Taoism/Tai Chi

I love Tai Chi. So far as I know, it's the only philosophy of life that you can express in movement. (Unless expressive movement -- such as dancing -- is philosophy also, a non-verbal variety.)One of the first things a Tai Chi student learns is circularity. Also, one of the last things. Letting go of rigidity is a never-ending process, like life itself. There are no straight lines in the yin-yang symbol. Most of the physical movements in Tai Chi have the same curving feel. Ditto with the philosophical precepts. Taoist sages don't point directly at truth. The intimate blend…

Yesterday I related the following story to my Tai Chi class. Our instructor had been talking about the importance of staying empty, keeping one foot unweighted so you can easily move it in a desired direction. Being double-weighted is a no-no. That's when you're firmly planted on both feet, committed to where you are, which prevents you from fluidly being somewhere else if the situation demands it. I came across this tale in "A Short History of Chinese Philosophy." Wang Hui-Chih was living at Shan-Yin. One night he was awakened by a heavy snowfall. Opening the window he saw a…

Music. Sound. Vibrations. Dance. These aren't just worldly night club notions. They're also at the root of some of the world's most profound mystical and spiritual traditions. Like, Taoism. Yesterday I left a comment on a post, responding to some thoughts from Adam . I said: Adam, I don't think it's accurate to say that the form of meditation practice you described differentiates RSSB/Sant Mat from all other faiths. Sant Mat likes to claim that the "sound current" is at the foundation of every deep mystical practice. This is an exaggeration, but I have quite a collection of books that…

It's too damn hot here in Oregon today (100 degrees!) to slave over a hot laptop trying to cook up a blog post. So, thanks to Marcel Cairo, my favorite after life medium (also, the only one I know), I've got a readymade Church of the Churchless sharing for this over-heated Saturday. Marcel emailed me a link to Richard Carrier's "From Taoist to Infidel," titling his message It could be you. Yes, indeed. I saw a lot of myself in this essay. And I'll bet a lot of visitors to this blog will see themselves similarly reflected in Richard's journey…

Here I am, someone who's pursued spiritual practices for almost forty years, and I can't tell you what "spirit" is. Go figure. But seemingly such figuring is impossible, because whatever spirit is (assuming that word means anything at all), there's general consensus among mystics, meditators, and metaphysicians that it's something beyond the bounds of rationality, explanation, experimentation. Just like life, consciousness, and existence – which to me are pretty much synonymous with spirit. Meaning, the foundational aspect of the cosmos, that which there is no deeper which'er. Or, that'er. For those inclined to going off the deep end, a club…

Over on my other blog, HinesSight, Joshua left a Taoism related comment on a DSL-themed post. Go figure, especially since some of the sentiments I expressed in the post were just a tad on the egocentric side. Many of my neighbors are deeply grateful that I've brought the potential of DSL to some 240 homes in our area. Quite a few are trying to run businesses out of their homes. That's tough to do with a dial-up connection, and satellite is expensive. I've been thinking that a bronze statue of me, commemorating my DSL triumph, would be a nice addition…

I'd heard of brights before, but didn't know that it was possible to become a Bright (with a capital "B") until Tao, a frequent Church of the Churchless visitor, mentioned the brights web site in a recent comment. This evening I learned enough about bright-ness to conclude that I could sign up as an official Bright. You can be a lower case "bright" just by considering yourself to be such. But registering on the brights web site turns you into a honest to God nature "Bright." Slipped up just now. Hope my reference to a supernatural entity doesn't void my…

Ron Gardner, compiler of an excellent spiritual reading list, just gave me some feedback about four Taoism books that I recommended to him. I found his email so interesting, I wanted to share it. By "interesting," I don't mean that I understand it completely. But I get where he's coming from, to use a wonderfully imprecise '60s term. It just isn't where I come from. Which is absolutely, completely, marvelously fine. I can't tell you how many times I've said or written something that seemed to be so compelling, so inspiring, so truthful, so eloquent, that after my saying or…

One of my enduring memories of the marvelously '60's ish Oregon Country Fair outside of Eugene is a banner strung high between two trees that simply said, "Yes…Yes…Yes." (though the fair does have some dos and don'ts) When I saw it, I thought…Yes. There's so much in that one word. Everything, really. What more could we want if we have Yes? It's the negative side of life that is so disenchanting. Nobody likes to be told "No!" Not children, not anybody. We're Yes seeking creatures who long for affirmation, positivity, acceptance. This is a big part of the reason why…

Ever ready to reduce the complexity of reality to a simple dichotomy, here I go again: Virtually all of the debate over spirituality comes down to choosing between an empty hub or a transcendent seal. By "seal" I don't mean an animal. Rather, my much beloved "Daoism Explained," by Hans-Georg Moeller, talks about the difference between (1) Taoism's here-and-now view of reality and (2) the Truth is there-and-then perspective of most religions (likely every religion). Moeller says these outlooks are encapsulated by two images. One is of a wheel consisting of spokes connected to an empty hub. The Daodejing says:…

Taoism is my favorite non-religious religion. I like it for a lot of reasons, not least of which is that it's the only philosophy I know of that comes with a built-in self defense and health promoting exercise system: Tai Chi. When a philosophy can be expressed physically, that shows a pleasing rootedness in reality. I adore abstractions also, but like they say (or at least, I do) "Three bucks and a whole bunch of metaphysical concepts gets you a grande latte at Starbucks." This morning I was reading Thomas Cleary's translation of "The Book of Balance and Harmony: A…

One nice thing about Taoism is that it's pretty damn simple. The yin-yang symbol, or Taijitu, says just about all that can be said about my favorite philosophy. Which ideally would be nothing, as the first four lines of the Tao Te Ching tell us. The Tao that can be told is not the eternal Tao.The name that can be named is not the eternal name.The nameless is the beginning of heaven and earth.The named is the mother of ten thousand things. But last Thursday night I was expected to say something about Taoism to a Comparative Religion class for…

Got to get fired up, or cooled down, for the Taoism talk I'm going to give to a Comparative Religion class tonight. I won't prepare a whole lot. Want to let it flow. I'm planning to carry along the Lieh-tzu, though. That's the third leg of the traditional Taoist canon, along with the Tao-te Ching and the Chuang-tzu. Translator Eva Wong says: The Lao-tzu describes a state of reality that a sage experiences; the Chuang-tzu describes a state of mind that the sage is in; but the Lieh-tzu describes how the enlightened person lives. …If the Lao-tzu is poetry and…

Just as I was sitting down to dash out a Church of the Churchless post before leaving for an Academy Awards potluck, where I will selflessly share one of the last Now & Zen Unturkey's left on earth, I got an email from a friend, Joelle. I liked it so much, I'll share her words today instead of mine. Which leaves me free to see more of the Red Carpet arrivals. From Joelle to me to you, Alan Watts' "Seven Secret Sayings of God." I like them. ---------------------------------------------------From Joelle Martin Leath: You know when a verse or lyric or book pops…

There's a lot of pushing on this blog, as elsewhere on the Internet. People read something they don't like. They push back. The pushed take affront and return the favor. And so it goes. That's life. It's natural to resist having our psychological space invaded. Nestled comfortably in the four walls of my beliefs, someone bursts in and starts sledge hammering. Hey! Stop, you stupid fuckhead! Got to defend the territory. Some recent Church of the Churchless comments have been directed at seemingly overly aggressive language by a blog visitor who would go unnamed if I didn't mention that his…