Nine Divisions of the Celestial Sphere

In ancient China the Taoist believed that there are 36 Heavens! These Heavens were created by;

3 Purities
Numerous Treasure Heavenly Worthy - Tao Mediating
Primordial heavenly Worthy - Tao Gestating
Supreme Way Heavenly Worthy (Lao Tzu) - Tao Indwelling

3 Energies
Jing (Refined, Perfect, Essence)
Qi (Air, Vapor, Vital Energy)
Shen (Spirit, Mind, Intelligence)

3 Material
Heaven
Humanity
Earth

These resulting in what is called the 9 Divisions of the Celestial Sphere. These 9 Divisions were then multiplied by the 4 directions (north, east, south and west) making for the total of 36 Heavens!

On April 5th, 2008 myself along with Lisa Hish, Don Tomei and Kipling Swehla talked about how the Nine Divisions are applicable in Tai Chi, Qigong, our health and philosophy. Below is an abridged version of what was discussed or practiced on that day.

The Three Purities
The Three Purities are considered the highest deities in all of Taoism. They represent and control the various stages of the cosmos and exist with or without humanity.

The Three Energies

Jing Automatic at birth, nourishes, fuels and cools the body. Believed to be the carrier of our DNA. Is our reproductive system, semen, menstrual blood, bone marrow, lymphatic waters, synovial fluids, and mucus to name a few.
Qi Automatic at birht, is the steam created by the movement of air (wind) and blood (water).
Shen Not automatically given at birth. It is created, through practice (Tai Chi, Qigong, Neigong) and virtues (Three Treasures).

Activities that can damage our primary birth energy (Yuan Qi) is irregular lifestyle, improper eating and drinking, injurious or noxious air, toxic food, extreme physical exertion, damaged mental faculties etc.

Activities that can cultivate primary birth energy (Yuan Qi) is by living in accord with heaven and earth, yin and yang, the 4 seasons, the sun, moon, stars. By preserving your spirit, muscles and flesh. By temperance in eating and drinking. Regulating sleep and restoration, breath. Contentment etc.

Cheng Man Ching stated ..."70% is your internal energy and 30% is for the outside (heaven and earth) but that 30% is very hard to harness"...

Three Materials

Heaven (sky, cosmos, universe, vast, boundless, contains all, infinite reservoir of dynamic force, infinite time and space).
Humanity (human being in relation to Heaven and Earth living accordance to the Three Treasures).
Earth (land, globe, celestial body of heaven, evolution, nature, yin and yang, 5 elements, 8 gates and the myriad).

Heaven and Earth have the same roots as me, all things share the same body with me. The human body is the micro-cosmos. Heaven and Earth are the macro-cosmos.

Man abides by Earth, Earth by Heaven, Heaven by Tao, Tao by Nature.

The Three Treasures belongs to the Humanity realm of the Three Materials. They are;
Compassion (tenderness, love, mercy, kindness, gentleness, benevolence.
Frugality (moderation, economy, restraint. To be sparing.
Humility (dare not to be first or ahead in the world)

Human beings automatically have a relationship to the Three Purities, the Three Energies, and the Three Materials. How we choose to participate adds or takes away from our longevity and quality of life.

Lisa Hish talked in greater depths about how to protect/develop our Jing and Qi. Don Tomei provided group activity while talking about how to maintain a relationship to Heaven and Earth while practicing Qigong. I provided group activity while talking about how to maintain a relationship to Heaven and Earth when practicing Tai Chi Chuan and Push Hands and how to harmonize Qi and Jing to create Shen. Kipling Swehla talked about Compassion, Frugality and Humility and the benefits of practicing this lifestyle.

Three Treasures - Compassion, Frugality, and Humility

This is an exploration of Treasure, real treasure. The 3 treasures. First let me briefly explain why I'm here. Some time in the last century I began studying Tai Chi with Elizabeth. 6 months into it, I felt something I'd never experience. This warm flowing movement internally. After class I was sharing my experience and my fellow students were like, oh, that's your chi, your internal energy. That feeling profoundly affected my perception of reality. I suddenly felt like I had been sleep walking my first 30 years.

A couple months later, a client of mine gave me a book he had just finished reading called the Tao Te Ching. I was raised a Christian but since I was young, I was always questioning certain beliefs in the bible. I was told you wee not to question it, just accept it. But I was really bothered. It felt wrong so I was called a rebel and that I just wanted to be different but it was really a deeply seated gut feeling that I didn't feel what I was being told was right. Suddenly I'm reading this book, the T.T.C., and the chills are running up my spine and the hair is standing up on the back of my neck. Here on paper are things I've believed my whole life and suddenly I'm not a rebel. There's an actual philosophy that I can read and explore.

I was so excited to go to class and share my new discovery with my fellow students only to get these blank stares like, are you serious? Turns out that Tai Chi is based on the T.T.C. and Taoism.

All under heaven say that I am great,
great but unconventional.

Now,
Precisely because I am unconventional,
I can be great;
If I were conventional,
I would long since have become a trifle.

I have always possessed three treasures
that I guard and cherish.
The first is compassion,
The second is frugality,
The third is not daring to be ahead of all under heaven.

Now,
Because I am compassionate,
I can be brave;
Because I am frugal,
I can be magnanimous;
Because I dare not be ahead of all under haven,
I can be a leader in the completion of affairs.

If, today, I were to
Be courageous while forsaking compassion,
Be magnanimous while forsaking frugality,
Get ahead while forsaking the hindmost,
that would be death!

For compassion
In war brings cictory,
In defense brings invulnerability.

Whomesoever heaven would establish,
It surrounds with a bulwark of compassion.
-Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching - Victor H. Mair

The 3 treasures. Compassion, Frugality, and Humility. 3 things which come in quite handy if say, your country were to fall into a recession. 3 things which are flamboyantly missing from the current administration in the White House. Why are they considered to be treasures? Why are they important.

Compassion. It's certainly challenging to be compassionate is a world of 6 billion people, in a densely populated city of 3 million. Sitting in traffic jams. Stress and anger building. Homeless people at every stop light. From where can you draw the strength to be compassionate? Eastern philosophy teaches us that we are all inter connected. That we are all a part of everything. I was just reading about an aspect of Quantum physics, The string theory. All matter is made of tiny particles. Atoms made of Electrons and Quarks. The theory is that instead of point particles they are all vibrating strings looped together. Through the vibration, shape is formed. The vibration influences surrounding particles. There's a concept in Taoism that says patterns which exist on a micro level, also exist on a macro level. And it really is true how easy it is to be influenced by a mood in the room.

I also love the concept of the collective unconscious. Carl Yung talks about this as being a build up of shared experiences but I think it's much more ethereal than this. Your thoughts really do impact not only yourself, but a greater consciousness. I doubt know the precise method of how thoughts are created, processed, and transmitted but if it's a vibrational or electronic transmission, it doesn't seem farfetched that telepathy is probably on an unconscious level and possible on a conscious level.

Then there's also Karma. I don't think Karma is all that ethereal. It's common sense that actions create reactions and those reactions affect you.

Frugality. This isn't something the government wants you to practice. We live in a consumer society. Don't worry about savings or even debt, buy buy buy. it makes the world go round. Or so they'd have you believe. Last year Ford came out with it's new SUV, the Brontosaurus. So this year, GM came out with the Tyrannosaurus. In overcrowded cities, people want to stake their claim. Their entitlement. They want to have their space. In an attempt to be somebody, to stay ahead of the Jones they've lost touch with frugality. Of living within your means. Of sustainability. It's also a distraction from what is real. All the foods we over consume, all the new techno gadgets we buy, they're really a distraction from what's real. What it comes down to is what really makes us happy, content. Money is a man made concept so it isn't real. Work, even fulfilling, is a temporary fix. It comes down to consciousness. Reality is a perception. Right here right now in this moment, you can choose to be content. It's why I love Tai chi and meditation. In all the stresses of my life, I know through the experiences I've had with meditation and tai chi that through breath, through consciousness I can relax, be content. Frugality is about simplicity.

Humility. That's one that I really don't comprehend the opposite. I'm a commercial photographer. The last book which was published, Spa Cuisine, available at Barnes and Noble, my client came up to me during a book signing and commented you should really be proud of this book. I wasn't really sure how to respond because what flashed through my mind was everything that happened in order for the book to be made. My parents separated when I was young. My mother moved with her children to the city of St Louis where years later I befriend a photographer who happens to hand me his camera with a telephoto lens because there was a small chipmunk too far away to see except with the long lens. That moment, holding the camera to my eye was an epiphany. In that moment I became a photographer. But went on to major in accounting where a professor argued that if I was so passionate about photography, why not do it for a living. I dropped out of accounting and went to photo school. Graduated, Was going to be a starving artist until a stranger called, my little brother knows your little brother and we're looking for a commercial photography assistant. Then as a commercial photographer, I followed my girlfriend to chicago, Got married. Got divorced. My ex wife's husband hooked me up the client who I shot the book for.

Nature and nurture. Why we are who we are. It's so profound and complicated so to talk about a sense of pride in your accomplishments? Then of course there's the line from Grand Canyon. "The Grand Canyon. is laughing at me right now. You know what I feel like? I felt like a gnat that lands on the behind of a cow chewing his cud on the side of the road that you drive by doing 70 mph. " 6 billion people on a planet out of 8 in a solar system in a galaxy in an endless universe. Pride? The counter balance to that of course is an acceptance being an energetic part of everything.

Goals "Self Prophecies"

Once again this is the time of the year I revisit the direction of my school, myself as a teacher, and what I see for each of my students.

In my revisit I come up with the same questions. As a teacher what do I have to offer? What path do I want my school take? What expectations do I have for myself and my students? How can I best guide my students in helping them find/maintain their own path?

What I believe I have to offer and the path the school is on is to offer a supportive atmosphere in which all can learn time-honored skills which can then be adapted to create a better quality of life.

As a teacher I am looking for my students to master what has been handed down to me and at the same time find their own path within it. What I mean by this is to not come up with your own way of doing the form or creating your own form. Heavens no! Nor am I looking for all of my students to mimic the form perfectly. Instead I am looking for you to find yourself IN the forms and then to find your own way to utilize what you have learned. For some of you this may become your MISSION, your path.

My expectations for you are few but great. Come to class, learn from it and do something with it. Now these three seem pretty simple right? I can tell you they can all become quite challenging!

Coming to class: You are in charge of your own attendance. You may find many reasons as to why you can't make it to class but remember every missed class is another missed opportunity.

Learn: Come with an empty mind so that you can fill it with the lessons of tai chi. If you are in the state of mental or physical injury, consider watching class. There are many ways to learn. You can learn by watching class. You could bring a tai chi book with you and read it on the sidelines. You could sit on the sidelines and breath along with the class etc. Be careful of the self created "land mines" that keep you from reaching your goals. Speaking of goals....its good to have one. If you don't have one I will be happy to help you create one.

Apply: In the beginning stages this is easy. It is when you make changes to your life in a way that is healthier. Maybe you have changed the way you eat, sleep, work, deal with relationships etc. Changes are quick and effective. This is when everyone likes tai chi because the world seems to be looking better!

In the middle stages there may be times that you are not quite sure if you are learning anything. You may be doing tai chi just because you believe you should or because you are afraid i will "get" you if you don't! LOL You may go months without knowing why you are still practicing ... then whamo! Its as if you been struck by lightening. Your'e in love with tai chi again! Entering this stage is uncomfortable but it is a pattern that will come and go for the term of your practice. My advice to you is don't become attached to the WHAMO instead look at what is nearly invisible. Breathe, relax, listen and let happen what will happen and remember your goal. (see above)

It is the advanced stages that I hear the most grumbling because it is in the advanced stages that it is time for you to take what you have learned and truly make it your own. You either become a teacher and pass it on or you use the lessons to create a unique spin on it all.

For some of you THIS will be the hardest part of your development. This is where you will need all of YOUR strength and wisdom. It is in this stage that all your deepest fear, judgement or "specialness" can rear its ugly head. If you haven't cleaned yourself up during the first two stages then going through this stage will make it even harder. The pressure may feel like its ON and in some ways it is and this is usually the time to find a way to make tai chi your very own. YUP... YOUR OWN. But look at it this way, you have now spent 10 years going down the tai chi path, you are better equipped then most to take on challenges. You know how to breath! You know how to look at things in several different ways! Your are mentally and physically more agile!

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