Stosh

Just because a divergent family shares a surname, does not mean the members are bogus. Christianity, Islam , Buddhism , similarly have branches. Groupings and divisions are indeed mental fabrications but if youre going to entertain the grouping of Daoism It makes sense to entertain that there are subgroups. Daoism is defined by history, texts, and subject matter at a minimum.

The ear of the ear It aint got no'tin to hear shunnin' smiles n tears

You try not to talk? Um thats advice I should probably take often. The brevity and sincerity of what you do say is pretty strong though, for me, if all things are good, then talking is good and no real harm can come of it despite my preferences. Oh and Id suggest for consideration, that condemnation of self, Or mercy , starts with ideas about ones self , and is projected outward. Not ,the reverse where one applies thier reaction to others inward for consistency ,because the intuitive sense of morality is yours to begin with, not ours.

for revelation does not come to those who wait but to those that act

To crush yoor enemies , see them flee before you.....

I get a bit obsessive, but change hobbies every few years, so I think Im pretty good at a few things. Theres other things Ive never been good at, or even average, for instance I cant remember calendar dates of events. Some people have extreme talents and dont have to make effort to just be way beyond the scope of averageness, I think just makes us different, suited to different situations, and , when out of our element , or talent is as much disadvantage as it was advantage otherwise. That being said, it takes a heck of a lot of effort to exceed mediocrity in something we arent naturally graced with ,but wisely chosen, the gain is worth it, perhaps even more than natural gift.

I got an error trying to see the tabulation, ,,to see if it Ever says the words yin or yang.

.. Something in the way she moves?

Merge with dust?

Well Rara, from my angle theres good reasons to do things that get considered bad. This view has always been held. Thats why people can consider themselves to be on the side of rightness while hammering their enemies. The capacity to empathize puts a person in a difficult spot. So from my perspective , I consider wrongness is a subjective thing that we make complex and vague judgements about, especially because we cant see all the ramifications which radiate out from that point. Kindness too can result in disasters. Its only from a very short sighted position that good and bad seem obvious. Its a salve for the conscience ,to restrict responsibility to the immediate and known.

Ok, fair, ,My answer wouldve then been ,, 'I figure whoever put the words that way saw Dao ,more as an uncommonly-inspired practice' (the recognition of which Does go against the 'standard' world view.)

The floor recognizes the honorable representative from the Great State of Nirvana , SilentThunder et al, who appear to make a motion that the Monk may choose to assertively act in a way which precipitates the least negative Karmic ramifications. Introducing a grey zone of subjective valuation to an assertion that karmic good and bad are fixed realities. (Ordinarily , where I come from , we call that doing right thing.) But going another step down the road, Originally , the monks did not attempt to thwart a robbery , Therefore they at least could be considered to have weighed the situation , to effect the least Karmic bad ,, and so to them unanimously ,committing a robbery is less bad, than thwarting one. And Monks doing killing , is not as bad as the ignorant doing killing. Is this Not the reasonable assessment ?

Handwriting analysis suggests that this trend can be explained by ego and excessive optimism which rapidly diminishes, (as well as the writing all the to the far right edge indicates a lack of foresight.)

If Dao is at our core then none are alien to it. Right? uncarved block etc.

Ok thanks , I'd like to follow up that , with the ol' , If by time machine , you had the opportunity to kill Hitler beforehand , knowing only what you know now , is it a Karmic bad thing, or other evil , to do so, so you dont ,,, Or do you do it ? There will be follow up if you take this bait Im still maneuvering .

Spreading out a sample of Daoist practice theory , The useless is useful. Any takers?

The dao of Lao and Chuang suggests that its the ambition to sell any apple which is problematic to the vendor. Though I believe this is indeed true, I am not entirely sold on the desirability of emptiness and dont know the solution to this conundrum. So the purchase is also problematic.

Me??

Yeah, its great writing, levels of meaning.

Im glad you can see this being discussed in there too. Any person has this desire to be recognized , to make a mark, have an effect. ,Not to be noticed or achieve or stand out or be understood ,, is like a sort of invalidation, like being a nobody. I picture the teenager lamenting, Its like I dont even exist. We discussed this a long time ago with ChiDragon. To what extent should one leave no footprint. Here we see the Duke sitting on his ass facing south ,filling the position with a stuffed shirt, Confucious encouraging that lazy impulse , and so the Question arises, can I call this a man? Doesnt he want to BE something ? how far is this emptiness supposed to go? He asks Chuang. And Chuang says that the man still exists though not so storm tossed by his own motivations and need for external validation via struggle and contention, like an Ahab. anyway , Thats how I read it .

It Depends on what you mean by "great", arguably , america's 'greatness' in terms of power , source in things like whaling, slavery, conquest , tobacco , rebellion , civil war , greed , exploitation of cheap immigrant labor by capital, etc. Other folks might feel that the stage for greatness was established by the writers of our declaration of independence and constitution.. and yet others may argue that america isn't all that great , its just big and industrialized. But any way you look at it , the expectation that america must continue to do what was done , or imagined to be the ideal , yester-century, isn't compulsory. Heck, many Americans don't respect the rule of law , don't want to honor the election process, don't want to extend the high-minded freedoms expressed by our founding fathers to special interests, nor respect their own citizenship. That being said , there are ideals which are commonly held which are really pretty great IMO.

So for those who Do have the reincarnation plan, like Buddhists , there is no possible harm that can be done, in their scenario ? is that correct?

or he's confused about how the extent to which one can remove oneself of responsibility from affecting on goings on, without just being entirely moot , and essentially a non-person. To which Chuang suggests that its a silly abstract to think one wouldn't exist if he wasn't making waves. ( theres another subtext about Confu too) And Im saying this despite it indicating a mild rebuke from Cz on myself.

nevermind , my humor is running low

Justification is presenting a moral endorsement. Cause n effect isnt doing that. The water isnt good or bad for being in the carpet. Lives end in death, regardless, walls and gods have no sympathy, humans may.