Sound familiar? 😉 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o9mIyxcYc6U

Have you ever experienced a spiritual awakening? My first spiritual awakening happened in 2004. I grew up as a rational, materialistic atheist in the Bible Belt, and for the first 22 years of my life I had no conception whatsoever of spiritual consciousness. Something I was deeply passionate about (you might say obsessed with) from very early on was martial arts (I basically wanted to be a Ninja Turtle). So when I was 10 my parents signed me up for lessons at the local taekwondo chain school. It was the kind of place where I started at age 10, had a black belt at age 12, and a second degree black belt at age 14. After that I branched out into other martial arts, including Chinese, Japanese, Brazilian, and Filipino styles. What they all had in common was that they were all external styles, meaning that the emphasis was on athleticism and external results: lots of jumping around, kicking high, and doing various kinds of stunts. Something else that interested me from a very young age was ancient stories and mythology. I enjoyed reading the Greek myths, and I found and read copies of the Panchatantra and the Tao Te Ching. I thought the Panchatantra was really cool, but at the time the Tao Te Ching didn't make any sense to me and came across as a bunch of gobbledygook. In college I studied math and physics, but I went to a small, private liberal arts school where you had to learn a little bit of everything. The class I took for my religion elective was Buddhism. I learned about the story of Prince Siddhartha Gautama sitting under the Bodhi Tree and experiencing satori, the “instantaneous awakening”, and arising as the Buddha, the “awakened one”. They were cool old stories, but at the time meant nothing to me beyond that. I also kept learning new martial arts, including Japanese, Chinese, and Brazilian styles, all still externally focused. I tried out a tai chi class, but found I didn't have the patience for it at the time. For graduate school I moved to the west coast, still studying math and physics, and still on the lookout for new martial arts to learn. One day I saw a flier for a place called the Kung Fu Academy and decided to check it out. It turned out this was a school that taught internal kung fu, largely rooted in the tai chi classics. If it had been called "the Tai Chi Academy" I probably wouldn't have gone, due to my earlier boredom when I tried a tai chi class, but I found the training to be very effective for where I was in my development.

Here's another online text version of the Daodejing that's searchable (helpful when you want to find a particular passage but don't remember the number): https://timelessminutes.com/tao-te-ching-complete-text/

According to taoism.net this is supposed to be the "most accurate translation" (by Derek Lin) of the Daodejing available anywhere at any price. While this may be a tough claim to back up, it's probably at least worth a read. 😉 https://taoism.net/tao-te-ching-online-translation/

Meeting Overview - The group discussed Chapter 23 of the Daodejing, focusing on translation challenges and interpretations. - The chapter is considered one of the most difficult passages to translate, not because of vocabulary but because of contested meaning. - The discussion explored the contrast between Daoist and Confucian approaches to tradition and authority. Key Translation Concepts - The discussion focused on the Chinese term "ziran" (自然), which means "of itself" or "self-so" and is sometimes translated as "natural." - This concept is central to understanding how the Dao operates according to itself rather than external direction. - The character "jan" (言) refers specifically to spoken words rather than written ones. Spoken words physically dissipate in the air, reflecting their impermanent nature. This impermanence contrasts with Confucian attempts to make traditions persist through words. Metaphorical Interpretations - The text uses natural phenomena (violent winds, torrential rains) as metaphors for powerful but temporary forces. - This creates a parallel between natural impermanence and human attempts to make traditions permanent. - The group debated how to properly translate lines about "heaven and earth not being able to persist." Philosophical Implications - The text critiques the Confucian focus on "Dao" as a social order rather than the Daoist cosmic pattern. - The chapter presents a challenge: how to respond when living under an opposing system of values. - The contrast between "a person of Dao" acting "in accord with Dao" versus how to respond to commands from authority figures. - The discussion touched on the irony of discussing the impermanence of words while studying a 2,000-year-old text. Translation Challenges - The group debated homophonic wordplay in Chinese between "de" (德) from Daodejing and "de" (得) meaning "to gain." - This creates polyvalence where one word carries multiple meanings simultaneously. - There was significant discussion about how to translate the concepts of "gain" and "loss" in context. - The ambiguity in the Chinese text creates multiple valid interpretations.