Quote from the ancients

[Will Hooper]

I shared this with Jerre recently, and thought I'd pass it along to the group:

Chang Tzu (Zhuangzi), often regarded as second only to Lao Tzu in the development of Taoism, wrote (among many other things) about the characteristics of the "true beings" of old. One of the lines that particularly struck me comes from the sixth book of Chang Tzu, in which he writes:

The true person breathes even from the heels, while the small person breathes only from the throat.

While I can lay no claim to being a "true person" yet, the image of the breath grounding down into my heels with each inhale, and then my whole body exhaling, allows me to breath deep enough to be light-headed. Just found this interesting, and wanted to share.

* In the interest of full disclosure, I note that I didn't learn this originally by reading Chang Tzu, but by reading an issue of Marvel Comic's Immortal Iron Fist, in which Shang-Chi: Master of Kung Fu quotes Chang Tzu on this point.

[Luke Anthony]

Excellent post, Will.

Anyone looking for more info on this via Wikipedia, and wondering why it redirected to a page about Wonder Woman villain Chuang Tzu, aka Egg Fu, will have better luck with "Chuang Tsu", the more common (these days) anglicization of the name. I always loved his stuff, though.

[Will Hooper]

OH NOES!

[Hood Mullican]

If I ever had a debilitating illness and only could read one book for the rest of my life (a curious symptom of the insidious disease), I think it'd be the Zhuangzi.

For one, it's longer than the Daodejing, so I wouldn't get quite so bored,

For two, after I was done, I'd probably be happy being bedridden.

[_LiLi_]

* In the interest of full disclosure, I note that I didn't learn this originally by reading Chang Tzu, but by reading an issue of Marvel Comic's Immortal Iron Fist, in which Shang-Chi: Master of Kung Fu quotes Chang Tzu on this point.

hahaha