Chapter One of the TTC

[ChiDragon]

9 minutes ago, Nungali said:

it seems an ongoing thing with you Mr.  Dragon

 

Never mind. As long we and all understood the principle of  Wu Wei the same way, I'll be happy. The rest is insignificant. Peace!

Edited January 3 by ChiDragon

[Cobie]

 

On 01/01/2026 at 1:41 AM, 心神 ~ said:

When I look up the meaning of each character, this is what I find: …

 

Which dictionary did you use?

 

 

[ChiDragon]

51 minutes ago, Cobie said:

Which dictionary did you use?

 

Does it matter which one it was used? At least, she picked the right one! 

[DynamicEquilibrium]

4 hours ago, ChiDragon said:

 

Does it matter which one it was used? At least, she picked the right one! 

Indeed! 

[心神 ~]

13 hours ago, Cobie said:

 

Which dictionary did you use?

 

 

The main ones are MandarinSpot, Xiaoma, and Chisho. But I pulled from quite a few for this one.

 

[Cobie]

 

1 hour ago, 心神 ~ said:

… MandarinSpot, Xiaoma, and Chisho …

These are all dictionaries for the use of the characters in modern Chinese. You need a dictionary for the meanings as used in transcripts of Classical Chinese.  There often is some difference in the meanings. I use: A Student's Dictionary of Classical and Medieval Chinese, Author: Paul W. Kroll 

 

 

Edited January 6 by Cobie

[steve]

4 hours ago, Cobie said:

 

These are all dictionaries for the use of the characters in modern Chinese. You need a dictionary for the meanings as used in transcripts of Classical Chinese.  There often is some difference in the meanings. I use: A Student's Dictionary of Classical and Medieval Chinese, Author: Paul W. Kroll 

 

 

 

May I ask, do you speak and/or read Mandarin @Cobie?

[Cobie]

These three are not the same:
 

古文 (gu3 wen2) Classical Chinese ; 

 

文言文 (wen2 yan2 wen2) Literary Chinese ; 

普通话 (pu3 tong1 hua4) Mandarin.

 

Most sinologists use the words Classical and Literary for different periods (pre/post Han).

 

 

 

Edited January 6 by Cobie

[ChiDragon]

8 hours ago, Cobie said:

These are all dictionaries for the use of the characters in modern Chinese. You need a dictionary for the meanings as used in transcripts of Classical Chinese.  There often is some difference in the meanings. I use: A Student's Dictionary of Classical and Medieval Chinese, Author: Paul W. Kroll 

Beside using a good dictionary, you also need someone who speak the language to explain the true context for you. Otherwise, you are still working in the blind.

One day, I had dropped by a Chinese book store. I picked a book with the title of "A complete guide of Chi-Gung(氣功)" by Daniel Reid. He is an Englishman. His Chinese father-in-law introduced Chi-gung to him. So, he practiced and decided to write a book about it in English. He wrote the book with the help of many knowledgeable Chi-Gung masters in Taiwan. Especially, his wife, for her astute assistance interpreting esoteris Chinese materials. I was reading his book as I am reading it in Chinese. It seems that everything is flowing in my mind as I knew it already. 

Edited January 6 by ChiDragon

[Cobie]

 

11 minutes ago, ChiDragon said:

… you are still working in the blind.

 

Always happy to disagree with you.  

 

Quote

…. everything is flowing in my mind as I knew it already. 

That’s great, I am very happy for you. 

 

 

Edited January 6 by Cobie

[DynamicEquilibrium]

On 02/01/2026 at 5:29 PM, ChiDragon said:

 

Wu Wei is a compound character. 

Wu Wei is a term with a philosophy behind it. The word Wu is meaningless if it was treated alone here. 

無 名天地之始

If Wu is a term to name the beginning of heaven and earth it may be very close to 道.

Someone defined Wu as a synonym for Tao, so what about Wu wei as "Tao action" something like that ? 

Edited Wednesday at 06:58 AM by DynamicEquilibrium

[Nungali]

Except Tao   'doesnt act '      

 

 

TTC 25 : 

...  I don’t know what else to call it
so I’ll call it Tao.
What’s it like?
I can tell you this much: it’s great. ... ''

 

- Hogan translation.

[DynamicEquilibrium]

10 minutes ago, Nungali said:

Except Tao   'doesnt act '      

 

 

TTC 25 : 

...  I don’t know what else to call it
so I’ll call it Tao.
What’s it like?
I can tell you this much: it’s great. ... ''

 

- Hogan translation.

 'Tao effect' ?

[ChiDragon]

Just now, DynamicEquilibrium said:

Someone defined Wu as a synonym for Tao,

That someone is an idiot.

[ChiDragon]

Just now, Nungali said:

Except Tao   'doesnt act '   

Who said Tao doesn't act?

Chapter 51 The Divine Virtue of Wu Wei
1. Tao engenders it,
2. Te rears it.
3. Matter forms it,
4. Environment grows it.
5. Hence, all things respect Tao and honor Te.
6. The dignity of Tao,
7. The value of Te.
8. They do not interfere but let them be natural.
9. Therefore,
10. Tao engenders it,
11. Te rears it.
12. Grow it and nourish it,
13. Let it grow to maturity,
14. To foster it and protect it.
15. Engenders it but not possess it.
16. For it but not restraining it,
17. Raise it but not controlling it,
18. It was called divine virtue.

[ChiDragon]

Just now, DynamicEquilibrium said:

 'Tao effect' ?

The Tao effect is Wu Wei.

[ChiDragon]

15 hours ago, DynamicEquilibrium said:

無 名天地之始

If Wu is a term to name the beginning of heaven and earth it may be very close to 道.

Someone defined Wu as a synonym for Tao, so what about Wu wei as "Tao action" something like that ? 

The contextual meaning of Wu was defined under a set of condition by Laotze in Chapter 1. However, Tao may be called Wu, but in other texts Wu is not Tao.

Edited Wednesday at 10:00 PM by ChiDragon

[DynamicEquilibrium]

9 hours ago, ChiDragon said:

That someone is an idiot.

He did it in context https://www.fysk.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/道德經釋義.pdf

 

8 hours ago, ChiDragon said:

The contextual meaning of Wu was defined under a set of condition by Laotze in Chapter 1. However, Tao may be called Wu, but in other texts Wu is not Tao.

🤝

Edited yesterday at 06:44 AM by DynamicEquilibrium

[ChiDragon]

On 12/24/2025 at 4:30 PM, ChiDragon said:

3. 無，名天地之始。
4. 有，名萬物之母。
7. 此兩者同出而異名，

 

@DynamicEquilibrium

Line 7 此兩者是指兩名無和有,而不是指"無名"或"有名"
Line 7 was referring to two names 'Wu' and 'you'. However, it was not referring to "has no name" or "has a name"  
 

Edited 11 hours ago by ChiDragon

[ChiDragon]

17 hours ago, DynamicEquilibrium said:

He did it in context https://www.fysk.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/道德經釋義.pdf

 

Where? 你是不是要我海底撈針？
Are you asking me to find a needle in a hay stack?

Edited 11 hours ago by ChiDragon

[DynamicEquilibrium]

5 hours ago, ChiDragon said:

 

Where? 你是不是要我海底撈針？

No 😁

It's in the introduction: 

《老子》曰：「天下之物生於有，有生於無。」此「無」無形無象，無色無聲，無臭無味，無熱無寒，無左無右，無前無後，無內無外，無始無終，無邊無際，無情無思，無善無惡，恍惚、杏杳冥冥、無微兆、無端倪，至虛至空，故稱「無」。此「無」本來無名，老子勉強把它稱為「道」。此「無」即「道」。

 

《Lǎozǐ》yuē: "Tiānxià zhī wù shēng yú yǒu, yǒu shēng yú wú." Cǐ "wú" wú xíng wú xiàng, wú sè wú shēng, wú xiù wú wèi, wú rè wú hán, wú zuǒ wú yòu, wú qián wú hòu, wú nèi wú wài, wú shǐ wú zhōng, wú biān wú jì, wú qíng wú sī, wú shàn wú è, huǎnghū, xìngyǎo míngmíng, wú wēi zhào, wú duān ní, zhì xū zhì kōng, gù chēng "wú". Cǐ "wú" běnlái wú míng, Lǎozǐ miǎnqiǎng bǎ tā chēng wéi "dào". Cǐ "wú" jí "dào".

 

[ChiDragon]

7 hours ago, DynamicEquilibrium said:

老子》曰：「天下之物生於有，有生於無。」

 

在这里，'有'是道，'無'也是道。

Over here, 'You' is Tao and 'Wu' is also Tao.
 

無形無象，無色無聲.....
no form no image, no color and no sound
跟著以後的 "無" 是形容道，但在這里不能說 "無" 是道。

The following "Wu" is the description of Tao, however, we cannot say that "Wu" is Tao here.

Edited 11 hours ago by ChiDragon

[Cobie]

 

2 hours ago, DynamicEquilibrium said:

《老子》曰：「天下之物生於有，有生於無。」《Lǎozǐ》yuē: "Tiānxià zhī wù shēng yú yǒu, yǒu shēng yú wú."

 

This quote (from ch. 40) is different in the oldest script (Guodian):
天下之勿（物）生於又（有）， 生於亡。 The things of the world arise from being, And being comes from non-being.

https://terebess.hu/english/tao/henricks2.html#Kap40

 

 

Edited 15 hours ago by Cobie

[Cobie]

P.S. there was an admod warning not to post in characters without an English translation.

 

 

Edited 14 hours ago by Cobie

[ChiDragon]

4 hours ago, Cobie said:

This quote (from ch. 40) is different in the oldest script (Guodian):
天下之勿（物）生於又（有）， 生於亡。 The things of the world arise from being, And being comes from non-being.

https://terebess.hu/english/tao/henricks2.html#Kap40

It is obvious there were mistakes made by the author using phonetics. The correction has been made in the parentheses. 
勿（物）have the same sound as "Wu"
又（有）have the same sound as "You"
亡 does not have the same sound as "Wu". It was a big mistake.