EMPTY VESSEL: Journal of Taoist Philosophy and Practice SPRING 2022

Empty Vessel Journal of Taoist Philosophy & Practice

Spring 2022

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SPRING 2022

Volume 29 Number 1

FEATURES Is Tao Indigenous?, PAGE 6 Translation Tussles, PAGE 8 Walking the integral path with practical feet, PAGE 12 Feng Shui your spring cleaning ritual, PAGE 24 commentary on chapter 6, PAGE 28

ANCIENT ARCHITECTURE TEMPLE PAGODA IN THE PARK, CHONGQING, CHINA

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DEPARTMENTS Poetry corner, PAGE 23 Classifieds / directory, PAGES 32-33 book reviews, PAGES 34-36 back issue index, PAGES 37-39

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Publisher's corner Happy Spring!

In this edition, we feature author Larry Campbell as he shares the process of how he was inspired to write his book, The Parallel Tao Te Ching. Jane English shares her insights on the indigenous aspect of Taoism, and C.L.Babcook shares her commentary on Chapter 6 as well.

Since acquiring the Empty Vessel in 2018, we have learned about many Taoist retreat centers all over the country that we had never heard of before. With this edition, we feature an article about a retreat center in the Northwest, Genesee

Valley Daoist Hermitage. We hope to continue this series and feature more retreat centers, so please let us know if you have a favorite Daoist retreat near you that you would like to see covered in a future edition.

Please check out our new digital issues and subscriptions, which are now available on www.issuu.com or our website, www.emptyvessel.net. Thank you to all our readers, subscribers, writers, and advertisers who continue to support us and share in our collective journey of Taoism.

In gratitude, Nicole and Chris

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Perfect for new or experienced readers

Working with a collection of eleven different translations from eight different publishers, this book provides – for each of the 81 verses of the Tao Te Ching – three different translations and some comments.

The format allows the reader to view all three translations and the comments for each verse at one time with the book opened flat.

The comments are written in a conversational nonacademic manner, designed to provide a variety of helpful tidbits. Taken together, then, the book is a valuable resource for all readers as they begin or continue their own spiritual journeys along “The Way”.

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The Parallel Tao Te Ching

Introductory offer $20

Signed copy / ships free To purchase, email

larrycampbell@missouristate.edu call 417-337-2206 or visit www.LarryNCampbell.com

Sanctuary of Tao - page 23 Solala Towler - page 31 Jane English - page 40

Feature Contributors Jane English grew up in New England, did undergraduate work at Mount Holyoke College, and began photographing while completing a Ph.D. in physics at the University of Wisconsin. Her photographs illustrate six books, including a best-selling translation of the Tao Te Ching, published in 1972 by Random House. She founded her own publishing business, Earth Heart, in 1985.

C.L. Babcook is an aspiring Daoist who especially enjoys reading the Dao De Jing. She became interested in Daoism when she and her husband visited China in the late 1980s. Back in U.S., she took some university courses concerning ancient China which led to her writing commentaries and retelling Asian wisdom stories.

Larry Campbell is a Tao (and Tao Te Ching) enthusiast, now retired from a career as a math/ math education professor.

He has written four books on three entirely different topics, with his latest being a parallel compilation of several translations of the Tao Te Ching.

More information is on his website www.larryncampbell. com.

Nicole Noles Collins AP is an acupuncturist, feng shui consultant and Realtor in Port Charlotte, Florida. She is the publisher and co-owner of Empty Vessel magazine. Visit her website at www.vitalichiacupuncture.com.

Publishers Dr. Nicole Noles Collins Christopher Collins

Empty Vessel

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Empty Vessel: A Journal of Contemporary Taoism is published quarterly by DaoDog Press, 3440 Conway Blvd. Unit 1D, Port Charlotte FL 33952.

Journal of Taoist Philosophy and Practice

The Empty Vessel is dedicated to the exploration of Taoist philosophy and practice. It is open to sharing the various traditional and contemporary teachings in a nondiscriminatory manner. ©2022 DaoDog Press, all rights reserved. Empty Vessel is not responsible for opinions or statements expressed by authors or for advertisers’ claims.

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Is Tao Indigenous?

Jane English plants, water and mountains. Taoist wisdom is itself an indigenous tradition, so its combination in our books with photographs of nature is fitting.

Near the end of my 2018 book, A Rainbow of Tao, I wrote: “Through all these years of work with our best-selling editions of Tao Te Ching and Chuang Tsu: Inner Chapters, I had been noticing how patriarchal the text was. When I asked Chungliang Al Huang about this, he assured me that the ancient Chinese was much more gender neutral and supported my bringing more balance to the English translation. Toinette Lippe, my long-time editor at Alfed A. Knopf (Random House), came out of retirement to help with this project, which resulted in new editions of both books — Tao Te Ching in 2011 and Chuang Tsu: Inner Chapters in 2014.

I recently became aware that through all these years of work on the Tao books and calendars I have carried a nagging uncertainty as to the appropriateness of my doing this work, being a woman, having European ancestors, and knowing no Chinese at all — yet I did do the work.

Reviews of our Tao Te Ching when it was first published in 1972 included comments that this ancient text had been “gussied up” and “decorated” with photographs. Yet there was also a review that suggested that while the real Tao cannot be told, perhaps it could be photographed.

It is only through my association with indigenous people — Native American, Basque and Inuit — that I have come to understand that through my many years of spending time in the natural world and through my photography I had become “fluent” in the even more ancient language of Nature — trees, clouds, sun, moon,

The integration within my own being of European, Native, Taoist and Natural wisdom was reflected to me recently in a dream. I was with a red man and a yellow man, Inuit and Asian. Together we were making stained glass of red and yellow tulips, which are European Nature.”

a red, black and yellow tulip petal What did I mean when I said, “Taoist wisdom is itself an indigenous tradition,” in what ways is it indigenous, and what does indigenous mean?

I was refering to the integral connection with the natural world that I find in the texts of Tao Te Ching and Chuang Tsu: Inner Chapters—the stories of water, mountains, animals, plants and humans.

Many indigenous languages are deeply connected to place, to Earth and Sky. I had been told that from an indigenous perspective everything is alive. Rather than living on Earth and under Sky, we are of Earth and of Sky. Then in another recent dream I experienced that; I was embedded in life, was among living relatives of many kinds—trees, water, rocks, sky, human.

From this perspective much of what ails our modern world is experienced as unthinkable attacks on relatives and on self.

I hope that these brief thoughts will spur further discussion of Tao as being indigenous.

Tao books, calendars and other items are at Jane English’s Earth Heart website at eheart.com

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Translation Tussles It’s been well over a decade now since serendipity brought me into the rich lands of the Tao, and particularly the Tao Te Ching.

By Larry N. Campbell www.LarryNCampbell.com It was about the time I was finishing a career as a math education professor and looking to expand my ongoing adventures on the spiritual path. Based mostly on curiosity arising from intriguing references from sources I trusted, I had decided I’d read one verse a day for a while to see if it spoke to me. It didn’t right away, which is not unusual, but I was intrigued enough to try a second time. Since then, I have become a regular reader. Each quarter, I start rereading a verse a day for 81 days. Gradually, I began using at least two to three translations each time, alternating various translations each return trip, sometimes adding new translations, mixing and matching, and the like. I have used at least twelve to fifteen translations at one time or another.

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As might be imagined, then, I have naturally encountered several different — indeed, widely varying — translations of this literary, metaphysical, and spiritual-but-not-religious masterpiece. I have been repeatedly reminded that translations of the Tao Te Ching are almost as varied as the proverbial pens that write them and the audiences for which they are intended. Thus, their helpfulness — or lack thereof — to an interested reader varies greatly from translation to translation, from reader to reader, and even from reading to reading!

slowly and reluctantly creep into my consciousness.

(I’m not a Taoist scholar, but I figured I could compile translations.) In a less-than-sane moment, I tentatively began to explore. Had I realized then some of the things such a project would entail, I might have quickly retreated and recovered my sanity. (3) But I had begun the exploration process and established a tiny bit of momentum before that realization began, so I decided to continue the journey. And, after over a year of work, including a few glitches, of course, the manifestation of that crazy impulse was recently released.

In the beginning, this was somewhat frustrating to me. In the first place, I realized how lucky it was (for me, at least!) to have started with the excellent translations of Steve Mitchell and William Martin.

(1) Together, they formed a perfect balance for me— both quite readable, but with different wordings that simultaneously held my attention and provided enough early variety to spark my curiosity. With other more obscure translations, I might have bailed fairly quickly.

A Few Words About The Variety Of Translations

Second, I began to wonder things like, “Which of these is right?” “Can I trust this translation and/or that translator?” and “Why are they so different?”

I also began to notice that, in the midst of that uncertainty, that it felt better to have 2 or 3 translations and see their perspectives, however different, than to only have one at a time – and roll the dice, so to speak. It didn’t stop the questions, but it gave me more food for thought.

What would be most helpful, I decided, was a resource that parallels a few translations at a time, providing the opportunity for instant comparison between renderings while simultaneously enhancing one’s insights into the individual messages of each chapter and finding translations that speak to the reader. While such resources exist for the New Testament and/or Gospels, for example, I often searched for such a resource for the Tao Te Ching and could not find a book version. (2) There are some varied online digital resources, but they have their flaws (including the important question of their legality!) and further require having a digital device nearby to use them, of course.

So, the idea of compiling a resource myself began to

While preparing the book, I put various excerpts of it into the hands of some friends and family I thought would be sympathetic-but-truthful early readers. I was mostly seeking input on the content and feel of my own comments sections, but invariably their first response to me was something along the lines of, “Wow — I didn’t realize the translations could vary so much!” (And this from only seeing three translations at a time!) I was somewhat struck by this collective reaction, but not surprised, of course. It was my own similar reactions that eventually manifested into the book.

So, why is that so? Why are the translations occasionally so different in spite of their common origin? There are several reasons, of course — some obvious, some subtle.

As you may know, the original Tao Te Ching was not a book of words as we now know them. It was a collection of traditional Chinese symbols and characters, each of which had a variety of shades of meaning.

Remembering this fact presents a helpful picture, not only of the original book itself, but of its background and of the perilous situation and decisions facing modern Western translators. For, while the symbols themselves might have been highly recognizable, Lao Tzu’s broader messages, to which the symbols point, have been elusive and debated since even those early times. (4) So, what’s a translator to do, especially a non-Chinese (in language and/or culture) translator from centuries later, and likely from the West? In some ways, it’s a typical problem for translators in general — only, in this case, the problem is on steroids!

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On the one hand, translators in general obviously feel a desire and an ethical need to stay as close to the original wording (or at least its perceived intent) as possible. In this book, you’ll find translations that do that.

But remembering that (a) the original wording wasn’t really a wording; (b) Chinese symbols have varieties of shades of meanings; and (c) a major theme of the Tao Te Ching is that using words can mask/limit reality, with knowing and expounding often being competing ideas (see verse 56, e.g.), the situation gets instantly more complicated.

So, Tao Te Ching translators will often not try quite as hard to capture the original words, but seek instead to try to capture the music behind those words. (5) Some translators will even move toward more of a mild paraphrase translation of sorts. These renditions seek to speak the ageless wisdom the Tao brings to today’s world and those of us who live in it. (“The true power of the TTC isn’t the poetic language, but the practical wisdom” says Ron Hogan in the introduction of his book. (6) And, of course, some translators will try to seek the best of all worlds in various combinations of the above approaches. There are, in fact, translations using each of these approaches in the book.

Not only have translators approached these dilemmas in obviously different ways, so, too, will/do each of us as individuals have to answer similar sorts of questions for ourselves as we seek effective translations— and growth—for our own purposes and our own spiritual paths. And, to me, that has become a key point that has opened the door to some new insights.

Conclusion One of my spiritual mentors, Bob Hubbard, to whom the book was dedicated, used to tell the story of church members leaving his Sunday services in his earlier pastoring days. He said it wasn’t unusual to hear, “I especially enjoyed the part of your message where you said so-and-so.” He would then relate that he had never consciously intended so-and-so to be a part of his message that morning. He would grin and call it the power of God working through the sermon.

He said that was part of the reason Jesus taught in parables, and I’ve come to believe that the principle is as much at work in the Tao Te Ching, if not more so!

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In that vein, I am, I believe, slowly beginning to learn to experience the power of the Tao speaking to me through the Tao Te Ching. The question of, “Which one of these is right?” has become almost academic, especially considering the nebulous nature of the Tao Te Ching and the Chinese language itself. Instead the question has become, “Which translation is speaking to me this time, and what is it telling me?” To me, this has become an important perspective, and a highly legitimate one. And it has helped my outlook and my own overall Tao growth tremendously.

So, in a similar manner, I would encourage you to see if such an approach works for you. Be open to “the power of the Tao speaking to you through the Tao Te Ching”. Indeed, listen for it. Learn to hear what it says to you, and learn how/when to trust it. These are difficult tasks, and I don’t claim to anywhere near an expert. Indeed, I’m still a practicing lay reader, if you will. But it’s changing the way I read the Tao, and it’s changing the effect the Tao has on me. I wish the same for you.

Endnotes 1. Mitchell, Stephen. 2006. Tao Te Ching: A New English Version, Harper Perennial Modern Classics edition. New York: HarperCollins Publishers; Martin, William. 2005. A Path and a Practice. Marlowe & Company. NY 2, 3. Part of the reason for the unexpected difficulty of the project probably also speaks to the rarity of such resources: Unlike biblical translations, for example, excerpting entire verses from most of these translations requires publisher permissions. These can be cumbersome (not to mention time-consuming) to obtain and often require user fees as well.

4. In the preface of his book, Victor Mair [Tzu, Lao. 1990. TAO TE CHING. Translated and annotated by Victor H. Mair. New York: Bantam Books] states, “In the words of the author himself, it [the Tao Te Ching] is supposedly ‘very easy to understand,’ when actually it is quite difficult to comprehend fully. Paradox is the essence of the Tao Te Ching, so much so that even scholars with a solid grounding in classical Chinese cannot be sure they have grasped what the Old Master is really saying in his pithy maxims.”

See book review, page 34.

5. In his introduction, Andrew Beaulac [2016. Sitting with Lao Tzu. Berkeley, CA: Apocryphile Press] tells the story of a fortunate meeting with Red Pine, in which he (Beaulac) discussed his own battles with this very dilemma. He remembers Red Pine’s answer this way, “Translation is like a dance; if you and Laozi are hearing the same melody, you will be dancing in unison even if you are on the other side of the room from each other. You don’t need to stand on [his] toes in your translation.” After that, Beaulac said, he was “immediately released from a wooden, word-for-word translation.”

6. Hogan, Ron. 2010. Getting Right with Tao: A Contemporary Spin on the Tao Te Ching. New York: Channel V Books, a division of Channel V Media.

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Walking an Integral Path with Practical Feet

Charlotte Sun, RN, PhD Director 吉纳喜道院 Genesee Valley Daoist Hermitage

Note from the author: This article was originally written in 1996 as a chapter of a book by request of Craig Matsu-Pissot, a student of mine, who was editing a collection of essays discussing what it means to be human. At that time, he stated that he was concerned about the loss of connectedness, one human being to another, as individuals seem to becoming more isolated and less engaged with nature as they pursue the quest for what is seductively modern. To my knowledge, the book was never published. The manuscript has been edited.

Names and places have been added for biographical clarification.

When a person perceives the world as an integrated whole, living in modern society can often be a challenge. Joseph Chilten Pearce in Magical Child (1) noted that all children have “special powers” at birth and that they are taught by parents, authority figures and society-at-large to distrust those powers or to essentially suppress them. He wrote that by age 5, most children are socialized to conform to the belief system of their parents who were socialized to conform to the belief system of their parents, etc. and the dominant societal values which do not place importance on intuition or knowledge gained from trusting our senses.

What is “special power”? Special power is the conscious awareness of subtle energy. It is the conscious awareness of the inter-connectedness of all things. It is the primal knowledge that we are born with which reveals the essence of creation. It is expressed as the subtle energy which flows throughout the universe and flows throughout our body-mind-spirit and which is the antecedent to all being.

Cheng-quan was in graduate Ph.D. studies when she had the opportunity to review Pearce’s research which The Empty Vessel — Page 12

brought to consciousness that she was well into her teens before she began to realize that other peoples’ physical, psychological, and spiritual perceptions differed significantly from hers. They did not exhibit “special powers.” They did not see subtle energy or demonstrate any particular sensitivity to the interconnectedness of all things. Prior to the awareness that other people who were close to her (family, friends, classmates, teachers, and other authority figures) did not seem to experience life as she did, she was under the illusion that everyone could see energy fields, feel subtle energy, and recognize that this energy was the underlying basis of life itself.

Although her awakening was not dramatic and happened over time, as her awareness increased, so did her sense of separation from her peers. Her willingness or ability to go along with the crowd diminished because her perception of inter-connectedness disallowed her to participate in many of the activities of children which are competitive, alienating, clannish, spiteful or hurtful. For example, she did not willingly participate in competitive sports and remembers reluctantly standing on a gym court during a ball game. Without her conscious participation, the ball forcefully landed in her hands (which was actually quite painful), and the team she was on won the game. The other players enthusiastically gathered around her and congratulated her for winning the game for them. She was stunned.

At a very early age, she realized that patterns of speech which detracted from others were competitive. She found it more satisfying to listen attentively to the words of others instead of interjecting comments about herself into every conversation.

Why was she still exercising “special powers” beyond the age of 5? A simple answer would be to say that her parents did not shut her down. Another answer would be to state that she did not reveal her “special powers” to others and therefore she was not pressured to relinquish them. In retrospect, it would be safe to say that both answers are true.

Born in 1941 and growing up in America, Cheng-quan struggled with the ideas which permeated her formal education: realism, idealism, and scientific thought.

Throughout her studies and subsequently throughout the early phase of her career, she knew that there must be some way of thinking or school of thought which reflected hers. She attended a spiritually oriented nursing education program at St. Luke’s Hospital in New York City which professed the motto “heal the body and save the soul.” The teaching was primarily based on scientific research which stemmed from the belief that logical process uncovers truth. However, she was able to attend seminars about dealing with patients as humans which provided an opportunity to explore the realm of feeling and recognize that patients are not extensions of machines.

The school was church supported and included in the curriculum the spiritual needs of patients as well as the psychological and social aspects of disease.

Although there was always the overriding, patriarchal heaviness of the religious teachings and the forewarning to “never get involved with a patient,” the school provided her the opportunity to develop a spiritual practice. Daily meditations in the school chapel commanded discipline from the students forming the basis of standards of practice which carried over into her entire life. However, the problematic concept of professionalism which was the underlayment of much of the teaching as to how nurses should behave seemed to create a shield or a barrier between the nurse and the people she was to care for. Much of the teaching seemed contradictory: know the scientific basis of the work and treat the patient with kindness and compassion, but don’t cross over the line.

Crossing over the line seemed to her to mean don’t use your special powers i.e. don’t trust your intuition when caring for patients or look beyond the surface of the physical body. She witnessed the dismissal of classmates who did not measure up to both of these ideals. And she witnessed the confusion of many students were not prepared to address the psychological, social, and spiritual practice of nursing.

However, as she began caring for patients as part of her study program, she became increasingly aware that psychological, social, and spiritual needs were often more in need of attention than physical needs. For her, knowledge of the inter-relatedness of all things did not

permit a schism between these multiple precepts of being.

As Cheng-quan began experiencing different jobs early in her career, she became increasingly aware of the cause of the separateness she had experienced earlier in her life. She chose not to work in jobs which she felt required her to comply with what she perceived as alienating group behavior. For example, she never worked in a staff position in hospital because she realized that nurses in hospital spend more time fulfilling State and Federal requirements, in particular, performing paperwork, than interrelating with patients. Nurses were not expected to go beyond taking care of patients’ medical needs. She worked through a nurses’ registry which allowed her to work as a private practitioner and to develop professional relationships with selected physicians* who requested her to take care of individual patients with special needs…patients with complex or compounded problems which required a broad spectrum of care and which addressed physical needs as well as psychological, social, and spiritual needs. She knew that approaching patients as “broken machines” who needed parts fixed did not facilitate healing. * Selected physicians were those who saw their patients as people, not simply a body with some disease or defect which required mechanical intervention. They were physicians who openly recognized that patients were part of a greater whole, part of a family, and part of the community in which they lived. They were physicians who supported the concept of integrating psychological, social, and spiritual care with physical care.

She continued her search for academic support of her way of knowing by attending undergraduate university studies in psychology, administration, and education at Columbia University in New York City. She sensed that if she acquired recognized, academic credentials, she would be able to establish a methodology whereby her approaches to her life and work would be more generally accepted. The path was long and winding. She thought that study of the current methods of psychiatric approaches to patient care would provide her with knowledge and skills beyond those acquired in her basic nursing education which would turn attention away from the physical body. But, it became obvious to her that professionals working in the psychiatric arena separated the mind from the body and did not acknowledge the interrelationship between the two.

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Having been born and raised on the east coast of the United States, in her early twenties, after completing her undergraduate degree at Columbia, Cheng-quan felt the need to move westward. She explored the Denver area but did not feel compelled to live there. In 1965, she traveled to the San Francisco Bay area and quickly made the determination that she should relocate there based on a deep inner feeling that that place would offer her the opportunity to more openly express her special powers. Without job or plans for further schooling, she shipped her belongings to San Francisco and boarded a plane. Within days, she was able to locate housing and also found a medical employment agency which she later learned was well respected in the medical community.

The agency was run by a nurse who worked closely with physicians to recruit and place nurses in special positions in the community. (The nurse retired soon after Cheng-quan found employment and the agency was closed.) Through the agency, she was introduced to Edgar Munter, M.D., a well known, elderly physician in town who called himself a “geriatrician” stating that his special expertise in caring for the elderly arose out of the fact that he was growing old with his patients.

(The fields of gerontology and geriatric medicine did not yet exist.) He was looking for someone to work with him in his office who could offer his patients more that the traditional setting up of appointments and basic organization of the office. He said that his patients had “special needs.”

Cheng-quan saw this job as an opportunity to develop her skills in counseling patients and families on a personal level which included psychological, social, and spiritual needs. She was able to understand elderly patients who appeared confused and disoriented because she could see their energy fields and know what action to take to alleviate their distress. She was able to rebalance patients’ energy fields through the use of psychic massage or sometimes by projecting thought patterns without any bodily movement.

As a result of the success she achieved in alleviating patients’ discomfort, the physician asked to expand her office work to include making visits to his patients in their homes, in hospital, and nursing homes.

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physician, Hal Bailen, M.D., was brought into the office to assist with the increasing number of patients.

He did not encourage his patients to take a myriad of prescribed drugs. He went against the growing trend to treat patients chemically for each and every complaint.

His primary approach was to listen to his patients.

Cheng-quan noted that as people aged, they accumulated complaints from earlier diseases/distresses which were never healed. By the time they were elderly, they often presented with multiple complaints which at times seemed overwhelming. She noted that it was quite common for elderly patients to have long lists of diagnoses on their records and long lists of prescription drugs which they took for multiple problems. Because each complaint was isolated and treated, the whole person was forgotten. She saw the inconsistencies in this separative approach and sought ways to address each patient as a whole person as well as a part of a greater whole.

She was able to elicit the support of the young physician who was willing to explore more wholistic approaches to patient care. Unknown to her, he was taking periodic trips to England to study Traditional Chinese Medicine at the Worsley Clinic which included training in acupuncture. (Such training was not yet available in the United States.) Years later, when she learned of this somewhat clandestine study effort, she understood some of the reasons why this newly licensed physician was able to step away from the traditional practices of western scientific medicine.

Through the efforts that were made in this physicians’ office, Cheng-quan was introduced to the field of longterm institutional care for the chronically ill, especially the aged. In time, she continued on her journey by creating a job in a San Francisco nursing home. The facility administrator was curious about her visits there to see patients managed by her “geriatrician” employer.

He wanted to provide the same service to all of the patients and asked her to work there full time. Her presence was quite shocking to the Director of Nursing who could not accept Cheng-quan’s work if she was not in uniform and performing the duties of licensed nurses: dispensing pills and giving treatments. The Director asked her if she would work as a licensed staff nurse for a period of time to prove that she was, in fact, a qualified nurse. She declined the offer recognizing that she would have to prove her worth in a more creative way. Her continued presence for the purpose of

providing psychological, social, and spiritual support to patients ultimately led to the departure of the Director of Nurses who said she could not work in such an unorthodox setting.

At this time in her life, Cheng-quan did not openly discuss her ability to see energy fields or to alter them at will. She continued to work in silence and focused her attention on the evolving political involvement in health care. The Federal Medicare program had recently been enacted to provide health care for the aged. It’s companion legislation, Medicaid, was enacted to provide health care for people of all ages without financial means. She developed policies and procedures for caring for patients based on their potential for recovery.

These policies became the basis for the administration of the nursing home in which she worked.

She made a study of the regulations which were being promulgated by official agencies regarding health care and saw that the beaurocratic expectations usually did not match up with patient needs. The existing health care facilities were not equipped to provide the type of services which the government was seeking.

She wrote a book Extended Care Guidelines for Patient Care Coordination and Counselling, which presented a review of problems in the care of patients during the recovery process. The work became a conceptual model which emphasized the patients’ specific needs as the determinant for selection of an appropriate facility.

Developing health care facilities based on human needs was seen as a method to contain runaway health care costs while at the same time providing improved care.

The long-term care facility program which she helped to develop was not accepted by the Federal government because at the time it did not fit into the existing ideas of how America’s health care delivery system should work.

However, in the years following the misunderstanding of her work, the concepts she developed were integrated into every level of health care. The job function which she created was introduced universally throughout the country. She realized that her job was to plant the seeds of knowledge and not be attached to the specific time of their outcomes. She could look back from a distancein-time and see the growth which was stimulated by her earlier work.

Having completed undergraduate studies which were

primarily based on scientific thought, she pursued graduate studies which included humanistic psychology – a trend of thought which moved away from the Freudian orientation she had been taught and more toward her way of thinking.

She also began a course of study in philosophy which included the teachings of Tehard duChardin where she was introduced to ways of thinking which were outside of the dominant Cartesian pattern of thought which permeated all of her previous education. Master’s level education was completed at Holy Names College in Oakland, California, a church-supported college.

Interestingly enough, she had made application to the University of California, Berkeley School of Public Health and was turned down because she was not Native American and would not lend to fulfill the university’s affirmative action quota. That rejection ultimately provided her with the opportunity to attend an institution of higher learning which turned out to be more sensitive to her needs and also which provided a window for other academic pursuits which would address some of her unanswered questions.

Adjunct to her academic studies, Cheng-quan accepted a position to co-direct a major research grant at the University of California San Francisco Medical Center.

Federal funds from the Regional Medical Programs were awarded to investigate cerebral vascular accidents (strokes). In that capacity, she was able to travel to many counties and teach in institutions and agencies of all kinds which provided care to stroke patients.

She recognized that she had attained a position of authority which might allow her to introduce some of her concepts into the curriculum which was being developed as a national model. Stroke was listed as the third-highest cause of death in the U.S. at that time.

For example, she stressed the importance of working with patients within the context of their family and community. She began teaching the importance of learning about pre-stroke lifestyle patterns as a way to individualize patient teaching. She vigorously supported the concepts of early rehabilitation for stroke patients which involved range of motion exercises, learning to transfer in and out of bed, ambulation training, and learning self-care techniques as opposed to the prevailing passive receipt of custodial routines i.e. “doing to” the patients instead of teaching them to work toward independence in activities of daily Spring 2022 — Page 15

living. Much of the rehabilitation teaching about care of the physically disabled had been developed in military hospitals post World War II and subsequently was disseminated to university medical teaching centers.

The grant which she helped to administrate was bringing those teachings to the medical communityat-large. The teachings were primarily based on physical restoration — strengthening muscles and improving muscle coordination, improving patterns of speech, and teaching patients how to perform daily living activities with the use of adaptive devices such as elevated toilet seats with grab bars, extended shoe horns, and a multitude of mechanical devices which were being produced to assist people with disabilities to become more independent. She was also teaching neuro-vascular anatomy and physiology. However, she was able to subtly introduce the need to expand care to encompass psychological, social and spiritual needs.

She taught that updated knowledge of physical care of the stroke patient was important but was not enough.

Pre-stroke patterns of behavior that lead to the stroke syndrome also needed to be evaluated in planning for care in order to achieve more complete restoration.

Patients’ patterns of coping with stress, if left unattended and unaltered, would leave patients with unresolved patterns of behavior which contributed to the disability.

A spiritual approach to stroke offers thanks for the symptoms and sees them as challenges to learn deeper lessons about life. The resultant disability is seen as a gift to provide time and space to experience aspects of life which were previously ignored. Cheng-quan saw the importance of providing this wider scope of care as an outcome of her “special powers” which allowed her to see patients’ energy fields. She could perceive the psychological and spiritual aspects of patients. Her approach to care was not limited to how patients appeared after illness had brought them to the world of medical care.

Because stroke is such a pervasive disability, the need to integrate these other aspects of care was accepted by her peers, in particular, the nurses who were involved with patients on a more comprehensive basis. By the completion of the grant research project, many of the progressive concepts of the curriculum which were developed and taught throughout the granting period were assimilated into medical and nursing school curricula and were being practiced by the health care community-at-large.

The Empty Vessel — Page 16

While she was co-administering the National grant on neuro-vascular research, Cheng-quan was sub-contracted to the university’s medical continuing education department to participate in the writing of a curriculum and teaching of classes for the inaugural State board examination to license nursing home administrators. This enabled her to meet practitioners of long-term care facilities from many areas of California who needed to complete 100 hours of education before taking their tests. This work provided her another window to introduce concepts of long-term care management which encompassed psychological, social, and spiritual needs of patients.

Armed with a new Master’s degree in education from Holy Names College, she was eager to put into practice methods of teaching which would engage existing practitioners in more expansive approaches to patients.

The challenge was in allowing the practitioners to cultivate their own sensitivities and to broaden, from within, their perspectives regarding patient care.

A large part of class time was devoted to active student participation in the form of role-playing and group discussion on ways to more completely address human needs — not only patients in institutions but patients as part of the outside community including family and friends. Cheng-quan recognized that patients in nursing homes are part of a whole and that effective care for them included interacting with society-at-large. She taught principles for the development of programs to transport patients to community activities and also encourage patients’ families and friends to visit the nursing home. She stressed the importance of providing space for patients to entertain their family and friends away from the open community space where most patients spend a major part of their day. Children were encouraged to visit and visitors invited to share meals with the patients. This was one way to introduce the concept of the inter-connectedness of all things in a way that was acceptable to the practitioners. Using contemporary approaches to mental health aligned with scientifically based research data on the neuroanatomy and physiology of humans, she developed and taught a basic curriculum which encouraged a multi-faceted approach to patients.

After the teaching program for nursing home administrators was completed, Cheng-quan returned to her

work. One of the nursing home administrator students who had studied with her in preparation for the state examination approached Cheng-quan with an offer to sell her nursing homes so she could retire. In collaboration with another person, Cheng-quan embarked on a fifteen-year work project which culminated with the application of many of the theories and practices which she developed over her years of teaching and consulting in a variety of health care settings.

Psychiatric nursing theory and practice, then research and teaching of neuro-vascular anatomy and physiology provided a vehicle to approach the way of being which acknowledged Cheng-quan’s special powers. These two fields reached beyond the anatomy and physiology of the human body as taught in medical schools. At that time, psychiatry and psychology were not accepted as “hard” sciences because they did not work within measurable perimeters. Neurology was considered “hard” science but its study was self-limiting because it looked for a measurable chemical response as the basis of human behavior. Thus, her search was not over. There was still a sense that something was missing in all of the education and practice she had experienced. She continued the quest for more knowledge about subtle energy and its role in healing.

Meetings with Laozi One day, Cheng-quan picked up a throw-away newspaper which appeared on her doorstep. (She had never heard of nor seen that paper before or since,) The paper contained listings of classes, and one class in particular caught her attention: four weeks of taijiquan instruction for $16 at an address near her home. That started her on a five-year path of the study of Daoism from a teacher who took her as a student. She began with the study-practice of yin-yang hands.

Place the hands right over left as if gently holding a large globe. Starting with the right hand on top, slowly raise the left hand and lower the right hand keeping the palms facing each other. Using free form, move the circle around to various positions and concentrate on the hands. As one hand rises, it becomes very light (empty).

As it descends, it becomes heavy (full). This sequential progression of the hands symbolizes the concept of yin and yang which forms one of the basic precepts in Daoism.

This practice symbolizes dual power which instigates all change. Neither yin nor yang exists in an absolute state. The hand movements constitute a beginning practice of the experience of yin and yang energy as it flows through the body.

Over time, Cheng-quan was instructed in an ancient long form of Yang style taijiquan, concepts of Daoist nutrition, and ways of being which encompassed an entire lifestyle. The teacher oriented her to Daoist principles and practices. He taught her to seek answers without asking questions. She learned that Daoism is a way of life. One physically raised in America cannot “convert” to Daoism overnight. She began to recognize through the teachings that her world view was “Daoist” in the sense that she perceived the world as an integral whole, not as separated parts or as the sum of its parts.

Through her study and practice of Daoism, Cheng-quan realized that Daoists are not “groupies.” She gradually found increasing validation for her way of being. She grew to accept the fact that Daoism is not an easy philosophy to explain and that those who live it are not easy to understand. The opening verse of the Dao de Jing, the great classic of early Daoism makes this clear.

The way that can be talked about is not the constant way.

The name that can be named is not the constant name.

Non-being is the name of the origin of heaven and earth; Being is the name of the mother of all things.

Therefore: Constantly in non-being, one wishes to contemplate its subtlety.

Constantly in being, one wishes to contemplate its path.

These two come from the same source, but are different in name.

The same source is called mystery.

Mystery and more mystery.

It is the gateway to myriad subtleties.2

Although any rendering of the Dao de Jing into English compromises the thoughts conveyed is its original script, the message is a reminder that what we see is not what wholly is. To limit one’s perception of reality to the gross, material level is to deny the more subtle levels of existence which also play a major part in life.

The difficulty in explaining Daoism is more explicitly stated by Zhuangzi in chapter two of his Inner teachings: Spring 2022 — Page 17

The way never had boundaries; language has never been constant. Borders exist because of affirmations.

essence behind power. Essence precedes material manifestation.

Outside of the universe, sages see without discussion.

Inside the universe, sages discuss without deliberations.

When it comes to the passing times and generations and the records of things of yore, sages deliberate without debating.

Understanding Chinese culture helps to cultivate Daoist practices. This knowledge brought Cheng-quan to seek higher education which would bring her to a better understanding of the cultural and historical foundations of Daoism.

The great way is not called anything: great discernment is unspoken; great humanness is unsentimental; great honesty is non-complacent; great bravery is not vicious.

Once again, a throw-away paper appeared on her doorstep. Therein was described a nearby graduate school devoted to teaching Asian philosophy. By that time, in the mid 1970’s, there was a movement in the U.S. to bring teachings of Asia to America. Some scholars in the San Francisco Bay area who had traveled to India had requested that a teacher be sent to America to introduce Asian philosophy in an academic setting.

Eventually the Institute of Asian Studies (later renamed the California Institute of Integral Studies) was founded with the idea of integrating Asian and non-Asian thinking as a way to address some of the problems being faced in the mid-twentieth century. Cheng-quan’s experiences of special powers since early childhood and years of walking alone found another path for expression in the doctoral studies of philosophy and religion at this unique graduate school.

When a way is illustrious, it does not guide; when humanitarianism is fixated, it is not constructive; when honesty is puritanical, it is not trusted; when bravery is vicious, it does not succeed. These five things are like looking for squareness in something round.

So we know that to stop at what we don’t know is as far as we can go. Who knows the unspoken explanation, the unexpressed way?

Among those who do know, this is called the celestial storehouse: we can pour into it without filling it, we can draw from it without exhausting it; and yet we don’t know where it comes from.

This is called hidden illumination.3 These words acknowledge that the daoist sage can spend years studying without understanding if arbitrary boundaries are placed on knowledge. Daoism is a difficult path to walk. But once the body-mind-spirit is opened to the subtle energies of life, an awakening occurs that makes the struggle worthwhile.

Dao is the eternal ultimate: it is beyond knowledge.

From this teaching, Cheng-quan saw value in focusing on the more visible aspects of the Dao. The more conscious she became of the inter-relatedness of all life, the more she was able to understand the relationship between the material and spiritual worlds. She recognized that Dao provides the link. This fundamental inter-connection and unity is the core of Daoism.

Perception which has been defined as “special powers” provides the life experience to support this theorem.

Dao as the ultimate source of all, the origin before origin and uncreated which creates everything is the The Empty Vessel — Page 18

Simultaneous to pursuing doctoral studies, Chengquan was developing the policies and procedures for the long-term care facilities which she co-owned. As her studies progressed, and as she deepened her practice of taijiquan, she was increasingly able to articulate her deepest beliefs as to how to better assist people with chronic disability. And, being in the top administrative position in the work setting, she was able to institute policies which reflected her ideals. Over time, the nursing homes she administrated traveled further from the accepted medical model of scientifically based requirements of the national government.

To address the differences of opinion which arose as she more fully expressed herself through her work, she drew from the four right efforts in Buddhism: To prevent negatives from arising.

To put an end to existing negatives.

To initiate things which are wholesome, and To strengthen wholesome things already in existence. (4) Based on this teaching, a policy was written and a

poster created which outlined the various aspects of the integral (physical, psychological, social, and spiritual) approach to patient care which she aspired to provide. It was called the Five Rights to Wholistic Living: Developing right attitude Developing right environment Developing right exercise Developing right nutrition, and Ensuring right health care These rights formulated the basic postulates for the development and implementation of policies and procedures which affected the lives of staff, patients, families, the medical community, and the lay community-at-large. Each of the “rights” provided subject material for research and development. However, each aspect was addressed simultaneously to avoid separatism in approaches to care.

An early example of introducing an integral approach to patient care was working with staff to develop a new policy for an employee dress code. The staff agreed that it would be beneficial to provide a more comfortable, homelike environment for the patients. They agreed that staff in uniform tended to subordinate patients to staff, foster co-dependency between staff and patients and sometimes instigate hostility in patients who were frustrated with being institutionalized. It was acknowledged that collaborative work between patients and staff would be a greater impetus to the healing process which needed to take place within the context of the integral approach to patient care. It was agreed that staff would select functional clothing which would allow them to practically participate in the patient care program.

Since staff was used to wearing uniforms, the new policy was enacted with the understanding that workers were encouraged to phase out their uniforms. Within two to three months, the following transition took place. Nurses continued to wear white pants but added colored or print tops. Some wore street clothes with white smocks.

Housekeepers began wearing white uniforms. Maintenance workers began wearing street clothes. Dietary staff began wearing street clothes with aprons.

Group discussions revealed that the nursing staff had the most difficulty relinquishing the uniform. Some

stated they had worked hard to earn the right to wear a uniform and felt attached to its symbolism. The significance of the white uniform being identified with power and authority was more evident with the housekeeping staff who said that wearing white would make them look “more professional.” Further discussions on the dynamics of uniforms and their impact on patient care produced the eventual outcome of all staff wearing street clothes.

Cheng-quan acknowledged the need for some staff to evolve through the phase of “letting go” with regards to making changes in their dress. However, employees who could not adjust to the new dress code over time demonstrated the potential inability to be flexible or make other changes necessary in addressing patients’ needs as they were being approached with the newly introduced philosophy. Those staff eventually left the job with exit counseling that their choice to not adapt to the wholistic philosophy of care was in no way a negative reflection on their future employment elsewhere.

Official inspectors did not approve of the dress policy and complained that patients and the public would be confused as to who was in authority. This feared confusion was alleviated by having employees wear attractive name badges with their title engraved on them.

The staff ’s rationale for continuing the dress policy which they developed was that they were working with patients and families over a long period of time and were able to establish interpersonal relationships which did not need to be defined by a uniform. However, the issue ran a lot deeper. The policy disturbed inspectors who continued to be uncomfortable with this approach to patients and who sought every possible way to contradict the way that care was being offered by staff.

The introduction of wholistic concepts into the nutritional program of the nursing home proved to be one of the most challenging aspects of transformation.

Eating habits are influenced by culture. Edward Espe Brown in Tassajara Cooking (5) wrote: “The pure actions of the cook must come forth from his realization of the unity of all things and beings; and by seeing clearly into the minds and hearts of others, from a leaf of cabbage he must be able to produce a sixteen-foot Buddha.”

Cheng-quan recognized that to effectively alter the Spring 2022 — Page 19

nutritional service received by patients, attention first needed to be paid to the staff that was preparing the food. She turned to her Daoist teachings to develop in-service classes for the dietary staff because these teachings were practical and easily implemented.

Daoist tradition governs nutrition with the following simple rules: Eat only when hungry, not out of habit Eat only natural foods Increase grains and vegetables Chew all food very well Don’t over-eat at any time When eating, keep liquid intake to a bare minimum* Take deep breaths whenever you get the opportunity * This concept must be understood within the context of Chinese herbal theory and Daoist theory of diet.

Cheng-quan had learned that feeling happy or serene while eating is important to the proper assimilation of food. She also knew that food eaten in its original state retained the essential energy provided by nature.

This knowledge needed to be experienced by the staff before such wisdom could be imparted to the patients.

Attention was paid to the dietary staff to offer them alternative approaches to food and nutrition. Field trips were made to nearby and not so nearby settings which provided them the experience of serenity while eating. Experiments were made providing them food which was prepared in anger and food which was prepared with love. After they experienced the difference in the vitality of the food, they were able to grasp the concepts which were being introduced.

In-depth study of the American diet and subsequent rules and regulations governing nursing home nutrition revealed major differences between theories and practices that Cheng-quan was learning on her Daoist path and those which were in practice in the long-term care setting. In particular, the absence of whole grains, frequent use of highly processed, pre-packaged foods, and highly concentrated sweets seemed to have a negative effect on patient behavior. Evaluation of patients revealed increased patient mental confusion and agitation after meals and complaints of hunger within one hour after meals. It was important to note that dietary staff who prepared the food and nursing The Empty Vessel — Page 20

staff who served the food were primarily eating the Standard American Diet (SAD) too. Staff education had to precede any changes in dietary policy in order to promote understanding and acceptance. Group sessions were held to discuss the challenge in developing a more healthful diet. Over time, the following changes were introduced: Soups made from scratch Introduction of whole grains Reduction of added salt Use of sea vegetables Home-grown sprouts of beans and seeds (managed by dietary staff) Substitution of oil and butter in place of shortening Switching to whole-grain flour Switching to fresh or frozen vegetables Serving at least one serving of raw salad daily Serving fresh fruit daily Switching to herbal teas Creating non-meat protein recipes Decreasing quantity of red meat Decreasing concentrated sweets Decreasing use of pre-packaged foods Staff members were encouraged to bring recipes from home which were expanded to large-quantity cooking.

Cooking workshops were held to experiment with new recipes and new foods. Staff was eager to participate but there were challenges. The “regular” wholesale food supplier stated that whole grains were not available.

There was no local whole food distributor. Initially, staff had to go to a not-so-nearby natural food store (the Berkeley Co Op) until we could convince a whole foods wholesale distributor to make deliveries directly to the facilities. The more the staff got involved in creating the dietary changes, the more they were willing to make changes in their own food choices. As they began to experience the health benefits of eating better, they were more effective teachers to patients.

Probably the most challenging change to achieve was the switch away from highly concentrated sweets. Over time, home-made, whole-grain muffins replaced sweet rolls, coffee cakes, pancakes with syrup, and donuts.

Nine-grain cereal replaced pre-sweetened cold cereals.

Whole wheat bread replaced white toast with margarine and jelly. Cakes made from scratch using whole grains and reduced amount of sweeteners replaced pies

and cakes. Fresh fruit desserts, such as fresh bananas blended with orange juice and cinnamon and frozen to a soft consistency, replaced pudding, Jell-O, and ice cream.

The huge amount of uneaten food wasted each day was one factor which prompted research in improving the nutritional program. An outcome of the changes made demonstrated an increase in the quantity of food served that was actually consumed. Behavioral improvements were also recorded. Staff and patient involvement in the planning and implementation of nutritional policies affected people deeply. The activities promoted a great deal of caring and sharing between staff and patients.

The winds of change were surmounting Cheng-quan’s ability to practice her way of long-term care. As the staff increased its knowledge and use of non-meat protein, the State of California Department of Health coined the phrase “visible protein” which was defined as meat, poultry, and dairy products, and required that “visible protein” comprise the federally mandated requirement for servings of protein per day. This mandate ran counter to the research and development of the use of non-meat protein. Also, the facility was admonished for not serving white bread and large amounts of white sugar as part of the regular diet.

Cheng-quan knew it was time to make another career change. She carefully removed herself from the responsibilities of ownership of the nursing homes. She began teaching graduate school as part of a consciousness studies program at John F. Kennedy University in Orinda, California. Her initial course offerings were based on Daoist theory and practice of nutrition.

Further courses were developed when she was asked to found and direct the Integral Health Studies Program at the California Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco. The curriculum was designed to teach health-care providers how to provide care which reflected the practices of various cultures and acknowledged the importance of a multi-faceted approach to health. Throughout her teaching career, Cheng-quan continued to deepen her Daoist practices. Eventually, she was teaching Daoist healing practices as part of the graduate school curriculum. Students were excited to delve into other ways of knowing and receive validation for what had come to be called “alternative” care. Cheng-quan stressed the importance of naming

non-conventional ways of care “complimentary” in an effort to create an arena of cooperation, not competition. Although there was a ready audience for this teaching at the time of its inception, a change in school administration created an environment of contention.

The program was ultimately merged into the school’s Somatic Psychology Program.

Further Meetings with Laozi In 1973, Cheng-quan began traveling to China. Stepping onto Chinese soil felt like “going home.” She made a commitment to visit often to refine her practices of taijiquan and qigong and to continue her journey of Daoist life. One day, while wandering in the Gelin hills of Hangzhou, she met an old Daoist master, Bao Zong de, who took her as his tudi (disciple). This special relationship furthered the way of her Daoist wanderings. He explained Daoist texts to her and inducted her as the twenty-fourth generation student in his Long Men lineage. He gave her her Daoist name: Cheng-quan.

Each subsequent visit to China included treks from village to village with the master who offered Daoist healing practices and teaching to local villagers. Respites in villages brought her closer to the heart of Chinese life and gave her the opportunity to live in rural temples.

Together, they directed the reconstruction of the Luo Dong Ai Daoist hermitage in Dong Yang, the village where the master was born.

One of the greatest lessons the master taught was to maintain inner peace and serenity regardless of what busy-ness is going on outside. They traveled in the countryside as well as the city. China is not a meditative place. There are millions of people moving about.

Busses and trains are crowded and there is always new construction underway which is noisy and disruptive.

But these distractions were serving as a reminder to maintain inner quietude regardless of external chaos.

As an outgrowth of her expressed interest in wholistic management of chronic disability, Cheng-quan was introduced to the Chinese concept of Qigong Institutes which she discovered were comparable to American nursing homes except that Chinese facilities were not specifically geared to care of the aged. Another major difference was the Chinese idea of healing involves patients being actively responsible for their own welfare.

Spring 2022 — Page 21

Part of that is the practice of qigong — a way of life which includes active exercises, quiet sitting, Chinese medical nutrition, and healing thoughts.

When Cheng-quan was first brought to a Qigong Institute, the staff openly talked about how qigong practice facilitates returning to the source and how it often “opens up special powers.” In China, there was full recognition of those special powers which she had always placed outside the mainstream of her American life. She continued her work in the practice of qigong which has brought her to a fuller realization that subtle energy is the manifestation of Dao and that it is perceivable when in the qigong state. She learned that the qigong state is the original state of being and realized that she had maintained that original state since birth.

Shortly before her old master passed into immediate awareness of the transcendent Dao, Cheng-quan was asked to create a Daoist hermitage in America which would exemplify the teaching she received. Upon returning to America in 1993, she co-founded the Genesee Valley Daoist Hermitage in Genesee, Idaho — a natural, traditional setting which provides an environment for self-cultivation as well as offering the opportunity to cultivate the soil for producing one’s own food. The work of self cultivation encourages the practitioner to return to the original state of being.

Following the path of self cultivation allows one’s anxiety, grief, and disappointment about life to fall away.

Meditative practices help reveal profound intuitive insight into the nature of reality. Advanced practice frees the practitioner from worry and seeking self pleasure.

The need for acceptance by others and the need to compete with others often fades away. Self cultivation provides the internal environment for self healing by allowing the primal knowledge of the body to re-emerge. Self healing involves self-sustenance and self-reliability. Self-reliance facilitates healthier relationships with others because one is approaching others not with the need for acceptance but from a steadfast security based on life experience.

A self-reliant person can enter into collaborative relationships which allow each party to maintain their own sense of being. The more one can heal one’s personal environment, heal one’s body-mind-spirit through nutrition, moving practices, and quiet sitting, the more one can go into the world of red dust and feel at peace.

The Empty Vessel — Page 22

The practice of Daoism is the practice of self cultivation.

Self cultivation is the process of acknowledging our particular capacity to project onto things and people outside ourselves all that we cannot accept within ourselves.

The process is ongoing and requires daily attention.

People often ask how best to practice self-cultivation.

Focus on those aspects of your being that hamper you from walking alone. Self cultivation obviates the need for comparison and criticism. Develop inner strength to follow the way alone even amidst a crowd. Those who follow the way of Dao through the complexities of modern life walk the path as compassionately and harmoniously as possible. They act with self-awareness and work for the welfare of the greater community.

Over time, the spontaneity of accord with outer worldly business serves to increase their skills in acting in harmony with the greater whole. In return, the Dao offers a smoother path to walk which includes ever more frequent states of grace. Self cultivation concerns the way one walks and talks. One takes on the knowledge that method is more critical than the outcome of action. Actions are self determined. Outcomes are always affected by a myriad of forces and may be quite contrary to any projection made at the outset. One sees the futility in projecting expectations and increasingly trusts turning toward stillness to experience Dao.

Endnotes (1) Pearce, Joseph Chilten, Magical Child. New York: E.P. Dutton, 1977.

(2) Wu Yi, The Book of Lao Tzu (Laozi) (The Tao te Ching) (Dao de Jing). San Francisco: Great Learning Publishing Company, 1989, p.2.

(3) Thomas Cleary, translator, The Essential Tao (Dao) An Initiation Into the Heart of Taoism (Daoism) Through the Authentic Tao Te Ching (Dao de Jing) and the Inner Teachings of Chuang Tzu (Zhuangzi). New York: Harper-Collins Publishers, 1991, pp. 75-76.

(4) Birnbaum, Raoul, The Healing Buddha. Boulder, Colorado: Shambhala Publications, Inc., 1979, p. 47.

(5) Brown, Edward Espe, Tassajara Cooking. Berkeley, California: Shambhala, 1973, p.i.

Poetry Corner

Spring Snow

Renaissance

By Christina Northrop

By Jim Birt

Going to a Taoist Mountaintop View

Snow tatting blade to blade with diamond knots

By James Gredell

Bending the heads of flowers lifting hesitantly from the dirt

On this spring morning the sun has yet to rise.

Bare branches of a neighbor’s tree break up the gray sky.

A lone starling perches, facing east, and ruffles its feathers.

The vast turning never ceases.

So why do I sense this pause at the brink of dawn’s first light?

Sunsets Sunrises A Taoist Awakening Flowing rivers and streams Valleys Nonstop beauty So natural So pure So green Sky so blue And lazy, hazing smiling clouds Giving beautiful shapes And healing soft pure rain mist Tall pristine green pine trees One by one Deep forrest pines Meditative views Deer Daoist Deer’s stillness pureness calmness Daoist deer eyes beaming Tranquil Bamboo Views Daoist deep mediation caves Huts Trails leading nowhere The sheer beauty views Circular Capturing Essence Flow nature natural stillness the sheer beauty of not looking for no answers or questions no words Just a Daoist view Leading Teaching Showing us the Way

Then melting on the verge of the green fuse where it meets the shadow of the pine

Spring

By Michael Sheffield Millions of miles the glint of light on new leaves

Spring 2022 — Page 23

Feng Shui your spring cleaning rituals

By Nicole Noles Collins AP www.vitalichiacupuncture.com

and the microcosm are always connected, and it helps us stay connected to both the external universe outside of us and the internal universe within us.

Many of us grew up with weekly Saturday cleaning rituals as well as Spring and Fall deep cleans. A physical and energetic deep clean twice a year not only reduces germ and mold loads but also helps keep you in harmony with the seasons. From the Daoist perspective, Spring is the time to wake up and prepare for rapid growth and expansion. To do that though, requires cleaning out the old energy, physically and energetically. A physical deep clean accomplishes this efficiently, but tuning into Feng Shui principals to target specific areas of the house can help us create beneficial changes in major areas of our lives, too.

As each season progresses many times we unintensionally accumulate clutter or create poor feng shui in our enviroment, which in turn creates obstacles in our daily lives. This can be as simple as inefficent daily routines that eat up precious time during the day to challenges in major areas of our lives. Although each area of our property, house and office are equally important in feng shui terms, there are four specific areas to target that can help straighten things out quickly and set the stage for the rapid growth that spring can bring. These four areas are the entrance, the stove, the main bed, and desks.

Feng Shui, which translates to Wind Water in Chinese, is a discpline that concentrates on harmonizing the relationship between a person and the universe using conscious placement or removal of objects in a person’s enviroment as well as meditation and internal cultivation techniques.

It is a practice that looks physical but is mostly energetic and esoteric. It is a constant reminder that the macrocosm The Empty Vessel — Page 24

In feng shui, the entrance, or the Mouth of Chi, is the main gateway to the house that brings all the chi into the house. Although the Mouth of Chi is typically thought of as just the main door to the residence, it is important to use your feng shui eyes and assess the flow of energy leading up to the door. If you live in an apartment building, you may not be able to change anything, but it’s still a good exercise to help you tune into your environment.

Start from the road and the mailbox or the sidewalk, and slowly walk up to the front door. Do you feel relaxed and happy as you approach the door, or overwhelmed and anxious? Do you see any corners or sharp architectural features pointing at you as you approach the door? Are the surroundings pleasant and welcoming, or forboding and repelling? Check for branches or other obstacles that need to be cleared from the pathway. Also check the width of the pathway leading to the door. Is it wide enough for you with room to spare or do you have to fight your way past plants, boxes or too much furniture?

The entrance should be a “bright hallway” full of light, life and welcoming energy.

Things that need to be removed from the walkway to the entrance include: Branches and spiky plants, weeds, anything that is broken or worn looking, trash, and anything with sharp corners or protruding arrows (sha chi).

Anything that is empty, like pots, vases or birdfeeders should be either filled or removed.

Now that you’ve reached the front door, look at the width of the walkway. Is the door entrance as wide as the walkway? If the door is narrow in proportion to the walkway, you may not be able to welcome all the opportunities and luck the universe brings you. If the path is too narrow, you may want to widen it physically or add plants to either side.

The front door is the most important element of the exterior house. This is one spot of the house that it pays to invest in the best your budget can handle. At a minimum, it should fit snugly into the frame, with no cracks or peeling paint. The door handle should be easy to operate and the same goes for the locks. Ideally, the front door should be solid, with a minimum of glass inserts.

The doorbell should be a sound you love to hear, not a noise that makes you cringe. Sound activates chi, so think of the doorbell as the song of good luck or opportunity.

Now turn around and look out to the street from your front door. Are there any trees, or protruding corners of other buildings symbolically attacking the front door or the house? Are there any buildings that tower over your building, or churches and cemeteries within sight? The view from the front door should be as pleasant as the view leading to it. You should be able to see a beautiful panorama in front of you.

change? If there is a mirror opposite the front door, it needs to be replaced with positive and auspicious artwork. Is there enough room to move though the foyer, or is it jam packed with items that impede movement and chi entering the house? If you imagine that each item in your house is a chi magnet, and will “hold on to” energy as it flows in from the front door, then it will become clearer which objects are enhancing your chi, and which are just “stealing” it away from you. As clutter accumulates, the chi that should be nourishing you and bringing you luck gets bogged down, especially in corners. Then it becomes too stagnant to be useful and also does not nourish the rest of the house or the occupants. Again, keep an eye out for broken items, sharp corners and objects, depressing artwork or décor, empty vases and dried flowers.

While the Mouth of Chi represents the amount of chi the whole household can accept, the stove is considered the symbol of wealth. Classically, this would be symbolized by the rice cookers, and the stove is the modern equivalent. All burners of the stove should be working, free from clutter and rotated in use so that all opportunities for wealth are maximized instead of one or two burners working “overtime.” No one wants to get burnt out! Also remove any mirrors that may reflect the burners. Some schools of feng shui say that this doubles the opportunities for wealth, but from my personal experience I can say all it did was double the amount of cooking fires I had!

That is way too much fire energy in one spot. The stove, like the front door, is a good place to maximize feng shui budgeting by getting the best you can afford and that will make cooking stress free. A happy cook is the most important ingredient in every meal, because the cook’s chi permeates the food. Never startle or upset someone who is preparing food. Many times I chant mantras, especially when decocting tinctures, to infuse more chi into the food or herbs. If there is a sink or refrigerator next to stove, add a small live bamboo plant somewhere between the two in a safe spot. The water will nurture wood, which will then nurture the fire of the stove, instead of the water putting out the fire of the stove.

The desk, whether it resides in a home, an office, or both, represents a person’s career success. That can include wealth, but it also encompasses more subtle aspects like power and leadership. Clutter free desks are required for good feng shui, just like in any other part of the house, and can be even more detrimental for a person’s success Once you cross the threshold, how does the energy if allowed to get out of control. The desk should contain Spring 2022 — Page 25

ADOBE STOCK IMAGES

Although the desk is positioned well with a solid foundation wall in the back, the desk should have a front panel extending to the floor to protect the person’s legs.

auspicious symbols of your chosen career, with no letter openers or scissors openly displayed on top. An executive desk has a front panel to hide the user’s feet, and this is ideal for protecting the person at the desk. Do not hang a picture of water or a mirror behind the desk; a soft mountain behind you, or a row of books, is ideal so that your back is symbolically protected. An executive chair with a solid back also does the same thing.

Ideally, the desk should face your sheng chi or success direction, which is different for everyone. But if it faces a wall, or a window with a view such as a brick wall, factory or church it can symbolize obstacles in one’s career. The desk should have a solid wall behind it, with a commanding view of the entire room. It should be as far away from the office door as possible, and also placed diagonally facing the door if possible. Secretaries sit close to the office door because hey are gatekeepers for executives, so this is definitely an example where you want the desk protected and as far away from the office door as possible. The desk should not face a toilet or share The Empty Vessel — Page 26

the back wall with a toilet or hallway either. It makes an interesting exercise to see where workers in a single room are placed and correlate it to their position within a company. Even without knowing feng shui, people who set up office layouts most times subconsciously place the leaders and executives as far away from hallways, doors and toilets as possible.

The last stop in your mini spring feng shui cleaning is the bed, the symbol of your relationship and childmaking.

Secondarily I also consider this a health symbol, because the position and layout of the bed is so vital to the quality of sleep and rejuvenation of energy.

Like the desk, the bed should face the door and be diagonally positioned across from it. Remove clutter from around the bed on a regular basis. The usual problem spost are the nightstands, which should be identical on each side, with plenty of room for people and chi to approach the bed from all three sides. Do not place a bed below a window if possible, but if the other choice is to

share a toilet wall, then check to see which direction is more auspicious for you. Many times a compromise will be necessary, which is why it is helpful to know a couple’s auspicious and unlucky directions before determining bed placement. Also do not place a bed with the feet pointing directly towards the bedroom door, especially if it leads to a hallway. Another inauspicious positioning is to have any part of the bed aligned with a bathroom.

Imagine the bathroom door as a portal for sewer chi. You do not want the “sewer chi” running into you as you sleep.

Check also for pointed corners of sha chi that intersect the bed which may symbolically cause “headaches” or pains in other parts of the body depending on where the arrows hit the bed.

Headboards are important as they symbolize protection of your head as you sleep, and giving you a solid foundation in life. An ideal headboard is solid wood. A tortoise shape is auspicious; anything that has holes or bars is not.

A metal bed frame can be too energizing, as are mirrors or TVs in the bedroom. Mirrors are too disruptive and bounce chi around the bed and bedroom. Colors of

the bedding should be harmonious and soothing, not excessively bright.

Underneath the bed, chi needs to flow freely while you rest. Clutter underneath the bed can symbolize back problems, and storing items such as family pictures symbolically “presses down” the family’s luck. You can energize the under-bed area with uncooked rice or salt to absorb negative energy. Six round crystals can also be added to the salt or rice for health enhancement. Uncooked rice is also said to enhance fertility. An amethyst geode is a traditional cure to keep a spouse from straying from the martial bed.

Once you have “spring cleaned” these most important areas, you can expand your cleaning and feng shui activity into each room, and eventually the entire house. Feng Shui is never truly “done” as the energy changes with each day, each two-week period, each season and each year, but by creating a plan you can develop a feng shui rhythm to cleaning up the physical and esoteric energy your house, keeping it in harmony with the season at hand.

Spring 2022 — Page 27

Commentary on Chapter Six The Valley Spirit never dies.

It is called the Primordial, mysterious Feminine.

The gate of this primordial, mysterious Feminine is the foundation from which Heaven and Earth sprang.

Continuous being, uninterrupted, immortal.

The Mother’s subtle existence is creative without effort, Draw upon her as you will, this ever flowing essence.

By C.L. Babcook The sixth chapter of the Dao De Jing, I believe, is a statement of Daoist cosmogony in mythic imagery.

To understand this cosmogony we must reflect upon the notion of the Valley Spirit. Upon our initial reading of the first line, “The Valley Spirit never dies,” we might think that the Valley Spirit is some kind of primordial spirit that resides in a valley some place in China or someplace else upon the earth. We know that throughout the ancient world different areas were believed to be inhabited with various kinds of spirits or energy vibrations. Sacred places, for example Stonehenge in England, Charles Cathedral in France, Tai Mountain in China, etc., had qualitative different energies or spiritual presences from such places as the Tower of London, Nazi concentration camps, or certain deserts in the The Empty Vessel — Page 28

world which were felt to have negative spirits or vibrations.

According to Daoist tradition the earth had “dragon veins” which were energetic lines that crossed the planet. Dragon veins plus an area’s energetic history leave their vibrations on a place. Because of this some areas were felt to be more alive than other places. Some places felt positive and uplifted a person’s spirits; other places were felt to be negative and foreboding, perhaps even dangerous. With this idea in mind one could speak of the spirit or spirits of a specific valley or any other area.

I suggest this is not what is meant by the opening line of chapter six; the Valley Spirit here reference is not simply a spirit of an earthly valley. That the Valley Spirit is not the spirit of any earthly place is made clear in the second line of chapter six:

“It is called the primordial, mysterious Feminine.”

The primordial, mysterious Feminine is certainly no local female spirit in some valley. She is far more encompassing. To better understand this female it is helpful to reflect upon the various meanings of “xuan” which has been translated as “mysterious.”

Other and equally important meanings of xuan include: Secret, profound, hidden, dark, deep, and obscure. Thus the Valley Spirit, the primordial, mysterious feminine is characterized as a profound spirit whose being is hidden, dark, deep, obscure and not known to many (secretive).

(From Yang and Yin come Taiji.)

The Three generates all things.

(From Taiji comes all creation.)

Because Heaven (yang forces) and Earth (yin forces) are generated from the “One” it becomes clear that the One is a reference to the creative cosmic source which is reference in Chapter Six as the primordial, mysterious Feminine, the Valley Spirit. We note that the primordial, mysterious Feminine is not the creator of all creation, but is the gate from which the forces of all creation (yang and yin forces) come into being. The word “gate” in Chinese is “men” and can also mean “an opening,” “a passage,” and “a mouth.”

This female is also characterized as “yuan” meaning: In other words, the primordial, mysterious Feminine Origin, first cause, beginning. Thus we get the image is the passageway from which the energy (qi) of creation, yang and yin force emerge. When yang of a “Feminine beginning” or perhaps Mother. As such, the primordial, mysterious Feminine can be and yin forces move, a relationship of interaction seen as a kind of Cosmic Mother or Creative Godor interbeing develops and “The Two generates the dess. The Cosmic Mother as a goddess designation Three.” The Two, when interactive, becomes Taiji, for the Valley Spirit is brought out and is more obvi- the invisible energies permeating all creation. ous in lines three and four of Chapter Six: What then is the primordial, mysterious Feminine “The gate of this primordial, mysterious Feminine from which yang and yin forces emerge to form all creation? Typically yin and yang are viewed as is the foundation from which forces derived from Wuji, a state prior to creation.

Heaven and Earth sprang.”

“Wu” can be translated as “emptiness, non-existence, nothing,” and “ji” can mean “foundation base, beginThe image suggests a Cosmic Mother Goddess or Feminine Creative Abode from which “Heaven and ning, a starting point.” The image we have of wuji, Earth sprang.” In Daoist thought Heaven designates the state prior to being, a state before the emergence of yang and yin forces, is one of emptiness — but it the yang qualities of creation and Earth designated is an emptiness filled with vitality. Once could liken the yin qualities of created forms. From varying degrees of yang (Heavenly) and yin (Earthly) forces this state of being as a state of energetic potential or chaos. We call it chaos because there is no form, no comes the universe and all it contains. From our distinction, no thing; only vitality resides in this state discussion it is apparent that the Valley Spirit is not spirit of any particular earthly valley but instead is a of being. Through the gate of potential emerges the fundamental forces of creation, yang and yin forces. cosmic creative force. And the abode of the cosmic Thus the Valley Spirit, the primordial, mysterious creative force has the “gate” from which the fundaFeminine, is a state of being where potential moves mental forces of a creation, yang and yin, emerge. though a “gate,” a transformative state that pushes universal energy from a potential state to a duality, The notion of the Valley Spirit, the primordial mysterious Feminine, as the source of created forms from emptiness to being. The primordial, mysterious Feminine is thus a cosmogonic state. We Note compliments the Daoist concept of creation. In that Dao is both inside and outside all creation; it is Chapter Forty-Two or the Dao De Jing we read: the background as well as the foreground. Like the “Dao generates the One. (From Dao comes Wuji.)

Western concept of God, no description can capture the essence of Dao. The One generates the Two. (From Wuji comes Yang and Yin.) The Two generates the Three.

In the first chapter of the Dao De Jing we read: Spring 2022 — Page 29

“The Dao that can be described is not the eternal Dao.”

Draw upon her as you will, this ever-flowing essence.”

The Valley Spirit, the primordial, mysterious Feminine (wuji) which has Dao as its origin is an aspect of Dao, “never dies” because it is a constant state of potential from which the creative forces of yang and yin emerge to establish all creation. We must remember that thought, consciousness, emotions are all also considered part of the forms of creation.

What is the sacred hollow spirit that we can “draw upon” and is an “ever flowing essence?” I suggest the last two lines of Chapter 6 are a reference to “qi” which can be translated as “vital force, breath, power.” Qi is an invisible, energetic power; it is our energy which provides for our existence. The Valley Spirit of our bodies is our vital energy before it is transformed into a particular pattern, for example — skin, bones, hair, thought, etc.

The above analysis refers to the exoteric aspect of creation according to Daoist thought. There is a more subtle reference which the Valley Spirit, the primordial mysterious Feminine also entails.

We know that many traditions in the ancient world, including Daoists, conceived of the universe as both a macrocosm and a microcosm. The macrocosm included the Heavenly realm with its planet, stars, sun, moon, etc., and the Earthyl realm with its mountains, rivers, trees, etc. The microcosm was a miniature form of the macrocosm and was believed to reside within the human body. This notion of a human being containing the entire universe is also found in Western traditions. In Western religious though the human body is an image of God.

Our basic energy has the potential to be a force of creation, either in forming our body or being utilized in the arts, intellectual thought, spiritual exploration or any other direction one chooses to utilize on’e energy. It is one thing to know of our “potential” and another to actually utilize this energy. The Daoists believe that by means of exercise and breath control, an individual can access one’s creative potential qi and in so doing, one may expand one’s awareness or perhaps become a healer or perhaps gain various psychic abilities. By understanding how to use one’s qi the mind can create miracles.

Chapter Six is an important chapter of the Dao De Ching. Although it is one of the chapters with With the concept of a microcosm in mind we few lines, much meaning is packed into this short naturally ask, “What is the primordial, mysterious chapter. From our analysis we have seen that the Feminine, the Valley Spirit, in relation to the human primordial, mysterious Feminine, the Valley Spirit, body?” When we think of a valley we think of an has an exoteric and esoteric aspect, a universal and empty space, the invisible space between mountains. individual dimension. Chapter Six suggests that by Perhaps the Spirit Valley is an invisible something in understanding the primordial, mysterious Femus. The word for “valley” in Chinese is “gu” meaning inine, the Valley Spirit, one may understand the “vacuous, chasm and hollow.” The word for “spirit,” process of creation. “shen” refers to the “soul, the sacred, the divine.” In Sources lines six and seven of Chapter Six we read: “The Mother’s subtle existence is creative without effort.

The Empty Vessel — Page 30

All quotes from the Dao De Jing are from the Richard Wilhelm editions.

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Book Review The Parallel Tao Te Ching: A Comparison of English Translations For both interested readers and more serious Tao scholars, there has long been a need for a helpful comparison tool in studying for Tao Te Ching, and the author has waded through all the publisher-permission logistics to provide it.

The book is a valuable resource for all readers as they begin or continue their own spiritual journeys along “The Way”.

The book also provides several other extras: Helpful introductory material in the front; and in the Working with a collection of eleven back, a Further Comments Section, different translations from eight an Author Index, a One-Word Title different publishers, this book pro- Index, and further information on vides — for each of the 81 verses of other translations and other sugthe Tao Te Ching — three different gested reading. translations and some commentary.

William Martin, author of two of The format of the book allows the the translations used and the book’s reader to view both the transla- foreword states “A humble, honest, tions and the comments for each of and skillful approach . . . [Campbell] the 81 verses at one time with the has been able to gather various transbook opened flat. The comments lations and approaches to the Tao Te are written in a conversational Ching and use them to help the reader non-academic manner, designed to . . . [The book] provides thoughtful provide a variety of helpful tidbits, and practical commentary on a variety including both more translation of translations without being dense or information and further comments. pedantic.”

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www.EmptyVessel.net The Empty Vessel — Page 34

The Parallel Tao Te Ching: A Comparison of English Translations Publisher: Aftermath Enterprises LLC Pub Date: Jan. 11, 2022 Pages: 220 Format: Paperback EAN/UPC: 9780578351025 Price: $18.95

Book Review The Monk of Park Avenue: A Modern Daoist Odyssey (a Taoist’s Memoir of Spiritual Transformation) A literary memoir like no other, Monk of Park Avenue recounts novelist and martial master Monk Yon Rou’s spiritual journey of selfdiscovery. Learn from Yon Rou as he tackles tragedy and redemption on an unforgettable soul-searching odyssey.

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Book Reviews Fox Magic by Jason Read According to ancient legends, thousands of years ago a mysterious being known as the Nine Tail Fox taught her devotees the secrets of witchcraft and alchemy.

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Fox Magic Publisher: Mandrake of Oxford Pages: 166 Format: Hardcover and Paperback

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Dark River by Avery Jenkins Aging gray market dealer Asa Cire may not know exactly who he is or why he’s here, but he does know one thing: He’s going to find the murderer of the teenage girl haunting his visions, regardless of the cost.

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The Empty Vessel — Page 36

Dark River Publisher: Black Rose Writing Publish Date: October 15, 2020 Pages: 288 Format: Paperback EAN/UPC: 9781684336111 Price: $23.94

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Fall 2021: Who is Dao? by Jane English, Experiencing the Heart of Character

by Mankh, Historical Sources of Daosit Meditation Part 3 by Louis Komjathy, Emptiness and Coherence Part 2 by Michael Robbins, A Few Words on Death And Grief by Stuart Alve Olson, Holy Cow! Mother of Dao by Master Zhongxian Wu, Commentary on Chapter 81of the Dao De JIng by C.L. Babcook, Stoicism And Daoism by Robert Seesions

Extraordinary Vessels Part 1, Daoist Magical Healing Tradition

Summer 2021: Yin Yang And The Ten Thousand Things, The Myth of Emperor Yu, The Tao Of Dice And Spiritual Transformation, Emptiness and Coherence Part 1, Yang Pond Meditation, Historical Periods and Sources Of Daoist Meditation Part 2, Commentary on Chapter 4 Dao De Ching

Summer 2019: American Dragon Gate Lineage, The Qi of Paper and Ink, The Dao of Congee, Tao Of Walloo, Poetry Corner debut

Spring 2021: SOLD OUT! Me and Master Ni by Solala Towler, 50 years of Living with by Jane English, Taming Anger with Forgiveness by Dan G. Reid, Spirit of the Point Meditation by Dusty Bodeen, Commentary on Chapter 3 of the Dao De JIng by C.L. Babcook, Daoist Meditation by Louis Komjathy, Inner Peace is in Your Hands by Jim Birt.

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Winter 2020: Year of the Metal Ox, Commentary on Chapter 2 Dao De Ching, Cultivate Qi with Benebell Wen, Eating for Longevity, Uncarving the Block.

Fall 2020: Primordial Chaos Standing Meditation, On Waking Up, Training the Horse Mind, Commentary on Chapter One of the Do De Ching, Fend Shui to Reduce Anxiety Summer 2020: The Eight Extraordinary Vessels Part 2, Feng Shui For Harmonious Living, The Tao of Music: Shakuhachi, Past the Temple Walls Spring 2020 Special Issue: The Tao of Health: Clear Marrow, Daoist Bigu and the Science of Fasting, The Eight

Winter 2019: Chinese New Year of the Rat, Cha Dao: The Way of Tea, Grasping the Dao of Chinese Bodywork (Tuina), Reflections on Emptiness and Form Fall 2019: Manuals for Lively Inspiration, Qigong: A journey, What a Long Strange Trip It’s Been

Winter 2018 / Spring 2019: I Ching and the 8 Immortals, A Curious Opportunity, An Introduction to NSEV lineage, Balance With a Brush, Chinese New Year of the Earth Pig, Microcosmic Core Circulation,Empty Vessel China Tour 2018 recap

Summer 2017: SOLD OUT! Spring 2017: Immortal Sisters Conference, Healing Chronic Pain with Tai Chi, Attaining Spiritual Fortitude Winter 2017: 2017 Fire Phoenix Year, Illness as a Form of Communication, Origin of Daoist Religion, The Heshang Gong Commentary on Lao Tzu’s Tao Te Ching, The Shaman and the Taoist Fall 2016: Supporting the Kidneys: Treasure House of Jing, Chi Nei Tsang: Cosmology and the Wheel of Life, Secrets of the Tao Te Ching, Reinventing the Wheel: A Top Down Perspective on the Five Elements Summer 2016: Chuang Tzu: The Inner Chapters The Way of Essential Virtue, Interview with Daoist Priest Wu Dang Chen, Dao Yin: The Mystery of Health SOLD OUT!

Fall 2018: History and Origins of American Dragon Gate Lineage, On the Shoulders of Giants, Harmony of Herbs: Bidens Alba, Working Consciously and Living Spiritually

Spring 2016: SOLD OUT!

Summer 2018: Lessons of the Dao, The Spirit of Intention, Like Flower Unfolding

Fall 2015: Internal Elixir Cultivation, The Watercourse Way, The Mind Inside Tai Chi, Rediscovering the Roots of Chinese Thought

Spring 2018: Thoughts For Spring, Spiritual Individualism in China, Qigong Mysteries, The Tao of Now Winter 2018: Winter Cultivation, Earth Dog Year, Jiaye the Taoist Caveman, Quantum Qi, A Journey to China and Tibet Fall 2017: Entering the Tao: Some Important Benefits from Consistent Practice of T’ai-Chi Chuan, Qigong, & Meditation; Sharing Taiji Qigong with Recovering Addicts; A Teacher of Natural Spiritual Truth: Empty Vessel Interview with Hua-Ching Ni; Internal Elixir Meditation: Basic Breathing Methods; Value of Worthlessness and The Wisdom of Foolishness SOLD OUT!

Winter 2016: 2016 Fire Monkey Year, Shape Your Destiny, Interview with Lonny Jarrett, The Five Shen

Summer 2015: Five Fold Essence of Tea, The Story of the Tao Te Ching, Functions of Essence, Breath and Spirit, Interview with Master Yang Hai Spring 2015: Being Daoist, The Way of Wu Wei, Riding the Phoenix to Peng Lai, Daoism in the West, A Conversation Between a Taoist and A Buddhist Winter 2015: SOLD OUT! Fall 2014: Broadening Our Views of Reality, Refining Breath to Transmute It Into Spirit, SPECIAL TEA ISSUE: Alchemy of Awareness in tea, The Last Cup: The Ten Lost Tea-Brewing Pictures, The Way of Tea.

Spring 2022 — Page 37

Back issues $6.95 each (unless noted) or 4 issues for $22 plus shipping. See website for complete list.

Summer 2014: The Poetry of Passion, The Daoist Arts of Wudang Mountain, Zhuangzi’s Perfect Happiness in the Light of Contemporary Western Psychology Spring 2014: Ren Tian Zhi Dao: The Way of Man and Nature, Interview with Dr. Bernard Shannon, True Spiritual Help SOLD OUT! Winter 2014: Year of the Wood Horse, Nei Dan Sitting Meditation, Dance of the Five Moving Forces Fall 2013: The Watercourse Way, Tea Time With Old Po, Women’s Powers in Popular Daoism Summer 2013: SOLD OUT! Spring 2013: Food Cures and Diets, The Spiritual Warrior, Daoist Nature Meditation Winter 2013: Year of the Water Snake, Art and Practice of Tai Chi, Lao Zi – The Hidden Dragon, Taoist Sexual Meditation Fall 2012: Big Dipper Meditation, The Dragon Turtle, Eliminating Pitfalls in Qigong Practice, Feng Shui Guidelines to Energy Flow Analysis, Embracing the One: Daoist Meditation $8.00 Summer 2012: The Three Treasures and the Golden Embryo; Shen, Hun and Po in Chinese Medicine, Dimensional learning Perspective Spring 2012: Free and Easy Wandering: A Western Daoist Manifesto, The Tai Chi Sword and Spiritual Swordsmanship, Stress, Illness & the Daoist Antidote, Introduction To classical Feng Shui Winter 2012: Year of the Water Dragon, Immortality and the 14 words of Lao Zi, The Tao of Joy Every Day, The World of Chinese Medicine, Qi Medicine and the Purpose of Cultivation – an interview with Master Zhongxian Wu

The Empty Vessel — Page 38

Fall 2011: SOLD OUT! Summer 2011: SOLD OUT! The Ox Herding Chart of Chan Buddhism, Global Warming a Meta-Physical Perspective, Cloud Wanderers The Empty Vessel China Tour, The Master on the Mountain A Conversation With Master Zhang Yunlong. Available for digital purchase only at the Digital Archive page at www.EmptyVessel.net.

Spring 2011: Daoism in America: A Conversation with Xuan Yun (Mysterious Cloud), Return to Stillness is the Motion of Tao, Put the Heart Back Into Love, SPECIAL SECTION: BiGu – Avoiding Food and Eating Qi, Lao Tzu’s Journey Winter 2011: Chinese Astrology and Inner Cultivation; Wu Wei: The Daoist Art of Happiness; Taoists, Doctors and Shamans – Part 2; Yi: Practice and Incubation of the Sage; A Taoist Master’s Search for His Chinese Ancestry – Part 4 Fall 2010: Chuang Tzu: The Way of Nourishing Life; Nudan Practice and the Modern Woman; Taoists, Doctors and Shamans – Part 1; Nourishing Woman; A Taoist Master’s Search For His Chinese Ancestry Part 3 Summer 2010: Bagua: Why Practice This Old and Obscure Art?, Mystical Wudang Mountains, Guidelines for Setting Up A Daoist Altar, A Taoist Master’s Search for His Chinese Ancestry Part 1 Spring 2010: SOLD OUT! Winter 2010: A Taoist Master’s Search For His Chinese Ancestry Part 2, Daosim in the Korean Mountains, The Daoist System of Laozi Fall 2009: SOLD OUT! Summer 2009: SOLD OUT! Spring 2009: SOLD OUT! Winter 2009: Dao at the Beach, Searching For Dao in Daily Life, Returning to

the Essence through Shamanic Qi Gong and Sacred Sound Healing, The Spirit of Tea, Reclaiming Your Power Through New Beginnings Fall 2008: Return to Wu Yi Mountain with Chung Liang Ai Huang, the Chinese Way of the Sword, Experiential Primal Wilderness Daoism, Chicken Soup for Daoist Alchemy, Sexual Qigong SOLD OUT! Summer 2008: Preparing for Summer, the Secret Training of Daoist Magical Incantations, the Spirit of Renewal Winter 2008: Year of the Rat by Susan Levitt, Qigong Fever — Body, Science and Utopia in China, The Natural State, Hunyang Qigong, The Man Who Knew Too Much Summer 2007: Coming Home to the Self, Lu Yu Meets a True Tea Master, Discovering the I Ching, Shen, The Celestial Storehouse, The Spirit of YiJing Spring 2007: The Crossing - Faith and Compassion by Sat Chuen Hon, Gardening with Qi by Sue Blochwitz, A Daoist View of Enlightenment by Michael Winn, The Power of Cultivation and the Elemental Force of Wood by Gilles Marin, Keeper of Tradition and Interview with Eva Wong, Quietly in Stillness by Debra Katz, Why I am a Daoist by Solala Towler Summer 2006: Teaching Myself a Balanced Way by Raven Cohen, Summer Season by Mark Johnson, Breath Qigong Transforming the Energy of Negativity

by Dennis Lewis, Chasing Healing by Caryn Diel, Taoist Mind by Larry Johnson, Breath and Qi by Bruce Frantzis, Journey To the West - Travels in Sacred China and Tibet by Solala Towler Spring 2006: Spring Season by Mark Johnson, Wudang Daoist Summit, Honey!

The Feng Shui Consultant is here! by Christopher Cole, Qigong Prison Ministry

by Jud Tretheway, The Death of Chuang Tzu by You-Sheng Li, The Dao of Consciousness by Daniel R. Hawkins,

Back issues $6.95 each (unless noted) or 4 issues for $22 plus shipping. See website for complete list.

Energy Circulation Through the Tai Chi Ch’uan / Taijiquan Form by Shifu Keith Ewers, Tea and the Dao by Wu Zhongxian Winter 2007: Sitting by the Pond By Bob Anderson, The Year of the Dog 2006 by Susan Levitt, The Function of Dao Translated by Master Zhongxian Wu, Dao and Qi by Livia Kohn, The Natural World by Debra Katz, Wandering on the Wind - Two Chapters From Zhuangzi by Solala Towler, A Daoist Tea Ceremony by Robert Santee The Second Annual Taoist Gathering Photo Essay Winter 2007: The Year of the Pig, The 100 Character Tablet of Lu Dong Bin, Air: The Breath Of Life, Alan Watts on Swimming Headless, The Yijing (I Ching) Dao of Tea Fall 2006: Birth and Death, Coming and Going, Emptiness and Fullness; Healing Hands; Healing My Heart With Loving Chi Kung; Walking With Qi: The Nine Jewels of Qigong Walking; Travels to Tibet Summer 2005: Tracking the Dao by Kurt Levins, Spiritual Directors, Sages and Other Charismatic Types by Candice

Babcock, The Yin Convergence Classic

by Stuart Alvin Olsen, Teaching From the Tao by Solala Towler, Breaking the Illusion - Teachings of the Dao by Yun Xiang Tseng, 21st Century Strategies for New Daosim by Professor Hu Fuchen Spring 2005: Esoteric Daoist Magic The Ancient Daoist Magic Mirror by Jerry Alan Johnson, Yoga and Taoist Alchemy by Larry Johnson, Burning Water, Flowing Fire - Chi Nei Tsang and Emotional Healing During Menopause

by Annelise Schinzinger, The Inner Smile by Mantak Chia, The Power of Menopause From a Daoist Perspective

by Gilles Marin, Introduction to Fu The Energetic Symbol by Wu Zhongxian, Flux - Poems by John David Brich, It’s Wu Wei or the Highway by Paul Hayman Fall 2004: The Dao - The Cyclic Flow of Life by Raven Cohen, Qigong As a Portal to Presence - Cultivating the Inner Energy Body by Gunther M. Weil PhD, Daoist Alchemy by James Miller, Daoism and the Origins of Qigong by Livia Kohn, Another Way - Poems by David B. Axelrod, Martial Arts Qigong and She (Spiritual) Cultivation by Wu

Zhongxian Spring 2004: Year of the Monkey by Susan Levitt, Daoism and the Principle of Balance by James Eggert, Yangsheng - The Art of Nourishing Life by Solala Towler, A Meditative Zen Taoist Poem

by Bob King, Reading Taoist Texts as Practice Manuals by Louis Komjathy Summer 2003: The Feminine and the Dao an Interview with Ursula K. LeGuin

by Brenda Peterson, Immortality by Maoshing Ni, Daoism and Classical Chinese Arts by Dave Cook, The Alchemy of Central Equilibrium by Larry Johnson, Quiet Sitting with Mater Yinshi by Livia Kohn, Chang - Embracing Ordinary by Robert Santee, The Daoist Roots of Zen Buddhism by Solala Towler Fall 1993 PREMIER ISSUE: Teacher of Natural Spiritual Truth: An Interview with Hua Ching-Ni, The New Global Direction, The Value of Worthlessness, The Essence of Qi-Gong: An Interview with Dr. Yang Jwing-Ming, Soaring Cran Qi Gong, Drawing Power From Nature, Book Reviews. $18.88

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50 Years of delighting readers . . . creative works of Jane English and Gia-fu Feng

Stillpoint

A Rainbow of Tao

biography of Gia-fu Feng

by Carol Wilson

book

Tao Te Ching 1972-2022

Yarrow Stalks

for use with I Ching oracle

Fingers Pointing to the Moon - book

2023 Tao Calendar The Ceremony Cards

an oracle - indigenous wisdom from Greenland

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