. 勁(jin) was developed from the practice of the basic movements day after day. One can only use (發勁)fajin at the highest level.

I know there are two cosmic orbits, "小周天(Minor Cosmic Orbit)" and "大周天(Major Cosmic Orbit)". 1. Is "Microcosmic Orbit" referred as the "Minor Cosmic Orbit"...??? 2. Is there a "Macrocosmic Orbit" maybe preferred as the "Major Cosmic Orbit"....??? The description of the MCO, you have described here, is 小周天(Minor Cosmic Orbit).

Yes, I grant you that "Enlightened" is a proper English word but that is not my argument. The argument was that a Taoist is not after "ENLIGHTENMENT" as a Buddhist would. Is there another word that we can use here to replace this word to eliminate the Buddhist flavor....??? PS.... This is only my hard-nose opinion.

I'll be silent. I just remembered. 1. One who is wise will not speak. 2. One who will speak is not wise.

A translator who uses the word "enlightened" to translate the Tao Te Ching must be a pseudo-Taoist. Boy, is s/he confused. Oh, I know. This translator was a crossbreed of a Buddhist and a Taoist.... Well said. Aaron...

Does anyone ever understood Chapter 1 properly....??? PS.... We have a friend here treating Chapter ONE as a lifetime project trying to understand it. Every time he approaches it; he stepped back more remotely.

dawei... Here is your answer in bold.

Don't try to understand it. This kind of talk has been like this for centuries. Nobody ever understands it. If you ask again and again, the story just repeats itself again and again. Those who told you that they understand are just trying to impress you but they really don't understand. Most of the time, they are trying to tell you something that they don't even understand but hope you do. Then, you can turn around and repeat the same story to others by pretending that you do understand. People think you understand because you can repeat the same story what the previous person had told you. Now, we all have heard the same story, do you understand...???

Those who know don't speak was because the others won't listen. Why should they be wasting their time talking.

Yes, I have a pair with cloth bottoms on right now inside the house. It is not very durable, and the rubber sole I do wear them outside.

B. Philosophical level 1. One who is wise will not speak. 2. One who will speak is not wise. B. It sounds like to be a wise one was by not speaking at all. That was not the case, it was simply means to be wise if one doesn't say something to upset, offend, irritate or agitate someone. C. Political level 1. A ruler who is wise doesn't issue numerous decrees. 2. One who issues numerous decrees is not a wise ruler. C: 知者(one who knows) is interchangeable with 智者(an intelligent one) which implies that a ruler as an intelligent individual. It was a taboo to mention the ruler directly in any document. That was why LaoTze uses these terms sage, wise one, intelligent one, or virtuous person as an implication for a ruler.

What a coincidence! I've bought a pair for 7.99 with rubber sole from the new stock of the store in Monterey Park, CA....

Delete Chapter 51...??? If Chapter 51 is not about 德(Te or De), then what is.....??? :lol:

Hi, people. Let's keep everything straight. If we want to learned the real stuff, let's do it right. The SKY is YANG and the Earth is YIN. Please consult with the YI JING. 乾(qian2): Heaven is the YANG-est of them all. 坤(kun1): Earth is the YIN-est of them all. If people treat them both ways, then which definition are we going to abide by...??? You guys are making it confuse as hell.

By your description, you have felt the chi temperature. If you do not put too much emphasis on Chi in your thinking, then you will know the difference in Chi. Yang Chi was only a description for HOT in words; and same thing goes for COOL, Yin Chi was only a description for COOL. If you can feel the heat, it was said to be that you are feeling the Yang Chi. Same thing goes for COOL. FYI... The character 氣(Chi) was used for many many descriptions of different things by the Chinese. Pleas try to distinguish its meaning wisely by not trying to abide by one simple definition as "energy" as most people do.

1 & 2. Exactly. Now-a-days this is the "abdominal breathing". The ancients called "breath sunk to the dan tian" or "氣沉丹田". Understand abdominal breathing, what it does was to flatten the diaphragm to increase the volume of the lungs; so they can hold more air and oxygen. The more oxygen in the lungs for the body cells to used, the longer you can hold your breath. Another word, a person can hold the breath depends on the amount of oxygen in to lungs for the red blood cells to be collected. 3. You are so right. Most people just took it for granted without realizing what Chi Kung is all about. FYI... I had a breathing problem more than thirty years ago. I took up Tai Ji to correct this problem. There are lots of people cannot do abdominal breathing for various reasons, but it can be corrected with Chi Kung. The ultimate goal of Chi Kung was to accomplish the abdominal breathing method.

No, HM. I did it right here in front of monitor with a stop watch in my hand. Of course, this was after more than thirty years of practice in Tai Chi and Chi Kung. A Chi Kung master on a site in Hong Kong claimed he could inhale and exhale for 1 minute each.

The message was, in my initial post, that I did not ask anyone to specify a style of Chi Kung. It was because "these benefits are probably achievable using any qigong" as lifeforce had stated.

1.知者不言。 2.言者不知。 There are three levels of interpretation here. A. Personal level 1. One who speaks doesn't know. 2. One who knows doesn't speak. B. Philosophical level 1. One who is wise will not speak. 2. One who will speak is not wise. C. Political level 1. A ruler who is wise doesn't issue numerous decrees. 2. One who issues numerous decrees is not a wise ruler. A. It was an irony of a Chinese scholastic arrogance. It says, one who was saying a lot but, actually, was saying nothing. One who is knowledgeable of the matter but hesitated to talk to those who cannot understand.