IGX

Hua Hu Ching: The Unknown Teachings of Lao Tzu (Paperback)
by Brian Walker

Kicking off my new book thread, I read this little booklet over the weekend. Like the Tao Te Ching, the Hua Hu Ching (lit. "the Coversion of the Barbarians") is composed in 81 poems. Ascribed to Lao Tsu (ca. 5th c. BCE), it is actually more likely dated to the 3rd c. CE, and is a collection of poetic but more-or-less practical instruction on cultivating the Way within oneself as a process of implementing the philosophy of the Tao Te Ching. This translation is done in a modern poetic style, but is very accessible and calming to read.

Rating:

The Tao Te Ching of Lao Tzu (Paperback)
by Lao Tzu (Author), Brian Browne Walker

I had been meaning to reread this classic for quite a while, but as everyone knows, there are 1,001 different translations and I had no way of knowing which to choose. I ended up going with the pocket version of this book for $7, and I was very glad that I did. It has no bullshit, no commentaries, just an extremely lucid translation of one of the most important books I have ever read. Just the act of reading these 81 poems is calming, and Walker's language is particularly elegant. Although I have read several translations of this book, none was better than this.

Rating:

Are you using 4 clappies as your top rating?

Yes. I should have clarified.

I'll give Hua Hu Ching: The Unknown Teachings of Lao Tzu a read. It sounds very good. I'll also read the pocket version of The Tao Te Ching of Lao Tzu to see how it compares to the copy I have.

Thanks for the review, Mak.

I'm digging your taste in books.

Hua Hu Ching:

http://www.abuddhistlibrary.com/Buddhis ... 0Ching.htm

I also like Han Shan.

Hagbard wrote:Hua Hu Ching:

http://www.abuddhistlibrary.com/Buddhis ... 0Ching.htm

I also like Han Shan.

Hey, that's the one! Thanks Hagbard!

What are you all liking for a Chuang Tzu translation?

GDG, I have only read one version of Chuang Tzu:



Unfortunately it was in 1997 that i read it, so I can't give you much detail. I remember being somewhat lukewarm towards it, but then again, I was rather unripe at the time.

How to Wrestle, Instructions of Frank Gotch by George Robbins ca. 1934 (Reprint)



Interesting little booklet, it was written by a sport writer for the Chicago Daily News, George Robbins in 1937. It includes the famous 27 plates which most catch enthusiasts are familiar with (go here, no linking):

http://gnarlmaster.tripod.com/gnarlmast ... 556592.gif

It's an interesting read, as he writes it in the first person, as if Gotch is telling it but it's not known where the source material for the words or illustrations came from. By the time this book was written, Gotch (d. 1917) had been dead 20 years. Some suggest it was cribbed from Wrestling & How to Train--Gotch's earlier and well known book--but that hardly explains it, and as a sports writer in Chicago at the time of Gotch's reign he may have had access that wasn't otherwise documented.

Anyway, its out now for $8 and is a pleasure for catch-as-catch-can wrestling enthusiasts. Many of the plates are mislabeled though, like a three-quarter nelson is labeled a quarter nelson, and then a quarter nelson is labeled a further nelson, all in error.

So, I present an amazing book now. One that has been special for three millenia, but which I am just now beginning to comprehend. As my review above suggests, I have been studying the translation of the Huahujing by Brian Walker, and one of the passages that moves me the most is this one, the 64th poem, which goes like this:

In earlier times, people lived simply and serenely. Sensitive to the fluctuations that constantly occur, they were able to adjust comfortably to the energy of the day.

Today, people lead hysterical, impulsive lives. Ignoring the subtle alterations of yin and yang which influence all things, they become confused, exhausted, and frustrated. However, even today one can restore wholeness and clarity to one's mind. The way to do this is through study of the I Ching.


I've been doing a lot of writing about stress and allostatic load recently, and I've also been faced with one of the most stressful times in my life. Not bad, mind you, just stressful, and it's left me thinking about how we become "hystericall, impulsive" and how to get out of that trap. It's interesting to me because it's both my own personal problem, and will soon enough become my professional dilemma as well. How to help people adapt to their environment and cope with stress. It's left me open to things I would not have been in the past, which brings me to my latest review:



Available here used for $5:



It is a book which is usually characterized as "divination" but in my view deals more with deep insight into the movement of natural cycles. So deep that it does border on predicting the future, but in the way that during the day you can predict the night by profound and long experience with the succession of the two. This version is very streamlined and I have been using it for a little while now with very, very interesting results.

I think some of you might like it. It has its strength, which is utility. This version is much easier to actually use. I'm less wild about the translation of the lines of the hexagrams. They seem a little burdened by modern conventions like gender equality and so forth, but the meat is still there, and you could if you desired learn how to use the Yijing from this copy but study the explanations of another version for insight.

They say that the hexagrams were inspired by the mottled pattern on the back of a supernatural tortoise. I don't know about that, but it is a profoundly aesthetic and naturalistic tool of personal examination.

I give this three clappys, but the Yijing itself deserves far more than our rating system allows. My rating is merely for this translation.

My take: the I Ching (pardon my old school) is indeed profound, but like Lao Tzu or Sun Tzu you need a few translations to read and get the original idea. Or at least what I hope is the original idea.

It's much like the Tarot in that it's a map of the Universe, although in this case it's a map of how change occurs. Traditional "divination" is a way to study and learn it. Another way to use it (when you know the hexagrams backwards and forwards, which I sure as hell do not) is to be able to look at a given situation and say "Oh, this is just like 'Difficulty at the Beginning.' And I think that lines x and y are especially applicable. If those lines change it will become this other hexagram, and that means-" etc etc.

So you can use it quite mechanically and without any sticks or coins to analyze situations, just like you could use Sun Tzu or Musashi.

BTW, give that edition of Chuang Tzu another go. It's a good one; the main thing is that he does differentiate between the Inner and Outer chapters and point out which were clearly added later, without which it makes no damn sense.

Opinions vary.

Fat Cat wrote: I've been doing a lot of writing about stress

define stress please.

genuine request. stress is one of those commonly used words that is vague and often has different meanings for different people.

thank you.

Dissonance with the environment which elicits the stress response. See here for discussion of Walter Canon, Hans Selye and others work on the subject.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stress_(biological)

I'll add this to my list, along with your other 2 reviewed books, as this looks like something I could get a lot of benefit from. Thanks, Mak.

The Complete Chronicles of Conan (Hardcover)
by Robert E. Howard

This book contains all of Howard's Conan tales in chronological order. And it is awesome. Conan is the spirit of IGX made literary flesh.

Fat Cat wrote:


The Complete Chronicles of Conan (Hardcover)
by Robert E. Howard

This book contains all of Howard's Conan tales in chronological order. And it is awesome. Conan is the spirit of IGX made literary flesh.

Good stuff.

Howard was a helluva writer, imo.

Nice find Fatty-- my old paperbacks of those are falling apart.

If you want some engrossing escapist shit, this is it.

Mak, can you recommend a good Zen book or two? I have Zen Mind, Beginner Mind so anything besides that would be great.

I'll think about it and get back to you.

Thank you, sir.

Zen is, at best, a corrupt derivation of buddhism. Sakyamuni shows a cat a flower and everybody starts catchin' feelins.

heh.

More seriously; reading about zen without understanding the basic buddhist program does not strike me as particularly helpful.

The Four Noble Truths, Eightfold Path, Three Characteristics and the process of Dhyana and Vipassana (concentration and insight) are some of the basics.

What the Buddha Taught (Rapola), Old Path, White Clouds (Hanh) and Mastering the Core Teachings of the Buddha (Ingram, and free, by the way). Are pretty good. Zen Buddhism is buddhism; but a lot of the texts about Zen seem to put undue focus on rarefied states rather than what it took to get to and beyond them.