chenping

To lose the original face is to lose moral composure. Immorality knows no shame. Cultures that have no shame love the shock value of losing face.

But you guys feel at home on Planet Earth, I don't. You feather your nest, have families and friends and your Tao. I feel as if I am in the land of hungry ghosts. That's it! That's exactly what I am talking about. You get yourself unstuck and make yourself at home here in ghost land. I don't want to. I don't belong here. I want to get out of here like Dorothy on the Yellow Brick road back to Kansas. It's crazy, man. I seek nothing and I don't see any point to my being here in this reality. I don't want third eye, yin yang, whatever. As long as I can't get out, I could sure use a lot more money to get real comfortable. I am heading for Bhutan next week. It's $10,000 for a five-day stay in the Punakha Valley. No trekking, no temples. I will just lay back with a hot-stone bath and massage. As long as I am stuck, I might as well live it up.

What do I seek? Frankly, I haven't figured out yet what I (this seeker) am. All I know if that I am a Chinaman stuck in a human body living on the Planet Earth. I don't buy it but that's the situation that I am stuck with. Pathetic, isn't it?

There is nothing wrong with crossing cultures as long as you respect the cultures you cross including avoid tearing down barriers that others erect to protect themselves from you. Even in America, a man has a right to shoot you down if you break into his home and force him to share his private life with you. Wu wei of the Chinese Tao Te Ching that has no bias means to butt out. The world may not be pretty to you and you want to expose it to the light of day, eradicate cultural practises that divide, squash backward beliefs that destroy harmony. They are all wrong and you are right. In the end, we are all victims of those who think they are right. And this is your bias.

If you were standing next to me, chances are I wouldn't talk to you if you don't have anything to do with attending to me, my dog and my toys. I only talk to service-providers. When I am not on the computer unwinding like now, I would be doing real stuff that assures my financial viability. I do need to hide from "real life" as you call it. "Real people" are heavy maintenance. I really don't have the time for them. After a good time, they won't go away. They call you on your phone and want to know when they can meet up again. On the internet, I can switch you off and never even need to say goodbye.

Yes, it's all illusory. Life is like a movie, Snow White and the Seven Dawrfs, with a cast of make-believe characters and I am cast as Sleepy, you are Grumpy and he is Lazy. The only dwarf who takes his identity as real is Crazy.

Can you be more specific? Imagine yourself with a beer at a bar and you want to start a conversation with this ass standing next to you. You pop a question like that, you will get an answer you don't want. So, ask me again.

A personal identity is boring and usually unhelpful for socializing. Our physical bodies and social status in the world beyond the world wide web are divisive and off-putting to those who may be old, sickly, ugly, and poor. This is because everybody forms an image of everybody else and compare that with his or her own image. In cyberspace, you are liberated from such hang-ups and everyone is equal. Isn't this a lot better?

What west bashing? Philosophical Daoism of the west is a liberal arts subject that has a liberal bias. Yes or no? There is no Tao except the Tao that can be told and it has been told by Hendricks, Feng and others. This Tao has western liberal virtues like humility, equality and never put your best foot forward. Stuff like that. For God's sake, wake up! You can point to the Christians that they are worshipping a non-existent God, why can't you see that you are talking about a non-existent Tao? The ground rules of Tao are similar to the Commandments of God. Wake up!! Your Lao wrote a pamphlet. Pooh Bear Lao of the west, that is. Please don't infer that all this stuff you are saying (and it's quite alright for you to say them) are connected to the Chinese text of the Tao Te Ching which has no bias. Your brand of (western) Taoism is a sect not different from Wudang and other Taoist sects and each sect has its own respective bias. In that regard, you are correct. Western Taoism has a liberal bias. I have been raised to respect my elders and do not share your western liberal disdain for tradition and authority. To look down on your elders is to have contempt for yourself. Such arrogance! And you would talk about humility. If your foreign mind have clearer understanding, why don't you stick with foreign thought like Christianity, psychology or Keats? Chinese thought of antiquity comes from an elitist, imperialistic culture of ancient China. People got their heads chopped off if they didn't bow to the Emperor. Everyone has his place. The Japanese and Koreans would understand this. You who would neither bow nor kneel could talk of humility? "White man speak with forked tongue", said the red man. Is that clear enough?

Any bias you detected comes from the English translation of the Tao Te Ching. Western renderings are biased. He wrote a Dao that nothing goes. But the westernized Dao is biased to an enabling yin because it is meant for a liberal readership. And because it is an enabler, it points everybody everywhere - anything goes - a bias of no biases.

Yes, brilliant strategy used for the wrong reason. That was why - to prevent it falling into unworthy hands - Chinese martial art was, by tradition, secretly handed down and never openly taught to outsiders.

You think? Your rationalization of Sun Tsu's martial philosophy is selfish and debased. It's never about costs and always about principle when one is driven to wage war. The shock and awe of Desert Storm was classic Sun Tzu but the reason for war was unprincipled. Sun Tsu strategy is let you keep on thinking the way you do. Martial art is deception. Another bloodbath awaits you.

Taichi enables one to live life either long and slowly or fast and furious. I prefer the latter. Even as a kid, I didn't eat the way other kids did. I wolfed it down always. Longevity has no value to me. Everything needs to be in season. Even people have a sell-by date. If the body is not at the peak of its performance cycle, it's time to go. Hanging on with loose teeth and blurred vision is not longetivity. It's pathetic.

Effect with regard to what? Why do you say that? I would say the unbending opinion comes from common sense. I find it impossible to stick a knife into my belly or slit my own throat. Where do you think my unbending opinion of such actions comes from? Qi is not a substance foreign to the body. LSD is. Transfer of Qi is similar to exchange of bodily fluids. Cite one example of an Eastern practice that is far more dangerous. You know the drug thing is wrong. Why are you pushing it?

To find out if there is any connection between A and B, press A and see if there is any response at B. No response confirms no connection.