I don't understand

[bamboo_ leaf]

I don’t get it people say it’s the man not the style, but willing to fight any one defending their style.

People say its about kicking butt, and spend yrs learning how to do it.

People say it is the man and not the style,
If the goal is from form to formlessness
If the reality is being able to kick ass and not any of the new age mystic stuff

Then why the concern about who learned from who, what is being lost.

why the concern about what is, and what is not.

Why? :cool:

[EARTH DRAGON]

I think that is has to do with maturity in yourself and your art. most people start the martial arts to learn how to fight, after they spend some time they learn how to defend themselves, after more years they learn how not to fight and finally after many years they learn they the only enemy that they had to fight were themsleves.
Understanding yourself and conquering your demons takes a long time. some never understand but some do , and only those who do, go on to become better people. remember fighting can be done by any person that uses their fists. but wining can only be done by a person that uses their mind.

[Wu-Xing]

Amen to that brother!

[Justa Man]

people are caught up on labels, that's why. they'll go say, 'oh yea, it's all about the art', then flip the script entirely and disrespect those who don't study a 'worthy' lineage.
it's garbage basically. cats love to seperate and they love distinction, and they don't know too much about the tao.
it's amusing actually.

[Justa Man]

but in keeping with the tao, there is no reason for a "why?", it just is. so laugh and enjoy all the differences of the same.

[S.Teebas]

Hey Earth dragon, i like what you wrote...it makes sence dude! :)

I have a question for others here, somewhere i saw someones signature that said something along the lines of:

"A true taoist laughs when surrounded by chaos"

Does anyone know what this means? ..or what it means to you?

Thanks,
S.Teebas

[No_Know]

"I don’t get it people say it’s the man not the style, but willing to fight any one defending their style. "

This does seem two faced or hypocritical.

"People say its about kicking butt, and spend yrs learning how to do it.

People say it is the man and not the style,
If the goal is from form to formlessness
If the reality is being able to kick ass and not any of the new age mystic stuff

Then why the concern about who learned from who,'


You're going in for an organ transplant. You choose the Surgeon. Your choices are the person who read an article from a national magazine on the procedure (this person is not a doctor and only claim to being successful at the operation is the reading of that one article). And a top of the class medical school graduate from the world's pioneering School of organ transplat procedures (this person has done the operation you are going to have, forty times all successful with no rejections). If it matters here to you who learned from who, then perhaps you have an idea of what(why) it matters who learned from who.


"what is being lost."

Reputation. Respectability. People prefer to go to some universities over others because they were reported to do good work and that news spread. There's a concept, that if enough people say the same thing that thing is true. Note: you only trust the word~ of certain people, or distrust certain people. But having the network of trust, you don't have to go over things that people have already found out. If you didn't trust, you wouldhave to measure a quarter of the world to the Nort Pole to believe that a metre is a metre. You would have to infect yourself with the ebola virus to see if the vaccine works. There are some things we don't need to know to live. You close the door behind you because you trust that it will shut or stay shut. You trust that the stuff you pass will leave the room when you flush. You believe in it's ability to work, so you use it. While trust came from presonal evaluation you First went with it because of its reputation for doing a job you wanted done. They said it would do what you wanted so you tried it. In Kung-Fu, the significance comes later. The beginning usually establishes a foundation. whether it's got history or not it might appeal to you--a beginner, for whom anything is more than you had before. Even though prior training a different thing is a different thing. And for you level of understanding (which is not determined by number of years involved in it), it can be vital, you just don't get it. So you go with a reputation that you Trust and you understand that if you stick with it you'll get what you wanted for which the system was reputed.

"why the concern about what is, and what is not. "

I think that I No_Know to what this refers.

"Why?"

The roots hint at the quality of the seeds (acorns/pine cones).

[maoshan]

To answer your question:

A true taoist laughs when surrounded by chaos"


Means that, usually when chaos breaks out, the average man panicks, while the taoist always keeps his center.
Life and Death are all the same to a taoist.
A confrontation with 10 men is the same as a stroll on a sunny
day.


Peace

Maoshan