Spring 2021 Living Tao Essential Tai Ji Series — Session One
(May 2021)
Download Printed PDF All Study Materials
The session focuses on the ongoing studies of the Living Tao Core Essential curriculum to include Essential Tai Ji, Living Tao Philosophy, Form and Structures:
Tai Ji Ritual,5 Moving Forces, and Tai Ji Circles, to enlighten your practice with new insights.
RENEWAL – CREATIVITY
“Sitting Quietly Doing Nothing, Spring Comes, Grass Grow By Itself“*
兀然無事坐 春來草自生
*Refer to Sept 2020 Study Materials Session One
7 Chakras (Zhong, Yong, An, Ding, Nei, Guan, Yin) & Tai Ji Ritual*
*Refer to Sept 2020 Study Materials Session One
Kai Xin
open Heart/Mind
Kai
Yi – Change
EMBRACE TIGER, RETURN TO MOUNTAIN BY CHUNGLIANG AL HUANG
Copyright 1973
Copyright 2011
WU WEI – OXHERDING YEAR
*Refer to Sept 2020 Study Materials Session One
Wéi
Wú
Effortless action / literally “no doing”/ letting things take their own course
Zi Ran
Nature (also “self-sameness”- Alan Watts)
Rán
“TAI JI IS LIKE USING CHOPSTICKS…
USING YANG YIN BALANCE TO FIND THE CENTER”
*See References
5 MOVING FORCES – WU XING
Huǒ – fire, Shuǐ – water, Mù – wood, Jīn – metal/gold, Jīn – metal/gold*
*Refer to Sept 2020 Study Materials Session One
EXPANDING CIRCLES – FIVE RINGS OF LIVING TAO LEARNING
*Refer to Sept 2020 Study Materials Session One
POETRY
Decoration Day by Ted Kooser
It takes the hard work
Of a dozen ants
To open each bud
Of a peony.
For weeks, there they are,
Clickety-clack,
Biting the sutures
And licking the glue.
Then, one by one
On Decoration Day,
The blossoms explode,
Tossing the ants
All over the yard.
Early that morning,
We find these flowers
Opened, pink and white,
And in the wet grass,
Hundreds of ants
With the staggers, all
Watching the sky.
登鹳雀楼 Dēng guàn què lóu (Climbing White Stork Tower)
by the Tang dynasty poet 王之渙 Wang Zhihuan
白日依山尽，
黄河入海流。
欲穷千里目，
更上一层楼
Bái rì yī shān jìn,
huánghé rù hǎiliú.
Yù qióng qiānlǐ mù,
gèng shàng yī céng lóu
The setting sun leans on the furthest mountains,
The Yellow River spreads into the sea.
Yearning to see a thousand miles further?
Just climb one more storey.
Chou Nu ER (醜奴兒)
by 宋代 Song Dynasty poet, 辛棄疾 Xin Qi Ji
translated by Lin Yutang 林語堂
少年不識愁滋味，
愛上層樓。愛上層樓，
為賦新詞強說愁。
而今識盡愁滋味，
欲說還休。欲說還休，
卻道天涼好箇秋。
In my youth I had no idea of what sorrow was
And I loved to climb up to lofty places, Up the lofty places
for composing new poems I pretended to talk of sorrow
Now, I’ve tasted sorrow thoroughly
And I loath to talk about it, loath to dwell on it
Instead, I say: “What a lovely, cool autumn day!”
HONORING MOTHERS
Madam Lee Chih-Chang – Mama Huang
YIN YANG / WU JI
*1
*2
*2
*See References for the sources of images by Chungliang
REFERENCES
Embrace Tiger, Return to Mountain: The Essence of Tai Ji
Chungliang Al Huang, 1973, Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 73-80134, 2011, ISBN 978 1 84819 052 8
*Images 1
Essential Tai Ji, Chungliang Al Huang, 2001, ISBN 1-58761-109-0
*Images 2
Quantum Soup: Fortune Cookies in Crisis, Chungliang Al Huang, 1983, ISBN 0-525-48070-6201, ISBN 978 1 84819 054