Autumn 2015 Newsletter
(November 2015)
Dear Living Tao Family & Friends:
Summer is gone so quickly and autumn leaves are beginning to turn and soon will be falling. There is much to share with you from of the events in the past months, so to begin:
Shortly after returning from the Winterthur Easter Week and my annual visit in London, we began to prepare our Spring Seminar at home in Urbana. We continue to sustain this annual event, and are always happy to welcome the “faithful” to return for this traditional home week in Illinois. Many thanks to the devotion and able management of Gerry Bradley who comes from the East Coast each spring to organize this event with us. We appreciate you with heart-felt ALOHA, Gerry.
Immediately following the Spring Seminar, I flew to Beijing and after a few days recovery from Jet lag and met with others who arrived early at the same hotel. I took them to visit the Chinese Opera Club to see a delightful performance by the young actors in training. We also visited the schools to observe them in practice.
After we had gathered the Lan Ting Institute seminarians, we embarked on a spacious chartered bus to the ancient capitol of Da Tong, on a tightly paced but exciting adventure to several historic and cultural wonders, including the ancient wooden tower, the marvelous restored imperial walls of this old city, and to marvel at the giant Buddha statues at the Yungang Grottoes nearby.
We precariously ascended the spectacular “Hanging Temples” along the cliff of the chiseled mountains, on our way to Wu Tai Shan (the most famous group of Buddhist, Tibetan and Taoist temples spreading out on the 5 Terraced Wu Tai mountains) before traveling on to another ancient city, Tai Yuan, for more historic buildings, temples and famous mansions.
It was almost too overwhelming to take in all the sights. Although Shanxi Province is full of history and ancient wonders, it was only recently developed to accommodate growing tourism.
Next, we spent several days at the ancient city of Pingyao, still very well preserved with charming authenticity. We also took in the beautifully produced “Impression Pingyao” spectacle by the creative team presided by Zhang Yimou. He is the film director who created the opening and closing ceremonies at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, also in Guilin, Yunnan’s Li Jiang, West Lake in Hangzhou, and Impression Wu Yi Shan. For most of us, including myself, it was our first experience to take in and absorb all the new wonders in Shanxi Province.
From there, we continued on to Xian, the old capitol in Shaanxi, a neighboring province, to visit the Qin and Tang Dynasties imperial city walls and, of course not to miss the Terra Cotta Soldiers at the excavation site of the tomb of Qin Shi Huang Di, the “First Emperor” who united all the fiefdoms in China. You may remember the wonderful movie, HERO about this Emperor and failed assassins, which was also conceived and directed by Zhang Yimou.
We finally settled at “home” in Wu Yi Mountain for our 3rd week’s studies. We were especially happy to be received so warmly again, by our loving and caring 
Abbess Han,my soul-sister at Zhi Zhi An, where we were feasted with delicious vegetarian meals and treated with new demonstrations from the “cloud wandering” Taoists. One particularly beautiful Taoist, mesmerized us with his stunningly ethereal Tai Ji dance.
On our last day there, the 6 couples amongst us received a special ritual blessing to sustain their marriage vows from the Abbess with a most beautiful ceremony at her inner sanctum.
Another day, we visited with former Party Secretary of Wu Yi University, Wu Bangcai, now, the Deputy Head of Song & Ming Dynasty Neo-Confucianism Research Institute of China, and President of WuYi Culture Research Institute where our International Lan Ting Institute has been an affiliate since 2012. Some of you on that year’s visit may still remember the big ceremony with firecrackers blasting when the plaque of Living Tao Lan Ting Institute was mounted next to the front entrance. The same day, we went to Wu Yi University to deliver my lecture for the school assembly. Our seminarians were invited to visit various classes to share their experiences in the most effective citizens’ diplomatic exchanges. Goodwill and mutual appreciation abound.
The Lan Ting Institute officially concluded in Wu Yi Shan, but a third of the remaining seminarians decided to continue on to Fuzhou, another culturally fascinating city in Fujian, also the city of my youth in China. We were able to visit Gu Shan, the Drum Mountain and danced Tai Ji in front of the famous “Bubbling Spring Temple”, also the West Ch’an (Zen) 500 Lohans Temple, and roamed Fuzhou’s West Lake Park modeled after the renowned West Lake in Hangzhou, equally beautiful. Despite the humid hot weather those last days, we were all resilient troupers to take in all the good things and happy to escape being in Southern China at the wrong season to return to our home countries. The next Lan Ting will be in Autumn of 2017 for much more conducive all around climate!
All in all, another very gratifying and unique Lan Ting experience for us. China is so rich with so much antiquity and hidden beauty, we felt fortunate and grateful to be the first ones visiting in that area, knowing that these places will soon become overly developed and sugar-coated with quick fixes to attract more tourism; inevitably their original charm and aesthetics, sadly, will be lost.
After China, prior to our summer seminar at the River House, I took a week to be with both daughters at our annual “father-daughters” retreat at Rancho La Puerta. We have sustained this mutual commitment to share this week annually for six consecutive years already. A true blessing!
Summer River House weeks have always been the BEST time to be in the sun with warmth and beauty of the Rogue River, and to fully the joy of learning together with kindred souls.
From the consistent photo-archive of Yuki and Miko, you can feel the richness of our learning and our shared blessings. Our mutual enthusiasm and open absorption was palpable just looking at all the calligraphic symbols hanging around as we shared our practice, dance and meals together.
The only wish was to have more time to study together; three weeks were much too short, especially for a few who had to come later and leave early. Linda Gerson, our devoted and best notetakers will again provide a fine record of our detailed learning during those weeks for future reference. Thank you, Linda.
Immediately following the summer seminar, I left for Washington, DC to attend the National Flute Association (NFA) Convention to honor Alexander Murray, our Living Tao board member, and my lifelong friend/performing partner. Alex received his Lifetime Achievement Award at the convention (Former recipients included Jean-Pierre Rampal and James Galway).
It was a wonderful event with grateful tributes from so many of Alex’s colleagues and students around the world. Ionut Bogdan Stefanescu, the principal flutist from the Enescu Philharmonic, flew in from Bucharest, Romania; also deep appreciation came from Sir James Galway who succeeded Alex as the principal flutist with London Symphony Orchestra, called Alex his mentor. A special tribute concert for Alex was performed by some of the finest flutists who had studied under Alex and now prominent in their performing and teaching professions worldwide. The composition, “Le Merle Noir” by Olivier Messiaen, which won Alex the First Price at The Paris Conservatory was the same music I had choreographed to one of my repertory dances called “Kites”, which was performed in our Dance Company, also by Suzanne and me as a duet, at all the major dance festivals in America and later in Taiwan, Singapore and Hong Kong. The heart-felt appreciations and the beautiful music induced joyful tears from all of us.
Lisbeth Bagnold who lives in DC was my local host, met me and supported us at the convention, sharing the stage with me to give a Tai Ji Movement seminar for musician/flutists, accompanied with the beautiful music playing by Lorna McGhee, who had performed many times with me at the Oregon Bach Festival and at the Mind-Supermind concerts in Santa Barbara. We also joined Alex and family at the Gala Award Dinner at the ceremony. Again, so heartwarmingly moving!
After DC, I gave myself a week of R&R to visit New York City where I had not been for several years. I reunited with many old friends, and visited the new Whitney Museum, designed by Renzo Piano; also enjoyed two exhibitions at the Metropolitan Museum: “Through the Looking Glass” depicting the fashions influenced by China through the Ages, and “The Portraitures by John Singer Sargent”. Both excellently curated and stunningly displayed. Of course, I took in a few Broadway and off-Broadway shows, included the new Gershwin musical, “An American in Paris”, and the revival of “On the Town” by Leonard Bernstein and Jerome Robbins; plus, an unusual and very moving Tony winning new musical called “Fun Home” at the intimate The Circle in the Square Theater.
I came back to Oregon, enjoying a week “baby-sitting” granddaughter Sylvia between summer camp and the beginning of her Third Grade School. I spent “quality time” with her, teaching her Chinese brush calligraphy, listening to her piano practice, walking the dog, reading and playing games, and dancing Tai Ji boogie together. 
I visited her school on the first day, met her new teacher, saw her off on the school bus in the morning and met the bus on her return. And, helped to get her ready for her first soccer game—she managed to kick a goal at her maiden game! What a thrill to have experienced, finally, the joy of being the “soccer grandpa”.
Grandma Suzanne with sister, grand auntie Janelle (from Indiana) joined us to visit both daughters’ family in Portland and Seattle. We will drive south to Gold Beach to linger for another week before flying back to the Midwest. I am looking forward to some down time to catch up with many suspended projects at home in Urbana before having to fly west again for my annual Thanksgiving Week residency at Esalen Institute.
One piece of exciting news to report is that the Tai Ji DVDs, filmed by Christopher Gallo at Esalen in the past years, produced by Bob Judd, and now assisted by Lisbeth Bagnold to put on the final touches for completion, will be ready for distribution by Thanksgiving. We will also hope to have a world premiere during my week there when many of our Living Tao friends will gather again in Big Sur. Watch for the details in our new product offerings on our website, which will also include the film of “The Tao of Bach” concert at the Krannert Center for the Performing Arts in 2012.
Until we meet again…Abundance of CHI-eers will be expanding outward from the Inner Core of Living Tao to All of you everywhere in the world. And we shall remember to paraphrase this saying from St. Augustine, also Emerson, on “Circles”: “TAO” which Center is Everywhere and the Circumference is Nowhere!
And, of course, our favorite Rilke poem:
Ich lebe mein Leben in wachsenden Ringen
Ich lebe mein Leben in wachsenden Ringen,
die sich über die Dinge ziehn.
Ich werde den letzten vielleicht nicht vollbringen,
aber versuchen will ich ihn.
Ich kreise um Gott, um den uralten Turm,
und ich kreise jahrtausendelang;
und ich weiß noch nicht: bin ich ein Falke, ein Sturm
oder ein großer Gesang.
Have a wonderful Autumn…
Chungliang