December, 2012 Dear Living Tao friends Holiday greetings to you ALL.The past few months have been full of activities, beginning with my reunion with Paul Horn, Ann Mortifee and David Darling at the Inside Joy concerts during Labor Day Weekend in Sedona, Arizona; then, back in Illinois for
The Tao of Bach at the Krannert Center for the Performing Arts (KCPA), another special event with the collaborative and creative team of colleagues to play BACH and TAI JI, and the edream Super-computing Lab's experimentations of CHI-visions, to compliment the live performances with Alexander Murray on flute, David Darling and Michael Fitzpatrick, cello, and Anne Yeung, on harp. In addition, photographer Ko Si Chi and dancer wife Jessie Fan Ko came from Taiwan to be special guest artists, with the display of the dance photographs of Suzanne and me in Taiwan 1966-67 (where/when we first met and began our collaboration with Ko) in the KCPA lobby. Jessie also gave a beautiful performance after a special panel on Wellness and Sage-ing at KCPA. The photos and reviews of this September 13th concert's press kit is already available on our website. Soon a clip of highlights will be circulated on youtube, and a DVD of the concert, to share with you in our future seminars.
After the KCPA concert, I was back in Big Sur to help celebrate the 50th Anniversary of Esalen Institute where I have taught for 48 consecutive years. During the weekend celebration, I gave a talk on Esalen's Past, Present and Future, joined by singer Joan Baez and legendary dancer Anna Halprin. Fortunately it was filmed and circulated on youtube to share-- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=saz2qx8lheq Soon after, I went to Rome and Florence to participate at the conference, Awakened World 2012: Engaged Spirituality for the 21st Century, convened by Association for Global New Thought, International Inter-religious Peace Council and Interreligious Engagement Project. It was a meaningful and inspiring gathering, building bridges between spiritual communities with politicians to share universal values on how to be truly human, and make a difference in the world with our lives.
A day later, I flew to China to begin our Lan Ting Institute, meeting 27 seminarians from 11 countries in Shanghai, before taking the train next morning to Qufu, Shandong for our first week of immersion into Confucian studies. We were graciously hosted by Mr. Richard Kong, the 78th direct descendent of the Old Master, who helped arrange housing, study programs and visits to the old Confucius Mansion, Temple and the family tombs, dating back more than 2500 years. Highlights included the visits to the legendary cave in Nishan where the Old Master was born,
and a trip to the suburban hills to behold the pavilion where Tang Dynasty poets Li Bai and Du Fu first met and wrote immortal poems, inspired with much wine drinking. We settled again at Man Ting Mountain Villa at Wu Yi Shan, a culturally rich and scenic UNESCO World Heritage Site, for the remaining two weeks in China where we focused our studies, combining Neo-Confucian Li Xie Studies of Zhu Xi with Taoist and Buddhist learning at the Zhi Zhi An Temple. Every morning we walked in silent meditation along the 9- bend River to the Temple, greeted by Abbess Han and other Cloud Wandering Taoists, to instruct us on a variety of subjects in the Mythology of Wu Yi Shan, Tai Ji, I Ching, Feng Shui, Healing Chi Gong and brush calligraphy. Always, we were treated with ceremonial famous Wu Yi Tea offerings. A very special day came when we were initiated as lay Taoists, donning complete Taoist regalia in a two-hours long ceremonial ritual.
We continued to sustain an ongoing relationship with the Wu Yi University with several visits on campus, including the offerings of the varying expertise of our Lan Ting Scholars, visiting many classes, donating books at the foreign language department at the library; and a special lecture by good friend, Amory Lovins (of Rocky Mountain Institute, www.rmi.org) on the environmental issues and solutions from his new book, Re-inventing Fire, currently being translated into Chinese. Wu Bangcai, the former Party Secretary of this region, who oversees the University, is now the President of the Wuyi Cultural Research Institute, where Living Tao/Lan Ting Institute has now a permanent base to operate from. A special ceremony to unveil the plaque with our name as a permanent partner of this institute, was conducted with much fanfare of raucous firecrackers, followed with lectures by professor Wu on Zhu Xi's Neo-Confucian teaching, and the Art of brush calligraphy by the renowned calligrapher, professor Xu Liangfu.
Half of Lan Ting seminarians were former alumni, returning to Wu Yi Shan several times already. The consensus is that, our Wu Yi Shan/Lan Ting studies will continue opening doors to further explorations, delving deeper and expanding broader into the treasures of the philosophical and cultural-arts riches of China. Lan Ting Institute will be securely planted with increasing support and collaborations there. Gitta Legler, our dedicated and most able coordinator since 2008, joins me to share our gratitude and joy for this genuine wish to enter deeper into China studies from our Living Tao family. We will keep this possibility open for those eligible and able to join with me in China again. Hopefully we will have enough of you to organize another Lan Ting Institute in China for 2014. Luckily for me, right after China, I was able to spend two weeks during Thanksgiving to replenish at Esalen Insitute. Annually at this time, many old friends come for a renewal of Living Tao studies, followed with a weekend seminar, co-led by Amory Lovins and me, to continue sharing our livelong learning of the wisdom of Lao Tzu's Tao Te Ching, under the seminar title of The Tao of Global and Personal Ecology ; this year with special emphasis on China, sharing our most immediate recent experiences in China. Judy Hill Lovins, who photo-documented our 3 weeks there join Amory and me to illustrate the evening's talk for the entire Esalen community. I am at home in Illinois for the Holidays, looking forward to having our daughter Lark and son-in-law Tim and grand children, Avery and Sylvie for Xmas. They have relocated back from Dallas, Texas to Portland, Oregon where they prefer
to live; and we are all much happier to be closer as family on the West Coast. Younger daughter Tysan, close by in Seattle, is currently traveling in India with husband Suhail to attend a big Hindu Wedding of one of his best friends there. With my family, I wish you ALL, your family and loved ones, a very special Holiday CHI-eers! Chungliang