ChiDragon

None of the above.

He is 皇(Huang), a self crowned king. He unified all of China, thus there was no land to be conquered by an emperor. Zhong Guo is 中國, how did you get China out of that......???

Yes, it is only a matter of semantics which help us to lead to a final conclusion. By definition, an Emperor uses his arm force to conquer foreign lands. In this case, the ruler of Qin did no such thing but only using his army to unify China. Therefore, he was the first King of China rather than the emperor. Actually, the first King of China was called himself as 秦始皇 (Qin Shi Huang), the initial king of Qin. 皇(crowned king) is a character invented by himself. Normally, the character 王 is "king". However, he wants to be different than the other kings; then he place the character 白 on top of 王 and became 皇. It was his prestige of showing superiority by crowned himself as the king of kings. By the way, do you know how the name "China" came about....??? Well, after the unification, the land was under one rule of Qin. There was a western visitor asked a native where is this. The native answered "Qin na". When the Qin people speak, it was customary to put a phonetic "na" at the end of a name. Hence, "Qin na" becomes "China".

It all depends on the initial breathing condition of the practitioner. Some take longer than another. If one can inhale deeply into the abdomen which known as the lower dan tian, without getting light headed, then it was considered that the practitioner has been accomplished the goal of Chi Kung. Normally, the duration of inhalation and exhalation is equal and it doesn't matter really. It would be ideal to breathe as slow as possible.

I wouldn't be thinking about finding a solution to my personal problems while walking. I would keep my eyes on the road and do the following. While one is walking, one should be aware of the immediate environment with the five senses to detect any signs of danger. 1. Use the sense of vision to see what is ahead of the road. What or who is coming toward and away from you? Observe if any obstacles in front of you? 2. Use the sense of hearing to listen what is behind you. How far is the moving object, if any, behind you? 3. Use the sense of smell to detect is there any offensive gaseous odors which might harm you? 4. Use the sense of feeling to sense the ambient temperature which might be harmful to the body? 5. The sense of taste may not be applicable but one may use it with one's own discretion.

I am practicing Chi Kung every minute; I guess I do everything with it at all times.

秦始皇 (Qin Shi Huangdi), the first emperor of China An interesting question, should he(秦始皇) be the "first emperor of China" or the "first king of China".......??? Please state your reason for your answer.

Yes, one would be conscious of his surrounding by witnessing the birds singing and the wind blowing to achieve awareness. While one is walking, one should be aware of the immediate environment with the five senses to detect any signs of danger. 1. Use the sense of vision to see what is ahead of the road. What or who is coming toward and away from you? Observe if any obstacles in front of you? 2. Use the sense of hearing to listen what is behind you. How far is the moving object, if any, behind you? 3. Use the sense of smell to detect is there any offensive gaseous odors which might harm you? 4. Use the sense of feeling to sense the ambient temperature which might be harmful to the body? 5. The sense of taste may not be applicable but one may use it with one's own discretion. A good cultivator would be conscious of his surrounding to be alert and vigilant with awareness of danger for his safety.

When the terms were used such as "internal" or external" in martial arts, the implication was actually referred or emphasized to the inside or outside the body. In this case, the purpose of Chi Kung is to enhance the function and physical structure of the body without any external instrument. Therefore, it was classified as internal practice(內功, Neigong). However, if the practitioner use something to pound on any part of the body or vice versa, then it would be classified as external practice(外功, Weigong). Edited to add: PS.... Kung Fu is classified as external because of the fast movement techniques which cause fatigue due to the exhaustion after practice.

The inhale/exhale aspect is only about breathing. It is only part of the Chi Kung process. It seems that someone only has a minute or no knowledge about the cultivation of Chi Kung and its purpose. Perhaps there were too much misleading information out there. The notion of "internal" is really not emphasized on inhalation. The main idea is really about the cultivation of the "internal" of the body rather than breathing. Indeed, breathing is only an aiding process to get to the final result "inside" the body. The "inside" is the real thought for the "internal" of the body.

The books were burnt and scholars were buried alive. The only book that was not burnt is the Yi Jing(易經) because there was no political contents. For sure we don't know was the original of the TTC burnt or not. Certainly, there is no sight of it.

I would like to think that the truth is my truth but not my own truth. Knowing the truth will guide me through a proper path to know what the fallacies are. Knowing my own truth will lead me to self destruction.

I have his book: A complete guide to Chi Kung. IMO This book has good information and he did an excellent job in translating the Chinese terms. He may look old but his voice sound pretty healthy to me. I wouldn't judge the book by its jacket. I would use his book as a good reference. So far, I think he is the most knowledgeable person about Chi Kung as a westerner. He knows what he is talking about. In the back of the book, it says he studied and practiced Chinese medicine for over twenty years.

What is that mean.......???

Based on this definition, Chi Kung is all internal and there is nothing external about it.

It didn't make it any clearer but worse....!!! No wonder it was so confusing because people are believing anything online is true and thought it was gospel.

No sex at all, ascetic and celibate.

Chi Kung(氣功) is to learn how to breathe properly for the body to function most effectively. When one can learn to breathe until the breath has "sunken to the low dan tian(氣沈丹田)" or abdominal breathing, it was considered to be that one has been reached the goal of the ultimate method of breathing. Once the goal of Chi Kung was accomplished, one can start the Neigong(內功) practice. Neigong is to increase the internal body strength. Hence, Chi Kung is the prerequisite for Neigong. One cannot go to the Neigong stage without the know how of Chi Kung.

No, my guess is that the original copy of the TTC was burnt by 秦始皇(The emperor of Qin who unified China). Those are not burn were buried underground in somebody's grave. However, we can only try to prove that a complete copy was written before Zhuang Zi by digging into the historic classics.

May I ask what kind of physical or mental activity were you doing in those early hours....???

No problem, it was my pleasure and you are welcome!

Chapter 2, only, in all the versions after the MWD-B version. For examples, Heshang Gong(河上公), Wang Bi(王弼), and Fu Yi(傅奕).

Of course, the Guodian version is much older than both the Mawangdui versions. Please note that all the versions have the character 盈, except Chapter 2 was changed. Thus the significance of the older versions will reveal the authenticity of the TTC.

One wouldn't be surprised how significant that the unearthed copies of both MWD-A and MWD-B were to native scholars. For example, if there is a most knowledgeable scholar about the Tao Te Ching, then it would be Mr. Chen Ku Ying(陳鼓應). Chen Ku-ying, born in 1935, people of changting County, Fujian province. Taiwan University philosophy department and Graduate Institute of philosophy. Former Taiwan University Professor of philosophy and Professor of philosophy at Peking University, United States, University of California, Berkeley, campus researchers, Czech Charles University, visiting Professor, East Asian Department, There is a phrase in Chapter 2 of all other versions, except MWD-A and MWD-B, has been bothering him for years. 高下相傾: High and low(levels of class) are mutually lean toward each other. In MWD-A and MWD-B: 高下相盈: High and low are mutually encompass each other. 盈 is the only character that was change in all other versions of the TTC because of the emperor name taboo. Most of the people just took it for granted and came up with ambiguous interpretations. However, it was not the case with Prof. Chen Ku Ying. After the unearthed copies of MWD-A and MWD-B. it had been cleared up the air for Mr. Chen Ku Ying and put his mind at ease. He had corrected his received version of the TTC by restoring the character 盈 in its rightful place. Note: The high and low were referring to the two different level class of people.

Yes, the Seal Script, that was what I meant by script. At least, it was in written form which indicates what had been said within a time period. It can be used to compare as reference in the future. Right now, there is a modern received version which had been corrected by incorporating all the errors found by the past and modern scholars in a logical manner. As a matter of fact, the modern Received Version was using both the MWD-A and MWD-B as reference and baseline for the corrections by the knowledgeable native scholars. The idea was that both versions were the oldest copies of the TTC and accumulated less errors in its time. Any version after that would have had been picking up more errors which was introduced by future scholars.