Change and
Modification
The subject of Tai Chi
is notoriously difficult to talk or (same thing-ish ... keep reading and
see below!) write about. This is so not only because it based upon 'a way'
that is, by design, corrupted by words; but also because it is a personal,
physical and spiritual experience that one comes to understand and become
intimate with by doing, as opposed to hearing or reading about.
This is my only excuse for this newsletters recent deviations into
retellings of my own activities and interests and a journal of 'what I
have been doing'. I do nevertheless hope that these snapshots of 'what I
do' have given you some insight into what a Tai Chi teacher does when he
is not teaching Tai Chi! Fact is, I don't write about Tai Chi so much
these days; and a second fact is that I do not feel guilty about this
either! I have been writing about Tai Chi for www.taichido.com for a
couple of years now, and just for now, I feel that this is perhaps enough,
especial in consideration of Marks current project of rendering the site
into six European languages.
It occurs to me now also that process
I adopt for writing is itself in a state or process of permanent change
and modification, and that this newsletter has now become the primary
format of my musings. This observation prompted me to look up some very
old and dusty archives of my writings committed to paper long before I had
any concept of the world wide web and this format of publication via light
from a screen. For your pleasure I present below a few samples of these
archives:
Articles of the Old and Dusty
Archives
Us and
Them
To be in accord with Tao it is advised that one avoid
'duality', not only between mind and spirit - but also head and heart,
thought and action, and indeed ... word and deed. Barriers between 'one
thing' and 'another thing' should be allowed to dissolve.
Words
are just verbalised thoughts. "This thing" requires a word to describe it;
"that thing" requires another. It is words that polarize 'this' as being
apart from 'that' and 'that' as not being 'the other'. This is the way of
discrimination, and discrimination is the way of conflict manifest as the
suppression of individuality and the desire of the powerful and strong
that they and all others should follow just one way. Theirs.
Chi
Chi is created through the conversion of
Essence. This conversion is activated by 1. Biochemical reactions and 2.
Thought or intention.
In eastern thought there is no difference
between Mind and Spirit and each are referred to as "Jing". There is no
'duality'. Take, for instance, an athlete who has for months and years
eaten all of the 'right' foods and exercised all the necessary parts of
his/her body to accomplish and excel in a certain field of endeavor. The
night before some big race there is some catastrophe and his/her house and
contents are destroyed. It is unlikely that this particular athlete will
be breaking any records that day!
Teacher
The example in physical form of a good
teacher is an important part of the Tai Chi learning process. A teacher is
not however the be all and end all because, ultimately, it is you and you
alone that will fit the parts of the puzzle together, but not until the
physical example of a good teacher is appreciated as a part of that puzzle
and perhaps a preview of the assembled whole.
Just for the
Doing
I have always harbored
ambitions of being a writer and began experiments, just like many other
adolescence do, with poetry. As it gradually dawn upon me that these
musings were embarrassingly lightweight I reclassified my work as "lyrics"
and decorated them with music. Thus they became songs. This continued for
decades whilst, from the early 90's onwards I began to compile hand
written Tai Chi Study Notes. This second discipline was done as anything
to do with Tai Chi should be done ... just for the doing. Some other
examples of these early works on Tai Chi are available to view at the
sister site to taichido.com: WheelsWithinWheels. This is
the new title of my home-site which for now remains the
address:http://members.lycos.co.uk/taichido. My plan for the future, when
funds permit, is to register this site with a domain name and rid it of
advertising banners. I hope this will put the finishing touches to this
site which has all of a sudden become one of those peculiar crossroads on
the web; and a joyful meeting of ways.
May I also please draw your
attention to to one short article on one of the sub-sites of
WheelsWithinWheels. This piece that serves as my introduction Pure Land
Notes Online - which is one of those sub-sites of the sister site is
called "It Will
Be Fine". I do so because the words of that piece are also the lyrics
of the last song that I wrote. From about this point on I concentrated on
instrumental music only; not because I was embarrassed or ashamed of my
words. They simply became more redundant as my music became more
expressive.
Personal address to
the Trustees of London Shogyoji Trust
I take this
opportunity to return to the familiarity of 'what I have been doing' and
in part repeat a sentence from my last newsletter: "In connection with my
'other actives' I was recently invited to give a talk on the subject of
"Non Attachment to Outside Form". This subject was suggested by Reverend
Taira Sato-san, Head Priest of Three Wheels (Shogyoji Trust), Shin
Buddhist Temple in London, UK.
I used the substance of that talk again
just a few days later as an introduction to a report on the development of
the www.threewheels.org.uk for whom I am proud to be Web Master. The first
of these occasions was The 46th London Eza (06.10.02)
Hoonko-Otorikoshi at Three Wheels, celebrating the anniversary of
the founder of Shin Buddhism, Shinran Shonin
(1173-1262). The second, two days later, was on the occasion of the Meeting of
the Trustees of Shogyoji Trust, London. As follows:
I am pleased to take
this opportunity to present to you a short report on the Three Wheels
Website.
At the same time also thank the Trustees of Shogyoji, London
for the wonderful opportunity for spiritual examination and personal
growth that my deep involvement in the project www.threewheels.org has
proven to be.
Just over a year ago I
was presented with redundancy and eviction notices and all of a sudden the
prospect of becoming homeless became 'real'. These losses came together
because as residential caretaker/manager of a community hall one was
intrinsic to the other. My reaction to these notices was to, in this
order: 1.stay calm 2.plan and plot and then … 3.panic - and search for
something else, something new [another 'outside form'] that I might rely
upon.
The halls that I had
become caretaker and manager of had also naturally become the centre of my
personal activities and practices. As the years of my residency
progressed, I took advantage of the space available to me and shared these
practices with others. In time, I came to be considered the leader (doshi)
of these groups that gathered there with me in that place to practice Tai
Chi (meditative martial art) and Buddha Dharma Sangha study and practice.
The termination of that building therefore also led to the dissolution of
those groups.
I have since come to realise that the eradication of
a building or the dissolution of 'groups' need not necessarily lead to the
termination of any practices or study. The building, the leader, the group
- even the practices … these are all 'outside form' and my personal
experiences have now proven to me that none of these should be relied
upon.
Before any thought was
given to any future demise of the Tai Chi group that met with me back then
in the hall, we commenced work upon a website that was launched, without
fuss or any expectations around the middle of 1997. It is an irony that
this 'virtual' enterprise has long outlived the building that housed its
activities and expanded well beyond walls of bricks and mortar and
restrictions of 'a place' or single, static location or 'outside form'.
The 'not for profit' site www.taichido.com is now visited by around
about sixty people every day and has proven itself useful to many that I
would otherwise be unable to meet. These numerous new encounters are, I
realise, by definition 'virtual'; but they are encounters nevertheless, as
'real' as any other.
It is extremely
gratifying than I am now able to share my web-skills with the Sangha of
Three Wheels; for it is through the wise council of Reverend Sato-san; not
so much during lectures in the shrine room, but more during less formal
chats around the kitchen table, that the Reverend showed me the difference
between 'encounter' and 'outside form'; what can be relied upon and what
can not.
To "take refuge"
infers the condition of being "a refugee". To be a refugee infers the
condition of having nothing. No home, no job, no family, no country.
Existence comes down to just that. "I exist", "I am this footprint ", "I
am".
By coincidence of time and place of birth there is little or no
prospect that I shall ever be as destitute as any one of the refugees that
we see on our TV screens, however, through my own experiences I have come
to understand that "there is suffering". I have learnt that "there is
suffering" and "there is a cause to that suffering". These two are the
first of four ancient truths as described by the Buddha.
The Tathagata
went on to assure us all that "there is a way out suffering" and taught
this way out of suffering called "The Noble Eightfold Path". To follow the
Eightfold path is to follow the Buddha's teachings, and understand that
the common cause of enmity leading to suffering is greed, anger and
ignorance; any one of those, any combination or all at once.
To
extinguish these flames a devotee is advised to practice a certain form of
'non-attachment' to all 'outside form' - title, building, leader etc. In
other words, to take refuge in Buddha, Dharma, Sangha is to rely entirely
upon that. Buddha Dharma Sangha.
I believe that this
was what Sato-san was suggesting when following supper one evening he
urged me to simply seek "true faith" and not to rely on 'outside form'.
I cannot say for sure weather I have attained 'true faith', however I
can say with more certainty that I am now quite content with what I have.
I have found a place to live (in the same road as the hall that I
left) and manage to earn a small income from being 'useful'. This 'work'
may be divided into three separate activities. 1. Delivering prosthetics
for a dental laboratory. 2. Teaching Tai Chi. 3. Web work.
From here
on in I have no great or sophisticated plans or ambition for the future
other than to maintain faith, trust.
Afterward: At the
Three Wheels Trustees Meeting I was commissioned to report upon the
website of the Mother Temple, Shogyoji, Japan, with a view to a complete
reconstruction. Watch that space!
To You and Others I Conclude
My head spins and my
heart beats fast when I dare to predict the future, and in recent times my
expectations have been exceeded by such margins as to render prediction
redundant.
This issue of the
taichido newsletter concludes at the same place as my report and personal
statement; where statistics and strategy, numbers and measurement become
meaningless.
Links:
www.taichido.com
WheelsWithinWheels
Pure Land Notes
Online
Three
Wheels.
Shogyoji Temple,
Japan
Gassho
Gary
Gary Dai Chi Robinson,
Doshi/Leader for Taichido gary@taichido.com
Mark
Allen, webmaster for taichido.com mark@taichido.com
the
Taichido Newsletter is presented by www.taichido.com and is not linked to
any database or emailing list other than its own voluntary subscribers.
If for any reason you do not wish to receive this newsletter, then
please go to: http://www.soton.ac.uk/~maa1/chi/others/unsubscribe.htm
Feedback
etc. to: Newsletter@taichido.com
| 
