New Year 2014
(January 2014)
Happy Chinese Lunar New Year of the “Wood/wind” Horse to you ALL!
Since my last newsletter, the trip to Beijing for the Zhou Enlai Peace Festival was all we had hoped for both in Beijing at the National People’s Congress, and afterwards at the symposium at the Nan-Kai University in Tianjin, where Zhou was one of their most prominent alumni. Read the article[Beat: can you hotlink this to the Empty Vessel Article?] I wrote in the Winter 2014 issue of The Empty Vessel Magazine.
While in Beijing I reconnected with Chinese friends who had attended the annual “Potential China” forum at Esalen Institute. I enjoyed being hosted and guided to experience the “real” Beijing away from the tourist hotel offerings. An additional treat was meeting Ghaffar Pourazar, a mutual friend of Jane Goodall, an Iranian who has become one of the most important persons in China helping to revive the Beijing Opera. Ghaffar is well know for his awesome recreation of the role of the Monkey King. Log on to his website for more details of his spectacular feats and accomplishments in the world of the Chinese Opera.
A couple years ago, when Ghaffar was touring the USA, John and Marjolaine Harper from Gold Beach joined me to catch him in an enthralling performance in Ashland, Oregon. Since then we have been in touch and sharing our love for the Chinese theatre as well joining forces to scheme and wish for a future project: a Musical Ghaffar has written based on the life of Jane Goodall. We continue to be hopeful it will become a reality soon.
Ghaffar took me around to the places only the locals frequent; and in my last afternoon and evening in Beijing we visited the historic All Sages Bookstore, Opera schools and museum, a tea market, snacked on the street; and still managed to catch two opera performances.
I flew back directly from Beijing to San Francisco to join this year’s “Potential China” forum team for dinner and overnight before driving south to Big Sur to begin our week. I rode in the same car with two new guest participants, Robert Oxnam and Vishakha Desai, both China experts and former directors of the Asian Society. We became instant friends and delighted in discovering strong connections of mutual acquaintances all over the globe. Small world indeed! Annual “Potential China” gatherings remain strong and well supported by Esalen and a number of us who had initiated this citizens’ diplomatic effort in early 1987.
After that, I was able to go home to Urbana to recuperate and be with Suzanne for a couple weeks before returning to Esalen again for my annual Thanksgiving residency in Big Sur. A special bonus was a side trip to surprise our grandson Avery at his Senior Art Show at the Booker T. Washington High School of the Arts in Dallas. And, what a treat it was to marvel at the prodigious talent of this young artist. Detaching myself from “grandpa’s” proud observation, and witnessing Avery’s potential and evolving artistry since he was a toddler. Thus far his college applications have come through with a “Presidential Merit” Award and a “Creative Vision” scholarship from two of his first choices.
My two weeks at Esalen were, as always, heart-warmingly well spent, enjoying the usual fine weather, and joyful reunions with many faithful friends who make these annual “homecoming” events to treasure always.
Before Suzanne and I left for Portland to join our daughters and grand children for Christmas, a surprising and very unusual request came from an Urbana resident. The CEO of the “Flex-n-Gate Corporation”, Shahid Khan, who is also the new owner of the NFL’s Jacksonville Jaguars extended an invitation to me. Apparently, their new head coach, Gus Bradley had read some of my books, and was interested in tuning in with me to compare notes on his coaching strategies. Mr. Khan, a kindred spirit, invited me to attend a game in Jacksonville, Florida against the Buffalo Bills.
The one and only time I had actually attended a football game was in 1958, when as an architecture student at the University of Oregon, a few of us drove down from Eugene to root for our own “Ducks” in the New Year’s Day Rose Bowl game.With this second football game in my life, I was honored to be part of the inner circle of Mr. Khan, the owner, his wife Ann, the team’s president and General manager, the head coach Gus Bradley, and their spouses and colleagues. It was quite a learning experience for me! Finding the key players of the Jaguars a new breed of athlete, I was inspired by the vision of the team to focus on innovation and new potential for achieving, rather than just winning. It was a special treat for what it was, and whether anything further will evolve from this initial visit is yet to be seen.
After a big family Christmas gathering in Portland, Suzanne and I have been quietly settling at our beach house in Gold Beach, taking the time to clear clutters in our lives, especially for me after much too much traveling this past year. I have needed to take the time to release all the unnecessary accumulations of things and thoughts, to re-organize, simplify and find spaces in my life in all areas of being. We have been blessed with unusually warm and sunny winter here on the southern Oregon coast, which I hope will last through next month when the “Heritage Seminar Program” participants will be here at the River House.
It has been my lifelong wish to keep reviving the CORE thinking on how to sustain and preserve the GEMS of our learning legacy since I began teaching consistently in the mid-70s. Once again we will assemble a group of devotees to this learning process this Winter in Oregon, with the combined yin/yang themes and metaphors of “Embrace Tiger, Return To Mountain” 抱虎歸山 and “Learning Has No Boundary” 學無止境 as our guiding lights.
In the weeks before our River House Heritage Seminar, I will spend my13th consecutive year with the Evergreen College students and the community in Olympia, Washington to celebrate the Chinese New Year. Then on to another annual visit to Honolulu, to help celebrate the 98thbirthday of Jean Erdman (Mrs. Joseph Campbell). This year our Hawaiian friends have designed a special synposium to involve me with the theme of The TAO of ALOHA, to explore the kinship between TAO/Tai Ji and the Island’s spiritual and artistic philosophy in Hula, Lua (the ancient martial arts), and Yoga, culminating in a DANCE with movement teachers and lovers of dance in an evening of celebration–a “Tai Ji Boogie” night! It should be inspiring, and full of joy and fun in the true ALOHA spirit. Wish all of you could join us there.
Until the next newsletter report, I send you ALL a resounding A-LO-HA! chant to wish you a soaring New Year of the Wood/Wind Horse with boundless free spirit to soar through your days—yes, stretch the days and hours and minutes to savor the gift of life. Seize every second of this precious Life!
Keep on Dancing with much CHI-eers!
Chungliang