Taoism
To realize the Tao is to simultaneously experience the base,
the path, and the fruit ceaselessly manifesting.
Glimpses of my experiences with Taoism, Qigong and Neigong Meditation
When I first met Sifu Joe Hing Kwok Chu in 1992, I had no idea that the meditation, breathing, postures and movements would transform my life. I am profoundly grateful for his skill, patience and dedication in wordlessly revealing the Tao.
The Tao that can be told is not the eternal Tao – Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching
I remember clearly the moment I first experienced whole-body breathing—one body, one breath, moving through the full cycle of the breath. I also remember when I realized that I had learned to apprehend with my whole being.
Heaven, earth and I are born of one, and I am at one with all that exists – Chuang Tzu
On April 7, 1997, I wrote this journal entry:
Changes in my breathing affect the functioning of my bodymind. My perceptions shift. My body feels at ease. My mind clear, free of thought. Actions arise spontaneously. Flashes of insight guide me. I experience myself and the world radically differently. Some changes seem so profound, as if they occur at the level of the DNA. It feels as if I am being restored to the wholeness of things.
In February 1999, I reflected:
As I practice QiGong, I come to know those sacred spaces where Being flourishes. Nurtured by QiGong, I slowly opened to life, inspired by the words of Lao Tzu:
Can you coax your mind from its wandering and keep to the original oneness?
Can you let your body become supple as a newborn child’s?
Can you cleanse your inner vision until you see nothing but the light?
Can you love people and lead them without imposing your will?
Can you deal with the most vital matters by letting events take their course?
Can you step back from your own mind and thus understand all things?
Giving birth and nourishing, having without possessing, acting with no expectations, leading and not trying to control:
this is the supreme virtue.
In 2010, Master Chu held an empowerment ceremony for me, authorizing me further study of the Tao. The ceremony included a lion dance with drummers and musicians, a tea ceremony, and a community meal.
In 2018, Sifu Chu authorized me to teach the Tao.
Taoist practices have been transmitted from heart-to-heart for over 4,000 years.
My Understanding of Taoism
At the heart of Taoist practices are precise techniques for directing and refining the flow of qi. Qi refers to signals traveling along the electromagnetic spectrum that influence the functioning of the body. The movements and postures of various qigong practices serve as frameworks for strengthening, balancing, and moving qi internally.
I want to state this clearly: Taoist practices carry inherent risks. Certain qigong techniques are not suitable for everyone and can lead to imbalances in the body, or in more extreme cases, serious deviations—what is traditionally called ‘catching fire and entering demons.’ Our bodies hold entanglements and blockages, and engaging in these practices requires deep self-awareness and stability.
To study these practices with me, one must have:
- An understanding of their own psychological history
- Emotional and energetic stability
- A foundation of stillness, presence, and unwavering compassion
I am not a Taoist, nor a psychotherapist. I am not trained in Traditional Chinese Medicine or martial arts. However, I am authorized to teach the Tao, and all that I have learned from Sifu Chu has been transmitted nonverbally—heart to heart, presence to presence.
When Sifu Joe Hing Kwok Chu authorized me to teach the Tao, I had attained this realization:
The Tao is the base, the path, and the fruit of ceaselessly manifesting.
I want to state clearly that there are risks with Taoist practices. Some qigong practices are not suitable for certain people and can lead to imbalances in the body, or even more seriously to deviations – catching fire and entering demons. Stored within our body are entanglements and blockages. To study these practices with me, people need to know their own psychological history. They also need stability, stillness and an unwavering depth of compassion and presence. I am not a Taoist nor a psychotherapist. Nor am I trained in Traditional Chinese Medicine or martial arts. I am, however, authorized to teach the Tao. All that I’ve learned from Sifu Chu has been communicated to me nonverbally.
I want to state clearly that Taoist practices carry risks. Some qigong practices are not suitable for everyone and can lead to imbalances in the body, or in more serious cases, to deviations—what is traditionally called ‘catching fire and entering demons.’
Stored within the body are entanglements and blockages. To study these practices with me, one must have:
- A clear understanding of their own psychological history’
- Emotional and energetic stabilit
- A foundation of stillness, presence, and unwavering compassion
When Sifu Joe Hing Kwok Chu authorized me to teach the Tao, I had attained this realization:
The Tao is the base, the path, and the fruit of ceaselessly manifesting
How I integrate Realization Process practices into teaching Tao
When I teach Tao, I often draw upon the precise language and direct practices of the Realization Process to cultivate:
- Inhabiting the whole body
- Opening the subtle energies of the body
- Refining perceptions
- Unifying breath, energy, body, and mind
- Integrating the grounds of awareness, physical sensation, and emotion
Through both words and wordless transmission, I guide people into all three dimensions of ceaselessly manifesting:
- Transforming the physical body
- Transmuting challenging energies, thoughts, and sensations
- Integrating breath, body, and mind into a concentrated and heightened state of self-awareness, continuously self-transfiguring.
The path is direct. It’s tantric. Tantra, translated as ‘the thread,’ refers to both the transmission of enlightened energy and the continuum of our original nature. Through heart-to-heart transmissions, we recognize our original nature and are freed of our defilements.
We directly recognize that the nature of the kleshas arises from within our own consciousness, thus potentiating their transfiguration into:
- Compassion instead of hatred, aggression, fear, pride, or competitiveness
- Generosity instead of greed, attachment, grasping, or longing
- Wisdom instead of delusion, confusion, dullness, or narrow-mindedness
As the three doors of our body, speech, and mind open, we realize the nonduality of our innate nature.
We experience the Nirmanakaya (the flesh-and blood physical body that lives and dies, the emanation body, the movement of energy arising from the inseparability of emptiness and clarity).
Trikaya: The Three Dimensions of Awakening
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Nirmanakaya – The manifest, living body—the expression of realization in form, the movement of energy arising from the inseparability of emptiness and clarity.
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Sambhogakaya – The luminous radiance of being—spontaneous, unceasing, and pervading all experience. It is intimacy with reality itself, an ever-present field of pure consciousness. Vibrating within and through all appearances, it saturates experience with presence, clarity, and light.
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Dharmakaya – The unconditioned ground of being—the vast, open source from which all appearances arise and dissolve. It is pure, formless awareness, boundless and ever-present.
In the Adamantine Songs, Saraha describes realization as “the great bliss experience of the freedom of the void, the supreme bliss that seems to well up from human beings’ deepest experience of reality.”
The following attainments are particularly meaningful to me:
- Longevity – Live life fully.
- Authenticity – Allow your deepest experience of reality to guide and inspire you.
- Spontaneity – Experience the “occurrence” appearing of itself
- Wu Wei – Still your mind until the whole universe surrenders.
- Gigantic qi – Don’t blink when a mountain falls down before you.
This is a Tantric path … this invitation to transmute body and mind into an integrated, unified, and dynamic whole. As we awaken, we experience our living body rooted in the earth, aligned with the universe – ceaselessly manifesting.
Cutting Up An Ox – one of my favorite Taoist stories
Prince Wen Hui’s cook was cutting up an ox. Out went a hand, down went a shoulder, he planted a foot, he pressed with a knee, the ox fell apart. With a whisper, the bright cleaver murmured like a gentle wind. Rhythm! Timing! Like a sacred dance, like ‘the mulberry grove,’ like ancient harmonies!
“Good work!” the prince exclaimed. “Your method is faultless!”
“Method?” said the cook laying aside his cleaver. “What I follow is Tao beyond all methods! When I first began to cut up oxen I would see before me the whole ox all in one mass. After three years I no longer saw the distinctions. But now, I see nothing with the eye. My whole being apprehends.
“My sense are idle. The spirit free to work without plan follows its own instinct guided by natural line, by the secret opening, the hidden space, my cleaver finds its own way. I cut through no joint, chop no bone.
“A good cook needs a new chopper once a year – he cuts. A poor cook needs a new one every month – he hacks! I have used this same cleaver nineteen years. It has cut up a thousand oxen. Its edge is as keen as if newly sharpened.
“There are spaces in the joints; the blade is thin and keen: when this thinness finds that space there is all the room you need! It goes like a breeze! Hence I have this cleaver nineteen years as if newly sharpened!
“True, there are sometimes tough joints. I feel them coming, I slow down, I watch closely, hold back, barely move the blade, and whump! the part falls away landing like a clod of earth. Then I withdraw the blade, I stand still and let the joy of the work sink in. I clean the blade and put it away.”
Prince Wen Hui said, ‘This is it! My cook has shown me how I ought to live my own life!”
Chuang-tzu, (translated by Thomas Merton & collected in Stephen Mitchell’s The Enlightened Heart)
Through techniques such as breathing, meditation, postures, and movement, we train the body and mind, and ultimately the mind:
- Train your mind to be thin and keen so when blockages appear, you can slow down, watch closely, and hold back until secret openings reveal hidden spaces. Then with precision, with the slightest shift in attention, wield the mind so that what’s no longer needed falls away.
- Withdraw the mind, stand still, and let the joy of the work sink in.
- Clean the mind, and put it away.
My Teacher
How extraordinary that I met a real Taoist.
Taoist masters go into a deep meditative state and take a vow to not talk about the Tao. They would rather be put to death than break this vow. There’s a dangerous curse for those who speak. My teacher does not speak about the Tao.
The Farmer and His Horse – an ancient Taoist story
There was once a farmer in ancient China who owned a horse. “You are so lucky!” his neighbors told him, “to have a horse to pull the cart for you.” “Who knows?” the farmer replied.
One day he didn’t latch the gate properly and the horse ran away. “Oh no! This is terrible news!” his neighbors cried. “Such terrible misfortune!” “Who knows?” the farmer replied.
A few days later the horse returned, bringing with it six wild horses. “How fantastic! You are so lucky,” his neighbors told him. “Now you will be rich!” “Who knows?” the farmer replied.
The following week the farmer’s son was breaking-in one of the wild horses when it kicked out and broke his leg. “Oh no!” the neighbors cried. “Such bad luck, all over again!” “Who knows?” the farmer replied.
The next day soldiers came and took away all the young men to fight in the war. The farmer’s son was left behind. “You are so lucky!” his neighbors cried. “Who knows?” the farmer replied.
Verses from Lao Tzu:
At the center of your being
you have the answer
you know who you are
and you know what you want
Lao Tzu
The past has no power to stop you
from being present now.
Only your grievance about
the past can do that.
What is grievance?
The baggage of old
thought and emotion.
Lao Tzu
Be still
Stillness reveals
the secrets of eternity
Lao Tzu