Wayfarer64

Hi Michael- I thought I wrote that it is the basic form of Hung Gar Shaolin somewhere on this thread/site... I must admit that some of these threads have run together in my mind and I am not always sure where I wrote something... There are about 40 movements to the form. For those who may wonder - Basically, a form is a series of connected movements that create a fluid "dance" of the body/mind/spirit in unison, with concentration and control and awareness of oneself in space and time... There are many in every system I know of -'cept Taichichuan just has the one ? Is that correct or are there other forms to learn than the basic one seen in parks every morning throughout Asia and any China-town...?! I didn't mean to bring the thread back to the basic "what is it?" level. but it seems apt discussing the one move notion...

Hi all, I find that the most interesting shift in my energy and qi comes durring the transitions between the actual moves in a form. That is where & when the power is developed to make the move a substantial one. There is no cause for mentioning one system vs another here... They each have merit and everyone will need to find their own best system and teacher for their own purposes. But I thought the thead was about a self-defence move that will be worthwhile in a time of need. The esoteric oneness of a form is pretty obvious when they are done well. The 5 Animal has a wonderful grace through-out the 40 odd postures that make up the whole form. It is the only form I have kept practiceing over the past 17 years as a constant practice. I have no need, and hope noone else would need to be bad-assed, but only to protect who/whatever matters to me from those who would do harm... I always thought I'd like to try Taichichuan, and have just put it off 'til I was older ... now that I am older it may be time to look into it some more. I sort of got the relaxing thing but also thought it should be clarified to be of help to those who have no clue as to what the internal vs external means...Judo was the first martial art I studied when I was about 10 or so, and the balance thing is basic to wrestling as well. Always find a way to use your opponant's weight and effort to put them off-balance. But even my Hung Gar teacher who was a Grand Master said if you can just leave then just leave...

I think there is a difference between relaxation and calm/limber. When sprung upon . one may be able to relax in a drunk monkey sort of way to shed one's assailant. But to just relax seems a mis-nomer to me. I don't mean to nit-pick the symantics here, but relaxation under attack is not always an apt response; while remaining calm is always a good place to come from... I guess, as a rule to offer a discription, I am in a state of physical awareness that seems like shifting between that of a coiled spring and a swimmer shaking off water, back to tense and then into a middle state of flexibility, as I calm myself to assertain the situation at hand. Getting aware of one's own body's current condition is a big part of sizing up the total situation. Once you get into your middle-aged years it is more important. At twenty I did not need to check my own physical readyness, at fifty it seems prudent. I believe what we are going for is a state of acute awareness and readyness, not relaxation, so I will take the relax notion as not letting oneself get emotional or upset at the situation. Calm. but wary. Physicaly I want to feel a fluidity available to my movements... Mastering the internal without the external has to only take one day longer than the day you are attacked to be useless. That is why I suggest learning hard external systems first and the more rewarding and internal forms afterwards, once you have the basic survival skills. I have found going for the eyes with ones' four fingers in a claw and jabbing with gusto will stop almost anyone. Fighting blind (even though it is usually temporary) just takes the dander out of your general miscreant ...This is not a recomended move on someone with a gun tho-as they may just start shooting! But having any given one move that you are sure of executing well, offers some of that inner calm... Be it a judo-flip, a karate kick, a wrist-lock or a wrestlers' take-down, a basic move that you know you can do well and with affect is a good place to start self-defence training.

I think that for dangerous martial applications one move is not enough. For practice fighting in a Dojo it may well be, for a little while. I think that what one may use to subdue a fiesty (but not huge) drunk will just not work on sober and very large serious assailant(s). This is assuming one would want to do the least harm possible to control the situation in the first instance, and do the most damage as quickly as possible in the second. A big smile may be enough to defuse some beligerants, BUT... give the first shot to another. The one best move is to get a good "take" on what/who you are up against... The brain is our greatest weapon... Sizing up the situation is the only one move I can think of. If your stance is demonstrative of some knowledge and your eye is fierce and fearless that alone is often enough. But I have found that the rather rudamentary Hung Gar's "Five Animal" form offers most of what anyone would need to get through a tough spot. Be mindful & careful out there TaoBums! Some folks ain't playin'...

What happened to three dots? He had lots to say about his schlong, but then this topic may not apply to him, he seemed to be a candidate for penile reduction. Is there such a thing? Like breast reduction? Ice baths for testes have been used to promote fertility and I would guess that there would be side effects to that as well... Also I would assume a loving partner would be needed to get someone started down this path of enhancement anyway. Why would one participate in experiments such as discribed with no appreciation to be bestowed for the results? I have had some fun with this thread and now realize that there may be a need out there and I should not make light nor fun of the situation wherein such recourse may be sought. So I appologize for my insensitivity to the issue... Happy Valentine's Day -or VD which is just a wee reminder to wrap that rascal if there is any chance of danger in where it may be found doing its humble best...

I guess that means no tips... darn it...I'll just have to step up my non-materialism a few notches I guess...

I will not slap my penis. It has made quite a few ladies very happy and brought me nothing but good. There have been no complaints about its performance nor physical attributes. It deserves better than a brow-beating just because it once insisted on doing much of my thinking for me..Since I seldom let it have that sort of leeway, I concider it a well trained componant of my being. No, it is not to be slapped! There will be no slapping of my penis, None! I'm not kidding.Slap not my penis, nor make suggestions pertaining to the slapping of said organ. I have not named it, as some I know have named theirown. I think of it as desidedly male, for obvious reasons...I have a certain attachment to it -its a lot like email, more on that later- I have never thought of it as an object for self-offence, but would defend it before a few other body parts... Jeez who thought that one up- a masochism 101 teacher...slapping penises yet ...what is this world coming to!? Ten reasons e-mail is like a penis: Those who have it would be devastated if it was ever cut off. Those who have it think that those who don't are somehow inferior. Those who don't have it may agree that it's neat, but think it's not worth the fuss that those who have it make about it. Many of those who don't have it would like to try it, a phenomenon psychologists call "E-Mail Envy." It's more fun when it's up, but this makes it hard to get any real work done. In the distant past, its only purpose was to transmit information vital to the survival of the species. Some people still think that's the only thing it should be used for, but most folks today use it mostly for fun. If you don't take proper precautions, it can spread viruses. If you use it too much, you'll find it becomes more and more difficult to think coherently. We attach an importance to it that is far greater than its actual size and influence warrant. If you"re not careful what you do with it, it can get you into a lot of trouble. Enough ...

Rock Rocks! and yes- Trees Rock and to grok the wind also rocks... So, does dating yourself cut down on yr spending or are you high maintenance? My stillness is always being nudged by my sense of the rediculous finding its way into everything- but I warned you early on I need to find humor in everything-its a New York (Jewish) thing...

The trying not to try thing is just like giving up, saying uncle- humiliating yourself to the idea that your "self" ain't getting it done and abandoning that egoistic inclination to do what you want to do, what you intend to do. Admit that you can not do the letting go as you are, that in fact "you" can not be present when the emptiness accepts your consciousness. Giving yourself away and claiming NOTHING as your own -except that you have a life to share with the wider world and allow yourself to be that wider world in your very being... Selflessness... Our egos kick and scream to distract us from such renounciation. And demand a return to acknowledgement of self even if/when we have let go. There is a part of our consciousness that really likes the self to distract us into lower realms of being. I don't know why we keep trying not to try!? Our precious moments of oneness without ego are joyous inklings of a wonderous way to be...So we keep trying not to try once again....For some the cycles tighten and the moments linger and consciousness expands...It may be that one day I will let go of that rubbery bond of consciousness that draws me back to myself...I will remain that child under a tree with only the natural world to be concerned with...

Hi all... where to begin JR-that is the 2nd Jagger quote for me today...#1 was American girls want everything in the world that you can possibly imagine... Taomeow- I meant that divination is secondary as in first one ought to get comfortible with the methodology and form the "cosmic linkage" that begins the actually journey. Without a sense of "getting it", there would be a lack of purpose in the activity for many...As you so aptly discribed, a relationship to this portal seems to be a very useful componant of the activity. That linkage also leads my awareness to a place that is untangable as the Tao itself. My awareness of my place in the web of life where I could relate to the Book of Changes, came before I could figure out what the Yi Jing was offering. a quick aside - a dear friend just sent me a very Taoist yet Christian-based prayer -it is attributed to St. Teresa- St. Theresa's Prayer: May today there be peace within. May you trust God that you are exactly where you are meant to be. May you not forget the infinite possibilities that are born of faith. May you use those gifts that you have received, and pass on the love that has been given to you. May you be content knowing you are a child of God. Let this presence settle into your bones, and allow your soul the freedom to sing, dance, praise and love. It is there for each and every one of us. Michael- The scientific methodology is a profoundly useful tool for the furthering of almost all the trusted knowledge worth noting. That there is still a hell of a lot of mystery that has not been explained to any rational mind is also ok. As the prayer states - it is the infinite possibilities that are born of faith. What is the Tao? Is it beyond comprehension, as are several other BIG questions?... Among them is how do things like synchronocity take form. If in a Buddhist's mind the butterfly's wing creates the hurricane thousands of miles away; my rational mind says no way. Still my imaginative, creative sense of the possible can make a connection and understand the "reasoning" there in... This is close to how I feel/think about the Yi Jing also -and it is very apt for me to have received that prayer today- More synchronocity at work my friends! So, let it flow! Stay mindful and loving. By the way I threw the Yi Jing for the 2012 thing and it blew my mind - From 52 -the Mountain or Keeping Still to 51 Thunder or the Arousing. It is very rare to get such divergent hexagrams in one sitting. I have not figured out what to make of this yet. But I guess there will be a big freaking change of some sort. And I doubt that it will be hard to notice! I am not sure what my role is with the Yi Jing but I am bound to it in a very profound way at this time and I'm hoping I can make myself useful following my path... Namaste-Pat

Dear Taomeow & Lerner, I appreciate both of your approaches to the Yi Jing. It is the very core of Taoist thought and practice. And, it is a tool for anyone to delve into their own psychology. If it is a toy, then it is a toy that has been offered from very deep and meaningful sources of our inter-connectedness with all that is alive and changing. I have consulted the book of changes for four decades and have never NOT been granted insights into the situations I am delving into. That one can ask the same question everyday and get a different answer may be so, but I have found that there are groupings of the same hexagram in my life that could not be random, concidering the odds involved. And the very nature of changing situations and insight into situations offers many changes for possible responses to have meaning as well. I have experienced a hell of a lot of resistance to the Book of Changes. It scares most people. The connections become too real for many to handle. And once they are made a relationship forms that has responsibilities as any relationship has. I do not hold the book to be infallable, as some Christians hold the Bible to be, there are a few instances where I see a lack of scientific plausability etc...Nonetheless, there is no Taoist practice without the study of the Book of Changes. It holds and offers the key to inter-action with The Tao that is only abbreviated by our own lack of courage and open-minded questing. The divination is a secondary attribute, the connectivity to the larger, even cosmic, universe is what is tendered and may be found useful if one holds the mindful respect that should be offered to any teacher. In this case the teacher is yourself opening up to new levels of understanding found along The Way, as it were... I have also thought of it as a sort of organic matrix for the eternal componant of my being to build an inner structure of comportment and awarness in order to be the best I can be for furthering the world around me, to be in MY Tao so to speak...A constructive part of the whole web and flux of life... As Taomeow has already shared, it is a relationship to cultivate. If you are grasping and manipulative that is what will be reflected. As Ken Kesey said once - it is a kick in the third eye... It scared me at first too, because I was forced to look at the inner me that was questing, and was thus catipulted into the larger universe as an intrinsic part of thet Oneness that I have a responsibility to, and that goes far beyond any work on myself. What is offered is only bound by whatever constraints my own mind puts on these inter-actions. It is only an open door. Maybe one of perception that leads to a whole cosmology of possibility and growth. For me there is no understanding of Taoism without a deep contemplation of this timeless tome.

River Heron!- That was wonderful. I just came from writing my experiences as a very young child communing with the trees and animals of Connecticut back in 1957-8 or so...The oneness I feel with living plantlife, the energy bestowed as food and the wisdom found in a few psychotropic substances that plants offer us, is a large part of the deepest elements of my Taoist beliefs. Being one with all is very real at times and worth many an effort to reach an understanding of how we are able to reach that state of being... Thank you for that sharing...

Back to quietude... When I was almost 4 years old I would toddle out of our home in Old Lyme Conn. and sit under "my tree". We had two semi-ferrel cats that would often tag along, but when they didn't it was better because the other animals would come closer to watch me. My mom worked and the nanny was- shall we say not a tea totaler... so I could wander about quite often. My time with that tree has always remained a touch-stone for me of quiet communing with nature... After a while the cats caught on that I attracted critters for them to nab from ambush. At first I hated them for doing this but then realized it was ok and just part of the natural world I was discovering. It did make me feel very confused as I loved the cats and also the animals they captured (and brought to me as trophies). I did not have much of anything beyond an emotional response to all of this. My quietude was disturbed by the cats and often enough by the nanny yelling for me in a panic... But quite often I would fall asleep out under my tree and awake later as if I had awoken in a sort of Eden. I have never felt so much a part of the world around me as in those moments. It is what I seek when I meditate now. Still to this day, out-door meditation remains the deepest and most fullfilling for me. So my deep links to the natural world feel very old and strong within me. Walking to sit in some quiet spot in a forest at night remains the most reassuring activity for me to do. It strengthens my connections to the deep mysteries and releases me from any sense of fear. Though sometimes, depending on what forest or jungle I am in, a shot-gun is a smart thing to have along...

Paul Dolinsky, who introduced me to the TaoBums several months ago, has now been so kind as to publish a sympathetic review of my poetry on The site where he works as editor. It is a truly wonderful site that has been like a garden of quiet repose for me since I first visited there. http://www.thegoldenlantern.com/editor/editor.htm Enjoy a sojourn there to take in all of the works being offered. Or to tender your own poetry!- Namaste-Pat

Paul Dolinsky, who introduced me to the TaoBums web site has written a review of my book of poetry- "The Wayfarer Sonnets". It may be read at the Golden Lantern web site where he is the editor. Please give the site a visit... It is an island of tranquility. http://www.thegoldenlantern.com/editor/editor.htm

From another thread this seems very applicable here- Lao-Chuang mysticism are still conspicuous: the underlying pure entity which is just there (the One, the Tao), and the perfect man who is not bound by perception and emotion. No flight from the world is advised by Seng-chao, but a reflective, responsive attitude towards it. "Because the true man views the transformations of the universe as all of one breath, he passes through, adapting himself to whatever he encounters."

Nietzsche believed that the aim of true morality must be to safeguard the natural advantage of the strong, brave,enterprising, superior... Darwin, in "The Descent of Man" had already opined the survival of the fittest rule and social Darwinism is a popular concept today. Further back we have Carlyle in "Past and Present" (Happy, my brother? First of all, what difference is it whether thou art happy or not?)... So the concept of morality has many componants. Both Bolshevism and Fascism were intensely moral, in pretension at least, and bristle with harsh thou shalt-nots...As H.L. Mencken noted in his " Treatise of Right and Wrong"... For many mellenia people have looked outside of themselves in an effort to deny the role of revelation and delve into the realm of objective observation to find truths that were not based on their own internalized rationalizations. Noone thinks of themselves as being "wrong" in the actions they perpetrate. We all rationalize our activities. The Pol Pots and Stalins etc. can each find it in themselves to allow the most heinous of cruelties with some interpretation of their actions that will excuse the obvious disregard for their victim's wellfare. The changing moral climate of various time-frames has been going on since men gathered around a fire for the first time ever. An observation of aspects of these changes in how we inter-act is not mind-reading. The study of history itself is based on such observable phenomina. There will always be shifting norms in acceptible behaviors. It remains that virtue is still gauged by the basic laws of conduct,-thou shalt not- Kill, steal, bare false witness etc... Still, a one-time sin such as adultery is no longer a big deal as it once was. There is no law against it in New Jersey, though there may still be in other states and nations. The French relaxed their rules on adultery before most, for instance, and they were staunch Catholics for many centuries... The Catholic church remains anchored in less modern strictures, but is rapidly losing adherants...Life goes on...

Shooting canned foods is no alternative to quietude. For one thing a shotgun blast is just not quiet. And the subsiquent squall of birds and chipmunks glutanizing on the wind-fall of splattered veggies is just more havoc to contend with. I believe there is a middle-ground to these activities...The walking thing may work for ya. Bring yr shot-gun just in case...

My meditation and yoga and Hung Gar practices have each gone through so many different sets of habits over the past thirty-five years that I can't claim any consistancy, except that I usually have done some stillness meditation every day since I was seventeen or so. I can quiet my mind pretty quickly now and just get centered without a long period of sitting quietly. As Taomeow notes - quieting the body is often more difficult for me to do, than quieting my mind. I can get a grip on my mental activity in order to concentrate it as well as to quiet it in order to reach a sense of finding the emptyness available within my mind... when I chant the rest of the stuff away...To then stop the chanting and hold the nothingness is less accessable as a rule. Typicaly when my life holds more turmoil any given steps toward quietude take a greater effort to relax and go deep to thus transcend the turmoil. Through-out my life, there have been very few nights that I didn't "say my prayers" and later in life to meditate and ease my mind before seeking sleep, connecting with the One & All as it were, a sort of spot check on my sense of place in the cosmos/Tao. Part of that habit has been for me to throw the Yi Jing (coins usually) most every night for about 40 years. This has been my most consistant form of meditation thus far. It has been the most reassuring process to aline my mind with my center and higher nature. I recomend it to everyone as a way to be introspective in a constructive process of growing self-knowledge.

I am not disagreeing with the notion that we make our own reality through our projections of mind into the future. Where are most people projecting themselves? Are their typical goals materialistic or spiritual? I am just taking note of trends that are cyclical as well as linear. We have discussed elsewhere how societies tend to swing in a sort of infinity figure from left to right... Not linear or circular but a sort of spiral perhaps, with several crossing and over-laping trends. But a cut-throat materialism is the general value system being manifested. Again, my point is that virtue is traditionaly about being a contributing citizen not a seeker. There are certainly trends towards an acceptance of others that is totaly imbedded in our society. There is far less racism, sexism or acceptance of other social strictures that inhibit free interaction- for instance, than there were 50 years ago. But that does not preclude the very notion that you bring up- Why should you care about anyone else or expect them to care about you? My point is that that very notion would have boggled the minds of people until very recently. The whole basis of virtue is a social one, not an internalized or introspective one. There is no virtue other than in how we are treating each-other. We have become isolated as a society far more than what was typical ever before. Once again I doubt that many TaoBums fit into that societal mold as a majority of our demographic. But the basic nature of the digital age has given a Natural rise to the very notion of why should I care about anyone else. It is not needed now. It once was. That is my point. I am not putting that large of a value on the phenomina intailed as it may seem. I may miss the tribal qualities of being a hippy in the 60's & 70's, the free love and fearless sexuality, the changing of social norms etc... but I do not lament the passing of the mayhem that went with it. I expect change in a very deep and accepting manner. But there is a hardness of attitude within our society that was less acceptible in the past. It may be more honest for some to behave that way than it is for others. I do know that basic human needs include a convivial social framework in which to live. The more cut-throat we need to be in order to stay in the rat-race the less compassion is needed to fit into the social norms. As more women join the corporate world of getting ahead at any cost the more our kids are seeing the need for selfishness in life etc... We may have fought in the school yards but there were seldom any weapons and never any guns as is pretty common today. These are harder times with less need for civil interaction and caring, so there is less being shown. It is as natural to us as creating global warming or extending our wills in amy other manner available. It is what people do best. Most here at the TaoBums do not appear to be striving to conquer anything but themselves. But I see the trending towards selfishness as real in the wider world. China and India are each a very good example of this trend away from extended family life into big-city competition. The USA is already there.

Yeah 'cept for those pesky crashes, burst bubbles and retrenchments.

My response is yes again - I am sure people have become more openly selfish and less caring as a rule in our society. It is now a fully accepted stance to take in our society. Most communal or altruistic motives are suspect. And that may indeed be true. It was always selfserving to be socialy oriented in the past. I do certainly believe that most people do not care to do good things for others as a rule. And I do believe this tendancy has been getting more prevalent over the several centuries since Socrates began the western tradition of contemplating these things. It is most likely that Zaoroastrian teachings out of Persia were the very first to address the common good as a goal for human activity in any organoized societal rules of conduct. That there was always hypocracy in the selfless acts over the millenia is also a given. We may be more honestly selfish than in the past, but I do not see that as gaining integrity. Some assume that primitive man was brutish and anti-social. I believe early man to have been much more naturally social than we are; as the group was the safest and most comfortible state of being. There was absolutly nothing else for a human to do on their own, but subsist. Being ousted from the tribe was the worst punishment for early man, just as it is for other social animals such as monkeys and wolves. Being part of a group entity is natural for people. But now one can be isolated and still remain safe from the world at large. And never even get bored or feel anti-social with the web to link onto. The very nature of our hyper-protective society has allowed us to further isolate ourselves with impunity from social or physical dangers. This is a new phenominom in the world and most pervasive in the USA. It is no longer needed to be part of a larger group in the physical world. The propaganda hasn't changed, on mainstream TV. Public TV is still the most consistant source of thinking outside of the box as it were... & Now that Utube has surpassed the network TV stations for viewership things are changing to be more inter-active if also more self-centered. Wharhol's 15 minutes of fame is a clearly formed componant of today's media experience. The Lassie analogy was meant to bring a scornful response. The very thought that such quaint social mores aren't somehow selfserving to the "white" masters of that society is obviously the cynical response of all sophisticates. We can now see through the jargon and rhetoric to see the false and empty promise of cooperative farming communities. It is such a good thing that they exist no longer in most of the economicaly advanced nations... Only silly old Willy Nelson or Neil Young think those suckers should remain a viable source of nutrition in our world. Lets all realize that the corporate-run combines and geneticly enhanced techniques will serve our needs much better than some old hick farmer could. How many care about that situation? Or that the whole industry of album cover art has gone the way of the dinosaurs and we now just download our music right into our ears as it were. Fewer are now going to buy music at a store where the interaction stimulated sharing of tastes and ideas face to face. Same with videos being offered on line or through the web. These are social trends that stem from our advanced technology. But I do see these trends as isolating us one from the other in small ways that satisfy our egos and compel us to live apart and in a far less caring mode of cultural interaction. It may indeed be a natural shift in human behavior, it is real. We do not need to care so we do not. Naturally.

There are worse biz plans than pyramid schemes. If you get in at the right time everyone around you is happy. As long as the actual product is a good one no-one loses. It is just an organizational model that can work. It is not a "fair" system from top to bottom, but compared to the huge amounts of corporate theft allowed through much less open sytems I have little problem with the pyramid model of creating a biz oppertunity for the self-motivated. Saying that -I have no horse in this race. I just got an email and passed it on. I do believe that in many places solar panals can be a great way to go, as well as other passive-solar applications and conservation methods. It is freaking cold in NJ the past few days, and I am still walking a few miles a day. My heat/ thermostat is set pretty low (60) when I am out and I generally just start cooking to heat it up when I return. It seems quite warm at 60 when I first get in so I save on the energy as I'm able. And the sun comes in all morning with a south-east exposure. Sealing leaky windows is also a big plus for conservation.

And then in the third "The world ended yesterday" That pretty much sums up my views on 2012. This implys some hind sight! If your view is that far reaching I want some tips on the stock-market for the next few years-