SoCal Tai Chi

The Way of Tai Chi is Empty and Calm

Can we remain unshaken internally while shook by changes on the outside?  Whether it be in push hands or sparring or everyday life, can we remain in touch with that awareness which permeates and maintains all creation?

Commenting on emptiness and calmness, in Further Teachings of Lao-Tzu, the great sage wrote that there is nothing emptiness does not take in, nothing that calmness does not sustain.  Emptiness and Calmness are the Way of Heaven.

But how do we acquire such emptiness and calmness in order to bring an intense awareness to ourtaiji?

As I mentioned in Awareness Not Softness Creates Tai Chi,it is the greatness of our aspiration to achieve a high level of tai chi that creates the detailedawareness to pay attention to the minute and the subtle.

Of course, when we first begin tai chi, most of us desire to reach the highest level possible.  But the endless corrections and the myriad subtleties of the form leave many of us disillusioned.  We either quit and go onto some other practice or just mull around as best we can hoping our teacher or some vague source within will suddenly release this mysterious energy.

Sure.  Believe that and there is a bridge in Brooklyn that I would like to sell you – for the right price, that is.

Wake up!  There is no vague source within.  There is no mysterious energy.  And unless you have an exceptional teacher, he or she is probably waiting for that same vague source to spring into action.

Lao Tze (or Lao zi), however, is very clear on how to obtain this emptiness and clarity.

The greatness of aspiration that he speaks about does not only apply to tai chi but to every aspect of our lives.  We must aspire to be great in all that we do, whether we are parents, tai chi instructors, computer programmers or doctors and nurses.

We must bring this aspiration and with it our awareness, our attention to detail and subtlety to all aspects of our lives, not just tai ji and not just our occupations.

This is how we gain and store that mysterious, subtle energy.  Through our compassion and love for one another, by embracing the oneness in each of us and understanding that everyone and everything in this universe has arisen from the same source.

And that source is YOU.  And it is EVERYONE in your life.  And EVERYONE on this planet.

Lao Tze calls this  - following the Way or Nature.

There are only three virtues in Taoism: frugality, humility and compassion.  It is not necessary to become anything.  Just be these three qualities and bring them into all aspects of your life.

Frugality is essential in both your life and your tai chi.  In case you haven’t noticed, all the things that you own have a way of owning you. So the less that you own is the less that you need to fret and worry over.

Without humility, you cannot advance to the highest level of the internal arts, nei jia.  Your pride will eventually bring you down, not only in your practice but in life as well. If you practice humility, you will have nothing to resent.  Having nothing to resent and nothing to make you bitter or spiteful can only deepen your calmness and strengthen your awareness and perception of life.

Lao Tze says:

If one turns to goodness, there is no resentment even if one goes too far. If one does not turn to goodness, even if loyal, one brings on hatred.  Therefore resenting others is not as good as resenting oneself, seeking from others is not as good as seeking from oneself…Everything is oneself.  If you brandish a pointed instrument and get stabbed, or if you wield a blade and get cut, how can you resent others for that? Therefore ideal people are careful about subtleties.

As for compassion, I doubt if there is a religion or spiritual philosophy that does not entertain some degree of this virtue.  It is this virtue that eventually will bring us to our center wherein lies the highest level of our practice and our very existence.

On this point, Lao Tze is quite clear:

When mountains are high, clouds and rain form on them.  When waters are deep, dragons are born in them.  When ideal people reach the Way, the richness of virtue flows in them.  Those who have hidden virtues will surely have manifest rewards.  Those who do good deeds in secret will surely have illustrious reputations.  Those who plant wheat do not harvest millet, those who sow resentment are not repaid with gratitude.

What Lao Tze is urging here is the practice of compassion with humility.  Do good works for your fellow beings but do not make a huge show of it and you will have manifest rewards.

The greatest reward is not money or fame but harmony.  The harmony of Nature and the harmony of ourselves with Nature..  It is this harmony that engenders the true emptiness and pure calmness that emanates from the center of our being.

Lao Tze says:

All beings bear yin and embrace yang, with a mellowing energy for harmony. Harmony dwells in the center. Therefore the fruits of trees grow in the heart, the fruits of bushes grow in the pod, eggs and embryos grow in the center.  What grows from neither egg nor embryo needs the right time.

When the ground is level, water does not flow.  When weights are equal, a balance does not tilt.  The birth and development of beings occur as they do through sensitivity.

So, be sensitive to all that is around you and within you.  Practice virtue and goodness in all that you do, and a mellowing energy will surround you and lead you tothe harmony that dwells in the center of your being where all is empty and calm like a vast tranquil sea on moonlit night.