chenping

Have you tried it? When you get high and can't feel your feet on the ground or get a sense of solidity when you are hugging the girlfriend, it is quite unnerving. One time, I was on my bike and I swear I could have rode my machine right over the cliff like Thelma and Louise. It's not the addiction that's worrisome. It's the total negation of the cognition of vulnerability. Eight shots of vodka is safer. But that's me. I'm a coward.

New Yorkers like upbeat spirituality. They are everywhere in the Upper West Side, the Village, Chelsea and Brooklyn. Pretentious. But you can't become a Daoist just because you think Christianity is creepy, you don't like Joel Osteen or you hate conservative values.

Uh-oh. Shakespeare is not a forum member. Does that count too? I'd better get off.

I wonder if Chidragon could translate this lovely poem into classical Chinese. I am dying to see how it matches up to the literary style of ancient China as set out in the Tao Te Ching..

Ok, but only if we need to express our views freely beyond the tolerance level of the mods. Otherwise, let's strut our stuff here. I maintain that, for everyone without exception, there is only one lifetime and, as such, all interests are fundamentally selfish. If I speak the truth, then I speak for everyone regardless of denials and dislikes. Either prove that I lie or shove it. This thread began with a Chinese fable about a white horse jumping the gap between the cliffs overhead and then it's gone. Where has it gone? The answer is that it has not gone anywhere. It's existence ended the instant it disappeared just as suddenly as it's existence began the moment it appeared. No before, no after. It's the same with life which is that gap between the cliffs. Each of us comes into existence suddenly at birth, like that horse, and will vanish without trace at death. The horse that cleared the cliff after disappearing lives on in your mind that wants to know where it has gone and where it came from. Yes, where did man come from? NOWHERE! No carbon-dating, no big-bang, nothing! Only one thing is certain. We saw that horse and we do exist. So, why are we in the boat in the valley? Where are we going? Why is everyone raising children to jump off the cliff? Why am I stuck in this shit-hole of a life? Your mind wants to know but the universe is silent (Camus?).

Please dislike my comment without restraint through private messaging. I believe in free expression. Show me where I am wrong. The only authentic values are those real ones you can live by. Such values are honestly brutal in accordance with the traditional Tao Te Ching of China. Pooh Bear Taoism is based on idealist fantasy values that ignore the lore of nature - eat or be eaten, kill or be killed. This doesn't mean that I have to conform and live like a beast among beasts. I practise wu wei and leave the beasts be. And the Tao Te Ching is my guide to live out my one lifetime safely among beasts.

How's your anarchy organization coming along? The reason why the US government cannot get it right is because no administration gets more than eight years to fix it. So, no one has long term interest for the nation and every politician is out for himself. It's the same with you and me. We are around for only one lifetime. Ultimately, everybody has no long term interests for mankind and is only out for himself.

Ulysses. A western soliloquy: stream of consciousness expression in a state of abandon with no regard for grammatical formalities of writing or personal censorship. The Tao Te Ching, on the other hand, is carefully crafted traditional classical Chinese thought expounding the Way unconnected with the decadent nature of human bestiality. If one can't see the difference, then its Pooh Bear seeking validation scarfing down kung pau chicken and pork fried rice.

Is that an English form of classical Chinese? How about some punctuation marks, please?

I wish to discuss cultivating life, my life as a Chinaman stuck in this reality. I have no idea how and why this reality came to be with me stuck in it. Do you have any idea?

I am good, my friend. Allow me to commend you for not turning ugly over the Xiao Yao Pai thing. Honing my skill is not sharpening my sword. This is how I hone it with Stosh.

My skills can only be honed with people who are half-mad and haven't quite made it to that other shore yet. Take you for instance. You are still coherent and subconsciously sense the danger of being one with the eternal Tao. And so I need to push closer and closer to the edge with you but not fall into the void. It's somewhat like semen retention. I do have a life on this side of sanity and, unlike you, plan to die here.

You can do better than that, Stosh. Come on, give me your best shot. I am dying in here. I need a Taoist workout.

I am saying that I am literally - in every respect - an animal. To my mind, there is nothing humble about regarding myself as such because it is the truth. To regard yourself as better than the chimpanzee is to be arrogant especially for a Taoist whose calling is to go back to nature and reject civilization. Perhaps, making distinctions for the purpose of favoring one race or culture without just cause at the expense of the other is divisive. And so we are divided as it is our nature. Rejecting divisiveness is not wu wei but the act of will in forcing water to flow upwards against its nature.

This is not a reply but a reflection on things said in a state of upset. Others call it meditation but I call it scavenging. That's how I see it. When "you" against "me" needs backup, it turns into a "you" against "us". It's call amassing group power against the opposition. It's in our human nature to do this - ganging up like pack dogs when there is no courage to stand alone and fight based on principle. I don't come to argue. Look, Richard Leirer is not Chinese. But that's besides the point because I am not racist even though Harmonious Happiness keep insisting that I am one. It's the way Leirer (or whoever wrote the article) takes apart the Chinese characters like some sick kid tearing legs off insects for fun. You can't read Chinese so it's no big deal to you one way or another. But I can read Chinese and it means a lot more than mere language to me than your A,B,C, is to you. Similarly, my parents mean a lot more to me, in terms of cultural symbols, than yours are to you. Should I debase my parents by treating them the way you treat yours? And should I just shut up when Gerard shove guys like Leirer doing his thing in my face? I felt disgusted the way an American would on seeing the US Flag trampled on. It's too bad you feel that way. I know it appears selfish of me, but it just doesn't seem right that I must uplift others at my own expense.

Chidragon, in the second documentary posted above by Gerard, Chief Lu said "don't act according to the will..... acting in line with nature is called wuwei", To my mind, a sailboat driven by the wind reflects action in line with nature. It would take three years to go around the world. A powerboat allows action according to the will. No waiting on the wind. What is your view?

I wonder why the similarities need discussion when there are no differences between men and chimpanzees at all! It would be discussing the similarities between two apples. Do you realize how irrational that is?

It appears that I am just as intolerant and obstinate as you are. It has been quiet because I was leafing through Sun Tzu's Art of War and mulling in my mind on how to deal with you without causing upset..

It really depends on the observer. You see one thing, she sees something else and I see yet another thing. But that's fine as long as one doesn't pin what one sees on another or ram it down others throat as the goddam truth. I express what I see. You are welcome to question my observations. But if you get upset if I question yours, then something is wrong, as Cat said. What do you mean by purity? Air is filtered and needs to be pure and free of dust in server rooms. Contaminants seep into data processing facilities and corrode electronic equipment leading to malfunction and breakdown of computers. In the example I cited above, purity is essential considering that the whole planet is electronically wired up. Imagine the chaos if national power grids shut down and global communications crashes due to contaminants. Don't say that Taoists wouldn't care. They would be the first to scream "sonovabitch!" when the power goes out and their laptops can't get on the net. No, no. the water doesn't get corrupted; it gets infused with tea as desired and transforms into pure tea. If I may point out, even the mind can be contaminated with logic that is twisted out of line. Just because fine tea enhances fresh water doesn't necessarily mean that every scrap of cultural madness would enhance the human mind. Purity is a desired quality of a thing. I don't know what you mean when you assign that quality to the state of being? The state of being of what? I am sorry if I am being rigorous here. Just as air needs to be kept pure in server rooms, my mind needs to be free of contaminants to function perfectly. Infusion of one piece of twisted logic can really fuck it up.

Please do not confuse infidels with bunglers. An infidel is one who has no religious beliefs. A bungler is full of it. And when you are full of it, you corrupt the purity of anything you touch. And what kind of westerners do you gang up with and consider as "us" people?

Why are you speaking in metaphors? Is this an English form of Classical Chinese?

Only inferior and defensive people would view that as arrogant. Why wouldn't that make you sit up and listen? Do you think you know everything yourself? I teach the art of scavenging. I am attracted to garbage and can spot nuggets of inanity no matter how they are dressed up..

Chidragon is the only one who can take apart Chinese characters without defiling them. You want to study Chinese, you go to China. If you want to shoot ducks, you go to Wisconsin. For gambling, you go to Las Vegas. Taos, New Mexico, is Hollywood, a hippie paradise with gentle people there.

zerostao Why is it absurd or arrogant to challenge Gerard to spar? True martial artists love to spar. It's in their nature to test the effectiveness of their skills and learn from each other. Fake martial artists love to talk. As for fighting, it's just a figure of speech. This is a discussion forum, not a physical hexagonal cage. I am hanging out with you bums. I wouldn't do it if I didn't like it.

In martial art, one doesn't think. One intuits. Why did you laugh? Did I intuit correctly about Gerard? He can't launch himself into a flying side-kick? You guys know each other? Not me, I am fighting blind here like a monk with blue eyes without pupils.