ChiDragon

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.

Zhuang Zi was merged with the butterfly; and the butterfly was merged with ZZ. ZZ is the butterfly and the butterfly is ZZ. Hence, there is no separation between human and other things because they were all merged together.

Perhaps you don't know what Tao is but you know what Tao is not. You are way ahead... PS.... Tao is all of the above. However, Tao must be looked, individually, one entity at a time. Then, one will know what Tao really is/was. There is always a reason for Tao to be Tao. Tao is all there is to it.

Actually Lao Zi was saying "throw away (bad) knowledge," would make more sense. Don't you think....??? BTW, sometimes, the classics have to be interpreted with reverse logic. I don't know there was a character for bad(壞) during Lao Zi's time. I don't think I have had seen the character in the TTC.

"Merging of things" seems to be a good translation which correlate to "万物融化为一(all things integrated as one or a whole)". Zhuang Zi seems to be saying, metaphorically, that ZZ is the butterfly and the butterfly is ZZ. He wants to indicate that there is no separation between human and things. 这样，物化就是“物我界限消解，万物融化为一”。 It is like this. Merging of things seems to eliminate the distinction between human(oneself) and things. All things integrated as one. Ref: 物化

Mental distress is the highest suffering. It is the most that a Buddhist was referring to and wants to avoid.

蒼蒼之天，莫知其極 The vast sky, just don't know where it ends.

炁 Chi 炁，　炁（qì）也者，无火之谓炁。　通过呼吸导引等达到健身长寿乃至长生的目的。有胎息术，心斋，佛家六妙门数息等。古代的养生家认为，“炁”和“气“是两种不同的概念。通俗的讲，“炁”就是人体最初的先天能源，而“气”则是指通过后天的呼吸以及饮食所产生的能量。而气功锻炼主要是通过后天的呼吸等方法来接通先天的“炁”，从而达到养生健身、延年益寿的效果。 炁 has no fire. It is the prenatal source of energy, inside the human body, given by Nature. It become energy(氣) after the postnatal breathing of 气(air) and eating the foods provided by Nature. Hence, the practice of Chi Kung(氣功) is to link the prenatal 炁 through the postnatal breathing methods to attain the state of homeostasis and the effect of longevity. So, we have three kinds of Chi. 1. 炁 is the prenatal substance that makes up the human body. 2. 气 is the postnatal source of energy such as air/oxygen and nutrient from the foods we ate 3. 氣 is the energy produced by the interaction of 炁 and 气

A thinker, 公孫龍, during Waring States, was using two separate senses to identify a solid white rock. It was known as "堅白論", a theory of a solid white rock. The solid white rock has three entities. The hardness, whiteness and the rock itself. He was using the two senses by touching and seeing, separately, to identify the rock. One can only sense two things at a time but not three. For example, by touching, one can only feel the hardness and the rock but no whiteness. Thus one has a hard rock. By seeing, one can only see the whiteness and the rock but no hardness. Then, one has a white rock but never a white hard rock. 鳴 is short for an idiom 自鳴得意: smug; dogmatic 子以堅白鳴: This guy was being looking so smug by knowing the theory of a solid white rock. Ref: A theory of a solid white rock

Go ask a married person....!!!

Who says I was living? Unless otherwise, my stay was interrupted by some administrative functions again. Now, where were we? Oh! Yes, we are at a point to have double standards. I will monitor to the native source that was used as references, with errors, more closely. And be more linear with the westerners for a change to avoid any international incidents.....

I believe that Su Ch'e and Hsueh Hui are not westerners. I was aiming at them.

Fine...!!! Thank you for those quotes. It seems to me those quotes are personal interpretations but not the consensus of all the knowledgeable native scholars. Thus one should not rely on them to reflect the contextual meaning of Chapter 6.

Sorry, I've investigated further and came up with such evaluation: 丌: 1. 古同“其”。 丌 is an ancient character for “其”. Ref: 丌 紿: 5. 古同“诒”，欺骗；欺诈。 紿, in the ancient, is a synonym for “诒”: cheat, fool, pretend Ref: 紿 To put the phrases in proper perspective: 為之於其無有也: Act when something doesn’t exist yet, 紿之於其未亂: Deceive one before one was confused