Inspired by Tao Te Ching - chapter 22

道德經第22章

曲則全，枉則直，窪則盈，弊則新，少則得，多則惑。是以聖人抱一為天下式。不自見，故明；不自是，故彰；不自伐，故有功；不自矜，故長。夫唯不爭，故天下 莫能與之爭。古之所謂曲則全者，豈虛言哉！誠全而歸之。

My translation of Chapter 22 of Tao Te Ching:

Bent for survival,
Wronged for integrity ,
Hollowed to make room for fullness,
Withered to prepare for new growth,
Scarcity leads to gain,
Abundance leads to confusion.
Therefore a sage holding the oneness of Tao in all situations.
Hidden therefore shine;
No promotion therefore becomes well known;
No aggression therefore accomplished;
No begging therefore live long.
Not engaging in confrontation, therefore no enemy.
Ancient wisdom taught us "Bent for survival",
Isn't it sound advice!
The ultimate strategy.

Paul's comment: Softness to dissolve hardness. A great, and the best, strategy to bear in mind and a first response to every obstacle in life, as long as we can realize that this ultimate objective cannot be easily achieved in all cases, and therefore frontal confrontation as the next best strategy is understandable, in some cases...

The dilemma between form and chi

When we do chi-related exercises, like tai-chi (or chi-kung) and yoga, do we focus on the keeping the correct form or maintaining a connected chi (assuming that both cannot be attained, which is usually the case for beginning students)?  In doing yoga (asana), it is form comes first. In doing tai-chi, it is chi connectedness comes first. What is the pros and cons of putting either one as top priority?

Although yoga today sometimes is being practiced as a kind of gymnastic exercise, the classic way of doing yoga is with meditation-towards-enlightenment as final objective. Assuming that this classic way is being done, doing yogasana aiming at form perfect demands strong abdominal breathing to create powerfully enough chi to connect our muscles/tendons together. Issue arises when a lack of strong breathing mechanism is coupled with a form perfect objective. Form perfect objective without the required chi-connectedness (which is generated by powerful abdominal breathing) can easily result in joints being loosened, sometimes irreversibly. In regard to its positive side, this training philosophy can be very effective provided a student has a good coach and a good mental/physical preparation for endurance, which will be demanded for powerful abdominal breathing aiming at generating chi-connectedness.

The Chinese tai-chi or chi-kung system is generally considered to be a softer approach. Here chi-connectedness is being emphasized. The benefit is that, assuming again a student has a good coach, the training process is enjoyable instead of exhausting. Powerful abdominal training is being relegated to a later stage when a student's chi has been trained up to a certain level. At this intermediate level, a student is to use point-focusing (or point-meditation) to facilitate alignment. Abdominal breathing becomes a natural process resulting from heavier workload, rather than, like yoga, as the primarily tool for generating chi-connectedness. The result is that doing (reverse) abdominal breathing in intermediate chi-kung becomes an enjoyable instead of "no-pain-no-gain" process.

The down-side of the Chinese system is that point-focusing for alignment is an art based almost solely on a student's internal feeling, and therefore demands a high level of chi-listening skill (聼勁),  Besides, since a chi-kung student has been trained to put priority towards chi-feeling from day one, his progress towards alignment will be slower than a yoga practitioner.

The best approach I recommend is to combine the benefits of both disciplines. For a yoga student, he can take some basic chi-kung training (like zhan zhuang) so that he can be guided by his internal chi-feeling when doing his yoga asanas. This way, his yoga training sessions will become more enjoyable as well as less prone to cause damage to his joints. He may find himself progressing slower than fellow practitioners but its benefits far outweighs its seemingly slower progress in the beginning.

And for chi-kung or tai-chi student, doing some basic yoga stance (like warrior) can greatly enhance his improvement towards better alignment. And with powerful yoga abdominal breathing, he can feel himself progressing faster instead of just indulging in his good chi-feeling. This is particularly recommended to younger (or younger at heart) chi-kung students

Yoga Warrior

Taoism, Sufism, iron-body and celibacy

I have not been posting here for a month or so because I have been working on my book project. Having a bread-and-butter job to attend to, time devoted to "special interests" will necessarily be limited. And having said that, our special interests might just turn out to be of more lasting value, as the order of things develop. Who know?

There has been a puzzling idea for some serious practitioners, and it is the question of celibacy in the internal arts, in particular the importance of celibacy in building a chi-foundation, oftentimes called "100 days foundation building" (now with different meanings for different practitioners).

Let us begin our analysis with spirituality, and Sufism in particular. A sufi is a Muslim who takes on special spiritual pursuit to be at one with his Divinity through spiritual guidance from his master. Such guidance includes (but not limited to) chi-related practice, the most common one that we outsiders know of is the famous Sufi dance (interested readers can do their own research on Sufi dance). Sufis could be Sunni or Shi'i, they could be Habali or Shafji in terms of law, and the practice of Sufism in no way implies the abandonment of the basic pillars and requirements of mainstream Islam. Muslims are not celibates. As Prophet Mohammad once said, ""there is no Monkery is Islam."  Some Sufis did choose celibacy, on their own choosing rather than on their spiritual faith.

Though celibacy is not a rule for Neidan Taoist practitioners, some chose to be so. Without a commanding voice like the Muslims, some Taoist Neidan sects did practice celibacy, in particular the Northern sects. Southern sects traditionally do not keep celibacy. Some Taoist sects further mystified the issue and gave a "practical" reason to maintain celibacy: keeping primordial chi as a necessary condition to attain Immortality. Author of the famous "Taoist Yoga" held this view, which however has never been the main stream view.

But how come celibacy has anything to do with martial arts? Some martial artists have been holding the view that sexual abstinence before a fight is essential. That include the famous Rickson Gracie (ref: the film: The Choke). This idea somehow has been transposed into practice and become combined with the Taoist view that sexual activity will cause a lose of (primordial) chi, in particular during the foundation building period. And some further mystified it as a prerequisite to training an iron-body (the counterpart of Taoist Immortality). In terms of actual practice, the issue of celibacy relates to doing microcosmic orbit circulation. How does it relate to microcosmic orbit circulation? Why do some practitioners think it essential (or what practice experience leads them to such thinking)? And is it essential in the first place? These questions shall be discussed in a coming post. Interested readers stay tuned.

Sufi Dancer

Inspired by Tao Te Ching - chapter 20

道德經第20章

絕學無憂，唯之與阿，相去幾何？善之與惡，相去若何？人之所畏，不可不畏。荒兮其未央哉！衆人 熙熙，如享太牢，如春登臺。我獨怕兮其未兆；如嬰兒之未孩； 儽儽兮若無所歸。衆人皆有餘，而我獨若遺。我愚人之心也哉！沌沌兮，俗人昭昭，我獨若昏。俗人察察，我獨悶悶。澹兮其若海，飂兮若無止，衆人皆有以，而我 獨頑似鄙。我獨異於人，而貴食母。

My translation of Chapter 20 of Tao Te Ching:

Profound teaching gives me no worry
Accepting and rejecting my teaching differs little, isn't it?
Good and evil differs little, isn't it?
What others afraid to accept and experience
I don't accept unthinkingly nor afraid to experience
The daunting original state of non-differentiation!
People enjoying growing prosperity as if eternalTreating impending disaster as if coming spring
In solitude I am scared by the coming signal of doom
Like a growing child
Destined to an unpleasant future
People believe they can add more and more
I alone feel we have lost our way
How foolish I am to worry about those who are happy now!
Common folks look bright, I look dark
Common folks are positive, I am negative
I desire calmness of ocean deep, and
I desire calmness of ceaseless high wind
People all ask for more
I stubbornly think we should have less
I am different from others
I understand Tao
I know the Way

Paul's inspiration: Laozi was no Stephen King. He was not a doom sayer. Rather he said we caused our doom through our striving for prosperity which strife was caused by further strife either caused by us or beyond our own control. And the original strife comes from our inborn animal instinct, conscious and Unconscious, which include love of our offspring and cruelty to others through that love. That's why Laozi said: "Good and evil differs little". And a release from such conditioning is the purpose of Taoist practice and enlightenment. And being enlightened, one can deliver love without evil. And the (beginning) step to enlightenment is absolute quietness. But it is only the beginning of a long journey. The Way.

Meditation: Techniques vs objectives

In modern (western) thinking, techniques and objectives are usually dissociated in any discipline. In our University's MBA programs, our professors (supposedly, successful or not is another matter) teach their students how to run a business organization and how to deliver a profit. For the MBA students morality is a matter of the Law, , or religion if some of the students happen to be religious. The same for meditative training.

Meditation (Taoist or Buddhism) originally arose form religious practice, as one tool to help a pious person to form a pious personality despite "his natural selfishness through being human" (or the original sin in Christianity). Meditation however is not a sufficient condition to build such a super-human personality. Understanding(rational enlightement) and religious disciplines are also essential. In actual fact, the learning and practice of understanding and religious disciplines are essential foundation requirement; oftentimes named as essential prerequisite to successful high-level meditative practice, by some masters.

Nowadays people learn techniques only. Formulate one's objectives and morality is each individual's private matters. As long as we follow the law, nobody will bother us and couldn't care less how we set our objectives and how serious we take the commandments in our daily lives. This is progress - the secularization of our society.

It was not the same in the old days. Take the teaching of the master of Zao Bi-Chen (author of Taoist Yoga) Liu Ming Rui (劉名瑞) as an example. His nine essentials for the cultivation of Taoist spirituality, in his Complete Works, are as follows (my comments are bracketed):

1. Understanding the centrality of the heart/mind 原心章第一  (understanding)
2. Reasoning how life comes upon and where death leads 究竟章第二(understanding)
3. Understanding Tao with real examples 實證章第三 (understanding)
4. Breaking illusion (the principle of Nothingness 破幻章第四 （understanding)
5. Acceptance of what is given 安分章第五 （understanding)
6. Essential of dual Mind (conscious and Unconscious mind) and Body (mind/body in modern lingo) training 神氣章第六 (meditation techniques)
7. Training our Body of illusion 修幻章第七 (meditation techniques)
8. The essential element of an absolute quiet mind (mind/body) 靜通章第八 (meditation techniques)
9. Practise religious disciplines 戒行章第九 (religious disciplines)

For those who are serious about their meditative practice, a sharp dichotomy between techniques and objectives seem not good enough for their practice. I think Taoist Liu's approach makes some good sense, and can be adapted for the modern practitioner.

Taoist master Liu Ming Rui

 

What is the meaning Zen riddle?

The most famous Zen riddle appeared in the Platform Sutra (六祖檀經). When young Shen Hui (神會 - who later became one of his master's most famous students) at age 13 first went to see the sixth Patriarch  Hui Neng (慧能). Young Shen Hui was smart, knowledgeable (on Buddhist Sutra) and arrogant. Hui Neng asked (I paraphrase):

"If I hit you with a stick, do you feel pain or no pain? If you do not feel pain, you are heartless and useless as as piece of cold stone, and if you feel pain, you have planned the seed of revengeful grudge."

Shen Hui was immediately enlightened, and he became his master's faithful student from that moment onwards.

How to solve this riddle? And what did young Shen Hui learned? Young Shen Hui was transformed from a wild and highly intelligent young prodigy into (the beginning of) a humble monk for the rest of his life. I have no way to ask the dead!

Recently I found a similar riddle that perhaps may shed some lights into solving this riddle. It was from a book written by the a Taoist named Liu Ming Rui (劉名瑞), master of Zhao Bi-Chen (趙壁塵) the author of the famous book Taoist Yoga translated by Zen master Charles Luk. All his writings were recently republished in China under the name of "The complete works of the Knocking-sandles-Taoist" 敲蹻道人全集. I shall make more comments of his brilliant works in my future posts.  Here, I would only like to quote a Zen riddle from the first part of his Knccking-sandles-Cave-work ( 敲蹻洞章）.

The story runs like this: In the past there was a (Buddhist) monk who was supported by a respectable royalty who provided the monk with a place where he could practice Zen meditation undisturbed. He also provided the monk with food and clothing, a place to sleep with medical and other provisions. And his support lasted for years. One day, he secretly sent one of his young slave girls to test the monk through seduction. The monk was not moved. The slave girl commented: the monk was like dead wood and cold rock, as cold as three winters with no heat. Hearing this, the respectable royalty concluded that the monk was not enlightened after all these years of practice. And he dismissed the monk.

My dear reader, you might wonder why. Had the monk succumbed to the slave girl's seduction, the respectable royalty should have also dismissed the monk. What should the monk do?

My dear reader, and what should young Shen Hui do: pain or no pain?

The complete works of Liu Ming Rui - Master of Zhao Bi-Chen (author of Taoist Yoga)

  

How not to hurt your knees in doing tai-chi

This is an age old question: How not to hurt your knees in doing tai-chi?  And to which I would add "and get extra benefit out of it".

This indeed is an important issue, and some practitioners (including sifus) did hurt their knees. Not immediately but from long term incorrect practice. The situation that may cause hurting one's knees is doing the bow stance (弓步) with rear foot pointing 45 degree from front, and when one turns one's body from 45 degree to facing front (e.g. doing Brush Knee Push Step 摟膝拗步).

This is how it can be done:

One must focus on single weight before the turn.  When doing right leg front/right turn, one's body weight should go down 100% on one's right sole. There is indeed a subjective feeling that the rear (straight) left leg takes on some weight, but that weight is actually a side support to avoid toppling (like when a building is standing along [like when the two supporting buildings on each side have been taken down], beams must be erected on each side, like pointing at some 45 degree, so that the building will not topple on either side). When doing the turning, the heel of the rear/left foot should be mindfully pressed to the ground, the ball and socket joint at the end of the femur should be mindfully opened. The foot may turn (slightly) towards the front with the pressing heel acting as a fulcrum. With one focuses as such, a right turn will act as opening (and strengthening) the left hip's ball and socket joint instead of acting upon on the knee causing possible damage there.

Like everything else in tai-chi and qigong, a practitioner has to mindfully practice what has been instructed and has to understand the logic behind. How long would it take him or her to do it correctly will depend on the situation of each individual. Needless to say, one also need some common sense.

Wu Chien-ch'uan (吳鑑泉): Brush Knee Push Step 摟膝拗步