Hi Kitty,
Glad to see u here. I don’t usually read blogs but I find it an interesting thing to try on, so, here I am. When I come across any interesting blogs, I will link them up here. BTW, a few links have been added as reference. Feel free to visit.
Warm regards.
Stone
Hi, when I am checking your blog, I seem to recall that a woman said something about Taoism in a restaurant; she said that Taoism does not teach you knowledge but teach you how to feel things which are surrounding us. I doubt what she had said. Would you like to explain this question to me?
I’d say, Taoism is about the ultimate truth, whereas knowledge is something on the manifestation of the Tao. Basically, knowledge is built around our empirical experience and our conception of the world around us, out of our six senses, to start with.
Taoism does tell us how the world comes into being, and, this is, of course, kind of knowledge. However, Taoism does not want us stay there and require us to look through to the real nature of the myriads of the world.
This is metaphysical and thus beyond all words and speech, and so we have to rely on a kind of ‘direct interaction’ (maybe that’s the ‘feeling’ referred by the lady) with Tao. BUT, I must emphasis that this is not something that simply rely on personal experience, as that might have suggested by the lady. ‘To return to the root’ (歸根復命) is not simply a matter of ‘feeling’.
Yes, you may simply put it this way. But we have to replace your ‘natural world’ to the ‘Tao’ in Taoism, as this natural world is only a manifestation of the Tao. So, to return to the natural world does not really transcend one (to get away) from the mundane world.
Nevertheless, the whole process to get hold of it is easier said then done. We need to read on and on, again and again, with an inquisitive mind. Then, we will eventually get closer to it. The clue in the studies of traditional Chinese culture is to be suspicious on any claims, statements, beliefs,…, and almost everything and find out the logics behind to make them sound by your own. Reject anything that is unsound. So, I think this is the difficult bit…
Thanks for your kind sharing. The above are marks of our life, which may not be easily erased. Stay used to it and when you are more experienced, you’ll learn the ‘rule’ to deal with it. No hard feeling.
Kindly note that the ‘reality’ is you still have to live with ‘your life’ even after you find out the answers of the puzzling questions!
You named a few fundamental yet important questions for intellectuals here. Though we believe ‘simple is beauty’, different schools of philosophy and religion have different opinion and answers to your questions. You have to bear in mind that “to feel comfortable", too, has many different interpretations which are constrained by the social and personal values you accepted and adopted.
The quests of ‘who am I’ and ‘what is the meaning of life’ are everlasting, until you return to the God, enlightened, or be one with Tao. So, very short answers are almost impossible. But I’d try to give you a lead to start your own search.
When we talk about the meaning of something, we’d have actually established a sort of valuation system to measure the outcome(s) in the end. In this case, we’d then want to find out what would be the outcome(s) at the end of the life? What’d be the achievement(s) at last? How is the ‘I’ being affected or transformed at the end? What are our expectation(s)?
When you have found for yourself primitive answers to the above questions, you’ll then be able to build up your own meaning of the life.
As a Buddhist, the meaning of one’s life is to help sentient beings of all times to achieve enlightenment. To make this happen, one must be well educated, learnt, and trained to master the essentials of Buddhist world views and the noble paths.
Limitless...... 
I have been constantly checking a number of blogs, mostly on stocks and HK issues. Yours is a good addition. Very interesting.
Do you find any blogs worth to read? can u post them as links.
Regards,
Kitty
Hi Kitty,
Glad to see u here. I don’t usually read blogs but I find it an interesting thing to try on, so, here I am. When I come across any interesting blogs, I will link them up here. BTW, a few links have been added as reference. Feel free to visit.
Warm regards.
Stone
Hi, when I am checking your blog, I seem to recall that a woman said something about Taoism in a restaurant; she said that Taoism does not teach you knowledge but teach you how to feel things which are surrounding us. I doubt what she had said. Would you like to explain this question to me?
Dear Fish,
Umm…, you are giving me a big question!
I’d say, Taoism is about the ultimate truth, whereas knowledge is something on the manifestation of the Tao. Basically, knowledge is built around our empirical experience and our conception of the world around us, out of our six senses, to start with.
Taoism does tell us how the world comes into being, and, this is, of course, kind of knowledge. However, Taoism does not want us stay there and require us to look through to the real nature of the myriads of the world.
This is metaphysical and thus beyond all words and speech, and so we have to rely on a kind of ‘direct interaction’ (maybe that’s the ‘feeling’ referred by the lady) with Tao. BUT, I must emphasis that this is not something that simply rely on personal experience, as that might have suggested by the lady. ‘To return to the root’ (歸根復命) is not simply a matter of ‘feeling’.
Let me know if you are more confused instead…
Best regards.
Stone
Dear Stone,
What is “To return to the root" ? Does it mean to return to the natrual world?
Regards.
Fish
Hi Fish,
Yes, you may simply put it this way. But we have to replace your ‘natural world’ to the ‘Tao’ in Taoism, as this natural world is only a manifestation of the Tao. So, to return to the natural world does not really transcend one (to get away) from the mundane world.
Regards.
Stone
Dear Stone,
It looks quite easy to catch on, but I am not sure that I fully understand.
Regards.
Fish
Dear Fish,
Yes, the matter is sort of easy and difficult.
It is easy, since it is all told. Nothing hidden…
Nevertheless, the whole process to get hold of it is easier said then done. We need to read on and on, again and again, with an inquisitive mind. Then, we will eventually get closer to it. The clue in the studies of traditional Chinese culture is to be suspicious on any claims, statements, beliefs,…, and almost everything and find out the logics behind to make them sound by your own. Reject anything that is unsound. So, I think this is the difficult bit…
More confusion?…
Best regards.
Stone
Stone,
今日有個人做了一些事令我好唔開心，
但係我又唔可以嬲佢，
而佢亦無可能會知道，亦唔會明白我點解嬲佢，
惟有自己發自己脾氣，
唉，人生真是充滿無奈。
Regards
Fish
Stone,
唔好意思，
係你的blog裏寫了一些無聊的事，
你可以將它刪除。
還有，多謝你對我的疑問作出解答。
Regards
Fish
Hey Fish,
Thanks for your kind sharing. The above are marks of our life, which may not be easily erased. Stay used to it and when you are more experienced, you’ll learn the ‘rule’ to deal with it. No hard feeling.
Best regards.
Stone
Dear Stone,
Who am I? What is the meaning of my life? I always ask myself such questions.
But I am still seeking the answer…
However, before the “ultimate" answer is emerged, I believe that life is going on…I have to get used to it and deal with it in a way I am comfortable…
In your opinion, what is meaning of life?
Best regards,
Little man
Dear Little Man,
Kindly note that the ‘reality’ is you still have to live with ‘your life’ even after you find out the answers of the puzzling questions!
You named a few fundamental yet important questions for intellectuals here. Though we believe ‘simple is beauty’, different schools of philosophy and religion have different opinion and answers to your questions. You have to bear in mind that “to feel comfortable", too, has many different interpretations which are constrained by the social and personal values you accepted and adopted.
The quests of ‘who am I’ and ‘what is the meaning of life’ are everlasting, until you return to the God, enlightened, or be one with Tao. So, very short answers are almost impossible. But I’d try to give you a lead to start your own search.
When we talk about the meaning of something, we’d have actually established a sort of valuation system to measure the outcome(s) in the end. In this case, we’d then want to find out what would be the outcome(s) at the end of the life? What’d be the achievement(s) at last? How is the ‘I’ being affected or transformed at the end? What are our expectation(s)?
When you have found for yourself primitive answers to the above questions, you’ll then be able to build up your own meaning of the life.
As a Buddhist, the meaning of one’s life is to help sentient beings of all times to achieve enlightenment. To make this happen, one must be well educated, learnt, and trained to master the essentials of Buddhist world views and the noble paths.
Write to me again, if you find more confused.
Warm regards.
Stone
Dear Stone,
Noted. Actually I am not sure I fully understand that.
However, I believe that I have to live my life and will “add oil" to find out primitive answers to the above questions you mentioned.
Thank you very much for your information.
Best regards,
Little man
Little Man,
加油加油！要記住，路總是要自己走的，飯總是要自己吃的。
Stone