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Gathering Wisdom
History of Shaolin from Grand Master Shi Deru, Shawn (Xiangyang) Liu
This is a very interesting and detailed history of Shaolin from a true Shaolin Master from the original Shaolin Temple in Henam Province, China. As with all ancient history, this account differs a little from others I have read. The great Master he learned from is listed on an official...
5 Principles of Internal Tai Chi
I am taking a nice and relaxing break to absorb as many events as possible in the Winter Olympics and will be back soon afterwards to share some more tips and techniques I have learned and incorporated into my Tai Chi Practice. Until then, here is a list of the...
Basic Alignment and Relaxation for Tai Chi: Personal Tips from My Experience
Tai Chi is very beautiful to watch when performed by a skilled practitioner. It looks so effortless and easy. To move so effortlessly, though, requires years of daily practice. The body has to be completely retrained to correct the bad habits we learn starting in early childhood. When the Ego...
T'ai Chi Ch'uan Warm-up Exercises
When training in any physically demanding endeavor, it is very important to start each session with a good warm-up routine. This is especially true with Tai Chi because you not only need to Practice with a relaxed body but you must also have a relaxed and Centered mind. Below is...
Please Help Haiti: Compassion is at the Core of Our True Nature
All teachings of the "One Truth" by every true Sage throughout history has focused on Compassion for our fellow men without regard to who they are . Compassion to the point of Pure Empathy is at the Core of our True Nature. I heard some of the initial broadcasts from...
I answered a question long ago on a Taoist Master's blog that ask, "What is the empty space?". I was relaxing just now when this question popped into my mind again. This imagery appeared to me of myself standing in the midst of our Source or God but with these...
About.com Taoism
Will My "Real Body" Please Stand Up
This passage on spontaneity and body-image is from Wei Wu Wie's Why Lazarus Laughed: Spontaneity by-passes the processes of the conceptual (aspect of) mind. Our ubiquitous error lies in mistaking concepts for reality, for instance our idea of a body - which is only an idea - for an actual body. There...
A couple days ago, I came down with a cold. So I've been drinking peppermint tea, which is one of the herbs in the Chinese Materia Medica - very good for releasing wind-heat (one variety of "common cold"). The steam from peppermint tea can also relieve the kind of heat...
The I Ching is a book of divination, but that does not mean it is a "fortune-telling" book. Divination originally was the means to find out what the gods or ancestors or spirits or whatever had to say. In modern words, we would call it: finding out what your...
One excellent reminder -- from my weekend qigong training -- was about the importance of "soaking": allowing the qi that has been stirred up via the practice of a specific form to then soak into the meridians, or soak into the bones and tendons. How do we do this?...
"When I scratch my car, it doesn't heal ..." ~ * ~ I'm participating this weekend in a qigong training with Eva Wong -- with the intention of deepening my appreciation of this amazing human "vehicle" -- and the no-thing "something" experiencing itself through it.Looking For A Miracle? originally appeared on About.com...
Comparison Mind, Branding Tao & The Value Of Nothing
What is a good man but a bad man's teacher? What is a bad man but a good man's job? If you don't understand this, you will get lost, however intelligent you are. It is the great secret. This passage, from verse 27 of the Daode Jing (translated by Stephen Mitchell), illuminates Taoism's remedy for...
Pondering the Myriad Things
It's Friday, the last day of my retreat-style week. There is absolutely nothing on my agenda for this morning and this afternoon, and in fact the electricity is scheduled to go out for the entire afternoon, which will mesh nicely with my intention to start reading one of the...
Thanks everyone for all your encouraging words yesterday! It's funny how minds will get into ruts they didn't even know they had! Today I'm taking the time to enjoy each moment. After a little bit of yoga, some tai chi exercises and meditation this morning, I'm...
My mind is playing tricks on me today. It's barely halfway through my week off, and already I'm worrying about how little time I have left. I'm stressing out about what I wanted to do that I haven't done, and I'm resenting having to drive into the city...
It passed, it passed! Unanimously even!Hundreds of people came to Edmonton City Hall last night to show support for the municipal development plan that now includes amendments that ensures food security issues will be considered in any developments that would impact farmland. Here is a summary of about...
Ahh....Is there anything better than a week stretching out ahead, to be filled with good and relaxing things? I think not! On today's 'agenda', so to speak, is to do some tai chi and meditation in the morning, look through my seed catalogue in the afternoon, and then...
There's just something about February that says Spring is on its way! Just the word "February" itself sounds much warmer and friendlier than January, wouldn't you say? Even though it has been cloudy outside much of the time and snowing now and then, I just feel better knowing...
The Path of Water - 21st century Taoism
Taoism and Universal Healthcare
I'm interested in what Taoism can tell us about living in the real world and the decisions we make. In recent times the issue of some form of universal healthcare system has been proposed for the United States. As a beneficiary of and contributor to the UK National Health Service...
Whatever your beliefs I hope you have an enjoyable holiday season and a healthy and prosperous new year.In harmony with the Tao,the sky is clear and spacious,the earth is solid and full,all creatures flourish together,content with the way they are,endlessly repeating themselves,endlessly renewed.TTC Ch. 39 (12) ...
At Christmas time in Western countries it can be difficult for those of other or no faiths. Do you join in with the seasonal celebrations ignoring the Christian message, do you ignore it, or do you link it to celebrating a festival of your own at this time of year?While...
I came across a really interesting blog today which I thought I'd recommend. It covers a wide range of subjects mostly from a Taoist/Buddhist perspective. IMHO it's excellent and it can be found at A Quiet Watercourse. I'll be adding it to my site's recommended blogs as well....
I've been feeling for a while that this blog has been lacking in direction. I originally set it up as a place to explore Taoism and 21st century life but I don't feel that so far I've achieved what I set out to do. Now, it's in the nature of...
I just received notification that somebody has suggested this site for inclusion in the Daily Reviewer top 100 Taoism blogs (are there 100 Taoism blogs?????) and that this site has been selected. Thanks very much for whoever submitted the details....
Beyond the Fields We Know
Like most young German Shorthair pointers, Spencer is constantly in motion and most of my attempts to photograph him produce only blurs. On days when he has been cavorting in the woods, the chances of capturing him with the camera are a little better, and that is what happened...
Springtime peeks over the hill and a slight exuberance sets in after a very dark and gloomy winter. One starts rattling about in her photo archive from last year and is astonished at what she finds.A few prints are in order, not to mention a whole raft of greeting cards....
To trace the history of a river, or a raindrop, as John Muir would have done, is also to trace the history of the soul, the history of the mind descending and arising in the body. In both we constantly seek and stumble on divinity, which, like the cornice feeding...
Thursday Poem - The Great Affair
The great affair, the love affair with life,is to live as variously as possible,to groom one's curiosity like a high-spirited thoroughbred,climb aboard, and gallop over the thick, sun-struck hills every day.Where there is no risk, the emotional terrain is flat and unyielding,and, despite all its dimensions,...
Wordless Wednesday - The Red Umbrella
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There can be few motifs of springtime more endearing than these little woolly creatures. Thirty-six (so far anyway) Border Leicester, Coloured Border Leicester and Blue Faced Leicester lambs have been born at Windblest Farm in the Lanark Highlands this year. Five coloured Blue Faced Leicesters were added to...
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March 15 sees another New Moon on the horizon. When you tune into the Moon and its phases, it’...
Who’s Responsible For Your Pain?
You and you alone created your world. Satan, the evil spell or ridiculous superstitions deserves no...
I’ve been very lax the past few months blogging or really any haiku-related work, spending tim...
Here’s the way to always win — the trick is don’t be greedy. - Han-shan...
In life, there are many things that we share in common; dreams are one (and nightmares are another,...
Cults and Christian Cannon Balls
Organized religions and cults like the Falun Gong have been in China for centuries, but have never p...
The Taoist Biker
What am I gonna do for my first weekend in a while WITHOUT a club on one arm? Grocery shopping (natch) Laundry (ditto) Attempt to halfassed clean my house since my parents are visiting next weekend Watch “The Jerk” which I just bought on DVD (loved that movie since I was WAY too young...
Kim says I’m funnier when I’m mad. If so, I’m about to get goddamn hysterical up in this bitch. Get your helmets on. A Mississippi school canceled its prom after a gay girl petitioned their policy that prohibited her from bringing a female date. Okay, TB. Deep breaths. In…out. Count to ten. ...
Well, it didn’t take long at all. A resident came in and cut my cast off and let me wash my hands (hoo-fucking-ray!!), the doc came in and looked at it, and a nurse took my stitches out and put me in a neoprene-and-velcro splint. Bingo-bango, you’re free to go,...
Assuming that all goes well, this is the last day of my left hand’s vacation. (Before you go there, I’m right handed. So get your mind out of the gutter…so there’s more room for mine.) My appointment with the super-duper hand doc is tomorrow at 8:15 – as per Dys’s standing suggestion,...
For various reasons, including but not limited to a) Boy being restless b) Boy’s friends ditching him c) Me being bored out of my skull d) Dys needing us both the hell out of her space for a few I ended up taking Boy to the park yesterday afternoon. As one might expect on the first...
I had this one pop into my head this weekend and I got a mild internal chuckle out of it, so why not? I get my cast off Wednesday morning, so hopefully this is the last Monday in which I can’t fit both hands into my pockets. Alanis Morrissette, “Hand In My...
Diary of a Daoist Hermit
Faith The Monks of St. Benedict serve as a salient example of good that has come from religious faith. In fact, there is a very strong argument that much of modern Western Europe was created by them. Everyone knows about the role that...
Loneliness for Hermits, Sadness for Ministers
I recently got involved in a minor controversy over planning in my town. The Sikh community wanted to buy some land and build a Gurdwara. The people who would be neighbours to this group made some wild accusations about the seating capacity of the building and things boiled over into...
The Emotional Response Despair The preceding description of the crisis that we face is not primarily meant to convince the sorts of folks who would be interested in reading this essay that an environmental problem exists. That shouldn't be necessary because any intelligent, sensitive, well-read person who has...
The Different Types of Religion
People often express real surprise that when I say that I see a role for religion in our society. To be honest, I often find myself thinking the same thing. But having said that, I can see some worth, in principle, of something even if I myself often find it...
Economic Growth A second “sacred cow” that sabotages real environmental debate is the way that environmental destruction turns on the hinge of economic growth. As I mentioned above, our economy grows through the human activities that involve a financial transaction, and these almost invariably involve some sort...
I've spent the last couple weeks diving into some of the new scholarship on Daoism. What's really exciting for me is that a body of research is being created for Daoism that is similar to what already exists for Christianity. That is to say that books are now...
A Quiet Watercourse
One of the themes I’ve picked up from re-reading Cosmos is a small feeling for the gradual growth and refinement of our knowledge. We’ve slowly grown in our knowledge and, while quite often what we’ve thought initially is wrong, science is a self correcting process and we’ve slowly gotten nearer...
I found quite an interesting read this morning. An article that shows scientific research that makes the point that the facts we accept are the ones that conform to our cultural conditioning, our view of the world, rather than the facts as they are. You can find it here. Now, this kind...
I’ve been getting a little further into Cosmos, and I’m reading about Johannes Kepler and his theories of the solar system. It’s interesting to read, as we hear of these things, but never really put them in historical context. Once again I’m left with the strong impression that...
This has no doubt been mentioned elsewhere, but I just thought this was something I had to share. A team of Scientists from 8 countries have sequenced the genome of a 4000 year old Eskimo, who they’re decided to call “Inuk”. They’ve learned a lot and this opens a fascinating window,...
I’ve been exploring the world of Steampunk a little recently. On first glance, it simply looks like a form of Victorian costume play, but on closer inspection it seems to be more about an attitude; a state of mind, than how you’re dressed. Having said that, the idea of introducing Victorian...
I’ve been watching the economics news over the last couple of weeks of writers’ block with a sinking feeling. Nobody mentions the Elephant in the room, the end of Oil and the limits to growth. There just seems to be a vague feeling of ‘oh, somebody must do something’, but no...
Taoism News
Can the principles of Taoism be commodified and sold? It would seem that some are trying to do this: THE Chinese philosophy of Taoism advocates the natural way of things and the harmonious blending of the two opposite principles of yin and yang for man to form a trinity with...
Meditations of Michelle: Surrendering agendas brings peace
Sometimes, the only way to get what you want is by giving up. Every major spiritual strain I know of insists we can only discover true happiness by letting go of our own agendas and handing our lives to forces unknown....
FEATURE: Some Taoist temples prove all-embracing
SOMETHING FOR EVERYONE: Pingtung County s Tiantai Baogong has a statue of Jesus Christ and the founders of other major world religions, along with Taioist deities By Loa Iok-sin STAFF REPORTER Wednesday, Feb 17, 2010, Page 2 Statues of the founders of five religions stand in front of a large...
Year of the Cat Happy Chinese New Year of the Tiger by MojoPo I have been saying since I was 12 years old that I'm an Asian stuck in a Viking's body....
The Bible. Whether you believe it or not, the Bible is a very important book to read if you wish to exist as a successful individual in modern society....
Integrity (a3 4 ) and Gays in the Military
A friend put me on to this connection... This week the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen, came out in support of repealing the "don't ask, don't tell" policy that had maintained a bar on homosexuals serving in the US military....
Changing Places
Came home from the wine country and San Francisco with wine, chocolates, a sore foot and knee from a trip on an unlighted stair, and an upper respiratory infection. So, sorry I’m not posting much but the Cipro is kicking my butt and I’m sleeping it off. More later…...
Weekend in the wine country and then in San Francisco for the Game Developer’s Conference — probably won’t be posting til I get back to San Diego. “A good traveler has no fixed plans, and is not intent on arriving” — Lao Tsu...
“If your spiritual aspirations produce socially beneficial qualities in you such as love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control, then they can be considered something more that a mere psychological defense. In contrast, if you are overcome by qualities such as impatience, distractibility, impulsiveness, demandingness, conflict,...
Decide to Network Use every letter you write Every conversation you have Every meeting you attend To express your fundamental beliefs and dreams Affirm to others the vision of the world you want Network through thought Network through action Network through love Network through the spirit You are the center of a network You are the center of the world You are...
The Millions: In Our Parents’ Bookshelves
With the Kindle you don’t know what the person next to you is reading, or how far along in it they are, or whether their copy of the book is dog-eared or brand new (because it’s neither). One of the most prominent losses in this regard stands to be the loss...
Source (updated from Feb 2005)
(I blogged this three years ago, but Rambling Taoist is posting on this book today, so thought I would repost this here). Wellspring of energy Rises in the body’s core Tap it and be sustained. Channel it, and it will speak. The source of all power is within yourself. Although external circumstances may occasionally hamper...
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