Justin Stone Speaks on T’ai Chi Chih! Joy Thru Movement (August 2007)

Direct Quotations by Justin Stone Compiled by Pauline Quimson-Tong, Chama, NM

What is this Chi – which seems to be the most important and best kept secret of life? Nobody has described it better than the Chinese sage Lao Tzu, who 2500 years ago said, “There is a thing, confusedly formed, born before heaven and earth. Silent and void, it stands alone and does not change. It goes round and round and does not weary. It is capable of being the mother of the world. I know not its name, so I call it The Way.” Could there be a better description of this cosmic force?

The quality of the Prana, which the Chinese call Chi , must be changed. The vital force that flows through you, sometimes called the intrinsic energy, must be helped to flow freely and to be balanced. It is this energy that makes you what you are. And when it circulates without hindrance, there is a feeling of well-being.

Words will not do it, no matter how reassuring or how clever. Passive listening, as in hearing well-meaning sermons, is a waste of time, no matter how good the speaker makes you feel and how clever his theories. It takes actual practice. You must do it yourself.

The heart-mind is influenced by the Chi , and the Chi is influenced by what we think and feel. That is, the workings of the mind. Reciprocal character of mind and Chi means that a certain type of mind or mental activity is invariably accompanied by Chi of corresponding character.

If you can understand that everything physical is crystallization of the spiritual state, then it will be easy to comprehend the beautiful passage from the Lotus Sutra that says, “From the state of emptiness, each man’s body is a body pervading the universe. His voice is a voice filling the universe. His life is a life which is without limit.”

Who is capable of embracing this? The four seasons follow each other in succession. The sun and the moon shine constantly. Truth suffers no fundamental alteration and the great T’ai Chi is not confined to a single place. Therefore, free yourself to yield to whatever happens to you. Rise and fall with it, and you may be simultaneously a common man and a sage.

T’ai Chi Chih is inner oriented. It is not a performance or a dance.

From Justin Stone Speaks on T’ai Chi Chih, ©2006

Available on CD from Good Karma Publishing