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Your scholastic approach is very helpful on account of your expertise on the Chinese language and your considerable information on the Classic itself. In this regard, I would invite your comment on the inconsistency between your version of Lines 16 and 17 and that of Gia Fu-Feng. Yours: 15.公 乃 全 ， 16.全 乃 天 ， Gia Fu-Feng's: 15.公 乃 王 ， 16.王乃 天 ， Do you see the difference? Gia Fu-Feng was supposed to be a scholar. Naturally, his English translation is way off base. And he is a Chinese for crying out loud. Can you imagine the monstrosities fathered by foreign translators? God knows where Stosh got his bedroom performance advice from. I think it is fairly obvious that the post-Christian West is spiritually destitute and many people are hungry for meaning in their lives. Exotic teachings from the East - such as the Tao Te Ching - have been a hot commodity for some time. A number of people, including western academics and intellectuals, have decided to profit off this hunger. They have appropriated this Chinese Classic and cooked it up for the western palate the way Chow Mein, Kung Pau Chicken and Chop Suey are dished up to westerners in London, Paris and New York. Chop Suey (杂碎) is mixed bits and pieces of leftovers swept off wedding dinner tables, after the feast, into pails (Chinese version of western doggie bags). Western science, which conditions the mind of westerners, does this to the Tao Te Ching. It chews up this marvellous, wholistic work of art into bits and pieces and spit it out slathered with saliva into mental the bins of hungry minds. You are Chinese. So, I don't think you would care for Chop Suey. How about some dim sum and 龍井 ?

Ok, my friend. I will read your version of the Tao Te Ching. Thank you for your contribution.

Self-observation. How would you go about this? Examination can only begin when you have the incriminating motive in hand. It would be like giving a fair shake to a condemned criminal. This is psychotherapy. No self-denial, no excuses. Accept the fact and deal with mess. Reform the criminal. But Chapter 16 is unforgiving. 10. 知 常 曰 明 。 11. 不 知 常 ， 12.妄 作 凶 。 The above lines admit no reformation: it is either black or white, this or that, right or wrong, my way or the highway.

Good argument. Maybe Stosh needs to review his bedroom performance and not seek sex therapy in the Tao Te Ching.

Which Chapter gives you this advice?

Can you elaborate on this "knock-on effect to the world", as you put it? What do you mean?

Each one of us have a body and have a boring job, or a sticky situation, in which we are stuck. This is the crux of the matter. Looking forward to an everlasting life doesn't help me in the present predicament. I still have to suffer till the body dies. What you say here points to the following lines of Chapter 16: 13.知 常 容 ， 14.容 乃 公 ， 15.公 乃 全 ， 16.全 乃 天 ， 17.天 乃 道 ， 18.道 乃 久 ， 19.沒 身 不 殆 。 If meditation is for real, then liberation has to be immediate. Otherwise, it is just make-belief or self-hallucination.

If wisdom can be gained through knowledge, then every Harvard MBA would be billionaires. Have you ever experienced wisdom? Is there such a thing at all? Knowledge can certainly be gained through reading the Tao Te Ching if one wants to study the literary style of classical Chinese. It certainly is a masterpiece in poetic expression. I cannot see what else can be gained from a bunch of Chinese characters. The foreign translations of the Tao Te Ching are something else. As Mr Chi said, most people, namely translators and their readers, would like to have their own personal interpretations and that is fine. But personal interpretations are just that - personal, nothing more.

You've nailed it, pal. But do you get it? No one gets it. That's why we all read it.

Yes, Mr Chi. I am interpreting 沒身 in terms of classical Chinese and not in its vernacular form. Thus, 身 does not mean "body" but denotes the material dimension or state. Therefore, I would read 沒身 as transcendence of the material realm (where danger resides). By fulfillment, I meant Line 10. 知 常 曰 明. Western science is knowledge, not wisdom. Knowledge is necessary for chopping wood, making fire and boiling eggs for filling the tummy. But knowledge cannot throw light on the Tao Te Ching to unlock the mystery of how things come to be.

At one with heaven and earth, are we free of the body and its limitations and vulnerabilities? Would I still have to work at a miserable job for a living? Would I still suffer itchy skin and tummy ache? What is your understanding of the nature of things? Does it corresponds with what science tells us about the nature of reality? What is meditation? Is it a conscious activity of the brain? Your contribution to the study of Chapter 16 is much appreciated.

Why not, Mr Chi? Ordinarily, the body is associated with life, as if life cannot exist without the body. Granted, the body cannot exist without life. But can life exist without the body? I am not talking about out-of-body existence or life after the death of the body. I am talking about life beyond the body before the body dies. Consider Lines 1 and 2: 1. 致 虛 極 2. 守 靜 篤 。 The above two lines advocate a quietude to observe how things come to be: 3. 萬 物 並 作 ， 4. 吾 以 觀 復 。 Perhaps, the absolute nature of reality is not what western science has defined it as. How things work, in terms of accepted knowledge about the nature of reality, does not tells us how things come to be. Mr Chi, is it possible that for the Tao Te Ching to be more relevant to life's fulfillment than western science?

This last line in your post above corresponds to Line 19 of Chapter 16: 沒 身 不 殆 which means "no body no danger". 沒 身 carries a very deep meaning. Could you discuss this concept and explain your perception of it?

What do you mean? You buying another bottle or does it magically refills itself? I'm always concerned about things running out. The threads on my tires are running out. They are expensive to replace. Where did you buy your ketchup?

Thank you for your translation, Mr Chi. The accompanying Chinese text is very useful. But what is your understanding of this Chapter? What is the message as you see it?

Thanks for the response. I look forward to examining your filter with you to determine what to take in and what to throw out..

Mr Chi, what is your interpretation of Chapter 16 based on your understanding of the Chinese text?