Almost all your anger comes from someone standing in the way of your attachment, doesn't it?
(Anthony De Mello)
Second-hand
Few people ever consider that their most cherished
beliefs and
opinions are simply received
knowledge.
You did not come by the information
yourself. Somebody told you.
People regard the world according to
their conditioning.
Your education, parents, friends and society have determined how you
regard the world.
What you have learned about the world is largely second-hand.
Taoism
Taoism is
scientific; it
is not a belief-system.
Reality exists whether you believe in it or not.
Tangible factual substance lies at the root of taoism.
If you cannot touch it or observe it, you do not waste time speculating about
it.
Be open to what is happening around you and learn to
appreciate the underlying
principles involved.
This is how tao pertains to tai chi.
Teachers
You should be vary wary of teachers, masters and gurus.
Although you may not be skilled enough to assess the value of their knowledge,
you must treat everything they say with caution.
Take the information, then explore what they have said.
This way, you can understand it for yourself.
The role of a teacher must be to point the way. Do not ask them to hold your
hand as well.
Study
If
you fail to read about tao and simply focus on the martial art, you will miss
everything.
Tai chi is not limited to the forms, postures or applications.
Your tai chi development is unequivocally tied to your understanding of tao.
When you can see how and why, you are getting somewhere.
Eastern ways
The culture in which tai chi evolved was
foreign to our own.
They had very different approaches to
living.
To understand tai chi, you must see what the taoists saw.
Teaching method
Some
relief agencies supply food to the starving people in Africa.
Other agencies teach the African villagers to grow their own crops, to work with
the land and the seasons, to cooperate with nature and each other.
They teach foundation skills that enable the villagers to live unaided.
Our school
teaches the second way.
If you want a hand-out, we will give it to you but you will never master the
system.
Students who research, explore, experiment and read are the ones who will
understand.
Masterless
The
advanced syllabus is about letting-go
and finding your
own way.
At some point in your training you will begin to experience immense surges of
inspiration.
These will lead down unexpected paths of study and you will no longer need a
teacher.
Page created 8 December 1998