ChiDragon

According the Zhuang Tze, everything in the universe is Tao. Thus heaven, earth and human are part of tao(small t). Zhuang Tze's meaning of tao is like it was a principle with reasons. Heaven, earth and human are being in the universe as a whole for a reason. This reason he called it tao. The things that heaven, earth and human are committed for various reasons. All these reasons are just tao. Hence, the tao of ZhuangTze is different from the Tao of LaoTze. Nature to Zhuang Tze is tao because Nature just happens to be there. In LaoTze's mind, if there is no Tao, then there is no Nature.

I thought you might say that. Yes, you are right in the English language. But the character 與(and) was used in the classic text. The reason that I was hesitated to make the correction because I do not want to alter the original context. Now, do you see the big difference in both languages that may be causing a confusion to the translators. PS... I know why dawei was so upset with my translations. It was caused by this kind of nuance in the thoughts and it was very irritating. Especially, it was something that is not very easy to explain to a non-native speaker. In this case, it was very easy to understand. However, in some other more complicated cases, they were much more difficult to bring the point across. Sometimes, when I've encountered in such a situation and tried to express it, I rather bump my head against the wall instead. Do you see what I mean...??? Peace.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chakra http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kundalini http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dantian http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qi

Chapter 44 - Knowing Your Limitations Translation in terse English... 1. Fame and life which is more intimate? 2. Life and goods which is more precious? 3. Gain and death which is more harmful? 4. Superfluously in love(with fame) must pay a high price. 5. Excessive storage(of goods) may result in a heavy loss. 6. Therefore, one with content will not be ignominious, 7. Knowing when to quit ended with no risk, 8. Can be long lasting. 1. 名與身孰親。 2. 身與貨孰多。 3. 得與亡孰病。 4. 甚愛必大費。 5. 多藏必厚亡。 6. 故知足不辱。 7. 知止不殆。 8. 可以長久。

What does mean by cultivate dan tien...???

佛說一切法 , 為除一切心 . 我無一切心 , 何用一切法 . Buddha speaks about all the principles, Was to remove all the undesirable thoughts. I don't have any undesirable thoughts, why bother with all the principles?

I'm in line right now... That line is not good for you, So, get out of it.

Thanks, you won't alter my ideals. My head is harder than marble... If you follow someone else's ideal, then it cannot be changed. Like I'm following LaoTze's. If you follow your own ideal and doesn't work, then, you make change it as time goes along. BTW........who sets your ideals....???

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

Glowing from her skin, Showed her beautification, What more can one ask!

IMO Ideals do not change. We are only working with reality to reach our ideals. Indeed, as you said, ideals are only corrupted by reality.

Specific cases are different from ideal conditions. It is because specific cases do not fall in the ideal cases. Thus we cannot use a specific case to shoot down the whole ideal philosophical system. PS... It would be getting monotonous if this specific/ideal case showdown is constantly at large.

Form some of the readings on the forum, some of you are learning Chi Kung from books and some are taken lessons from an instructor. I am just curious how is your instructor give you your lessons and what was the first thing your instructor tells you...??? For those who are learning from the books, how did you get started it...??? It would be appreciated for your kindness to let me know. Thank you in advance.

Thanks Non and Dagon. Normally, the Tai Chi movements are very slow which the muscles are relaxed. The movements shown in the video is called Tai Chi Qigong with muscle contraction during practice and deep breathing. You can see that compression was applied to the muscles. However, there is another stage before this is called Fast Tai Chi where the movements are a lot faster with less muscle contraction. It was for practicing the arms and legs with fast movements and accuracy. PS... There something is different about the Chen style Tai Chi. Next time when you watch this style, please notice there was a little twist added to the body movement. Only the Chen style does that.

One who wants to practice Chi Kung should get a good grip of its definition. Then, one will have a good idea of what one is going into. Here is my definition of Chi Kung: It is the ultimate method of breathing with slow movements which needs to be practiced to its perfection for energy cultivation. The ultimate goal to attain abdominal breathing which is to sink the chi to the dan tien.

Her socks still don't fit A pair of stockings on her It fits her perfect

Sorry, Marblehead It was another one of those unpleasant encounter with dawei about a language issue. PS... You are right though.

Oh.....Ok He was not Wu Wei. BTW I was speaking on the behave for LaoTze in a virtuous manner. It was pure philosophical excluding non Taoist thinking. Anyway, as a rule of thumb, when I discuss philosophy I abide myself within all the definitions in an ideal condition to avoid any misunderstand and avoid constantly defending my justification. Sometimes, I know it is hard to do so because we do not think the same.

無有入無間: "無有" LaoTze used as a noun. 水無有不下: "無有" used here as a verb. It says to me: There is no water that doesn't go downward. PS... I speak and write and type the language for many many years. I don't mind any challenge to my understanding of my own native tongue.

Well, we must look at both sides of the story as LaoTze does. If we do not compete there is no winner and looser, therefore there is no resentment(all the time).

If we are discussing the philosophical thoughts in the Tao Te Ching, then, Tao is invisible. Tao can enter anything without any crack. If we are crazy enough and follow LaoTze's crazy idea, we might come to a conclusion that... 1. The extreme softness in the world. 2. Manipulates the extreme hardness of the world. 3. Formless enters non-space. The extreme softness(Wu Wei) in the world. If we follow the Wu Wei concept, we can overcome any difficulty(manipulates the extreme hardness) in the world. Eventually that is what LaoTze was saying in these three metaphorical lines. Note: The Wu Wei concept is "let Nature take its course without interference".

Chapter 8 - Be Virtuous like Water Translation in terse English: 1. High virtue like water. 2. Water is good at benefiting all things without contend. 3. Attend places where people disgusted. 4. Hence, water is similar to Tao. 5. Dwell in good selectable places, 6. Good deep in the heart with peace and kind to others, 7. Spoken words with trust, 8. Rule with benevolence, 9. Conduct affairs with best ability, 10.Take action in a timely manner, 11.Therefore, only by not contending, 12.Thus no resentment. 1. 上善若水。 2. 水善利萬物而不爭， 3. 處眾人之所惡， 4. 故幾於道。 5. 居善地， 6. 心善淵與善仁， 7. 言善信， 8. 正善治， 9. 事善能， 10.動善時。 11.夫唯不爭， 12.故無尤。

Creatures discovered Insects, poultry, and mammals Vitalized Nature

You don't read Chinese, not just Chinese but Classic Chinese. There is a nuance. One cannot interpret the classic text just with some basic knowledge of modern Chinese. The classic text was dominated by metaphorical thoughts. It must be interpreted by inductive and deductive reasoning with a good historical insight and cultural background. However, I don't know how you managed to grasp more than those who knew some Chinese. "為無為(Wei Wu Wei)" It was because you'd said that; the show must be kept going. If one study the Tao Te Ching long enough, one should know by now, LoaTze had a special pattern in handling his style in writing. He loves to say things in a negative sense. He loves to use the negative character 無(wu3) to reverse the logic of a positive description. As you said, "Loatze is the master of paradox". Let's go over these three negative terms below. 1. 無 有(Wu3 you2): don't have; not have; not exist 2. 無 間(Wu3 Jian1): no space in between 3. 無 為(Wu3 Wei): being natural(by LaoTze's definition). 1. 無 有 the closest direct translation is "don't have" or "not have". If something that we don't have, then it is not visible to us but it may be still existed in the world. However, if we say something that the world doesn't have, then that something does not exist. In the classic text, 無 有 was a term used to imply something that doesn't exist. By LaoTze's definition, he doesn't mean that something doesn't exist, rather he meant something that exists but invisible. 2. 無 間(Wu3 Jian1): no space in between 無(Wu3): not; none. The character doesn't say "not exist" directly but only implies "not exist". 間(Jian1); space in between Therefore, by saying 無 間(Wu3 Jian1) means no space in between; no gap; no crack; no split; no opening; no space by logic. If there is no gap, by inductive reasoning, something has to be solid. Let's try all the possible translation for: 無有入無間 Non-logical translations: 1. Something that does not exist enters the no gap or whatever. 2. Something that we don't have enters the no crack. Logical translation: 3. Something that is invisible enters the no space in between. Terse English... 4. Invisible enters no gap. 5. Invisible enters something solid. 6. Invisible enters non-space. Sometimes, there is no direct translation form one language to another. The only thing one can do is to translate it as close as possible, even though it may sound awkward. However, as long the logic was there to carry its meaning, then it was understood. That's all it matters.