ChiDragon

1. Surrendering to tao(the principles of Tao) 2. The cultivator who follows the principles of Tao.

Self taught by following the concepts from reading all the good books and good source of information. They are much better than any teacher there was. You are not going to hold that against me, are you.....??? Edited to add: Self discipline and cultivation. Absorption and digestion in the course of learning from reliable sources.

Don't you think, philosophically, "surrender" is "yielding" to the concept of Wu Wei....??? It would be like soften thing up as softness overcomes the hardness(yin overcomes yang).

Is that what ZZ meant by "forgot my body"....???

I see some of you already have made up your minds and came to a conclusion before the presentation of this thread was completed. Btw In the process of the Dual Cultivation of the Xing and Ming(DCXM), this is not the way how I was taught. In the cultivation of Xing(mind), one must have a clear conscience and evaluate matters objectively. Don't you think it would be a little hasty to come to a conclusion before the case was heard....???

Translation of the phrases as shown in red: Dazuo is a method to preserve life and enhancing the physical body. Sitting at lotus position with the eyes closed; regulating the breath in and out; placing the hands in a definite location and not thinking about anything.......... Translation in blue: Dazuo is also called "dish sitting", "quiet sitting". It is a basic method of cultivation in the Tao religion. In Buddhism, it is called "zen sitting" or "zen steadfast". Dish sitting has natural sitting(自然盘), single sitting(单盘, half lotus), double sitting(双盘, full lotus). Dazuo can preserve the body and extend its life. It can open up and develop one's wisdom. In the practice of Chinese Wu Shu, Dazuo is a method to cultivate Neigong. It is a route to enhance one's mental health. The special characteristic of Dazuo is "stillness". "Sitting too long become stagnant, being too active become fatigue". Hence, after Dazuo, one needs to motivate the tendons and bones by performing Gong Fu, sword dance, or self massage, etc, to accomplish the "integration of stillness and action". Note: When one was talking about Dazuo, it is very important to keep "regulating the breath in and out" in mind; and it is a must. Ref: Dazuo(打坐)

I have notice that the definition of "meditation" was interpreted based in western thoughts with oriental pictorial Zazen illustrations. It seems to me that the western idea had left out the most significant criteria, breathing, in meditation. Thus that had cleared my mind why some practitioners said that meditation didn't work for them and quit. Ref: Meditation without the emphasis on the breathing exercise

During zazen, breathe through your nose and keep your mouth closed. (If you have a cold, or some kind of a nasal blockage, its okay to breathe through your mouth.) The tongue is pressed lightly against the upper palate—swallow once, to create a seal and reduce the need to salivate and swallow. The eyes are kept lowered, with your gaze resting on the ground about two or three feet in front of you. Your eyes will be mostly covered by your eyelids, which eliminates the necessity to blink repeatedly. The chin is slightly tucked in. Although zazen looks very disciplined, the muscles should be soft. There should be no tension in the body. It doesn’t take strength to keep the body straight. The nose is centered in line with the navel, the upper torso leaning neither forward nor back. Ref: Zazen

Chapter 39 Tao is Unity or One. 1. Since those who gained Unity: 2. Heaven gained Unity became clear; 3. Earth gained Unity became peaceful; 4. God gained Unity became miraculous; 5. Valley gained Unity became full; 6. All things gained Unity became alive; 7. Rulers gained Unity made world peace.

Tao is One. Tao is singular. One engenders Two. Two is Yin/Yang which is duality.

The thing that I am getting at was there is something more to Zazen than just sitting still and doing nothing. I guess you didn't follow the logic. The logic here was that you liked something which made you agreed to something without realizing that is invalid. I will ignore the last remark due to somebody's ignorance.

Mr. CT.... No offense, I saw that you liked Post #33 which something was invalid.

Here is my superficial understanding about Zazen is definitely not just sitting doing nothing. If so, any non Buddhist and Taoist can do it. @Mr. CT... You don't even have a superficial understanding of what Zazen is.

Tao Te Ching Time table 老子 LaoTze Born: Around 571 BCE. 道德經(TTC) Written: 500 - 491 BCE. 1. 郭店 Guodian 476 – 278 BCE; 篆書(Seal style); Unearthed:1993; Published: May 1998 2. 馬王堆-甲本[MWD-A] before 206 BCE; 篆隸(Seal/Official style); Unearthed:1973 3. 馬王堆-乙本[MWD-B] 206 – 195 BCE; 隸書(Official Style); Unearthed:1973 4. 河上公(Heshang Gong) existed in the Han Dynasty (Heshang Gong is not a name. His name was unknown). 5. 王弼(Wang Bi) 226 – 249 CE 6. 傅奕(Fu Yi) 555 – 639 CE; Unearthed from the tomb of a favorite concubine of the last ruler of Chu(楚霸王) Emperors of the Han Dynasty(206 BCE - AD220) 漢朝 - 皇帝 Emperors of Han Dynasty 1. 高祖 - 劉邦 Liu2 bang1 206 – 195 BCE (The 隸書(Li4 Shu1) official style of character was perfected) 2. 惠帝 - 劉盈 Liu2 ying2 194 – 188 BCE 3. 呂后- Queen Lu3 188 - 180 BCE 4. 文帝– 劉恒 Liu2 heng2 180 – 157 BCE 5. 武帝- 劉徹 Liu Che4 156 - 087 BCE Notes: 1. LaoTze was born around 571 BCE and wrote the DDJ in his seventy's. 孔子(Confucius): 551 - 479 BCE. 庄子(Zhuang Zi): 369 - 286 BCE. 2. The first emperor of the Han Dynasty had used the Tao Te Ching as his ruling guide. Before the Han Dynasty, the Tao Te Ching was written in Seal style characters. 3. Warring States (Zhanguo or Chan-Kuo) refers to the era of about 475 BCE to 221 BCE. Correction notes: 1. The character style of MWD-A was changed from 篆書(Seal style) to 篆隸(Seal/Official style). 2. Revised the existing period for MWD-A to: before 206 BCE. 3. Change the period for MWD-B to: 206 – 195 BCE. 4. Added 武帝- 劉徹 Liu Che4 156 - 087 BCE

Okay! I guess it is not the same under the Chinese feudal system(CFS). In the CFS, an emperor can assign a royal person to a feudal land as a king or remove him any time from the post as well.

秦始皇 was not 王(huang, king), nor 帝(di, emperor) but he was 皇(self crowned king). There are kings under an empire. Since there was no king under him, there he has a kingdom, then he has no empire but a country which was ruled be a self crowned king. Indeed, he wants to be different from all other systems. This is my only argument.

It was not a matter up to Sima Qian what to use. It was the preference of each dynasty how they wanted to address the first ruler to be recorded in history. It was to be assured that the same names will not be used to avoid confusion for mistaken one dynasty to another.

No, there is no need to define "good". It would be understood as in Chapter 2. If one recognize good is good, then, there is evil. When there is evil, there is good. One is just the complement of the other. Again, Lao Zi was only concerned with the negative aspect to reflect the positive. Unfortunately, if we don't know what "good" is and there was a need to define it, then, I am speechless.

Exactly, but you are still missing the point. There was no kingdom after the unification of China, by 秦始皇 (Qin Shi Huang), at the time. The first ruler of Han(Liu Bang) did claim himself as 帝(emperor), the supreme ruler of the land. 秦始皇 (Qin Shi Huang) wanted to do away with the feudal system. Unfortunately, Liu Bang went back to the feudal system again despite to the intention of 秦始皇 (Qin Shi Huang).

That is true. So, one should have no intention to do anything good or evil. However, doing something good cause no harm and can be ignored. In the other hand, something evil cannot be ignored because it violates the principle of Wu Wei. Wu Wei is more concerned with the negative part than the positive. Do you see the logic behind this.....???

You are right! The Tao Te Ching did not have anything supporting mindfulness. Btw I believe that the caterpillar story is not the the Tao Te Ching. It is in Zhuang Zi rather.

The OP has the right idea about meditation for Taoists. A Taoist do not meditation like a Buddhist. However, there is one thing in common, both may be doing Chi Kung while in the sitting position. The Buddhist may be in contemplation for exploring the principles in Buddhism for enlightenment; while the Taoist is thinking of nothing to be putting his mind in a neutral state. What I am getting at is that the people do not have a good understanding of the definition of the word "meditation" for different religious groups. All the confusion was that they are trying to apply the definition from one group to another without knowing the intended purpose of meditation.

Before the Warring State Period, there was a king for every state under feudal rule of one emperor(Zhou Dynasty). However, the central power of the feudal system was out of control. Therefore, the states were try to steal more lands from one another. Then the Warring State Period begins. Since the King Of Qin had unified all of China, there will be no more kings under his reign. Therefore, he does not fit the definition of an emperor but the King of China.

Again, Wu Wei is do nothing to harm others. Wu Wei has no intention. One has an intention to harm others is not natural.