Advanced Class II for I Ching (易經高班II)–Lecture 4

 I joined Prof. Pang’s (彭泓基教授) advanced class II for I Ching (易經高班) Lecture 4 which was held on 6^th Apr 2024 in the restaurant. Today’s topic was “Lao Tzu, I Ching and Tao Te Ching” (老子、《易經》與《道德經》).

Firstly, Prof. Pang mentioned the background of Laozi who lived in a troubled times in the Spring and Autumn Period (春秋亂世). Lao Tzu's "Natural Inaction" (自然無為) is to let the people have the greatest autonomy. Then he linked up Lao Tzu and the history of Chinese Culture, as well as, quoted Mr. Nan Huaijin’s (南懷瑾) metaphor:

 –  Confucianism is like a food store—spiritual food

 –  Buddhist statue department store—it contains the necessities of life

 –  Taoism is a pharmacy—most needed when you are sick

And then Prof. Pang briefed Lao Tzu's philosophical system that extended from cosmology to theory of life, then to politics and management.

After that Prof. Pang introduced the relationship between Lao Tzu (老子) and I Ching (易經). “Tao generates one (Qi-氣), one generates two (yin and yang-陰陽), two generates three (thing-物), and three generates all things (萬物). Lao Tzu was inspired by Yin and Yang from I Ching.

Prof. Pang wrote the word "qi" and said “In Taoism, Qi (氣) or Breath is very important. Breath is postnatal Qi (後天氣). Innate Qi (先天氣) is the combined Qi before Yin and Yang are judged.”

Finally, Prof. Pang discussed the Lao Tzu's philosophy including Tao (道)、Morality (德)、Rou (柔)、Nothing (無)、Anti (反) and Water (水).

He explained that Tao (道) is the laws of nature, the origin of all things.

Morality (德) is the implementation of Tao into our experience as a rule of our lives.

One of key concepts is “Do Nothing” (無為) that followed the nature of Tao and saints’ act.

Another key concept is “Water” (水) that water benefits all things without dispute.

Lastly, Prof. Pang introduced the structure of Taoist thought and explained people's misunderstandings about Lao Tzu.

At the end, Prof. Pang said Lao Tzu's philosophy become the essence of traditional Chinese culture and he quoted Nietzsche (尼采) that Lao Tzu's philosophy is like a well that never dries up and full of treasures.

After the class, classmates had lunch with Prof. Pang together. But I needed to go back to PolyU for teaching additional class after holiday. The class is both online and onsite modes so that only four students come onsite.

In that night, Minda and I had dinner in PolyU restaurant again.

Reference:

Hong Kong Society for Quality (HKSQ) - http://www.hksq.org/index.asp

彭泓基教授 - https://www.master-insight.com/author/penghongji/

屈機TV (屈基論) - https://www.youtube.com/@wgtvhk/playlists

2024

Advanced Class II of “I Ching”:

20240224: Advanced Class II for I Ching (易經高班II)–Lecture 1 - https://qualityalchemist.blogspot.com/2024/02/advanced-class-ii-for-i-ching-iilecture.html

20240223: Chinese Wisdom and Calligraphy Grammar (中華智慧與書法文法) - https://qualityalchemist.blogspot.com/2024/02/chinese-wisdom-and-calligraphy-grammar.html

20240309: Advanced Class II for I Ching (易經高班II)–Lecture 2 - https://qualityalchemist.blogspot.com/2024/03/advanced-class-ii-for-i-ching-iilecture.html

20240323: Advanced Class II for I Ching (易經高班II)–Lecture 3 - https://qualityalchemist.blogspot.com/2024/03/advanced-class-ii-for-i-ching-iilecture_23.html

2023

Advanced Class of “I Ching”:

20231007: Advanced Class for I Ching (易經高班) – Lecture 1 - https://qualityalchemist.blogspot.com/2023/10/advanced-class-for-i-ching-lecture-1.html

20231021: Advanced Class for I Ching (易經高班)–Lecture 2 - https://qualityalchemist.blogspot.com/2023/10/advanced-class-for-i-ching-lecture-2.html

20231104: Advanced Class for I Ching (易經高班) – Lecture 3 -https://qualityalchemist.blogspot.com/2023/11/advanced-class-for-i-ching-lecture-3.html

20231125: Advanced Class for I Ching (易經高班) – Lecture 4 - https://qualityalchemist.blogspot.com/2023/11/advanced-class-for-i-ching-lecture-4.html

20231202: Advanced Class for I Ching (易經高班) – Lecture 5 - https://qualityalchemist.blogspot.com/2023/12/advanced-class-for-i-ching-lecture-5.html

20231216: Advanced Class for I Ching (易經高班) – Lecture 6 - https://qualityalchemist.blogspot.com/2023/12/advanced-class-for-i-ching-lecture-6.html

20231227: I Ching Class Christmas Trip to Zhongshan (易經班聖誕中山之旅) - https://qualityalchemist.blogspot.com/2023/12/i-ching-class-christmas-trip-to.html

Intermediate Class of “I Ching”:

20230603: Intermediate Class for I Ching (易經中班) – Lecture 1 - https://qualityalchemist.blogspot.com/2023/06/intermediate-class-for-i-ching-lecture-1.html

20230610: Intermediate Class for I Ching (易經中班) – Lecture 2 - https://qualityalchemist.blogspot.com/2023/06/intermediate-class-for-i-ching-lecture-2.html

20230615: 閱讀彭泓基教授著作的心得 - https://qualityalchemist.blogspot.com/2023/06/blog-post.html

20230617: Intermediate Class for I Ching (易經中班) – Lecture 3 - https://qualityalchemist.blogspot.com/2023/06/intermediate-class-for-i-ching-lecture-3.html 20230624: Intermediate Class for I Ching (易經中班) – Lecture 4 - https://qualityalchemist.blogspot.com/2023/06/intermediate-class-for-i-ching-lecture-4.html

20230629: Ritual and Music Education as well as Chinese and Western Culture(禮樂教化與中西文化) - https://qualityalchemist.blogspot.com/2023/06/ritual-and-music-education-as-well-as.html 20230708: Intermediate Class for I Ching (易經中班) – Lecture 5 - https://qualityalchemist.blogspot.com/2023/07/intermediate-class-for-i-ching-lecture-5.html

20230709: Wudang Health Exercises (武當養⽣功) - https://qualityalchemist.blogspot.com/2023/07/wudang-health-exercises.html

20230715: Intermediate Class for I Ching (易經中班) – Lecture 6 - https://qualityalchemist.blogspot.com/2023/07/intermediate-class-for-i-ching-lecture-6.html

20230907: I Ching Intermediate Classmate Dinner (易經中班同學聚餐) - https://qualityalchemist.blogspot.com/2023/09/i-ching-intermediate-classmate-dinner.html

20230914: Music Seminar on “How to train children to have feelings for their country and family” (如何培訓孩子的家國情懷音樂講座) - https://qualityalchemist.blogspot.com/2023/09/music-seminar-on-how-to-train-children.html

Introductory Class of “I Ching”:

20230325: I Ching and the Wisdom of Life (易經與人生智慧) - https://qualityalchemist.blogspot.com/2023/03/i-ching-and-wisdom-of-life.html

20230401: I Ching and the Wisdom of Life II (易經與人生智慧) - https://qualityalchemist.blogspot.com/2023/04/i-ching-and-wisdom-of-life-ii.html

20230415: I Ching and the Wisdom of Life III (易經與人生智慧) - https://qualityalchemist.blogspot.com/2023/04/i-ching-and-wisdom-of-life-iii.html

20230422: I Ching and the Wisdom of Life IV (易經與人生智慧) - https://qualityalchemist.blogspot.com/2023/04/i-ching-and-wisdom-of-life-iv.html

20230525: I Ching Classmate Dinner and Introduction to Extenics (易經同學聚餐和可拓學導論) - https://qualityalchemist.blogspot.com/2023/05/i-ching-classmate-dinner-and.html