A Taoist monk?

[piggiecrdf2]

I had a madstone elite lfm up, opened to all classes, with a couple people already in group. Then a monk clicked the lfm and I prompted accepted his request. After he joined the group, I realized his name is Taichixxxxxx (won't give full name here). Here's the funny conversation:

Me: hm...how are monks gonna play tai chi? That's like telling Muslims read the Bible
Monk: im sorry i am able to play madstone lol, i mean i have paralazers and vorpals. i just got done with madstone elite 30 minutes ago
Me: lol. you didn't get what i said. you know what tai chi is, since your name is named after it?

(Party): Taichixxxxxx has left your party.

Guess that monk really doesn't know what his name means...

[JakLee7]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tai_chi_chuan
Tai chi chuan (traditional Chinese: 太極拳; simplified Chinese: 太极拳; pinyin: t�*ij�*quán; Wade-Giles: t'ai4 chi2 ch'üan2) is an internal Chinese martial art often practiced for health reasons. Tai chi is typically practiced for a variety of other personal reasons: its hard and soft martial art technique, demonstration competitions, health and longevity. Consequently, a multitude of training forms exist, both traditional and modern, which correspond to those aims. Some of tai chi chuan's training forms are well known to Westerners as the slow motion routines that groups of people practice together every morning in parks around the world, particularly in China.

The term t'ai chi ch'uan literally translates as "supreme ultimate fist", "boundless fist," "great extremes boxing", or simply "the ultimate" (note that 'chi' in this instance is the Wade-Giles of Pinyin j�*, not to be confused with the use of ch'i / qì in the sense of "life-force" or "energy")

[Kezn]

I don't get it... What does Tai Chi Chuan have to do with Taoism?

[Cedrica-the-Bard]

Yeah, I'm confused too.

From wiki:

Taoist Tai Chi is an exercise form of tai chi chuan which is taught in more than 25 countries by the non-profit Taoist Tai Chi Society of Canada and associated national Taoist Tai Chi societies. It is a modified form of Yang style Tai Chi Chuan developed by Taoist monk Moy Lin-shin. Moy incorporated principles of Lok Hup Ba Fa and other internal arts to increase the health benefits of practising the form.

Now I'm no expert but it looks to me like Taoist and Tai Chi are related and those who follow this can be referred to as Monks. So, I don't understand what it is you said to him about "playing" tai chi.

Oh well...

[Emili]

'et Bean tá mearbhall air ... Bloody all I remember is "serve the pizza."

[markymarksta]

I don't get it... What does Tai Chi Chuan have to do with Taoism?

I don't consider myself an expert in much. However I have been training for 14 years in three forms of internal Kung fu and Tai Chi Chuan is one of them (Hsing i and Pa Qua is the other two). I am only going on the information my Master has told me and he teaches that Tai Chi Chuan was developed by Taoist monks.

You will be surprised by what other wonderful things the Taoist's also developed and left as a legacy.

[Aranticus]

I had a madstone elite lfm up, opened to all classes, with a couple people already in group. Then a monk clicked the lfm and I prompted accepted his request. After he joined the group, I realized his name is Taichixxxxxx (won't give full name here). Here's the funny conversation:

Me: hm...how are monks gonna play tai chi? That's like telling Muslims read the Bible
Monk: im sorry i am able to play madstone lol, i mean i have paralazers and vorpals. i just got done with madstone elite 30 minutes ago
Me: lol. you didn't get what i said. you know what tai chi is, since your name is named after it?

(Party): Taichixxxxxx has left your party.

Guess that monk really doesn't know what his name means...

taichi and taoism are 2 separate things. i'm guessing his taichi refers to the martial art form whereas taoism is a religion. many people consider the taoist "clergy" to be priests and monks to come from shaolin. this is probably where your confusion starts

taichi is reputed to be created by zhang san feng who combined the taoist breathing exercises with buddhist martial art which he learned when he was young. thus to attribute taichi entirely to taoism is incorrect

[piggiecrdf2]

First of all, I'd introduce myself a bit to avoid a lot challenges that might come in later without this. I'm a Chinese, living in Hong Kong SAR, a small but one of the most populated city with 95% population being Chinese.

Most non-Chinese would have a lot misunderstanding when Chinese originated words and phrases are translated into English. First of all, from a Chinese perspective, those who follow Taoism are never called "monks". You can call them "Dao Shi", a direct translation from Chinese, or rather loosely translated as "Taoist priests" most of the time. "Monks" are more strictly directed to Buddhist followers or similar type of religious followers.

A lot non-Chinese (A Chinese here refers to someone who speaks Chinese and knows Chinese history well here, an American who's grown up in a Chinese family in China might qualify for this, but not a lot American born Chinese running around out there) got a simple word translation from Chinese to English and always take that word as full and correct. Give you a simple example; everyone heard that Chinese got "dragons", right? But do you guys know the way most Western people understand "dragons" are totally different from the "dragon" Chinese have in mind? They're two different creatures. The Chinese community always has a petition to properly translate the "Chinese dragon" to "Long", because "Long" and "dragon" are two totally different things. This is like when you guys see a man walking around and he looks like a monkey, then you start to think that's a new type of monkey.

To conclude this, "Long" is different from "dragon" as much as "Dao Shi" is different from "monk". No matter how you guys search through the internet filled with English words or a few Chinese characters doesn't make this right, because the whole thing started off false translation. Maybe that was because the English speaking people are too proud of themselves and never tried to understand other cultures. Though I do notice there’s a trend of more Chinese words translated into English with the best effort of expressing the original meanings recently. Some universities even have new courses called “Guanxi”, commonly translated as “connections” and “relationships” back then.

Back to the topic of Taoism and Tai Chi. Taoism has been there for a long time, at least longer before Buddhism, Christian and a lot other religions. Zhang San Feng, a known figure who's referred to the person that developed the Tai Chi martial arts theory was a Taoist Dao Shi. From the novels, it's said that he was in Shaolin temple when he was little and later dug into the Taoist theories and developed the Tai Chi martial arts, including "Quan" and sword. Please be noted, the Tai Chi martial arts are different from the Shaolin temple martial arts, the theories and all that are different. Zhang San Feng “was” a monk at one time, but for the rest of his life, he’s a Taoist and that’s when his well-known martial arts were developed. All his students were supposed to be Taoist who attained the Tai Chi martial art skills. In the later series of the novel, it’s described that a deep understanding and following of Taoist believes favor the Tai Chi martial arts.

I don’t want to get too deep into this subject, or have links up full of Chinese characters, as it’ll be rather hard to explain something originated from Chinese in English. I tried to put it simple and explained the way most can understand. If any of you is really interested deep in “Long” & “dragon”, “Dao Shi” & “monk”, as well as how “Tai Chi” related to “Taoism”, I’m glad to share with you. Just remember one thing, a lot stuff you’re told are not correct, especially when it’s from another culture.

[piggiecrdf2]

If you read my quotes of original conversation with that monk, you'd understand more why I'd post this. He really didn't understand what his name meant as I talked to him about Tai Chi. I bet he started to think that I was questioning his ability to do the quest...lol

[Aranticus]

If you read my quotes of original conversation with that monk, you'd understand more why I'd post this. He really didn't understand what his name meant as I talked to him about Tai Chi. I bet he started to think that I was questioning his ability to do the quest...lol

there are much better ways to correct a person's misunderstanding of a culture rather than the confrontational approach you adopted. i can see how he got the wrong meaning since many people doubt monk abilities

[Jakuren]

oh i don't think you should take his words as confrontational, i think he was making a joke. as he said, it was a mix up of cultures, saying his monk was taoist. i thought it quite entertaining, thanks for the lesson also.

[Draccus]

So you're OK with trolls and dwarves and invisibility and fireballs being summoned from thin air. You've got no problem immersing yourself in a game where dragons fight giants, where warforged live with dark elves, where people teleport around in the blink of an eye, and dying simply means reappearing at the last tavern you visited.

But the fact that someone uses opposing Chinese cultures in their character's name is worth calling him out in teh game and posting it on a message board?

/boggle

[baddax]

First of all, I'd introduce myself a bit to avoid a lot challenges that might come in later without this. I'm a Chinese, living in Hong Kong SAR, a small but one of the most populated city with 95% population being Chinese.

Most non-Chinese would have a lot misunderstanding when Chinese originated words and phrases are translated into English. First of all, from a Chinese perspective, those who follow Taoism are never called "monks". You can call them "Dao Shi", a direct translation from Chinese, or rather loosely translated as "Taoist priests" most of the time. "Monks" are more strictly directed to Buddhist followers or similar type of religious followers.

A lot non-Chinese (A Chinese here refers to someone who speaks Chinese and knows Chinese history well here, an American who's grown up in a Chinese family in China might qualify for this, but not a lot American born Chinese running around out there) got a simple word translation from Chinese to English and always take that word as full and correct. Give you a simple example; everyone heard that Chinese got "dragons", right? But do you guys know the way most Western people understand "dragons" are totally different from the "dragon" Chinese have in mind? They're two different creatures. The Chinese community always has a petition to properly translate the "Chinese dragon" to "Long", because "Long" and "dragon" are two totally different things. This is like when you guys see a man walking around and he looks like a monkey, then you start to think that's a new type of monkey.

To conclude this, "Long" is different from "dragon" as much as "Dao Shi" is different from "monk". No matter how you guys search through the internet filled with English words or a few Chinese characters doesn't make this right, because the whole thing started off false translation. Maybe that was because the English speaking people are too proud of themselves and never tried to understand other cultures. Though I do notice there’s a trend of more Chinese words translated into English with the best effort of expressing the original meanings recently. Some universities even have new courses called “Guanxi”, commonly translated as “connections” and “relationships” back then.

Back to the topic of Taoism and Tai Chi. Taoism has been there for a long time, at least longer before Buddhism, Christian and a lot other religions. Zhang San Feng, a known figure who's referred to the person that developed the Tai Chi martial arts theory was a Taoist Dao Shi. From the novels, it's said that he was in Shaolin temple when he was little and later dug into the Taoist theories and developed the Tai Chi martial arts, including "Quan" and sword. Please be noted, the Tai Chi martial arts are different from the Shaolin temple martial arts, the theories and all that are different. Zhang San Feng “was” a monk at one time, but for the rest of his life, he’s a Taoist and that’s when his well-known martial arts were developed. All his students were supposed to be Taoist who attained the Tai Chi martial art skills. In the later series of the novel, it’s described that a deep understanding and following of Taoist believes favor the Tai Chi martial arts.

I don’t want to get too deep into this subject, or have links up full of Chinese characters, as it’ll be rather hard to explain something originated from Chinese in English. I tried to put it simple and explained the way most can understand. If any of you is really interested deep in “Long” & “dragon”, “Dao Shi” & “monk”, as well as how “Tai Chi” related to “Taoism”, I’m glad to share with you. Just remember one thing, a lot stuff you’re told are not correct, especially when it’s from another culture.

excellent post rep for you!

[baddax]

I understand what you are saying. The issue is many people including americans have a superficial idea/mentality of the world around them. Me for example, i have really no knowledge beyond the most cursory about Real Monks. You obviously have a much greater knowledge. Obviously the person you were grouped with had less knowledge than you and maybe got upset and left for whatever reason. The point is someone who had little knowledge of a way and culture may have ben receptive to learning more about an intersting culturture. What might have been an interesting run for him and possibly you turned into a "X drops group".

[Cedrica-the-Bard]

Wow... I actually got a negative rep from one of my posts in this thread. LMAO

So, being that I haven't gotten negative rep yet (or much positive for that matter, lol) I went back and read my posts and I'm having a hard time seeing how they were offensive when I was simply trying to understand... Oh well, my apologies if my curiousity offended someone.