Rara

No worries. And yes, "addicted" is the issue and I have a very addictive personality. Initially, I thought this stuff was supposed to calm me down to the point where it elimitates the problem entirely, but high expectations like this still lead to overthinking, and obsessing over it and practicing later at night will be stimulating. Try and think the Daoist way and beware of too much of one thing

I like that you have a strategy in place. For me, if I read, I often get stimulated too, but listening to music or a podcast tends to work a lot of the time for me. The trouble with meditative practices before bed is because my mind associates it still with "something to do". When on retreat, I could meditate around 8pm and go to sleep around 10/10:30 with some reading before lights out, but any attachment to any sort of responsibility was left at home. Calming down was easier. So how we are naturally wired and our mental habits can also dictate what keeps us up. Whatever distracts me from what's on my mind is what helps switch me off, and I think this is different for most people.

Yes, in fact, insomnia is my biggest problem as I'm very excitable. Therefore, when I train taiji, it can have the adverse effect that I expect sometimes. A day or two off to just settle might be what you need.

Look at me here, being the first! Hehe. The problem is, my question disappeared after reading your transmission @flowing hands This is very concise and I have understood my lesson for today. Thank you.

In my whole journey with this study, I have realised something invaluable, which is that regardless, the words should be read as both in every chapter. There is governance of people, in which I am "people" and an someone else is playing governor. Then there is me as governor; of my own mind, body, soul, as well as the people around me. And vice versa. When we interact with the world, the world reflects back.

I think it is also more. The "pretending you know when you don't" idea. So, one might use supposed knowledge to win people over and manipulate them, which I think is a human sickness that we all have until we read something like this. I still have it in me. The heart-mind purification still has quite a way to go.

Aw that's super. A bit of wu wei in action there 😁

Know your enemy. Avoid violence whenever possible. Have mercy.

In the back of my mind, it was there! One of those where I've seen "elixir field" around and not put two and two together 🙄

Seriously, a good point. I might have to steal this for when others talk confusedly about Daoism. Facebook pages are great for that!

Do you have a translation for "Dan"?

Who can I contact to get my own PPJ?

Oh, does he not promote guns anymore? I guess that's a start.

There have been similar lines to this elsewhere in the book. I still wonder whether this means to just not be dictating when in a position of power, or if it means to not even go for a position of power and to be a positive force behind the scenes. Maybe both, depending on the situation you're in?

I am still butt-hurt from this.

Hang on a minute 😂😂😂😂😂

Why create turbulance?

Another one I do regularly is orange peel in hot water. This is apparently good for cooling the system. Or satsuma, which I have right now....and still, it's 29°C here today.

Ok, I think I understand. In which case, I'll ask @flowing hands more details. FH, if you read this, I think Dawei is saying this was spoken to you by your teacher, and you wrote down this learning? That's my understanding of dictation...

I think this is close, yes. I think the main trouble is that it creates "guru culture" like we see nowadays. My Facebook feed gets the odd Osho quote thrown about, as an example. Clearly this person thinks they have their Way and good for them. But firstly, is it really the Way that they're on? Second, what benefit does posting all this stuff to everybody on their friends list really achieve? Everybody else is busy posting photos of their kids, promoting a political movement, sharing funny memes etc. If a sage were to announce he or she possessed the Way and tried to enlighten the people, that would be quite the task. Like a politician/PM/president...how much do we really listen. Have they not created more scepticism than trust?

Hello! This is quite synchronous to an Adam Mizner taiji interview I was watching the other day. He said something along the lines of, "people think that you are perfecting a form, but really, you are perfecting you. So "the action of Dao within you" / "one responds from the centre" are all the right sounds for me 🙂

That explains the Gu and Ch'u translations much better. Thanks again.

This explains my biscuit and water habit. Maybe I should stop buying biscuits 🤔

Yes, I always have a water with coffee! I'm trying to not drink it at the moment though, I get overloaded quite easily...I'm naturally hot inside.

Where is this transmission from? Also, how do we define "transmission", compared to "translation"?