ChiDragon

14 hours ago, Master Logray said:

The term Chi/Qi is so widely used that non-Chinese speakers would not understand.

Amen, brother! I bow to you on both knees!

PS And @Cobie too!

On 10/20/2024 at 10:45 PM, Nungali said:

I think its a bit difficult to 'say' anything with a gun through your head .    

 

Thanks Iskote   .

It is only a figure of speech. It means put a bullet through my head. It takes a little imagination with a Chinese speaker. Same thing with Qi.  A slightly off tone, the meaning will be thousand miles away. How would you think about that? That is why I can't communicate with westerners and easterners. I am really suffocating when I am talking about Chi here.

People always think of what they wanted to be meant and never tried to listen what others are saying. I am so sorry that the Chinese invented the character 氣 to confuse themselves and the whole wide world.

I have never said that Chi is always meant air. It only means 'air' when we are talking breathing in context.

PS @Cobie Thank you for being here to defend me!

24 minutes ago, ChiDragon said:

噓（xu）、呵（he）、呼（hu）、呬（si）、吹（chui）、嘻（xi）

These are the six sounds.

6 minutes ago, Thrice Daily said:

It would be interesting what kind of clues there are in the Chinese writing for the six sounds to be honest. If relevant. Might be very interesting that as a mini project.

Just now, Thrice Daily said:

No I mean the actually sound I heard made as a spoken word sounded like “huuuu” and I knew that meant fire. 
 

the Earth sound in 6 sounds is ‘huuuu”

I thought that was what you meant!

火: hou doesn't seems to be close the sounds below.
 

它通過噓（xu）、呵（he）、呼（hu）、呬（si）、吹（chui）、嘻（xi）六個字的不同發音、口型，利用呼吸，充分調動臟腑的潛在自愈能力，以抵抗疾病侵襲，防止衰老。

練「六字訣」講究腹式呼吸，先呼後吸，呼氣時發音。

呼氣要緩慢、深長、均勻，以加大肺活量。同時，兩足開立，與肩同寬，頭正頸直，雙膝微屈，全身放鬆。

每個字念 6 遍，然後調息一次。

原文網址：https://kknews.cc/health/mpaeanz.html

9 hours ago, Thrice Daily said:

 

(I understood the word for fire 🔥 was the same as the Stomach Spleen Pancreas, earth sound,

I don't quite understand what you are saying here!

Here are the attributions of the organs
火: Fire
胃: stomach (土)
脾:Spleen (土)

胰: pancreas (土)
地音: Earth sound

22 hours ago, Iskote said:

Over the years I have personally met several Chinese traditional qigong and meditation and internal arts teachers who have referred to qi as 'energy' in English. The term 'energy' or 'life force energy' is often used to describe qi, because that is at least a fairly loose general fit for the overall concept of qi, to accommodate qi in all its various forms. In my experience, if one were to only equate qi to 'air' or 'breathing' or 'oxygen', and energy from food, and similar, they would be only scratching the surface of the overall depth of the concept of qi. 

That was how the traditional teachers are telling the people the traditional way. People were already accepted as facts with no justification. Since the traditional way has no justification,  it is easy to tell people simply something that to make a buck. I will not argue about that. I am only tried to tell it scientifically to convince myself. I cannot emphasize enough that Qi could be anything depends on context. I cannot and will not just take somebody's word, blindly, without any justification. That's all. 

If anyone who is tired of hearing of what I'm saying, then, please put me on your ignore list. I will say the same thing again even someone  put a gun through my head.

Peace!

8 hours ago, Thrice Daily said:

@ChiDragon what can you tell us (westerners) about the use of traditional Chinese [as a spoken language] amid its Mandarin off~spring?

Mandarin has being known as the National dialect in China including Taiwan. It was spoken in Peking(Beijing) as the National dialect of China. Actually, it was Pekinese, 北京話, becomes the National dialect. The office name is 國語, national language, under the Nationalist(Taiwanese) rule. Since the Manchurian took over the Ming dynasty in Beijing and the majority of the people speaks Pekinese. In order for the Manchurian to rule the majority of the people, they have to learn the main culture and speak their language. Nowadays it was called Mandarin is because that is what the westerners called it. Actually, Mandarin means the people of Manchuria. In English it also means the Manchurian language. However, the Manchurian have their own dialect should be called Mandarin. Since the Han people took back China, the Manchurian has to hidden their identity and changed their names to the Han format. Hence, the Manchurian culture almost extincted.

The national language, 國語, has been known as 普通話(Common Language) in China. The Taiwanese uses the traditional Chinese characters and 普通話 uses simplified characters. Even though the 普通話 was unified in China but people still speaks it with an local accent. Sometimes, it is very difficult to understand. Just like you said in Taiwan! BTW China has 56 tribes or nationals. It has been said that China has 10 dialects. Each dialect has multi sub-dialects too.

17 minutes ago, Thrice Daily said:

Wu De? 😎 Martial Ethics… 

I mean something else though. I mean as you flow with your martial arts physically training. 

 

If you are busy striking it is generally more difficult to simultaneously generate metta. Switching to defensive posturing and movements changes the nervous system I think 

 

to such an extent Meta is possible.

 

Try it in your Taiji, it is martial also no? Or is yours solely for health. 
For me I am mostly concerned with defending the mother line so focus is typically on attack and defence of a description…

Okay! I think I know what you are getting at!
Wu De is the virtue of martial arts. That is the reservation of a master to a certain extent not to hurt someone in a fight. By letting the opponent know that he could be hurt badly but the master won't make it happen. I think that is what you meant by metta.

In martial arts, the primary thing is to practice the forms to enhance the strength of the physical body. One must have a healthy and strong body for combat. Secondary is to think about defensive fighting rather then offensive. If one wants to learn martial arts for offensive fighting to begin with, then one has taken a wrong first footstep.
 
Yes, Taiji comes with both health and martial features whether I like it or not. I may not have the fighting experience but I do have the fighting strength to defend myself.

7 minutes ago, Thrice Daily said:

I find it easier if I’m practicing materially with emphasis on defensive intention then more relaxed and love is easier to generate. With softness and helping develop song too right?

Right, this is what was called 武德, the virtue of martial arts.

9 hours ago, Thrice Daily said:

Wu is one of the seeds of Wing Chun

This wu is 武：martial arts

2 hours ago, Thrice Daily said:

6. You(有) and Wu(無 )mutually produce each other.
 

Does Wu here translate as “myself”
 

Wu is one of the seeds of Wing Chun, I was told Wu also means 12 o’clock?

 

Can you tell us more about Wu?

You(有) and Wu(無 ) are defined in Chapter 1 of the TTC. Since the phrase is from the TTC, thus the definitions of the two characters must be confined within the context of the TTC.
3. 無，名天地之始。
3. Invisible(無), was a name given to Tao at the origin of sky and earth.

4. 有，名萬物之母。

4. Visible(有), was a name given to Tao as the mother of all things.

 

*********************************************************************************************************************
我(wo) : I; me; myself
午(wu): noon.

On 9/10/2024 at 1:49 PM, Lukks said:

Can someone give me a good source for learning Loving-Kindness Meditation(metta)?

I accept books, masters, paid courses, free courses, just give the best you have, let's make this post useful for others who also want to learn it and share love with the world 

The good source is within your heart.
Love and kindness comes within your heart. You just think like it and act like it by self discipline. That is your best source!

58 minutes ago, Sahaja said:

 I also know that I am still learning and what I know in the future will be different from today.  What I learned two years ago that I practice today manifests very differently.  It’s a tricky path to write about  but a good discipline to follow.  

It sounds great with your scholarly attitude. Self discipline is important in the cultivation of mind and body. We need to learn from each other through communication. I just have a different approach. Even though we learned many things, some of the sources might not be all correct. Therefore, I go to other places for my answers.

I like to learn from all source with an open mind. I can learn something from a teacher, a friend , internet, and books. If there is a discrepancy,  as you said focus on the commonalities of things to get to the bottom of the truth. That is exactly what I am doing.  I know stagnation of knowledge in the mind will not make progress. 

海闊天空
The sky is the limit

Just now, Sahaja said:

It’s my understanding that Qi gong is not a an air/breath practice.

The first thing that comes into the mind, one cannot change so quickly. That is OK. Everyone has a definition about Chi. Actually, we really don't need to know how the practicing system works as long it works. That is fine. May I ask do you practice any form of Qigong at all?

On 8/3/2024 at 4:23 PM, Yang said:

when you understand the rules of polarity, its simple.  The rule is "  in order to have a + there must also be a - . This rule applies to everything and everyone everywhere and there are absolutely positively no exceptions to the rule .

Tao Te Ching
Chapter 2 Relativity
1.天下皆知美之為美，
2.斯惡已；
3.皆知善之為善，
4.斯不善已。
5.故，
6.有無相生，
7.難易相成，
8.長短相形，
9.高下相盈，
10.音聲相和，
11.前後相隨。
12.恒也。
13.是以聖人處無為之事，
14.行不言之教。
15.萬物作焉而不辭。
16.生而不有，
17.為而不恃，
18.功成而弗居。
19.夫唯弗居，
20.是以不去。

In Terse English
1. Everyone, on earth, knows beauty as beauty,
2. Then, saw ugliness.
3. Everyone knows kindness as kindness,
4. Then, saw evil.
5. Therefore,
6. You(有) and Wu(無 )mutually produce each other.
7. Difficulty and easiness mutually succeeded;
8. Long and short mutually formed;
9. High and low mutually encompassed;
10. Melodies and songs mutually harmonized;
11. Front and back mutually trailed;
12. Always the same.
13. Sage handles matters in a natural manner.
14. Gives silent instructions.
15. Let things be with no interference;
16. Grow without possession.
17. Sustain without domination.
18. Success without dwelling.
19. Because of not dwelling alone,
20. Merits do not vanish. 

On 10/2/2024 at 5:42 AM, Thrice Daily said:

Wrong quote!

Dear Mod
Please Delete! 

1 hour ago, Lukks said:

Yes, Falun Gong installs a wheel on the LDT, but Idk if that's the same thing as filling the LDT, so it also works to fill the LDT just like other systems?

Let me put it this way. You go to MacDonald's to buy a chicken MacNugget. You are really buying chicken nugget. It is called MacNugget is because MacDonald's was selling it.

In Falun Gong, Falun(法輪) means the wheel of Buddha's law. Since they are selling Qigong, thus they claimed such by putting an imaginary wheel into LDT to fool the public. For those who don't know better just took it for granted! Anyway, the principle of Qigong is to learn or practice to breathe to the best possible way for the body. It is none of the BS about absorbing energy from the universe.

If you stick with the definition: Qigong is about breathing deep down to the LDT, then you should not have any confusion about Qigong. No matter what they call it. For example, Cheng Man Ching(鄭曼青) learned Taiji from the Yang family. He called the Yang style as Cheng Man Ching Taiji. However, it is still the Yang style. What I am saying was that the only difference is all in the names and descriptions. The method doesn't change. It will give you the same result. It is because the human body works the same way. We all breathing same way. It doesn't matter what you call it abdominal breathing, dantian breathing, embryo breathing, skin breathing, pulmonary breathing, fetus breathing, diaphragm breathing, turtle breathing or ChiDragon breathing. They are all the same but differ in name.

The reason Falun Gong was forbidden in China is because it have a larger number of practitioners. At the begin, one practitioner saw a big park in Beijing and realized it is good to practice LDT meditation or Falun Gong. Therefore, he made a few phone calls, within an hour or so more than 10000 member showed up in the park. Hence, that government saw that they have such of assembly power in  a short time. It was a big thread to the government. That was why it is forbidden in China.

Peace!

@Lukks

FYI LDT meditation is in all the Qigong systems. The only difference is in the name of the style. Your body works the same way. There is no exception in Falun Gong.

42 minutes ago, 心神 ~ said:

 

Coercion is a great word for that kind of force, sums up that behavior nicely. 

 

Since the thread specifies religion, is social coercion only disagreeable in matters of faith? 

 

How do you feel about coercion regarding public policy? Arranged marriage, child policies, inoculation and isolation for public health and safety, etc?

 

Is social coercion ever acceptable, in your opinion?

 

Thank you!
No, social coercion is not the only disagreeable in matters of faith. 

IMO Arranged marriage, and divorce does not allowed, is not acceptable. Throughout the history of China, there were many unhappy women. Nowadays, there are some seniors still living with their partners from this kind of arrangement. Somehow, they just tried to cope with it.

From the point of view of a Taoist, child policies, inoculation and isolation for public health and safety are acceptable.

Social coercion if only good for the people is totally acceptable. However, in America, some people do reject it due to the bill of rights. Ofc They have their own choice to do so. Under an emperor ruler, there was no choice but to obey.  

15 hours ago, Iskote said:

Actually, there are differences between the way 'qi' is described and classified and utilized in traditional Chinese medicine systems and also in other various cultivation practices/systems, such as in some daoist or buddhist traditions, and in martial arts, etc. Even within daoism and buddhism, there may be notable differences between how different schools and groups view and express concepts such as qi, etc. Also, qi may also be classified in further ways by some, such as sky (universe/heaven) qi, Earth qi, qi from planets, moon qi, qi from streams and rivers and lakes, qi from mountains, qi from trees and plants, sick/turbid qi, healthy qi, yin qi, yang qi, etc., etc.   

Yes, the characters 炁 and 氣 were not used very loosely. However, how Chinese thinking works is by the interpretation of the character within context other than its individual definition.

15 hours ago, Iskote said:

In modern times, especially in the West,  we like to try to pin things down to very exact definitions and classifications, but from what I have observed, historically in China, etc., they seem to have used such terms and concepts much more loosely and fluidly and symbolically. Trying to pin things down to very exact classifications and very exact meanings etc. IMO is an exercise in futility, given the wide range of views and approaches from various different traditions. 

The characters in the Chinese language are very flexible. Almost all characters can be used as a verb or noun depends on context. I am sorry for the westerners. As soon they saw the character chi, it was assumed as 'energy'. As result, everything was misinterpreted completely.
 

22 minutes ago, Thrice Daily said:

I prefer it empty hand and let the six strikes morph into Wing Chun blocks and strikes, with different footwork so it’s multidirectional and flowing rather than static.

This is more like a cultivation of the mind other than just hand movements. The mind has the control the hands to coordinate the hand movements.

On 10/15/2024 at 2:12 PM, 心神 ~ said:

 

Of course. What about laws regulating "ethical & moral" behavior? Laws are sometimes rooted in religion / philosophy. At what point does "non-violent" rule become force?

 

Non-violent force is when someone comes to knock on my door to brainwash me. I was told if I don't believe in God or accept Jesus as my savior, then I am a sinner. 

At my college period, I went to a baptist church to find out what Christianity was a about. One day, in a Sunday service, I was sitting next the preacher's wife. The speaker performing the service shouted aloud: "those who accepted Jesus as my savior please standup." All the sudden, I had felt two hands pushed me out to the isle. At the moment, I felt I was coerced to accept something against my will. Since then, I tried to act like a Christian but failed and left the church.

At that time, I had met this Christian girl was very strong in her belief. She was very coercive too. I heard her said to other Christians, we must encourage him(me) stronger before his mind becomes weaken.

At another time, during a night fellowship, the same preacher was staring at me and repeated a few times: "those who accepted Jesus as my savior please standup." I had a strong feeling that he was trying not to fail his power of preaching. Sorry, I had disappointed him again!

2 minutes ago, Nungali said:

 

Fucked yerself up now havent you ?

 

 

 

I am reading that as 

 

" Wow ! Nungali , you are awesome ! "

Yes, my friend, you are awesome. 

Sorry, I cannot use the friendly/Taoist gesture of discontentment!

2 minutes ago, Nungali said:

 

Of really ?

 

Geee ... I wonder how  all this   this started   ?

 

 

 

It started when this icon was introduced to the public. Please pay close attention to all my posts. You will see it happens!

Peace!