Mig

There were actually two southern Shaolin Temples. The first one, known to the public, was situated in the city of Quanzhou (泉州), built by a Ming Dynasty emperor who moved the status of the Shaolin Temple as the imperial temple from the northern Shaolin Temple at Henan to this one. When the Qing Dynasty overthrew the Ming Dynasty, some Ming generals retreated to this temple to plot against the Qing. A Qing prince, Yong Zheng (雍正), infiltrated into the temple as a monk to find out its secrets. When he became the emperor, he ordered the Qing Army, with the help of Lama kungfu experts from Tibet with their notorious flying guillotines, to burn down the temple. Some top level kungfu masters escaped. One of them was the Venerable Chee Seen (至善禅师), spelt as Zhi Shan in Romanized Chinese, who built a secretive southern Shaolin Temple on the Nine-Lotus Mountain (九莲山), also in Fujian Province. This second southern Shaolin Temple was also burnt down by the Qing Army under the order of Emperor Yong Zheng, and led by Pak Mei (白眉), a Shaolin grandmaster who was a senior classmate of Chee Seen.

gǔ zhī zhēnrén, qí qǐn bú mèng, qí jiào wú yōu, qí shí bùgān, qí xī shēnshēn. zhēnrén zhī xī yǐ zhǒng, zhòngrén zhī xī yǐ hóu. qūfú zhě, qí ài yán ruò wā. qí qí yù shēn zhě, qí tiānjī qiǎn. 古 之 真人 ， 其 寢 不 夢 ， 其 覺 無 憂 ， 其 食 不甘 ， 其 息 深深 。 真人 之 息 以 踵 ， 眾人 之 息 以 喉 。 屈服 者 ， 其 嗌 言 若 哇 。 其 耆 欲 深 者 ， 其 天機 淺 。 The True Men of old slept without dreaming and woke without cares, found one food as sweet as another, and breathed from their deepest depths. (The breathing of the True Man is from down in his heels, the breathing of plain men is from their throats; as for the cowed, the submissive, they talk in gulps as though retching. Wherever desires and cravings are deep, the impulse which is from Heaven is shallow.) Graham translation. Ch 6.1 The teacher who is the ultimate ancestor The Taoist does not take the heart, the organ of thought, as his teacher or authority; the only instructor he recognises is the ultimate Ancestor who generates all things, whose guidance is discovered in reverting to pure spontaneity. Its profoundest lesson is reconciliation with death, by a surrender without protest to the process of living and dying as mere episodes in the endless transformations of heaven and earth.

Which Shaolin temple, the one is Fujian province? Or the one in Henan province?

Thanks a bunch and now I can see where that idea came from and most likely from the Four Pillars of Destiny. Your explanation is clear and instructive. It is much helpful.

Thank you for sharing and I am impressed by your work in progress. It is great to see how you have evolved and the way you are growing. Fantastic. Keep it up my friend!

Does anyone know where the inner animal: birth month, true animal: birth date and secret animal: birth hour come from? I was trying to find the equivalent in Chinese with no luck so I wonder if those terms are specific to fengshui in their lingo or is there a different equivalent in Chinese? Just curious.

Chinese idiom “Mantis stalks cicada, unaware of magpie behind.” [螳螂捕蟬, 黃雀在後] Inspired by Chapter 20 of the Zhuangzi. I found this chart interesting to understand Zhuang zi： Any thoughts on this?

Great finding, what happened when there is only two seasons, the dry and rainy season? how the 5 elements line up with the two seasons? Also, when the cycle repeats every ten years when there are 12 animals in the Chinese zodiac?

And how do you feel about the new people or interventions in this forum? And how do you see yourself in your learning curve when you joined this forum and now?

How do we know is the year of the element water?

Let me start saying I am not an expert but a long life learner and I wouldn't venture to understand everything what a good Chinese scholar understand better. What I have found is that Chinese culture practice inclusiveness in folklore, popular religion, religious movements, philosophy, TCM and literature to mention a few. The body 身 (shen) plays an extremely important in role in different arts and in terms as in the cultivation of the self, self-cultivation ‘xiushen’ (修身). Literally, the word 修 (xiu) means ‘to repair,’ ‘to mend,’ ‘to fix,’ or ‘to embellish,’ while the word 身 (shen) means ‘body.’ Xiushen literally means ‘body-fixing,’ ‘body-repairing,’ or ‘body cultivation,’ while in its figurative sense, it denotes the cultivation of the self with one’s moral character. Many Confucian classics, such as Mencius, Daxue (Great Learning), Liji (Book of Rites), and Zhongyong (Doctrine of the Mean), provide numerous explications of how xiushen builds the moral character of a noble person. Check https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-cultivation That will be a good start to see that cultural elements are important especially in Daoism

In modern languages I've noticed speakers of East-Asian languages prefer to describe things in one kill-all word, whereas in real non-IELTS English, people just describe things based on context. And for example would you say that the term of self shēn身 that is used in the DDJ or in Zhuang zi or even Confucianists or even Buddhists is the same concept of our self in Indo european languages?

Manitou, I think there is an overwhelming consensus for you to stay or at least being present because you bring that light and wisdom rarely people have here or elsewhere. And you mentioned Culver City, a city I know very well and drove there million times in and out. Who knows, I may have seen you but we never met each other. Your observations are quite accurate and makes me think more. However, as much as we can talk about other religions or philosophical inquiries from other places, I always wonder if we take into consideration the cultural aspect, for instance, Daoism. As much their sayings may be universal in the human realm, I tend to think that there is always a cultural element we miss mostly because linguistic barriers or lack of knowledge in those cultures. Again, stay with us or keep in touch privately via this forum. All the best, Mig

As I keep reading, I was wondering if men are being emasculated in Daoism?? In their diets, they forbid you to eat garlic and other pungent roots, and they keep men separated from women in their rituals as for the rituals in their religion. Not sure if the DDJ simulates as the woman or mother are on top of the pedestal. Just wondering

I have been observing cats and dogs and other animals and I see that if they don't get what they want, I don't see them holding grudges or getting mad at you because you didn't give them what they wanted. I can see that when they want something they know how to tell you because I hear them vocalizing what they want in different ways then once they get it they move on and do their own thing. Now when it comes to territory they can be as nasty as a human but again I don't see them acting with hate as humans do. It made me think do they know 無為: wúwéi and is it what first Daoists saw to bring forth this concept?

I doubt it or I would say I have no idea because I don't know what is their mind, all I can see is what I observe. Their language is beyond my knowledge and sometimes I wonder they probably say more with their body positioning, eyes or uttering sounds. I see my semi feral cat when I come to him in a nice way, he will show me his claws ready to attack and walk away because apparently he doesn't want to be bothered. Late at night, he can be in the backyard while the racoon come or skunk and walk by without any confrontation. I have the impression we humanize animals to assume their behavior or their reactions. However, I see our pet when her mom comes back she runs everywhere and is so excited to see her again. Something about animals that we don't know or will never know because we haven't been animals to know it.

I am not sure if someone has experienced looking at some humans who cannot think beyond their own needs but can believe in fairy tales. Not only that if they don't learn from books or from a teacher they won't be able to figure out some mechanical or engineering feats. Myself, there are things I would have never thought to build or assemble for practical reasons. I noticed that if I have some tools, I can figure out and when I cannot find a solution I check several sources to come up with an idea. It can be in the backyard, in the shed or in the front yard, trimming trees or fixing some tools. If I didn't have those tools, I think I wouldn't be able to find a solution by my own. In that respect, yes, I consider myself and idiot. Then my thoughts go back, how in the hell, I can learn about applying Daoists principals or Buddhists saying?

I have been pondering about this question over and over without sharing with anyone. As I get older, I realized all the mistakes I have done, all my reactions and attitudes toward others and observing humans I always ask myself, are humans idiots? Since we are almost done with 2021, I thought we could have learned better but still see human stupidity at the highest level. Looking in the environment where I live, I see how people feel entitled to say or do whatever they want (of course, I am generalizing but I see that more and more from younger individuals) and wash their hands even if they were wrong. Road rage, car chasing, pick up a fight seem to be far common these days and everyone knows that the outcome is not glamorous or ends in a tragic accident or incident. Then I look how people around the world still believe in fairy tales, marketing or God's truth to repeat the same history as in the past. Looking at the news about Nicaragua, Central America, fiasco in their election is in the news but apparently news ignore what's happening in Honduras where history is repeating by itself and people again, are living in poverty and misery but still believe in politicians and religious movements. If I look what's going on in other countries around the world, is not better either and by this time I would consider human conditions should be better at least to have water to drink or water for irrigation, better living conditions or better education. In the 70's I used to travel before traveling was a trend and found so much bad conditions in human life and today, thanks to YouTube or internet, I see the same situation. Are humans idiots?

I have noticed by the beach seagulls at a certain time of the day especially before evening or sunset, they all sit looking at one direction on the horizon and they all seem in accordance of the environment. I see my three leg cat who loves to be outside and now since we are hosting a family rescued dog, who happens liking chasing the cat, now our cat wants to be inside of the house when the dog is inside. Still training the dog but even though the dog got hurt by the cat, still have this territorial instinct and keeps chasing the cat. Is that 無為; wúwéi?

Aren't we conditioned by the social environment where we live in? Somehow it seems that we behave based on what we learn from others and are manipulated by what they say. If we survive in nature, chances we won't survive alone because our incapacity to find our way out unless we learn observing nature.

What makes you say " I am worried", I am making a statement of a situation that I keep observing wherever I go. It sounds like not to worry is more of a selfish act or ignoring what is around me and then be happy. I am not happy nor sad but I keep seeing the same thing and have hard time to reconcile what I am reading about Daoism or some Buddhist sutras.

I thought historically there was a struggle for power in every dynasty between those two factions and even within each several movements some with more power than others.

Isn't the other way around? Aren't all those practices referring to the DDJ? and even the Yijing?

In previous posting, I mentioned about if Daoist is practiced by the well off, financially speaking. And now, I am looking for a job and started thinking, we need money to live in society and to pay whatever we need. Saying that we don't need money is being delusional or not being realistic. You have money, you have more to live better, nice in most of everything, you don't have money then you have to either survive or live a miserable life. Sure, I can hear people saying, I live to pay rent and then I don't need anything material. I don't believe in that as people when they talk they are not honest with themselves for the most part. So for those who are Daoists, what's the importance of money and how can you live comfortably when we know today the basics it has its price and good things usually are expensive to buy. Not to forget to rent a nice place in a nice area, it is common to see that renting is not affordable. So, do I need to live in the hood or the favelas just because that's all I can afford? And the cycle starts, should I sweat to work to pay bills or should I stay and become an hermit as the ones we see in YouTube?

Thanks for sharing my friend, it seems an awesome exhibition. Do tell us your impression, anything you learn from those paintings for what you have learned in Daoism or other spiritual paths?