Rooted in What is Real

Today's fresh fallen snow whitened and brightened the landscape. Nevertheless, library patrons commented that they felt ready for the snow to be gone. Typically, March is the month when we receive our greatest accumulation of snow. After the next few weeks it's likely that we'll move from snow and ice season into the stickiness and stuckiness of mud.

This morning's TCC practice was a needed respite from overwhelming feelings of tiredness. For one-half hour all was well with the world. Or, at the very least, everything slowed down.

A student brought Stephen Mitchell's The Second Book of the Tao to class last week. I began reading through it today and found it wonderfully simple and enlightening. This book, published in 2009, adapts the teachings of Lao-tzu's disciple Chuang-tzu and Confucius' grandson Tzu-ssu. What emerges is a fresh, humorous, insightful, and easily accessible look at the Tao.

Here's an example, Verse 18 (p. 36):

Step beyond yourself.
Step beyond the whole world.
Step beyond all existence.
When you penetrate that far,
you will shine with the original brightness.
You will realize that you are alone
in the vast universe
and that all things are nothing but you.
You will slough off past and present
and will enter the place
where there is neither being nor non-being.

The Master remains peaceful
in the midst of continual change.
There is nothing that can disturb her,
nothing that she finds unacceptable.
She welcomes all beings,
watches as they come and go,
and stays rooted in what is real.

That, my friends, is what happens when we keep returning to our T'ai Chi Chih practice. We learn, moment by moment, how to stay rooted in what is real....