Getting some Qingjing out of your Zuowang

A book review of;

“Daoist Meditation”

by 司馬承禎 (Sīmǎ Chéngzhēn),

trl. Wu Jyh Cherng (Pub.: Singing Dragon)

I don’t normally do book reviews but when I do… I like to give you something special.

Meditation lies at the heart of Daoism and if you want to take your internal martial arts deeper, mental focus and spiritual clarity is an area worthy of your research time. When Singing Dragon publishers asked me to review “Daoist Meditation” I couldn’t believe my luck. I had been trying to find out more specifically about the Daoist approach to meditation but was struggling through a host of overly-academic works and bad translations.

Before my copy arrived I looked into who 司馬承禎 (Sīmǎ Chéngzhēn) was because this volume was said to mostly focus on a particular work of his: 坐忘論 (Zuòwàng Lùn) - “Theory of Sitting & Forgetting”. It turns out Sima Chengzhen was one of the top Daoist priests of the 上清 (Shàngqīng) lineage during China’s Tang dynasty who rose to become the grand master of that lineage and an advisor to the royal court. The ruling Tang family liked Daoism so much that they built many Daoist temples and over the course of the dynasty, eleven of their princesses became Daoist nuns.

The “Theory of Sitting & Forgetting” was written at a time when the Buddhist influence was being heavily felt throughout China. Especially during the reign of China’s only Empress regnant, the infamous Empress Wu (武則天 (Wǔ Zétiān)) who was noted to favour Buddhism. Consequently Buddhism had a great influence on Daoist thinkers of the time.

The translator of “Daoist Meditation” was Mr. Wu Jyh Cherng, a Taiwanese Daoist High Priest who moved to Rio de Janeiro and founded the Daoist Society of Brazil. Despite his commentary being transcribed from recordings of lectures he gave in Brazilian-Portuguese, the book hangs together as if written by a native English speaker, so great respect should also go to the Portuguese-to-English translators as well.

Mr. Cherng has navigated these tricky translating waters with deft aplomb. After having read two other other versions of the Zuowang Lun in preparation for this review I found discovering Mr. Cherng’s translation with its practical and insightful commentary akin to finding the holy grail. The commentary really opened up this historical text. Even today the Chinese language is ripe with metaphor but add religious symbolism on top of that and this book could have been a nightmare to draw anything helpful on the subject from.

A good translation with insightful commentary is not easy to find

Although the original text is profound, the translation and commentary drew me into a world of reflection. I actually had a tough time finishing it because I found I was quite happy to put it down to reflect on what I had just read. In fact I am in the process of re-reading it because I really don’t feel that once is enough to fully take advantage of all this book has to offer. Maybe it will take a lifetime to get there and I know a book can never make up for a teacher but at least now I have something to help me take the next step towards increased 清靜 (Qīngjìng) - Clarity and Stillness.

My only negative criticism of this book is that the switch between the commentary and the quotes from the Zuowang Lun were not more heavily distinguished. The commentary and quotes are in fairly similar fonts and practically the same colour (black and dark grey). This means the reader had to be mindful of the switch between the two in order to not confuse them. It wasn’t a big problem and the reader soon gets used to it but it caught me enough times that I would have appreciated marking the quotes out with clearer distinction.

There is a Daoist saying; “未有神仙不讀書” (Wèiyǒu shénxiān bù dúshū) which translates as “There has never been a Daoist immortal who hasn’t read a book.”  Now I’m not saying that this book will grant immortality or enlightenment but to quote chapter 64 of the 道德經 (Dàodéjīng) “千里之行，始於足下。” (Qiān lǐ zhī xíng, shǐ yú zú xià.) - The journey of a thousand miles begins under your feet. Immortality or enlightenment is going to be tough for most of us that can’t commit their lives to full-time spiritual study / practice but this book is very sympathetic to the modern Western lifestyle. I enjoyed it immensely and thoroughly recommend it. I have provided a link to the book at Amazon.com for your convenience but it is available through all good bookshops and online book sellers.

And finally a big thank you to Singing Dragon Publishers for sending me a copy to review.

Stay mindful my friends.

Photo credits

1. Meme of Dos Equis’ most interesting man in the world. Original courtesy of Dos Equis

2. Parody of Holy Grail. Original screenshot courtesy of Monty Python’s Flying Circus

3. Terry Neil / Daoist Fighting Arts

Insights of a Gentle Warrior

“Insights of a Gentle Warrior” is a book by Mike Martello lǎo​shī​ produced posthumously by one of his Belgian students: Yves Verbeeck. Before he died Mike was working on several Chinese martial arts book projects and had put together material for them but unfortunately his untimely death closed those projects, or so we would have thought. Thanks to Yves being given a CD of book content materials by Mike prior to his death and Yves’ hard work in shaping into a final form we have a chance to see what might have been had Mike lived.

You can find out about the content for yourself by ordering your own copy from here.

My copy cost a total of $17.46 ($12.95 (US $) for the book + Tax and shipping to Seattle).

I hope to post a review after my copy arrives and I have had a good chance to read it through but would appreciate any constructive feedback from anyone that has already read the book in the comments section for this post.

Tim Cartmell Interview

Here’s a link to an interview with one of my favourite martial artists Tim Cartmell by Budo videos;

http://www.budovideos.com/online/shows/rolledup/rolled-up-episode-27-tim-cartmell/

Please accept my apologies for my languid approach in bringing this to your attention. It’s been around for a while and although I saw (and enjoyed) it when it first appeared I failed to bring it to the attention of my readers here at that time.

A still taken from the interview

The interview covers his passion for & approach to, both Chinese martial arts and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. Of the many nuggets worth mining in this half hour of screen-time I particularly enjoyed the insights into modern martial arts training by a long standing teacher of traditional arts.

Here’s a link to an overview on Tim Cartmell’s background in martial arts (c.1998);

http://www.shenwu.com/background.htm

…and his more recent Brazilian Jiu Jitsu history (which is also very impressive) you can catch a very short overview of, at the website for his current teaching position (at ACE Jiu Jitsu) here;

http://acejiujitsu.com/JiuJitsu/Instructors.aspx

Taken from a series called ‘Rolled up’ the video does have an emphasis on his Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (including some clips on technique instruction), however I wanted to post this because I sincerely felt it worth the time of those training the Chinese martial arts as well.

I hope you enjoy.

Daoist Sage

Sometimes I think I might be a secret Daoist Sage. Secret, even to me. The Daoist writings that I’ve encountered have often been expressed with a profound simplicity. Don’t get me wrong, by ‘simple’ I do not mean lacking in depth, more… layered complexity perhaps. A simple, pure thought or idea that has profound & far reaching meaning.

This method enabled the legendary Daoist sages to wear a cloak of false idiocy with which they could shield themselves from the enquiries of the common folk only casually determined to pursue an answer. For me I wonder if it’s just that I’m simply an idiot or if I experience moments of profound wisdom in simple form.

Throughout my training I have had numerous moments of enlightenment (specifically regarding my martial arts training - Nirvana will have to wait!) that with hindsight seem profoundly obvious, simple perhaps. On occasion I’ll return from a session with my coach where I broke new ground and relay my thinking to the wife who will look at me with a ‘Really? How did you not see that before?’ kind of look (and sometimes phrase). It’s became such a reoccurring theme that I can now often recognize it before I speak to her and spare myself a scoffing glance with some restraint in sharing.


So should we share our breakthroughs or await enquiries? The latter might give us a profound illusion of sage-like wisdom (should the question relate to something we have already been enlightened on) whereas sharing upon realisation may reduce the quality of our company to others. Personally I feel this would prohibit my fleshing out the eureka moments as I find vocalizing thoughts helps me work through them but I must say that knowing that my long-suffering wife and friends are not into my passion for martial arts but are still able to give a sympathetic ear to my wandering ponderings makes me appreciate them all the more.

Tim Cartmell 'treats' Seattle

Tim Cartmell is due to return to Seattle Halloween weekend. As far as I'm concerned that's all treat and no trick.


Halloween Weekend Seminar layout;

Saturday: 1-7pm (inc. time for lunch)
- Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (Using the Gi as a weapon.)

Sunday: 10am - 4pm
- Mixed Martial Immersion 101


...and here's the Chinese Internal Martial Arts highlight;

Sunday: 6-9pm
- Bagua Fighting Concepts

Striking entries, Clinch position, and Takedowns / Throws
all taught from the Baguazhang perspective!

Pricing:
$75 for one session,
$105 for two and
$155 for the whole weekend.

To register contact:
Jake Burroughs, (206) 941 3232,
three_harmonies@hotmail.com

Rueben Littlejohn & Sun Style in San Diego

I’ve just returned from a trip to California and was fortunate enough to be able to train with Rueben Littlejohn lǎo​shī​ in Carlsbad and San Diego. If you are looking to learn 孫祿堂 (Sūn Lùtáng)'s three Internal martial arts and can get to California, I recommend you seek him out. Rueben has won numerous tournaments in the Chinese martial arts and came across to me as capable, knowledgeable, skilled as well as a very warm & friendly person.

Rueben’s world class teachers include ‘the Queen of Tai Chi’ 蘇自芳 (Sū​ Zì​fāng)​ & Tim Cartmell who have both themselves studied with 孫劍雲 (Sūn Jiànyún​) Sūn Lùtáng’s daughter.

Rueben Littlejohn and I

Here’s a link where you can find information to contact Littlejohn lǎo​shī;
http://www.youtube.com/user/CarlsbadTaiChi?feature=watch

Wasters

劍 Jiàn (Double-edged blade sword) sparring is something you don’t find in every martial arts academy, even those that teach a sword form. I’ve recently found two groups of enthusiasts that are keen to change that:

1. The World Jiànshù League

( http://www.worldjianshu.org/ )

2. The Traditional Chinese Sword League

( http://www.swordleague.com/ )

They both have a set of competition rules for Jiàn sparring and both hold tournaments that you can participate in (I believe you have to join both organisations in order to compete though), which I’ve yet to do.

The WJL has produced a standardised Jiàn (available from their site) for particpation in their competitions, constructed from a flexibile yet strong polymer called the CSJian “Onyx” (See the black sword pictured below). It handles pretty well and feels well-blanced. The nice thing about this sword is that because of the plastic appearance I didn’t feel awkward about messing about with it in case I damaged it.

The CS Jian “Onyx”

The TCSL uses wooden swords for their tournaments. I currently don’t have one but Raven Studios
( http://www.little-raven.com/RS/MA/index.html )
produce a custom sword for the Great River Taoist Center (See the sword pictured below on a green background). The GRTC happens to be run by Scott Rodell, who also happens to be a big part of (if he doesn’t run it completely) the TCSL. There’s no official link between these groups -that I’ve seen- but I imagine the chances are good that the Raven Studios sword would be acceptable at a TCSL tournament (if you want to be sure - join the TCSL and find out!)

The Great River Taoist Center (Custom) Jian from Raven Studios

And finally here’s some pictures of a different Jiàn (in the 明朝 Míngcháo (Ming dynasty) style) that I recently bought from Raven Studios. I ordered the blade to be 32” which was the longest they offered outside of a custom job. And I chose that length because all the methods that I was reading about on how to work out the correct length for your body had -for me- the blade at 32” or a little longer (I guess I have a long body!) I also opted to have the tip rounded rather than pointed. This sword is well-balanced to handle and I find it to be an attractive object to own in it’s own right. It is without question exceptionally well-made.

Míng style Jiàn

‘Wasters’ is a term used for wooden (inexpensive/throwaway) swords used to train in sparring.