A new cane

Baby blue eyes

Shark fin and handgrips, with the
designer's name in Chinese

I have enjoyed the taiji cane form as taught by Master Jesse for quite a while. I have been thinking about getting a nice cane and discovered one designed by Shaolin monk Shi Xing De (name is on the cane) and made in the USA by master canemaker Merle McAlpin. So, I suggested a birthday present from Jane!
I am so pleased with the cane. It is made of hickory with heartwood (very nice grain), has a "shark fin" on the back edge, several hand grips, and is finished in non-toxic tung oil. The pièce de résistance is that it has a pretty face. Blue eyes and all!

Detail of the fin

A very solid cane!

It is perfectly balanced for cane forms and a great walking stick when out with the dogs.

Summer play

It's been a while since I blogged about my taiji practice. A short update required then.
The summer has been once of consolidation. Rather than learn new forms I have concentrated my attention on consolidating things I have already internalized, practicing between an hour and an hour and a half each day. Master Jesse had given me some valuable tips on knees and waist, and I have given this attention with some good success. The taiji classics say that all begins in the feet and legs, controlled by the waist and then to the arms and hands. Flexibility and relaxation of the waist (dantian area) is of the utmost importance.
Forms I have been using regularly are: Simplified 24 Form, Eight Immortals Cane Yang style (see separate blog) and taiji bang (short stick). I have also enjoyed qigong Eight Pieces of Brocade and meditation for self-healing.
Much is mundane, but enjoyable and taiji play is an important part of each day.

Five "Regulatings"

The ultimate goal of all all religion, all philosophy is enlightenment. But, what a mysterious thing enlightenment is (if it is a thing at all—is a state of being a thing?). Is enlightenment something that happens to you? Or can you work toward enlightenment? I think it must be both/and. The great traditions all provide disciplines and habits, preparations for enlightenment. But when enlightenment happens, it comes as a gift.

In taiji there are "five regulatings," each deeply interconnected. Habits to work on, preparations to make. To regulate is to bring into harmony with the whole.

Tiao Shen ... Regulate the body
Tiao Xi ... Regulate the breath
Tiao Xin ... Regulate the mind
Tiao Qi ... Regulate the energy
Tiao Shen ... Regulate the spirit

The goal of taiji is to bring to harmony body, breath, mind, energy and spirit. In our unenlightened state these five are in disharmony. Body unruly, breath shallow, mind unsettled, energy weak and spirit flat. Qigong (of which Taijiquan is a form) works on all these at the same time.

Random thought 1. It interests me that the body is included. In western philosophy we have lived with the twin legacies of Platonism (where ideal, spirit, is all and the body ignored) and Cartesian Dualism (after Descartes, who radically separated mind and body). With this legacy, enlightenment is purely spiritual. In taiji, body is integrated with mind and spirit. There is no enlightenment without the body.

Random thought 2. In taiji philosophy there are two minds. The wisdom mind (Yi, the horse mind) and the emotional mind (Xin, the monkey mind). Both are important. Yi leads Qi. Xin needs to be calmed. Taiji exercise involves both. Students consistently find their minds calmed through qigong meditation.

Random thought 3. As body, breath, mind and energy are harmonized the spirit is raised. That is the way of enlightenment.


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