Water Tiger T'ai Chi

For the day that is …

“Let us not assume for one moment that our work is done; the struggle for equal justice continues.” - Fred David Gray.

After we unboxed and reshelved our office library earlier this week, we felt this morning it was time to pull another “Book-Off-The-Shelf”, our 81st since this series began in July of 2023. Today it was Ben Dupré’s "50 Philosophy Ideas You Really Need to Know". The book came to us from the 2007 end-of-year holiday gifting from one of our studio students, who gave it to us with this inscription:

“‘The illiterate in the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn’. - Alvin Toffler.”

When we opened the book this morning, our eyes fell on this quote from Bertrand Russell:

“‘I cannot see how to refute the arguments for the subjectivity of ethical values, but I find myself incapable of believing that all that is wrong with wanton cruelty is that I don’t like it.’ - Bertrand Russel”

(thanks to Francesca DeStefano)

- Ben Dupré, "50 Philosophy Ideas You Really Need to Know" (London, United Kingdom, 2007), 63.

"Meditation is not a means to an end. It is both the means and the end." – J. Krishnamurti.

- David Schiller, ed., "The Little Zen Calendar, 1998”, Workman Publishing Co., Inc.

EFFORTLESS MEDITATION

If you read that headline, you might interpret it as succeeding in meditation without trying. Wouldn’t that be delightful? You sit down aimlessly and get back up with the personality of a Himalayan guru. But you know that would be a foolish expectation.

Meditation is a wonderful gift. I wish everyone would meditate. The reality, however, is that few people do. It is not that people would not want to; rather, discussions about meditation are often too confusing, too contradictory, and too mystical. Moreover, I wonder how much the teachers who advertise for students really know about meditation in the first place.

It is good to meditate. It is good to have an authentic teacher (because they give you their energy). It is good to practice consistently, day after day and year after year. All the while, you must do it without effort. That means you do not cling to expectations, try to dictate what happens to you, or compare yourself to anyone else. It may not be helpful to interpret your experiences. It may not even be helpful to remember your experiences in meditation. Just let meditation change you.

Meditation cannot be taught or learned like schoolwork. Think of it as what happens with toddlers. When a baby is trying to take their first steps, we encourage them, celebrate each stage of progress, and cheer them on when they can walk steadily for any appreciable distance. But we do not really instruct them. We leave each child to discover how they are going to walk, and we accept that different children progress at their own rates. How quickly a child learns to walk is not normally a concern. We let the process happen by itself.

Meditation is the same. You let your meditation practice progress at its own rate. That is the true “effortlessness” of meditation. It is effortless not because we are not making the effort to meditate but because we let it happen naturally. My master would agree. He believes that every person can meditate. Indeed, many people fall into it at different moments in their lives. They simply do not label it as meditation.

Meditation is “looking within.” Yes, it is looking within to release a natural ability. All you have to do is let your spirituality emerge. That is what makes it effortless.

If you know Water Tiger, you already know why it makes sense we’d share this image from photographer Sergio Riccardo. It exemplifies a point we’ve made often on the mat, in the room, and through the remote environment.

There are times as we play various postures that a hand seems to move another part of the body, e.g., Brush Knee Step and Strike, et al., without touching it. When explaining the connection when there’s no actual physical contact, we have oft used the image of a Great White Shark coming up under a seal. While the fur seal cannot see the shark, it can feel the pressure wave generated in front of the rising shark and usually successfully gets out of the way of the shark’s massive jaws. How this translates to posture movements, like in Brush Knee, is that the “pressure wave” of the brushing hand “pushes” the stepping leg into its step without touching it.

(Photo: "Missed Connection" - Sergio Riccardo.)

If you know Water Tiger, you’ve probably heard – or read – more than once about Pan Qinfu (May 9, 1936 - June 29, 2017), to whom we were first introduced in the movie “Iron & Silk” (1990) and then the book of the same title. The phrase we have oft repeated is: “Hit first with eyes.”

That is the phrase that came to mind when we were recently reading about the importance of “Shā Qì” * in the Chinese Martial Arts. The common translation is usually “Killing Energy”; however, it does not mean that one has the desire to kill. It refers, instead, to a state of mind, body, and spirit that will influence both your physical presence and the way in which you fight. In that way, it’s how you can hit first with your eyes.

(With thanks to Keni Lee Burgess | Tai Chi For Health on Facebook.)

- “Iron & Silk”. Directed by Shirley Sun, SUN-Productions and Tokyo Broadcasting System, 1990.

- Mark Salzman, “Iron & Silk” (New York, NY: Vintage Books, 1986).

* While Shā Qì is welcomed in the Chinese Martial Arts, it’s considered a negative energy in Feng Shui.

&Silk

What he said ...

You don’t build muscle just to look better. You build it to move better, age better, and live better.

Your future self is counting on you. 💪🏼

This YouTube link was shared with us by a studio student many moons ago, the student had indicated he thought Dr. Mark Cheng was “the most [McElroy Laoshi] without being [McElroy Laoshi] - giving very detailed explanations of the martial applications of T’ai Chi.”

We thought we’d finally share it now …

https://youtu.be/v4pezeJWpVM?si=Sr1LEawxlssWKXTe

Real Tai Chi Is TERRIFYING Today I'm visiting Dr. Mark Cheng to learn Tai Chi applications for...

Here’s something else that recently crossed our feed as we were in the midst of the relocation, and we thought we should share it as well;

“The major task in the study of Tai Chi Chuan is to take hard force out of the hand and arm. Once you do, you enter the parlor of Tai Chi Chuan.” - Cheng Man Ching.

This recently crossed our feed as we were in the midst of the relocation, and we thought we should share;

“The silkworm weaves its web and is trapped inside. While the spider weaves its web and is free to travel about it. Therefore, I teach Tai Chi students to be free like the spider and don’t get trapped in one particular form.” – H. H. Lui.

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Our extended run with Ram Dass closes with an extended thought from him on appreciating the forest of humanity …

“When you go out into the woods and you look at trees, you see all these different trees … and some of them are bent, and some of them are straight, and some of them are evergreens, and some of them are - whatever. And you look at the tree and you just - allow it. You appreciate it. You see why it is the way it is. You sort of understand that it didn’t get enough light, and so it turned that way. And you don’t get all emotional about it. You just allow it. You appreciate the tree.

“The minute you get near humans, you lose all that. And you are constantly saying: ‘You’re too this’, or ‘I’m too this’, or - that judging mind comes in. And so I practice turning people into trees, which means appreciating them just the way they are.”