Stosh

Maybe ,, I dont really know , Im from the big city .

How do grandmasters of the soft styles do against hard styles , are they not cross purpose?

Catholic nuns in schools used to whack as well , with rulers, and any way they want to defend that act , I still think they are trying to beat dominate punish ,, though they may feel its in someones best interest. As a grown man , if a "master" whacked me , I can take it as a correction , I can take it as a gesture in my interest...because I can walk away If I choose , then again If I read it in some derogatory fashion or an attempt to 'get a leg over' , I might just snatch his pebbles , having crafts of my own to teach.

I see the chapters , having some single central point ( mostly) I also see them to be making rational argument This english conversion looks to be dialogue. Person A is speaking up until the question mark. Framing what he has seen and considers that the heavens are NOT impartial because the survival of the man in his 'story' is not consistent in result. One may be "brave " and die or one may be 'brave' and live. His Virtue isnt honored by the heavens. Beyond that question mark there is another philosophic stance of person B The great Tao is not a 'perfection' of the human dao. Not a god who picks one with favor over another. the ending lines read... This characterisation of tao is a huge misunderstanding its dismissed as false , but the idea that there is no virtue or justice that is honored by tao is actually correct. Dawei said It is the wrong point of view to apply to Heaven Mh , you said Let's face it guys. Heaven really doesn't give a shit. and Cd agreed So I think all of you are in accord with the second speaker. Nesentries thing is too long , so I dont know what hes getting at .

Sure Ill clarify whatever opinion I toss out , but Im not sure what bit I should address. I was told they destroyed the thing AFTER the ritual , not as part of it ,, but I dont see it that one MUST see the whole thing as corrective-punative destruction. The point of fires can also be a 'rejoicement' as in , out with the old- in- with the new ,, or it could be ,, "let ol acquaintance be forgot " or it could be 'I hereby reject my own materialism ,, so there! ' Or it could just be getting rowdy when everyones having a good time. This kind of thing shows up all the time like fireworks ,, smashing a glass at a jewish wedding ,,or throwing glasses after an agreement. That depends on your or my worldview , but in this case Im thinking they saw it similar to the greeks platonic idea form which was eternal , and that is not made of dust. ( as do I , the form we take is temporary - manifest in mud ) Well theres the big Tao which makes no judgement and has no illusion , then theres little tiny us, who are of the Tao and yet have a dao of our own , we do judge and we do have illusions , these things are part of what we are and are essential for us to carry on as living things in a world that doesnt look after us. That a person might come to more harmony and happiness as they trend toward the mode of a sage -so be it, but , for us there can also be taking things too far and losing good stuff , like beauty and weddings , (and yes even funerals- which though sad, also are a way of paying respect - and honoring , the straw dog,, one isnt honoring the body, one honors the memory of the man ) Even if one is talking about rival warlord clans etc , honoring the symbolic and traditional status of the quality of the man , rather than his temporary military strength etc,, ) ( eventually the greeks adjusted the idea forms as distinct from a form itself , and decided the idea form was inherent in the thing itself - ) Every wave that ever crashed a beach left a mark. though it be obscured now , the memory of it , in its repercussions lives on , since the past can never be undone ,once done,and with all things being connected , ripples of what has happened plays out as causative for that which happens today ,, there is no disconnect , though we might percieve there to be one. Which is why they say the whole world lies within a grain of sand.

I thought you were going to say the missus would toss you to the dogs if that ever happened.

The sage destroys all albums as if they were straw dogs.

The straw dog thing makes sense if one values the spiritual significance of things and disregard the material nature of them. Treating men as straw dogs , the important things are the feelings ideas etc they have -and honoring these things foremost. The straw dog has greatest importance , the mortal component , the straw, is destroyed . men live and die not lasting forever , ephemeral changing feeling living they have value They live beyond their flesh in the repercussions of what they have been ,,the effect on everyone who is left. If the value was attatched to the flesh, then whatever a man was, would come to an end with his death , and that would be the end. Dust may return to dust but the lives of all men are to be valued BY THE SAGE Would one say it was wise or sagely , to disrespect ignore devalue lives? because the body decays.

The Mawangdui B version If brave is to dare then one is killed. If brave is to not dare then one survives. This pairs someone favouring and someone hurt. The hatred of Heaven, who knows its cause? The Tao of Heaven isn't an individual like 'Perfect We'. It's not speaking like the perfect echo. It's not summoned like the self-invited. The misrepresenter of Heaven is immeasurable. The immeasurable is dismissed yet not missing. 善朕 'Perfect We' was how the Shang King and later the Qin emperor said 'I' To me this looks like questioning corrected for implying an erroneous anthropomorphism ( which concludes as several of you said.) Idve put a line break in between.

Yeah, one of the few things down here with nice autumn color.

Bamboos often have latent shoots at the base which may give you good results , I love the look of bamboo , but it generally has a bad reputation where I am , the running bamboos , tend to go berserk , youve got hard points poking out all over the yard and its nearly impossible to get rid of , they may string out thirty feet away from where you plant them. Im under the impression that you have a clumping form which are better behaved , but somewhere I read that every x number of years , bamboos die off even the cutting /clones and all at the same time so one cant propagate them indefinitely vegetatively. ( possibly a five year cycle for black bamboo ?)

Thats got to be the oddest advertising Ive ever seen Im wondering what the bag says. They are like a cheesey kick in the balls?

One would have to decide whether children are infallibly correct in what they think , to decide if they are supplying the opinion out of wisdom, otherwise the ' wisdom ' of it, is a self fulfilling finding on behalf of the parents. Ive saw a kid eat his own poop one time , Id hardly call that dietary wisdom. They will also yank the tails of animals , scream in tantrums at the momentary removal of a toy, and fear that a parent they cant see is literally GONE. The kid appears innocent , and therefore cute but he has already been bombarded with messages of socialization he is in a process of coming to terms with fears about his own wellbeing and has confusions about the behaviors of adults . If he had always been exposed to animals as food rather than as talking playmates , the words out his mouth would be ones you wouldnt construe as "wisdom" . ( I also agree that putting kids pictures on the web isnt a good idea )

Then no-mind is not wu wei?

Can one function when they are without discrimination , to say , work in the yard.. would one then not be able to descriminate that which is a weed? If no mind is aspirational ( as in a thing to aspire to, but not achieve, because achievement of IT would end the aspiration for IT ) Would a sage also aspire to this no-mind, or, already having this no-mind ,he no longer is able to do so much as pull a weed? Or am I to read you GMP correctly that it is the antithesis of having ideas? , and exists only as a reduction in the number of ideas one has.

Most Maples decline inevitably in most of florida , they require a cold period that we dont endure in order to 'reset' for a new spring. They may sqeeze by for a few years without it but then they stagnate, Local Red 'swamp' maple is an exception , for bonsai you could also use a boxelder .

Is no mind then a medatative thing , or is it a wordless ( un artifact ed , genuine )?

I both agree with Cds idea that there is idealism here, but not that the idealism doesnt work, its just that there is imperfection in its practice. Repeatedly in other chapters the rationale behind the ideas, and I find the reasoning to be valid. This chapter gives us a view of the goal , and the people may be benefitted by having an idea of what the result of social harmony would look like, even if folks do not get to live up to it entirely. ( and one can take it for analogy for the individuals internal paradigm - at least on that scale it could be possible ,, the internal world of the 'sage' )

Might I suggest that its the tao of a human to see the world in shades of gray , while for the tao itself something either is or isnt? ... or perhaps the other way around ... but either way , wouldnt a gray disc be a rather enigmatic symbol?

Agreeing with Mh here, this chapter doesnt preclude one from making descriminations , It is essentially giving a rationale for someone to exercise social restraint , since it is in ones own natural interest not to bring headaches on themselves , with things being the way they are ,, and the sage is clear on how things go (but by no means is it contrary to the welfare of everyone else). So this social restraint could be considered harmonious natural virtuous, and for the good of all the people. What Im not sure of here is precisely what the social restraint is in particular that is being used as example.

Yes they do , just call me monkey minded.

Be precise or as vague as you like, odds are that no one who doesnt already know isnt going to understand even the general ideas of Tao , and a name certainly is not enough to describe what it means to you. You can save them some discomfort if you just say youre something they think they recognize ( humanist , atheist , Buddhist christian , etc )

The advent of agriculture allowed societies to grow crops like wheat rice corn barley millet etc , which are storable , and allows for higher population densities. Resulting in the tradition of eating mainly carbs which is presented as a norm nowadays, but physiologically there is a price to pay in the health of the population from eating like that , exacerbated by sendentary lifestyle. ( diabetes ,heart disease, obesity, food allery etc which are rampant nowadays and due to diet primarily) The way foods ( carbs fats and proteins) play into maintaing a body is complicated , one can live well on a diet high in fat and protein , with only a small amout of carbs and some vitamins and minerals like in spices fruit and nuts. ( protein can be converted to glucose in the situation of low carb diet to supply your brain with the glucose it MUST have ) Vegetarian diets can be easy or difficult for adults to abide , but its not suggested for kids especially. Theres a whole science to it , a lot of misinformation floating around , there are many variations that can work , and many considerations to take if you want to try to arrange for yourself an ideal diet. Thing is , we are all in the dark about exactly what our particular makeup needs us to provide... so the fallback postion is eat a variety of stuff and take your chances.

You tummo must be beyond equal ! To master the antarctic seas !

Thats probably why they took to the water years ago