This is the seventh of the monthly newsletter that I have written to be posted to your Inbox, and so I suppose that over this period you have in some respects "got to know me". In other respects you have not and I would, with respect, suggest that you may have become more aware of 'my way' or my tao or, at a push, my Tai Chi; but you do not really know Me any more than I know You. Furthermore, 'you', the subscribers to this newsletter, know nothing at all about each other ... because there is no need to, is there? In this particular relationship and in this particular situation, the only thing that we each expect of each other is a common interest in Tai Chi, or the Tao of Tai Chi ... whatever that may be, and it is in this spirit that I gratefully continue with these personal communications that in truth rarely contain news and are notable most for their vagueness of content!

It is my belief that there are as many forms of Tai Chi as there are people that practice it (i.e. infinite, when one includes those of the past, present and future) therefore in this newsletter and at the pages of www.taichido I do not address individuals, and quote most frequently from the Tao Teh Ching in agreement with its foremost tenant that "The Way that can be spoken of is not The Way" ... and perhaps ... "Those who speak do not know. Those that know do not speak".

The Taichido Website and this Newsletter is given freely and without discrimination to a virtual world, and it is simply not possible or necessary for me to get to know every visitor personally. This does not however tempt me to be insincere or dishonest and I can assured you that I am who I am, and by extension Taichido is what it is, and what you see in both is, I hope ... what you expect it to be.

This is not always the case when actual (skin and bone) people contact me and ask to come here to visit or participate in Taichido or other activities at my 'Home Dojo', and the physical reality can confuse or disappoint some of these callers who obviously imagine there to be much more here than there actually is! Clearly, our substantial web presence raises the expectations of some; however, this illusion is in the mind of the beholder and I continue to insist that Taichido is not a falsehood or fallacy and do thereby not confess here to a sin, but confirm the success of our enterprise of virtuosity and virtuality!

He who knows enough, has enough

Since becoming a Tai Chi Instructor (I earn more money from this that I do from any other source), I have become accustomed to a certain independence that was at first rather intimidating, and subsequently I have found comfort and security in an 'aloneness' that has provided me the freedom to apply the tenants of the Tao Teh Ching (and the Buddha's Eightfold Path) to my everyday affairs.

To comply with the "life story not necessary" condition that I myself set at the beginning of this newsletter, I need only say now that Tai Chi has become one of the most important ingredients in maintaining this relatively uncomplicated and carefree life that I live these days and it is through choice that I do not own property or measure my success in the acclimation of cash or "stuff". As predicted, I quote from the Tao Teh Ching:

Chapter 44
As for your name and your body, which is the dearer?
As for your body and your wealth, which is the more to be prized?
As for gain and loss, which is the more painful?

Thus, an excessive love for anything will cost you dear in the end.
The storing up of too much goods will entail a heavy loss.

To know when you have enough is to be immune from disgrace.
To know when to stop is to be preserved from perils.
Only thus can you endure long.

Between the years 1993-2001 I lived above a large hall and earned my living as Bookings Manager of that public hall, and supplemented this small 'live in' income with Tai Chi teaching. To my surprise I became a 'success'; not as a the manager of that public building, but as a Tai Chi Teacher! This is then how all of this began almost by accident, and at first I instructed to no more that two people at any one time. However, as things developed and the demand for my services as an instructor increased, I expanded into larger and larger halls and increased the size and number of Tai Chi sessions that I led. During this period I also became a devotee of the Buddha and began private study in this subject with the desire of becoming one day a Priest or Monk. However ... as the Tao Teh Ching does warn ...

46. Verse 2.
There is no calamity like not knowing what is enough.
There is no evil like covetousness.
Only he who knows what is enough will always have enough.

... On April Fools Day 2001 the halls that I worked in and lived above were 'put on the market' and I was issued with redundancy and eviction papers.

At so it was just over a year ago that I took up residence in this property that has become my home and the only indoor meeting and training facility that Taichido and I can rely upon; and it is here on the top floor that my Home Dojo is located. Our neighbours on one side are of East European origination, and on the other side is a Chemist shop ran by a quite typical Asian husband and wife partnership. Our Landlord is also the proprietor of the local convenience store, his handyman a Gipsy (he recently married a Polish lady) and in what was the back garden now stands the first purpose built Islamic Temple in Southampton.

The next Chapter of the Tao Teh Ching reassures ...

47.
Without going out of your door,
You can know the ways of the world.
Without peeping out of your window.
You can see the Way of Heaven.
The further you go,
The less you know.

Thus, the Sage knows without traveling,
Sees without looking,
And achieves without Ado.

A Home is a place where the Heart and the Mind Meet

I have adapted now to to my new situation and the reduction in the physical has proven to be a great liberation that has in turn led to an expansion of the less tangible www.Taichido.com. The Tai Chi that I teach has always been based upon my assertion that "Tai Chi is where You are, not where I am", and the kind and generous comments that are regularly posted to our Guestbook reassures me that this message, Taichido and the tao of you and I are going in the right direction.

48
Learning consists in daily accumulating;
The practice of Tao consists in daily diminishing.

Keep on diminishing and diminishing,
Until you reach the state of Non-Ado.
Non-Ado, and yet nothing is left undone.

To win the world, one must renounce all
If one still has private ends to serve,
One will never be able to win the world.

I mentioned earlier that I studied to become a Buddhist Priest or Monk. Did I achieve this, did I succeed, did I fail? No, none of these. I simply became content! I am happy now to be me, and I hope that you like what you see! Some call it "Lay", I call it Me.

To conclude this newsletter I would like to invite you to other 'home' that I am as reliant upon as I am upon this one with the Dojo on the top floor, and my other one (Doshi Home) on the Web. This place/space is a Jodo Shin Shu Buddhist Temple in London UK called Three Wheels and my active involvement in this Temple has become another important ingredient in maintaining this relatively uncomplicated and carefree life that I live (alone) these days. This 'aloneness' has again brought unforeseen rewards and I am extremely proud to identify to also myself now as Web Master for www.threewheels.org.uk. Please pay this site a visit and see if you see what I see.

TAO TEH CHING, Lao Tzu, Translated by John C.H. Wu, Shambhala Dragon Editions.
ISBN 0-87773-388-0