Worms within Worms
It is an irony that on
same day that I was very pleased to be made aware of some assistance that
this newsletter affords at least one individual; I was equally horrified
to discover that several virulent viruses had begun worming their way into
my computer, leading ultimately to it being rendered out of action. Thus,
just two days prior to the deadline for publication of this, the next
newsletter, I found myself 'incommunicado' and unable to produce the
goods! In the ensuing week of cyber silence I came to realize just how
much I had come to depend upon these technological tools, and how lost and
isolated I felt when they were removed and so savagely disabled.
All this talk of
technology is a long way from ancient taoist ideals and their appreciation
of honest and simple labor with no fear of 'getting stuck in' and getting
their hands dirty. The electronic automation that we are using right now
to write, send and receive this document exists in a world a long way away
from those earthy ideals, and reversion to such 'naturalness' and self
dependence is now for the most part, for most of us, inconceivable. Good
or bad, right or wrong, most of us - especially those reading this from a
screen (in any one of of the 7 languages as provided!) - are members of
societies who's progress as "civilized" is measured in speed and
efficiency.
I recall once reading
a Chinese tale whereby a farmer was criticized for using an ass to pull a
full bucket of water up from a deep well. The farmer defended himself. "If
I pull up the bucket by hand - I get blisters". "Yes", replied the
'fundamentalist'. There is here a suggestion that transactions with our
environment are appreciated more when the personal cost is apparent,
appreciated or 'felt'. In the story given, the cost (in this case,
blisters) is a price worth paying. If fact, the person of the fundamental
taoist ideals would maintain that the price is perfectly fair and never
any more or less than "the way it is".
We are a long way now
from the thin end of the wedge that the ancient taoist tried to avoid
widening with any kind of 'mindlessness' or not-knowing that might
increase personal isolation from environment. That process is apparently
well underway now. You and I are the evidence. The world has changed a lot
since the times of the ancient taoists. Ideals that may have been
attainable at one time - simply - no longer are. So what if the farmer did
compromise the ideal eventfully and delegate his labor to his ass - and
justify this as progress? How could I possibly disagree! The farmer
complains about blisters, I I complain when my hard disc is attacked ...
... ... worlds apart.
A
Cigar Is ...
I return now to the
positive personal encounter mentioned above and reproduce below some hand
written note made soon after the event:
Just the other day I
was a meeting; a Buddhist meeting (known as 'Eza') a long way from my
home. The lady that I was sat next to leant over and thanked me for my
part in producing the Taichido Newsletter. This was not only a great
surprise, it was pleasing vindication of the newsletters 'usefulness' to
people in all sorts of places. Persons, in general, never known -
personally.
What came next was a even greater surprise, for this lady
went on to say that her Tai Chi instructor/teacher refuses to discuss
"Chi" and apparently insists that 'westerners' do not (and I suppose
cannot or will not) understand the notion of Chi, and therefore need not
bother to study such deep and difficult concepts! What a nonsense this is!
Sounds to me like this instructor should give a refund to his students,
because he is not teaching tai CHI.
Apparently, it is this instructors
instructor that insists that "westerners may harm themselves" if they
tinker with such concepts or practices. (To clarify: The instructor is of
western decent, the instructors instructor is of eastern decent.)
I
disagree with this attitude and adamantly contest that nobody, eastern or
western, can be physiologically harmed by a word or a concept. The
mystifying or elation of a subject to some realm that is supposed to be
'beyond' most of us serves no purpose at all and is at best just an excuse for self
- assertion. In
denunciation of 'complicating the issue' I quote Sigmund Freud who once
said: "Sometimes, a cigar, is just a cigar".
www.wheelswithinwheels.net
My computer crash came
at a time of (or perhaps because of) some frenzied webwork for other
sites, including a particularly difficult period for www.threewheels.org.
Due to 20 percent downtime record we were obliged to change ISP. (Friends
and regular readers of this newsletter will be aware that I assist in the
build of www.threewheels.org as well as being a personal member of that
Buddhist Sangha.) Amidst all of this I had also committed myself to
producing another document - this also being due for publication
imminently. The publication: Pure Land Notes, the document: "Introducing myself as incoming
editor (2003) for Pure Land Notes (Journal of the Pure Land Buddhist
Fellowship). This last project also involves the development of another
website: "Pure
Land Notes Online" - and now all of this is, at
last, completed. Access to all of this (including links back to
www.taichido.com and onwards to my "home dojo", www.threewheels, and the
new "Pure
Land Notes Online" - including the full text of "Introducing
myself ...") is online now at the 'portal' site www.wheelswithinwheels.net.
Anniversary Issue
This issue of the
taichido newsletter, the twelfth that thus marks its first anniversary,
has therefor been produced in an even greater spin than its predecessors
... and that's just the way it has to be! Friends and regular readers do
however seem to have come to accept this newsletter 'as it is' and I am in
fact very pleased to report that the response to it has far exceeded
expectations. Subscriptions continue increase and a most encouraging
development is the increase in E-mail responses and comments that now
follows successive issues. Armed with only that as endorsement I shall
conclude this anniversary issue with a vox-pop of articles kept in my 'old
and dusty archive' - and invite you feedback. The first two are copies of
clear and simple text provided by my Tai Chi teacher, Raymond Wood on the
subjects of 1) "Classical (Japanese) Budo" and 2) "What is (Chinese) Tai
Chi"; each dealing with their respective subjects with simplicity and
sincerity. I shall be forever grateful to Ray for his teaching and
honesty. The last is a thing that I wrote myself way back in the mid
ninety's, written whist under Ray's tutelage.
Classical
Budo
Reversion to a more privative way of life ... the manners
customs and beliefs handed down from past Japanese
generations.
When people criticize Classical Budo they are merely
criticizing its professed followers who engage in the discipline without
proper spirit. Classical Budo has unsounded depths; a lifelong study.
Shallow people will only find shallow water.
Always be prepared to put
more into your study than you will ever take out.
Classic Budo can't
be used in sport applications. No sport can ever be a true classical DO
form, no classical DO form can ever house a sport entity. The heights of
the DO level are beyond its reach.
What is Tai
Chi?
As an answer to the separation and conflict which
humanity finds itself, the Chinese developed a group of physical exercises
which aid in obtaining an intuitive understanding on, and "oneness" with
the Tao. These exercises are know collectively as Tai Chi.
The
continuous movement of the Tao follow certain principles. Tai Chi imitate
these certain principles.
Every Oriental discipline must not be
considered as just a hobby or sport. The essence of these arts would be
lost, making such studies more harmful than beneficial.
Tai Chi must be practiced
totally with no distinction between mind, body and soul. Each must flow
into the other and merge in harmony. When hands, feet, breathing, balance
and concentration etc. blend into each other the individual will disappear
into the void, that is the Tao. In the void the ego is no more. There is
only unceasing, spontaneous, harmonious movement.
Silent
Voices.
To move in harmony with all of nature, as the heaven
moves above, as the earth moves below.
The way is hidden and nameless.
If it were found it would have a name. It will never be found - looking
for it is called 'the way'. This is the movement of 'the way'.
If we are unable to
hear silent voices, we may not hear the way. The way is yielding. The way
is to not fight. The way is to be good at winning.
Leaves fall from the
tree and reenter the cycle immediately - the tree is fed - this is the
way.
Wrong and bad exist
only in relation to right and good. We give them names; this is not the
way. The way is hidden and nameless.
The way is never used
up by those that use it. Banish knowledge - live a carefree
life!
A man worthy of a name
in this life chooses the solid and not the flimsy, the gem - not the
glitter.
Gassho
Gary
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