The heart of the pine is solid, the joints of the bamboo are hard; therefore they do not wither in the cold of winter, but continue to flourish even through snow and frost.

What I realise as I observe this is the Tao of establishing life through cultivation and discipline. If people can avoid what is shameful, be serious, sincere and impartial, then their hearts will be solid. When the heart is solid, one cannot be corrupted by wealth or status, one cannot be moved by poverty or lowliness, one cannot be suppressed by authority or force.

Dealing with events fearlessly, undisturbed by difficulty, the fortunes or misfortunes one may encounter are up to others, while the creation of life is up to oneself. If people can cultivate themselves and control their affairs, resting in the proper place, standing firm and unmoving, then they will be regulated and strong. Being regulated and strong, they do not act in any way that is improper, they do not dwell on anything but the Tao, they do not do anything unjust.

Accepting the bitter along with the sweet, able to lead and able to follow, accepting both life and death, always responsive yet always tranquil, not moved by things, firm of heart and strong in discipline, one can thereby handle ease, one can thereby handle danger, one can thereby act, one can thereby rest, one can thereby change adaptively without hindrance, unfixed to any given pattern, uninhibited in any way.

Awakening to the Tao  - Liu I-Ming

 trans. Thomas Cleary

Situations of ordinary commotion are even considered by some Taoists to be better for the practice of inner tranquillity than are situations of external quiet.  In his ‘Annals of the Hall of Blissful Development’ the Yuan Dynasty adept Huang Yuan-ch’i says: 

‘People are happy when there is quiet and vexed when there is commotion.  Don’t they realize that since their energy has already been stirred by the clamor of people’s voices and the involvements and disturbances of people and affairs, rather than use this power to be annoyed at the commotion, it is better to use this power to cultivate stability.  An ancient said “When people are in the midst of the disturbance, this is a good time to apply effort to keep independent.”  Stay comprehensively alert in the immediate present, and suddenly an awakening will open up an experience in the midst of it all that is millions of times better than that of quiet sitting.   Whenever you encounter people making a commotion, whether it concerns you or not, use it to polish and strengthen yourself, like gold being refined over and over until it no longer changes colour.  If you gain power in this, it is much better than long drawn-out practice in quietude.”

METTA CHANT

THE TRIPLE TENFOLD PARAMIS

*DANA      PARAMI SAMPANNO

*DANA      UPA-PARAMI SAMPANNO

*DANA      PARA-MATTHA-PARAMI SAMPANNO

METTA KARUNA MUDITA UBEKKHA PARAMI SAMPANNO

ITIPI SO BHAGAVA

*DANA - generosity

*SILA - right living

*NEKKHAMA - sacrifice

*PANYA -  wisdom

*VIRIYA- energy

*KHANTI - patience

*SACCA - truth

*ADITTHANA - perseverance

*METTA - loving kindness

*UBEKKHA  - equanimity

BUDDHAM SARANAM GACCHAMI NAMAMIHAM

I go in homage to the Buddha nature within us

May the transcendental quality of (*) be fulfilled

May the higher transcendental quality of (*) be fulfilled

May the highest transcendental quality of (*) be fulfilled

THE FOUR VOWS CHANT

                SUKKHINŌ WĀ KEMMINŌ HŌNTU

                SABBĒ SATTA

                BHAVANTU SUKKHITATTHĀ

To all four corners of the earth,

may all beings have peace and happiness,

may every sentient being achieve that state.

It is usually sung after the metta chant

The deepest level of T’ai Chi is that of prayer, which I would like to define as communion with the universal spirit. If meditation is the awakening and nurturing of the unconditional awareness that puts us in touch with the reality behind image and appearance – what some would describe as the ‘sacred reality’ – then prayer is the active expression and affirmation of that connection. It is not a part of the art that can be taught. It is rather the motivating force, the context in which the practice of T’ai Chi takes place and is very much related to the meditative quality that becomes strengthened and refined in the training. It is also the most difficult aspect of the art to talk about. To start with there is the obvious inadequacy of words to describe what takes place in he heart, beyond reason and analysis. We don not really understand what we are doing when we pray. But we know that it comes from a deep impulse inside us. Our logical mind may discount it as a childish superstition and yet we know that peace and comfort we receive from the act is real enough. Those who have suffered pain. loss, grief know it’s healing power. When we engage in prayer a certain ineffable energy comes into play. But as much as we may try to capture it, the essence of prayer remains a mystery; necessarily so, I believe, for it is through it that we reconnect time and time again to the mystery and power of the universe that surrounds us. In the end there is no need to discuss it simply live it daily. And yet it sometimes helps to share this intimate, personal experience, if only because in doing so we may come to realise that whatever path we have chosen to follow there is a common ground be discovered and explored.

Peace and Loving compassion to all!

Tew Bunnag, London 1996

Yet nothing is left undone.

If kings and lords observed this,

The ten thousand things develop naturally.

If they still desired to act,

They would return to the simplicity of formless substance.

WIthout form there is no desire.

WIthout desire there is tranquillity.

And in this way all things would be at peace.

The Tao goes on forever

Wu wei – doing nothing

And yet everything gets done.

How?

it does it by being.

And by being everything it does.

If people and rulers go by this

Then every living thing will be well.

And if parts still want to separate

The true leader will use

The centrifugal weight

Of this original unnameable

Oneness.

It is simple:

If no-one wants anything

for themselves

Then there can be peace

And all things will know peace

The way music ends in peace.

Tao Te Ching Chapter 37

Wood, Fire Earth Metal and Water are the different sources of energy feeding the three levels of our being. Each energy pathway is identified with one of the five elements and with a specific organ and function of the body. The elements reflect the forces we see in nature outside, and have our daily and seasonal resonances within us. The Wood element is our spring energy. Earth represents the energy of harvest time.

Wood’s function is to structure, Fire’s to relate, Earth’s to sustain, Metal’s to extract and Water’s to unite.

The elements imprint themselves physically upon our bodies, by giving a certain colouring to the skin, a certain smell to our bodies and a certain cadence to our voice. Each is asscociated with a particular emotion, Wood with anger, Fire with joy, Earth with sympathy, Metal with grief, and Water with fear.

Health, whether of body or soul, is maintained by the balanced interplay of the elements within us. Ill health, whether body or soul, is disharmony introduced into this energetic balance as a result of pressure from outside or from within us.

The great wheel of the elements, endlessly moving, rests in turn upon one of its five spokes, each a moment in the cycle from birth to death and on to birth again. And each turn of the wheel echoes the rise and fall of life, the moment of birth finding the little bud of Wood peering hopefully out of the dead land into the new world of spring, before calling on Fire’s warmth to ripen it to maturity. And on the wheel turns, bearing with it the fruit of Fire’s labours to drop into Earth’s ample lap as food to sustain life, where Metal, watching from afar, swoops down to extract one pure and precious jewel worthy of bearing on high. 

The moment at which Metal soars upwards to the skies above is the point of our greatest detachment from the whole, the peak of our individuality. And as the wheel turns gently on to float in the water, Metal’s great yearning to find its lost paradise is effortlessly answered, for Water bears within it that knowledge of paradise regained, so vainly sought by Metal. We have reached the moment in the cycle where we merge ourselves in the whole again, drawn down into the watery depths of all that is.

Anon, the School of Five Elements Acupncture