Re: CHAT illuminati (was: Back again)

In a message dated 2003:09:12 01:53:47 AM, elemtilas@YAHOO.COM writes:

>--- J Y S Czhang <czhang23@...> wrote:
>
>> I think that it's unfortunate that
>> bamboogrove.com choose the words
>> "hedonistic escape" ... that's not accurate
>> from either a Taoist or a historical
>> viewpoint.
>
>I should think not! I don't know much about
>Taoism, but "hedonism" isn't what comes to mind.
    Yepyep, hedonism is an extreme of selfish indulgence
much like asceticism is its opposite, opposing ex-
treme of self-mortification.
    Taoist - and Buddhists - ideally prefer whole-
ness and balance.

>> Most of the Sages were either exiled
>> or self-exiled... and, as
>> Taoists, they took the attitude of "shit
>> happens... might as well enjoy nature to
>> the hilt out here in the backwaters since we
>> have nothing better to do - Oh!,
>> there's _nothing_ better than appreciating
>> nature and the Music of Nature...ah,
>> the usefulness of being supposedly useless...
>> gotta write poems about all of
>> this... play music on the _qin_/_ch'in_ [5 or 7
>> string fretless long-board
>> zither] contemplatively imitatin' nature
>> sounds... brew wine... etc."
>
>Sounds like a plan! :)
    I prefer coffee or tea, but otherwise
IMHO it would be really fantastic to hike, chat, picnic,
play music, lounge around, nap, etc. amongst a rather sizable
number of you on this list :)
    The more the merrier... just as long as ya
peeps are capable of being better listeners &
witty observers than Babelers ;)

---  º°`°º ø,¸¸,ø º°`°º ø,¸¸,ø º°`°º ø,¸¸,ø º°`°º  º°`°º ø,¸~->

Hanuman Zhang, _Gomi no sensei_ [Master of junk]
http://www.boheme-magazine.net

    "To live is to scrounge, taking what you can in order to survive. So,
since living is scrounging, the result of our efforts is to amass a pile of
rubbish."
                            - Chuang Tzu/Zhuangzi, China, 4th Century BCE

    "The most beautiful order is a heap of sweepings piled up at random."
                            - Heraclitus, Greece, 5th Century BCE

    "...So what is life for? Life is for beauty and substance and sound and
colour; and even those are often forbidden by law [socio-cultural conventions].
. . . Why not be free and live your own life? Why follow other people's rules
and live to please others?..." ~Lieh-Tzu/Liezi, Taoist Sage (c. 450- c. 375
BCE)

Ars imitatur Naturam in sua operatione.
        [Latin > "Art is the imitation of Nature in her manner of operation."]

"jinsei to iu mono wa, kichou na geijyutsu to ieru deshou"
        [Japanese > "one can probably say that 'life' is a precious artform"]