Spring 2022 Living Tao Essential Tai Ji Series — Session One
(May 2022)
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Renewal/Creativity ~ Nurturance/Receptivity ~ Thriving/Gratefulness
Master Huang’s teaching is designed to delve more deeply into the ongoing exploration of the Living Tao forms, metaphors, and philosophy. The areas of study for this Session include:
- TIME 時間 Shi Jian; SPACE 空間 Kong Jian; and HUMANITY 人間 Ren jian;
- Ba Gua 八掛 (Eight Trigrams) practice;
- More details of the “Five Moving Forces of Nature” 五行 (Wu Xing); and
- The metaphors in the Tao Te Ching (Dao De Jing), Lao Tzu Verse One:
- You Wu Xiang Sheng 有無相生.
“Before enlightenment; chop wood, carry water. After enlightenment; chop wood, carry water.” — Zen Kōan
Rì Rì Xīn日 日 新
Day after Day – Always New
TIME 時間 SHI JIAN; SPACE 空間 KONG JIAN; AND HUMANITY 人間 REN JIAN
Time – Shi Space (empty) – Kong
Jian (between/among; within a definite time or space)
WU XING – THE INTERPLAY OF THE FIVE MOVING FORCES OF NATURE
The Five Moving Forces—(Wu Xing 五行) Tai Ji sequence in this current form was developed by Chungliang many years ago in a natural flow beginning with expanding the 火FIRE CHI/Qi from the lower dantian/chakra/belly outward and upward to return in a circular downward flow to become the 水WATER metaphor, seeping into the earth to allow the upward CHI/QI to nurture the growth of the 木 WOOD metaphor upward and around/outward, to return to the lower dantian/belly from gathering inward the 金GOLD/Metal CHI/QI to settle in the lower dantian/chakra, focused in the Center, before a final release/letting go to return to the 土 EARTH in order to begin the process all over again.
This is just one of the many possible ways to connect the Five Moving Forces of Nature in a natural circular FLOW of QI/CHI (Life Force-connecting to Heaven and Earth and All around). Creatively, one can begin with any one of the Moving Forces/Elements and move circularly to enact the CHI-FLOW accordingly.
ELEMENTS AND SYMBOLS OF WU XING
“We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time…”
T.S. Eliot – Four Quartets, Little Gidding*
BA GUA八掛 (EIGHT TRIGRAMS) PRACTICE
[Cover of “Half The World” by Arnold J. Toynbee]
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天 Heaven /地 Earth |
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火 Fire /水 Water |
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風 Wind /雷 Thunder |
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山 Mountain /澤 Lake |
DAO DE JING (TAO TE CHING) VERSE 25
道dào 法 fǎ 自zì 然rán / Dao follows nature
Human beings follow the way of earth
Earth follows the way of Heaven
Heaven follows the way of Dao
Dao follows the way of nature (spontaneously, naturally so)
DAO DE JING (TAO TE CHING) VERSE 1
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.
SUPPLEMENTAL REFERENCES
MUSIC:
Aaron Copeland, Fanfare for the Common Man
Charles Ives, The Unanswered Question