devoid

Hi Ya Mu,

I think you have a very valid point: I fully agree with you that blaming people or suggesting that people blame themselves for their ill luck is a vice.

Yet, at the end of the day, critical self evaluation is not necessarily the same as self-pity and blaming oneself.

The poster suggested pretty clearly that she was not ready to accept the doctor's medicine and wanted to try something else - I read the responses to this thread as suggestions for some tools for self evaluation, but I can also see how they can be misunderstood as manuals in self-blame. This is an important distinction.

Nice posts and viewpoints. Thanks everybody

Hi Makyea, Manitou,

Manitou, I would like to commend you on an excellent post.

Makyea, if what Manitou said speaks to you, I can recommend a book I read lately: Anatomy of the Spirit: The Seven Stages of Power and Healing by Caroline Myss.

In the book the author speaks of similar and other conditions where she managed to "inspire people out of it". Through examples and by relating certain issues and feelings to each other she inspires the reader to search their own self and intuition for what they need for their own healing.

I wish you lots of happiness and all the best in your journey of getting to the bottom of your issues.

Hi wan qiang,

I think Harmonious Emptiness posted some very good pointers.

Additionally, I would recommend reading the book Qigong Empowerment by Liang, Shou-Yu and Wu, Wen-Cheng. It is really a book of five books covering medical qigong, taoist qigong, tantric buddhist qigong, healing and iron shirt qigong.

Keep in mind that qi is not qi.

Hmmm, so what does that mean? That the meaning of the word qi depends entirely on the context - sometimes it means energy, sometimes it means genetics, sometimes it means breath, sometimes it means healing (thought / intentional) energy - it can have many other meanings as well.

Just remember that no matter how high a level of "qi mastery" that some people may convince you they possess, we are all still bound by the natural laws in this physical realm. Stop reading and start laughing if you read about people defying gravity or moving objects using Star Wars-like mind tricks - as appealing as it may be, those are stories and special effects - and there are many combined charlatans and magicians out there who would love your dollar.

I wish you all the best in your studies. Feel free to pm me with questions along the way.

Does any of your editors do spell check on the word "judgment"...???

Good question: Probably the spell-checker is a sage who read chapter 49

Hi Arab,

No, we don't need external teachings.

Yet, if we shun them, we will be forced to reinvent the wheel on our own.

My personal preference is to learn and receive inspiration, but a hermit seeks the solitude to reach his own conclusions.

At the end of the day, the choice is yours. And, in any case, remember that you are your own master.

I wish you all the best.

Very nice insight, Marblehead and Twinner.

Twinner, I especially like your angle: A person is not per se inherently good or bad, but a complex being and as such will have good / virtuous AND less bad / less virtuous sides.

Marblehead: I agree with the non-judgement, yet I observe that of course one needs to evaluate an action (or inaction) to know what is virtuous. Thus, elements of the process of judging must somehow be in there, yet the last step of passing judgement is left out.

Thanks

Hi Marblehead,

Thanks for posting this. I still have something to say about this as I had been holding back in the previous discussion which started off on an odd premise suggesting that the sage was not a sage

To me, this chapter is about integrity - it is about the ideal of being and acting as the role model we think others should follow rather than sinking to the level of those who obviously don't know better.

I should add on a personal note that this advice is not always easy to follow

Edit: typo

Hi Everything,

I don't see anything resembling a personality disorder.

To me, this says that the sage doesn't do prejudice, but simply (continues) to act through example, as a role model (even if others don't).

I can think many great human rights struggling leaders who fit this category: Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. immediately spring to mind.

Thanks for starting the thread and providing the translations.

IMO the part about doing nothing leading to nothing undone is too often misunderstood as a call for inaction. This is a great vice because whereas doing nothing surely implies that no consequences will ensue of the action not taken it is not the same as to say that no action should be preferable to action.

Very elegant in the formulation across the translations - and (I suppose) in the chinese originals as well

IMO Taoism is a matter of philosophy rather than one of faith.

Sure, by practicing it one gains experience and insights, and this in turn helps shape ones opinions.

Yet, this has very little to do with faith as in organized religion.

(unless, of course, for those who treat Taoism as a religion rather than as a methoed of observing, questioning and drawing conclusions on the Way).

Hi Friends,

I was wondering if Sun Lu Tang's books in Chinese are available online and if so, where one might find them?

If any of you know of this, I would greatly appreciate to hear from you.

Thank you.

Hi wan qiang,

There are many castles in the sky. If I remember correctly, John Chang could survive any type of car crash at will and dodge bullets by 'catching them with stomach'.

If you want to learn about "taoist alchemy" there are many books out there. Don't get me wrong: meditating is a great thing and I do it too, but there are better sources of inspiration than the Magus of Java. I just want to warn you that you're currently on a wild goose chase.

Maybe, if you could let people know what you are hoping to achieve you will receive more useful pointers. Just a thought and piece of advice that you might find useful even though it didn't answer your question.

I don't know Jenny Lamb's variant, but I would be surprised if it is not as great as the next one.

As you quote her saying: What's important is to stick to one and do it until you can to it while sleepwalking. After you have learned one to this extent, try the next variant or new system. Also, you should seek criticism on how your doing a form compares to how it should be done. Make sure that you get every detail right - chances are that you think you do, but you overlooked a couple of things...

NB Being good at qigong or tai chi does not necessarily make you a better taoist.

Happy training.

You are offered propaganda...

With the word 'labor' I meant childbirth - not work...

Here's an example of a charity that helps women who barely survived it in the developing world and who suffer tremendously as a result of not having technology available to during labor (i.e. childbirth): http://www.fistulafoundation.org/

Also, w.r.t. eating rice, etc. as opposed to meat does ensure against the animals in question from suffering. So, we could all eat mushrooms instead collected from the forest. Sure, but you can't feed 5-7 billion people forest mushrooms - even if there had never been any deforestation.

Finally, the liver thing is indeed my own - turns out my great grandmother died from the same thing in her mid-forties - the root of it turns out to be a milk allergy that causes internal clogging of the bile system.

Be well.

Are we better off today, because of technology?

I'd say a simple no.

 

My argument - I don't think that humanity, on average, is any happier, suffers less, is more awake, or more able to live in accordance with nature and each other as a consequence of technology. I don't see love and acceptance of ourselves, our situation, and others developing out of technology. Those criteria are how I would define "better off."

Hi Steve,

I don't think your argument holds - let me provide a few counter examples of how technology has reduced suffering substantially:

1. Have you thought of the fact that child mortality and death and suffering as the result of labor is significantly reduced by using technology?
   
2. What about food and shelter? Surely agriculture is a technological breakthrough compared to living in a hunter / gather society: Wouldn't a vegan / vegetarian argue that not eating animals decreases the amount of suffering?
   
3. Using the internet, I was able to conduct the research required to fix my liver condition which would eventually have lead to physical suffering and premature death on my end - a feat that neither my GP nor gastroenterologist were able to do.
   

-so yeah, I would say that technology helps a lot against suffering. At the same time (and I think this was your point), not all technology works that way and some technologies may have the adverse effect if used in a feckless way, e.g. watching some stupid show on TV which may only serve to make you older, more tired and less happy.

Technology is nothing more than tools available to us. Whether we will be more content, etc. is a matter of how we lead our lives and our attitude towards life.

Some people like to loathe new technology yet don't even consider that they're very much using old technology (here I am speaking of any tao bum because he/she is using the internet), presumably cooks their rice on a stove and (for the most part) regularly or at least occasionally use a toilet and a shower.

This said, some things never change - they just get new labels. Take for example the traditional master / student conversations recorded in writings throughout time, particularly in the Confucian tradition. Well, how is that substantially different from your standard FAQ section on a web site?

Sure, with technology we may change the labels, but the principles remain the same.

It's a good chapter - very true about contentment and 'having enough'.

I am generally a fan of the English / Feng translation: Yet here, is both odd and funny to see how they seemingly managed to present the part about the horses and manure so awkwardly when seen in the context of the rest of this chapter.

Here's a nice article on the five spirits - the shen, the zhi, the yi, the po and the hun:

http://taoism.about.com/od/thefiveelements/a/fiveshen.htm

-apart from dividing it out, I found it easier getting to grips with the concept of shen when I simply started thinking of old western expressions which were meaningful to me, i.e. to be in good spirits, to have a strong spirit, to be strong in spirit, etc. Think about similar expressions that make sense to you and meditate on that thought paired with your knowledge and feeling of the organs.

I wish you happy searching - in good health and spirit!

Hi alect,

Lots of good posts and advice here already.

On top of that I can tell you that I used to have a similar issue when I was learning the fire fist of Xingyiquan (and as a consequence training it repeatedly). The feeling is that the energy rises and clouds the mind: As a result one looses control of concentration as irritation and anxiety sets in.

When I told my instructor about this he taught me reverse abdominal breathing. It has helped me tremendously since. As we have a language barrier between us he showed me the following: He asked me to put my hands and press on his belly (Bottom of my palms just below his bellow his belly button area and fingers up around his abdomen (the muscular belt just below the rib cage). With his alignments in place (spine straight, head so that one could theoretically carry a water-filled tea-cup saucer and the sacrum slightly tucked in - pretty much as fiveelementao suggested along with the grounding techniques also displayed so well), his tongue at his palate, and mouth closed, my teacher exhaled with the sound of dog as it finally lays its head on the floor to rest. At this stage, I felt all the muscles in his belly and abdomen contract / tighten: only the abdomen withdrew while the lower belly was being pushed forward and slightly downwards into my hands around the dantian area - i.e. some inches below the belly button.

It takes some time to get used to this practice, but it is extremely rewarding and helps further ground you and will certainly help you return excess energy in your head to your lower dantien - or even out through your feet and palms into the ground, if you prefer not to undertake reverse abdominal breathing (i.e. only contracting the abdomen while not forcing your belly to expand).

Thanks for posting, ralis,

I agree it is not exclusive to Buddhism - I can think of a few taoist cases that I came across while studying IMA:

Legend has it that the three taoists who taught Dong Haichuan (the founder of Baguazhang) the benefits of "walking the I-Ching" died and mummified while sitting up in meditation postures in a cave. Legend also has it that this "tomb" was destroyed during the cultural revolution, thus no current-day way of verifying whether this was actually true.

A more recent account is recorded in the English translation (Albert Liu) of Sun Lu Tang's Xing Yi Quan Xue in which an interview from the 1990'ies of Sun Lu Tang's daughter, Sun Jian Yun, is included. She recounts that there were many legends about her father - only some true, but one of the things that she did confirm at true was that Sun Lu Tang called them all (the children) home to see and be with him just before passing away. He instructed the family that he was going to leave this plane and that they should let him rest in his meditation posture for at least half an hour after his death after which they could lay him down.

IMO this discussion calls for reexamining a number of chapters of the TTC - chapters 5, 17 and 56 spring to mind, but there may be others, too.

Hi Friends,

I would like to take a moment to thank you all for your insights on this question. I really appreciate the time each of you took to respond and I am thrilled at the many insights into what people mean when saying 'all is one'.

Hi Friends,

As the topic suggests: What does the term "All is One" mean to you?

"All is One" is a term which I often come across both on TTB and in literature I read. At the same time, it is a term which I often struggle to understand the true meaning of. Therefore I thought I would ask for your opinions. I look forward to hearing your thoughts and ideas to help me understand. Thank you for your attention to this question