Enlightenment Story – What is Your Question?
A student once asked his teacher “Master, are you enlightened?”. The teacher replied “When you see the folly in your question, you too will become enlightened”. And at that moment he was.
Daoism
The Pursuit of the Dao
Chapter 48 of the “Dao De Jing” Consider this passage from Laozi’s Classic “The Dao De Jing”: The follower of knowledge acquires as much as he can every day; The follower of Tao loses as much as he can every day. By attrition he reaches a state of inaction Wherein he does nothing, but leaves …
Enlightenment Story #2
There was a man who studied the Dao for many years. He practiced Daoist meditation and came very close to the Dao on many occassions, often getting a glimpse. One day, in reading a passage from the scriptures, he began to think that really the Dao is nothing special, and rather boring. He began to …
Qigong in Everyday Life
You’ve heard me say that Qigong is a way of life, not just a practice. We call it a practice because the only way to learn the art is to practice it. It becomes a way of life once you have internalized the principles and you realize that you can use elements of the art …
Do YOU Realize Where you Come From?
Have you ever thought about where you really come from? Not in terms of physically where you came from, but spiritually. What were you before you were you? Consider Chapter 14 of the “Dao De Ching”: Look, and it can’t be seen. Listen, and it can’t be heard. Reach, and it can’t be grasped. This …
Daoist Method of Eliminating Stress
Qigong and breathing exercises help us to relax and sense inner tension we have in our body. The more sensitive we become to this, the sooner we can recognize stress and tension affecting us and we can adjust to it. If we don’t see stress coming on and causing physical issues soon enough, we can become depleted more susceptible to illness. However effective these methods …
Students and teachers
“Sometimes the student is the teacher. Sometimes the teacher is the student.” In Qigong, we don’t place any importance on titles, levels, achievements, etc. All those ideas are concepts of the ego, man-made labels to place us into categories in order to satisfy our ego’s need to classify and compare things.
The Daoist and the Religious Man
A Daoist runs into a man of religion one day on his way into town. They stop and greet each other, and chat for a bit. The religious man is very anxious to tell the Daoist about his religion. The Daoist says “I would love to hear all about your faith and philosophy. Although I am on …
Daoist Principle of Wu Wei – “Non-Doing”
Non-Doing. It’s a Daoist thing. And often mistranslated and misunderstood, non-doing sounds pretty lazy! Daoism is actually the science of how the universe works (and us included, since we are part of it). We’re starting to learn that Daoism dates back to before there are written records in China, which makes it 7000+ years old. …
Work and Play from a Daoist point of view
How many times have you been at work thinking “I don’t want to be here right now, I’d rather be somewhere else”? It’s natural to have this feeling. When we live in the dualistic world of “work” and “play”, we are bound to experience this.
Daoist Poem “To Travel Well”
This was written by a friend and student, The Once and Future Poet. To Travel Well I am as a stone in the ocean of the Dao. I am thrown into it to make ripples that I cannot conceive. My ripples reinforce some but dissolve others. But only when I take the intention out of …
Seeing the Way
A Master was asked the question, “What is the Way?” by a curious monk. “It is right before your eyes,” said the master. “Why do I not see it for myself?”
Discover the Harmony in Your Own Being
The “Hua Hu Ching” is a collection of the oral teachings of Laozi, an ancient Daoist master and considered the founder of Daoism. The teachings in this book are laid out in chapter format, similar to the “Dao De Jing”. While the Dao De Jing is more poetic in nature, the Hua Hu Ching is …
Practice without Expectations
Qigong is really meant to be practiced with no goal or expectation in mind, after all, when we have expectations, we can become disappointed. Daoism teaches us to release all expectations and to surrender to “The Dao” or the natural flow of things. In reality though, most of us become interested in Qigong because of …
How Can I Find Time To Practice Qigong Daily?
I attended a Daoist gathering a few weeks back and talked with some incredible people. I wanted to share one of the great moments of the event. A Daoist Priest named Liu Ming from Oakland was speaking on the roots of Daoism and methods of Daoist meditation
What’s Your Favorite Kung Fu Move?
Oftentimes we think the more complex something is, the more effective it is. This is absolutely false! As my Sifu used to say, “After 30 years of practicing Kung Fu, doing fancy moves, tornado kicks and strikes that could take out a group of people – the most effective move is still the simple straight …
Work and Play from a Daoist Point of View
How many times have you been at work thinking “I don’t want to be here right now, I’d rather be somewhere else”? It’s natural to have this feeling. When we live in the dualistic world of “work” and “play”, we are bound to experience this. In Daoism, we strive to get rid of all duality …