chenping

I can see that you are an impressionable kung fu movie fan. Why are you concerned about such things? What is your typical day like? Mine is too short for meditation and sending waves of hate.

In theory or intent, yes; but that works only in the practice hall where no one is suppose to intentionally hurt anybody. This is like gun-fighting using blanks for show. You are damn right I am correct. Martial art is the art of killing, maiming and specifically hurting people. A gun is a people- killing weapon that you see on a cop who guards the peace in your neck of the woods. We are so dumb that we can't see the truth anymore can a monk with blue eyes with no pupils.

I am the real teacher. Would you like to spar with me to see whose martial art reigns supreme?

There are too many bones to confuse locating the white orb. I prefer contemplating the navel. Can't mess up here.

Bruce Lee said: "Be like water. Don't think! Feel." Get it?

You mean like this? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aYZmv8upiGY

hahahahaa

I was not trying to police anything. I was just having fun also. I was tickled by your earnest attempt to get the anatomy right on a fantasy skeleton. Seriously, does it matter how many bone segments there are in the skeleton? The topic is meditation, not surgery.

Hey Joe, you think the "6th and 7th lumbar bone" is funny? How about the third eye? Now, that is really far out.

I have never heard of the Nag Hammadi gospels. Ok, I will check that out and report back. Why not take the translation at face value and judge it based on its own merit? There is no way to get at the source through translations no matter how many triangulations you perform. Reading many menus and triangulating them will not get the actual food in your belly. I take Jesus' words in the Gospels at face value. I see uncommon wisdom in those words and the Source is irrelevant. If I am lost in the forest and a map shows the way out, would I care who drew the map?

It isn't polite to laugh. This is not a forum on osteology. I have never been able to access anything discussed at Tao Bum and I never laughed, not once.

The Tai Chi master was talking about water, the nature of which is expounded in Chapter Eight: 上善若水. I have never understood the connection between the Tao Te Ching and Tai Chi which is martial art, the cultivation of violence to deal with violence. How is it possible for the way of wisdom to inspire the way of fools? Tai Chi, in physical combat, involves striking other people's bodies - with your head, fists, edge of your hands, tip of your fingers, elbows, knees, and feet - like water. You would use every part of your body - except your brain - to deal with violence.

Watered down? How? I contend that the English-translated Tao Te Ching is a watered down version. Are you saying the same thing with regard to Jesus' words in the English translations of the Gospels? I hope you are not saying something else to the effect that there is some other record, other than the Gospels, of what Jesus said.

It has been said that water cannot know what water is. To be a Chinese in Hong Kong is to be a drop of water in the sea of Taoism. The Tao that can be told is not the eternal Tao and that was why you never had to discuss it. The only way for every Chinese to get ahead economically was to learn English. It was the upward climb and the money that came with success that gave English-speaking Chinese in Hong Kong status. Western ideals are Chinese ideals: Make Big Money. The teaching in America is a different kind of Taoism. The Taoism of Hong Kong Chinese movies is yet another kind. The forgotten kind of the Chinese ancestral past is the kind that cannot be told.

Not really. I have not said anything yet. The Pope is right about Eastern meditative practices as not the Tao of Christian prayer. The shepherd has the right to guide his flock. If you are A Buddhist, it is bad form to say that Catholics are brainwashed and that Buddhism is the one true faith. Every flock of sheep follows its own faith. When several different flocks intermingle, some sheep could stray. It's the job of the shepherd to protect every last sheep and keep the flock intact. You have a problem with that?

I would rather rely on common sense and not science to determine racial truths. To say that we are all humans under the skin is sappy and has a ring of political correctness. But I would agree that we, including my dog, are all animals because that would appeal to common sense. The craziness starts when we are motivated by political sentiments to ignore the reality of racial differences and lump all people together as humans, and segregate us people from other dumb animals and see their straight sex as mating and our kinky stuff as making love.

ChiForce, since the first ten years of your life was spent growing up in Hong Kong, what is your opinion on the westerner's idea of Taoism? Is it different from your grandfather's idea of Taoism?

The individual is a representative of his or her race and (cultural) environment. This is your perspective and I understand where you are coming from. The mainland Chinese who spits won't see it as a filthy habit as you do. Tiger Woods still spits on the golf course. In Mr Woods case, I am sure he knows it isn't the thing to do. It is a curious habit. The Chinese in Singapore used to spit habitually until Prime Minster Lee Kuan Yew put a stop to it. Malay Muslims in Malaysia spit in the streets during the fasting month of Ramadan because they believe that even swallowing saliva would violate the fast. They would even turn their heads to spit as they overtake you speeding down city roads on their motorbikes. It's disgusting to see their spittle messing up your car windscreen. No one likes to be in crude company. I am sure a higher evolved alien life-form would find all humans disgusting. You may wonder why and ask "who? disgusting? even me" You may not spit in the street but you eat chicken and have sex. Now, that would really make higher life forms throw up. You need to understand that the mainland Chinese have suffered tremendous hardships. Not long ago, before Mao Zedong, lots of people in China were homeless. Whole families - parents and their kids - were dying off in the street from hunger. Things only started getting relatively better under Mao even though his policies were harsh. Even now, life is hard for most Chinese, much harder compared to the lot of the poor of Japan and America.

I don't know why you keep insisting on stating that Manno is prejudiced. His observations of mainland Chinese conduct are spot on. A friend of mine, a white American woman working for Dell Computers, just returned home to Austin, Texas, after a round the world business trip with the last stop in China's capital. I asked if she liked Beijing. She said no because people were rude and spitting everywhere. If you are upset by Manno's views, you should examine your own emotional responses. Let's be a little more tolerant and give each other more space for free discussions. Thank you.

People are animals too. Some are benign while others are not. Stereotyping is a natural survival instinct. To suppress it is mad. There was this German woman who also felt it was wrong to judge. So. she jumped into the polar bear enclosure to hug the bears. And this was the result.

It wasn't meant as an insult. When I said that you are like a chimp, I wasn't stating that your are chimp-like. The chimp situation was just an illustrative aid to get my point across. I like talking to guys like you to unwind every now and then. I used to unwind, as a kid, watching the insects crawling about in my ant farm. Why are you using colored fonts for this conversation? Just break up the entire quote into separate paragraphs by hitting "enter" twice in quick succession at the points you want a break. Even a chimp can be taught to do this. Try it. Even I fear the Chinese. To fear does not mean tremble with fright. To fear, as Sun Tzu meant it, is never to kill someone you don't know, as a mentor in gangland would teach you. You could chew off more than you can handle. It's like walking into a boxing ring to find out that you are outmatched only when you hear your head hitting the floor. This is the kind of stuff Chinese kids are taught at the dinner table. I can almost see Xi Jiping getting his head smacked by his dad as he reaches across the table for the food with his chopsticks. And you think with your western upbringing you can grasp the Tao Te Ching as easily as him? They would be like Americans. This is a little too heavy for me, Stosh. Ruling a big country is like cooking a small fish, according to the English version of the Tao Te Ching. The Government of China is following the Chinese version.

So, you believe that a baby is born with a blank slate like a new unformatted Dell computer. If a baby is kept in a cage full of monkeys and fed along with its companions till adulthood without ever coming into contact with a human, it would become a monkey? What if it were raised along with ants? I'm not trying to be funny. Just thinking out loud, like K. At the biological level, everyone, including the housefly, wants the same things: food clothing and shelter. But I am talking about people at the cultural level where the American is as different from the Chinaman as English is different from Chinese. The more you insist that everyone thinks like you, the more resentment you generate in others. Why do you think teenage kids put a "KEEP OUT!" sign on their bedroom doors and hate being around their parents? Abilities open doors only when talent can be monetized and makes tons of cash. Anyway, who cares? People have a right to exclusivity.

There is no point arguing if you can't see what I see even though I can see what you see. I know what you are talking about but unable to get you to understand what I am saying. You are like a chimp looking at a mirror and convinced that there is another chimp looking at you. Even if I were to smash that mirror, you would still be picking through the broken glass looking for that other chimp. So, you think you are you and won't point to take credit for anything? How about this English language you are using? Is there any thought you are thinking that wasn't thought of by anyone before, any phrases you are using to articulate your thoughts that wasn't phrased by someone else before? Do you know that Google can predict your next ten keystrokes because they have been done before by Stoshes like you? Other governments don't grant anything to the Chinese living among the local natives in third-world countries. Chinese are persecuted because they are so much better at driving the economy and amassing wealth for themselves. In first-world countries, the Chinese don't need to be thankful for anything including freedom. You'd better watch it and pull up your socks to support your society if you want to keep up with the Chinese living in your neck of the woods. So you are also predicting a China collapse? I am not confused. I said you are one of a kind, as in one of a specie, one of a swarm, one of a basket of apples.

There is not only one form of Taoism just as there are different Buddhist sects and Christian denominations. Each derivative springs up to serve the needs of a specific group with its own belief system. A western Buddhist like Richard Gere has a lot in common with a western Taoist based on their same Judeo-Christian cultural background. But a Sri Lankan Buddhist would have nothing in common with a Zen Buddhist of Japan. We have our very own westerner forum member Flowing Hands who practises Mao Shan Taoism as a shaman in Chinese communities. Different strokes for different folks. To each his own. You create your own Taoism and tweak it to your liking. Even a gorilla can venerate Guan Yu if it wants to. Every form of Taoism is authentic, even the New Age kind. The Tao that can be told is authentic. If you can sink your teeth into it, it is authentic. And you don't have to be Chinese to partake in the Taoist feast.

So, you think my lumping trees into a forest is baseless. How about lumping leaves into a foliage or raindrops into a tropical storm? Why do you have this need to stand out as a single weed and be counted? Do you think Ortho Pharmaceuticals would designed Weed B Gon around you specifically or a bunch of crabgrass? The Buddha said that the individual is an illusion. You think that is baseless? You keep thinking in terms of individual personalities. Lao Tzu is the personification, a symbol of Chinese thought which evolved as a worldview of the Chinese mind, my mind. No? They do regardless of how difficult you make it for them. Can you point out one Chinese political activist making a nuisance of himself demanding equal rights in a foreign culture? They may be generalizations to you because you believe you are somebody and hate being lumped together with the herd. You won't face the fact that you are one of a kind.