INTO THE MYSTIC

Oh heck, here’s one more and then the computer must return to stillness.

http://www.wudangtao.com/wuji/

I don’t know too much about the “Wudang” school of taiji per se, but I liked the simple evocative things they write about here.  As with the quantum physics, when I read now about qi work and related issues I’m very pleased to realize that I have a sense of what is being discussed.

Do I know much?  Doubtful.  Like you, I know what I know when I know it.  And the reverse applies with equal force.

The wall that separates one thing from another, may be thick or thin.  Or it may be a gap, not a wall.

What are we caught up in?  Just life.  It contains all the beauty and mystery there is.       Is there an answer for every question?  Nice koan, that.

 

INTO THE INFINITE

I’m not spending much time at the computer these days.  But it’s hard to get out of the habit completely.  Tonight I had to send an email about ordering a taiji book and afterward I spent a few minutes googling around.  Found a nice post here, titled “Let Go of the Hand” on the Infinite Spirals blog:

http://www.unixica.com/taiji/2007/11/our_class_tonight_was_almost.html

Nice to read Chen stylists talking along these lines.  The poster, Nasser Manesh, got his start with Yang style (and some mixed forms).  Says he also enjoys setar playing (not sitar), and quantum physics.  Besides being a tech person in business life.

Talking about me for a minute, I was in the food store where I used to buy Inside Kung Fu magazine.  I’m not much interested in IKF anymore, but out of habit I usually stop by the magazine & paperbacks rack.  Saw the new issue of Scientific American, a publication I used to steer clear of because the articles are fairly heavy going, this is not middlebrow stuff and it used to give me a bit of a headache.

But the new article “Quantum Universe — Simple Ways to Create Spacetime” looked mighty intriguing, so I grabbed the sucker and was very pleased to find that I can now digest this kind of material.  Thanks in no small part to taijiquan theory and some of its teacher/exponents, I’m now somewhat able to thrive on these kind of abstruse matters.  Right on.

I’m really looking forward to delving into this article.  Excerpt: “To determine how space sculpts itself, physicists first need a way to describe its shape.  They do so using triangles and their higher-dimensional analogues, a mosaic of which can readily approximate a curved shape…”

And: “Although we usually think of space as mere void, both it and time have and invisible structure that guides how we move — much as the moguls (bumps) on a slope guide a skier.  We perceive this structure as the force of gravity…”

Is this kind of inquiry applicable to taiji?  The martial?  Art?  You bet!  At least, I’m betting on it.  And I dislike gambling.  I want sure winners, for the most part.

Also there’s an article on Neuroscience and Dancing, as well as several other good ones.  Nice to set the sails of the mind, catch the wind, and move out.  As in taiji.

 

SEEK AND YE SHALL FIND… SOMETHING.

Thanks to Rick Matz of Cook Ding’s Kitchen (see blogroll links) I got to hear a great quote from Venerable Master Sheng-yen:

“Be soft in your practice. Think of the method as a fine silvery stream, not a raging waterfall. Follow the stream, have faith in its course. It will go its own way, meandering here, trickling there. It will find the grooves, the cracks, the crevices. Just follow it.Never let it out of your sight. It will take you there.”

And in looking for the source of this wisdom (upon which I hope to contemplate a bit) I found a blog called Tai Chi Cork http://taichicork.blogspot.com/

Tai Chi Cork offerred this advice which I agree with wholeheartedly:

“If the only prayer you said in your whole life was ‘Thank You’, that would suffice.”  -  Meister Eckhart

 

TWO SIMPLE

A couple of days ago at work I was pushing a steel cart down aisles of publications, collecting samples for an upcoming trade show.  Not a difficult task, and I’ve done its like many times.  I was under average time pressure.  I felt average good, workaday version.  It was an average day and I was doing average things… but trying to be somewhat better than average, without stressing too much over life in general.

Just a fairly simple task that still had to be done correctly, and with dispatch.  And yet, around me hovered vague possibilities of anxiety, irritation, and physical unease, if I chose to let my spirit weaken a bit through lack of focus or simply catching an inappropriate mood.  I only have to pull orders a few times a year nowadays.  Most of the time I have other more specialized duties.  So here I was doing this infrequent yet totally familiar job.

And a corner of my mind observed myself with this choice of: in-the-zone perfection, or some form of disharmony.  And I was watching my movements a bit, to see if they were high quality, or careless and over-effort-ful.

And suddenly two simple words from taiji training rang in my being.  “Relax completely”.  And suddenly it really made sense for the first time.

We gotta do what we gotta do.  Stand up, work, cook dinner, whatever.  But most of us are reasonably lucky, no one’s shooting at us today.  If no true crisis, we can do best by relaxing.  Completely.  Mind, body, spirit.

My spirits rose a big notch when I finally felt the true truth of “relax completely”.  I had been a bit dense.  I needed to lighten up.  I saw that tension and effort had been hovering nearby me, ready to jump in and ”aid” me at a moment’s notice, if I started to sag a bit or conversely, get brittle.  I didn’t need these hangers-on dogging my footsteps.  I was perfectly capable.  And the way to be more so was to relax.  Completely.

It didn’t require me to flop down on a couch, or go get a massage, or take a nap.  I could stand up, move around, take care of business.  But in a sung way.

I felt some liberation.  People can laugh if they want.  I laughed too!  And though the next couple of days were bitchin’ hot and I had ten thousand things to do, I managed to stay more relaxed.  ‘Cause now I know what the standard is.  Two simple.  I always missed it before but now I might guess that relax is the yang, oddly enough.  “Completely” is the yin.

 

 

AN UNDERLYING FIRMNESS

In working with qi

The first thing to see is what

Holds us up at all.

 

CONDITIONS

For the host to come

Back into its own birthright

The guest has to leave.

 

Boundless obstacles

Created by one’s actions

Create the false web.

 

If a stream is dammed

The water will spread wider

But the stream is gone.

 

NOT TRYING TO TRY NOT TO TRY

Standing at ease I

Intend to be on the qi

Route; this is my chance.

 

ROUTINE THAT’S THE OPPOSITE OF BORING

My kung fu goals are

Simple; I want to have a

Practice all my days.

 

MICROFINANCE

It’s been quite a number of years since I first heard of a powerful and relatively new force in our world: microfinance.  If you live in a rich country and don’t pay much attention to the several billions of your neighbors whose main concern is making sure that the family eats at least once per day, you can go a long time without hearing about such things.  I did.  But I’ve been spared long enough to increase my horizons a bit.

What I finally heard about was one organization in this field: Women’s World Banking.  In a nutshell: it has been proven that you can loan the price of a First-World restaurant meal (or a few such meals) to a hardworking woman in an impoverished area.  Someone who under normal circumstances will almost never see any spare cash — at all — accumulate within her lifetime.  But having the cash as seed money, she will grow a small business, pay back the loan, maybe borrow some more; and a few years later she and those around her will be enjoying a quantum leap in their quality of life, albeit always with continuing hard work.  But work that now offers hope beyond keeping the Grim Reaper off one’s doorstep.

In honor of Senator Hillary Clinton’s historic presidential campaign, I’d like to post a little info about microfinance.  Maybe there are others like me who didn’t know about it.

http://www.swwb.org/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women’s_World_Banking

I suppose some people might ask, why focus on helping women?  (Seriously, some would probably ask that.)  For one thing, it’s been proven that this way works.  At the risk of some reverse sexism, my personal observations suggest that, all things being equal, the woman might be more likely to persist and succeed with the nurturing enterprise, with a smaller chance of monies being spent on liquor, cigarettes, and gambling.  If you look at the general run of humanity throughout the ages.  Well, end of sermon.  But microfinance deserves to be widespread, and widely known.

Speaking of the Clintons, former President Bill Clinton is mentioned in this article which also gives a great overview of microfinance at work around the world:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/09/30/MN7QRSUKA.DTL&tsp=1

 

FOR WHAT IT’S WORTH

I think I’ll go ahead and get this off my chest.  The following is a short video clip of me, Taijiquestion, doing some Chen-style movements:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=JDk_e_SlV_k&feature=related

People have been pretty good to read my blog, comment, refrain from comment :), advise, and generally put up with me on the internet.  So here’s a peek at some personal background if you’re interested.

I’m not really looking for comments here.  I know enough about taiji (I think) to make some critique of this, both pro and con.  It’s not terrible, and it’s not that good.  In fact, it’s just a guy trying stuff out and managing to not completely screw up.  Some points:

I’ve never had a Chen taiji lesson… or even seen a genuine Chen performance in the flesh.  If you think that makes me something of a charlatan, I can accept that.  Don’t bother telling me.

When I started working on this stuff, Chen taiji was not at all well known.  Things are changing though.

I had actually stopped practicing “Chen” for several months, but then an occasion came up that I wanted a vid, so I brushed-up for a few days and shot 3 reps, this being #3 if I remember correctly.

I can actually do the stomps, leaps, and fajings (at least, novice versions of them).  But I painstakingly smoothed them out of my routine, aiming instead for a smoother, gentler version.  Also I blended in some various influences from various Chen masters, for various reasons.

I bow to the many folks out there who have managed to put a great deal more time and sffort into their MA practice than I, so far, have.  Thanks to many of you for guiding me in various ways.  Wish I had a good Yang style video of me but… I don’t.  My blog tells the complete genesis of what’s up with me & taiji.  Here’s an extra dose of honesty, just a middle-aged guy with good knees, a Chinese suit, and some kung fu lite.  Still on the taiji quest every day, no plans to change.