ChiDragon

Refine your Tai Ji knowledge from others besides just learning it from your own teacher.

What about approach them by looking into their commonalities.....??? There ought to be something similar to make them called Tai Ji Quan. The three gentlemen in the video shown are the well known Tai Ji masters in China. They are pointing out the subtleties of Tai Ji. Have you missed something....??? Perhaps, I may help you to point them out at different time segments. Perhaps, it would be a pleasure for you if you can discover them yourself. Its subtlety is by intuition, not by the word of mouth.

You just have repeated something that I had said many times before. That is part of my second definition above. Anyway, you had said it all. Thanks...!!!

This is not my own idea. It was Lao Zi that wants to emphasize the importance of the existence of Tao. Again, it doesn't mean that Lao Zi was believing all the god stuff. He was only addressing this to the people in their own terms, so, they could understand.

Qi cultivation to me, I would make the 炁(chi) in my body healthier by providing ample of 气(chi) to produce more 氣(chi), the inner strength or body energy. In the process of obtaining all these three chi(s), it was said to be the Qi cultivation.

神得一以靈 Deity has gained One will be efficacious. The contextual meaning of 靈, in the phrase, is most difficult to comprehend or translate. Annotation: 靈, here, means efficacious. 神: deity; god 一: One; it is Tao Deity has supernatural power. However, the power is useless without the assistance of Tao(One). The super power will become effective as soon it was blessed by Tao. So, to speak. This also has an indication that Tao is above all which corresponds to: 吾不知誰之子，象帝之先 I don't know who's son it is, but it seems to be existed before god.

Lao Zi: "Keep the good and discard the bad" or "Pay close attention to the bad but do not disregard the good."

No, the lower dantian couldn't be accidentally dissolved ...!!! The lower dantian is located around the abdomen. However, no one had ever said what it is made of...!!!

Zhongyue Temple

神得一以靈 Deity has gained One will be efficacious. The contextual meaning of 靈, in the phrase, is most difficult to comprehend or translate. Annotation: 靈, here, means efficacious. 神: deity; god 一: One; it is Tao Deity has supernatural power. However, the power is useless without the assistance of Tao(One). The super power will become effective as soon it was blessed by Tao. So, to speak. This also has an indication that Tao is above all which corresponds to: 吾不知誰之子，象帝之先 I don't know who's son it is, but it seems to be existed before god.

Dustybeijing... Finally, we do have a little disagreement. I see it to read them this way: 不下堂而行四海，變易習俗， Not leaving one's home but can see the events within the four seas and change the old traditions; 民化遷善，若生諸己，能以神化者也 Educate the people to be kind. If one lives on selfishness, then one may elevate oneself to be recognized as god. Anotation: 民化: 教化人民 (to educate the people) 神化: 是指把一個人高舉至神的地步(to elevate oneself to be in the same level as god); to impersonate god. Ref:神化 = impersonate god

Exactly...!!! I couldn't agree more. During the Warring States, 君 was only used as "ruler" in small countries and 帝(天子) was used for "emperor" in the Han Dynasty. 帝 means the supreme ruler of the land which rules all of the 君 under the feudal system.

吾不知誰之子，象帝之先 I don't know who's son it is, but it seems to be existed before god. This 帝 has the ancient meaning as "god" which is the human's god. Lao Zi was addressing the humans in their terms.

Yes, you are right. The message was from a Taoist religious group rather than came from the TTC. As far as I know, LZ is an atheist. He only recognize Tao. Tao is not a deity/god but existed before any god had ever known by human.

No problem, we all are humans. That's why we are trying to cultivate to have the personality of a Taoist.

其生物也，莫見其所養而萬物長； 其殺物也，莫見其所喪而萬物亡。 此謂神明。 Thus things are born, nobody sees how they are being nourished yet they grow’; thus things are killed, nobody sees how they are being ruined yet they perish. All of it is done by the bright spirits. You know, the meaning of the term 神明(shen ming) had been bothering me for sometime. Finally, I have discovered a best translation which is "the gods/deities." The contextual translation of the phase, ...... 此謂神明, is This is called the will of the god/deity. I think this is a closest translation for 精誠: 精誠(Jingcheng): absolute sincerity Ref: The images of 神明(shen ming)

1. I understand that you are talking about Fajin 2. Yes, it is. 3. I did expect something simple in your own words but you had given me tons of information. Did you expect me to read all of them and still try to figure out what you were telling me.....???

Well, I don't see why not. One can incorporate any method into anything. However, I would keep track of which is the apple or orange.

I believe that a "invisible kick (無影腳) is not one of the Tai Ji movements.

Okay, I think I know what are these all meant. Single weighted is to apply pressure to one leg. Double weighted is to apply pressure to both legs. There are two ways to apply pressure(weighted) to the legs, in Chinese terms, are 實(solid) and no pressure is 虛(hollow). From a point of view of Tai Ji Quan per the OP. Despite to the accuracy of the posture, it was suggested to bend the legs as the basic requirement to meet the criteria as specified in the video. The criteria is to lower oneself and set root to the ground, so to speak. In most of the videos, one will see that all Tai Ji practitioners always have their legs bent one or the other; and always have one leg(single weighted) on the ground. They never kick with both legs off the ground to meeting the rooting requirement. The purpose of rooting is to have a good ground leverage and a pivot point for stability and balance. I love to hear more comments. Thanks.

Thank you for your respond. This character only apply to human feelings. e.g. 惡意(malice) but it is not proper to apply that to knowledge like 惡智.

Well, I assume when one moves will keep in balance with the center of the body. Moving means every part of the body moves. One's feet will not glue to the ground. Beside, it doesn't matter how good your rooting is on the ground. If the upper body was off balance, then, the rooting won't do one any good. Perhaps it is only good for a tree because the root of a tree goes into the ground. By good rooting for a human, it means the whole body has to be in balance in order to maintain that rooting position. Btw The power or energy was all generated within the body, then goes down to the root. The human body does not work like a tree. Human rooting means the ability for one to stay put on the ground under any circumstances.

Please see post #73.

I think the story goes like this after ZZ's dream of being a butterfly. ZZ was wondering did he dream about himself as being a butterfly or a butterfly dreamed itself as ZZ. 庄子提出一个哲学问题——人如何认识真实。如果梦足够真实，人没有任何能力知道自己是在做梦。 ZZ had raised a philosophical question - How can human recognize reality? If the dream is real enough, then there is no way that one can tell oneself is in a dream. 庄周梦蝶似梦似真，但是归根结底就是哲学的一种表现，总的来说就是分不清现实与梦境。这也是道的一种表现形式，这是老庄紧随老子的一种体现。 ZZ's dream about the butterfly seems it could be real or a dream. However, it was only a revelation of a philosophical thought. It was about one not able to tell the difference between reality and a dream. Thus it was a way to show the manifestation of Tao.

Not in his dreams. Anything could have had happened in his dreams.