Autumn 2022 Living Tao Essential Tai Ji Series — Session Two
(October 2022)
Download Printed PDF All Study Materials
THE WAY OF HARMONY
Master Huang’s teaching is designed to refresh and review previous curricula, while delving more deeply into the ongoing exploration of the Living Tao forms, metaphors, and philosophy.
For this session Master Huang will introduce new material, including:
* “Under the Pine” Nature Bathing Meditation;
~ Poetry of Jia Dao & Gary Snyder;
* Calligraphy, Metaphors & Movement Motifs for:
~Centering / Release / Balance~
~Chén沉Fú浮Tí提Piāo 漂 Fēi飛Xiáng翔~
CONTEMPLATIVE CENTERING
Poem by 賈賈島 Jia Dao (Tang Dynasty)
松下問童⼦子
Son 松 (pine) Xia 下 (under) Wen 問 (ask) tong 童 (youth) Zi ⼦子 (child)
Yan ⾔言 (says) Shi 師 (master/teacher) Cai 採 (gathering) Yao (medicine/herbs) Qu 去 (away)
Zhi 只 (only) Zai 在 (at) Ci 此 (this) Shan ⼭山 (mountain) Zhong 中 (center)
Yun 雲 (cloud) Shen 深 (deep/dense) Bu 不 (not) Zhi 知 (know) Chu 處 (where)
Following the above direct Pinyin to English translations are various “poetic” translation into English.
Why not go ahead and make your own poem from the pinyin above!?!
Seeking the Master but not Meeting
I asked the boy beneath the pines
He said: the Master’s gone alone
herb picking somewhere on the mount
cloud-hidden, whereabouts unknown
~Translated by Lin Yutang
Visiting the Absent Hermit
1 Beneath the pine-trees, I ask of a lad I see.
2 Away is the master gathering herbs, says he,
3 Somewhere in the mountain, where? I cannot tell,
4 For there the clouds are deep and dense as be.
~Translated by Andrew W.F. Wong
Beneath a pine I asked a little child
He said the Master went to gather herbs.
Alone was he upon this mountainside,
The clouds so deep he knew not where he was
~Translator Unknown
A Note to a Recluse I Missed Out on Seeing
Under pine trees I asked a pupil of your whereabouts,
Who mentioned his master has gone to gather herbs.
Somewhere in the mountain you were for certain,
Uncertain was where among the deep cloud cover you were.
Failing to Find the Hermit
Beneath the pine, I asked of the child.
“My master’s gone for herbs grown wild;
He should just be in the mountain there,
Deep, way deep in the clouds somewhere
~Translated by Frank C. Yue
SYMBOLS, METAPHORS & PHILOSOPHY
~Centering~
Shōu 收 (Collect) & Fàng 放 (Release)
Zhōng 中 (Center ) Dìng 定 (Settling) Nèi 內 (Inside) Guān 觀 (Contemplation)
Ping / Balance
Zhong / Center
CHÉN沉FÚ浮TÍ提PIĀO 漂 FĒI飛XIÁNG翔
(6 stages)
Chén / Sinking
Fú / Rebound / Float
Tí / Lifting
Piāo / Float / Ride the Wind
Fēi / Take Flight
Xiáng / Soar
GARY SNYDER COLLECTED POEMS
“Energy is eternal delight” quote from William Blake
“Delight is the innocent joy arising with the perception and realization of the wonderful empty, intricate interpenetrating, mutually embracing, shining, single world beyond all discrimination or opposites.”
For the Children
The rising hills, the slopes, of statistics
lie before us.
the steep climb
of everything, going up, up, as we all
go down.
In the next century
or the one beyond that, they say,
are valleys, pastures, we can meet there in peace if we make it.
To climb these coming crests one word to you, to
you and your children:
stay together learn the flowers go light
Supplemental References
The Importance of Living, Lin Yutang ISBN 0-688-16332-1
Gary Snyder: Collected Poems, by Gary Snyder (Author), Anthony Hunt (Editor) (LOA #357) (Library of America, 357) Hardcover – June 21, 2022
