Justin Stone Speaks (February 2017)

From Justin Stone Speaks on T’ai Chi Chih, a transcription of a taped lecture, excerpted and reprinted with permission from Good Karma Publishing.

… What is this Chi that 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, worn before heaven and earth. Silent and void it stands alone and does not change. 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? This however is not a definition.

Those who are theologically inclined might equate Chi with divinity. And scientists will see it in electricity and other forces. When this Chi circulates in us we live. And when through imbalance it totally ceases to circulate we are dead. So, isn’t it wonderful to know we can accumulate, circulate and balance this great force, that literally makes us what we are.

My great friend Professor Wen-shan Huang used to refer to Chi a Priori and Chi a Posteriori. That is the Vital Force with which we are born and the Chi that we accumulate and develop as we live. Your face before you were born in Zen terms.

So closely is this Chi identified with breath, though it is not the same, that the Chinese use an identical term for the two of them. And how basic is the power of this Chi, which T’ai Chi Chih teaches us how to use? The great sage from India, Sri Aurobindo who lived in this century, made the amazing assertion that if this world were to be abolished, the Chi would be capable of building a new world in its place. We are the product of Chi.

Habit plays a great part in how we condition the Chi, and every thought and every emotion have their effects on it. This is what is meant by the reciprocal character of mind and Chi. 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. The reciprocal character of mind and Chi means that a certain type of mind or mental activity is invariably accompanied by a Chi of corresponding character.

For instance, a particular mood, feeling or thought is always accompanied by a Chi of corresponding character and rhythm, which is reflected in the phenomenon of breathing. Anger produces not only inflamed thoughts and feelings but also a harsh and accentuated roughness of breathing. On the other hand, when there is calm concentration on an intellectual problem, the thought and breathing exhibit a like calmness. When the concentration is deep, unconsciously the breath is held.

When we meet someone for the first time, we sense the state of his or her Chi, and we say the vibes are “good” or “bad.” Once we are within the aura of that particular stranger, the aura simply being the manifestation of the state of Chi, we are influenced by that Chi. And our first impressions are usually right. There is so much to be said on this idea of the reciprocal character of mind and Chi that we could go on and on, but I think you get the idea by now.

In truth it is not necessary for you to know all this, [but] simply to practice T’ai Chi Chih and feel the results. [But] it is necessary to practice. The Chinese say, “You cannot appease the hunger by reading a menu.” In other words, do the finger exercises and soon you will be playing Mozart on the piano or words to that effect.

T’ai Chi Chih has spread so rapidly that it is not always possible to say that something hasn’t been done as yet. However I do believe athletes have yet to come to realize how cultivation of the Chi can help in bettering their performance. The young man who lost 75 lbs. in 4-1/2 months could not swim one lap in the Olympic-sized university pool before he took T’ai Chi Chih. After 4-1/2 months of regular practice he was doing 20 laps in the early morning before playing racquet ball or several sets of tennis.

When I eventually get the chance to work with athletes, whether it be weight lifters who want to take advantage of this new type of strength, or runners who cannot improve their time in a distance race, I will place them on what I call a maximum Chi program. T’ai Chi Chih will be the base and they will be taught how to mentally take the Chi through the meridian channels of the body. They will learn how to rub the backs of the thumbs together preliminary to certain forms of massage, and they will be asked to practice the Nei Kung taught in my book Meditation for Healing before they go to bed at night, while lying flat on their back with their eyes closed. It is my confident belief that the results will be amazing. Also older athletes who have not lost their skills, but continually get muscle pulls, et cetera, should be able to prolong their careers by staying in shape.

These athletes will learn how a group of martial art experts in Japan, with their knowledge of Chi, quickly demolished a building in Tokyo using only their bare hands rather than the old fashion swinging iron balls, et cetera. Many of you listening have seen Karate experts break through thick boards with one slash of the hands, uttering a shout, “Ahh,” to bring the Chi from where it is stored below the navel. No ordinary strength could perform this feat. And the hands would crack up if it was possible.

Rather it is the power of accumulated Chi that enables adapts to perform such feats. Though great strength is involved it is paradoxical that T’ai Chi Chih must be done softly and without effort. Teachers continually harp on softness and continuity. If there’s tension the Chi will not flow freely through the meridian channels, which will contract. So, there must be an effortless effort. If one imagines he is swimming through very heavy air, or that he is moving slow motion in a dream, he or she will get the idea. It is actually more important to know how to move than to know what moves to make.

In the 13th Century the great T’ai Chi Ch’uan Master Chang San-Feng described the way to move by saying, “In any action the body should be light and alert. Coordinated like strung pearls. The Chi, vital energy, should be actively excited but the Shen spirit must remain calm internally.” From this we learn that all T’ai Chi is essentially spiritual in nature. Meaning it is in accord with reality. This should give you something challenging to think about.

If it seems to you that I am enthusiastic about this subject you are right. I know that this practice has done much for me. And I have heard countless times what it has done for others. I am grateful to have been the channel through which it came into the world. 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.

∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞

[Justin takes a question from the audience:] “Do the emotions condition the Chi? … Aren’t they the normal emotions?” she asks.

Justin: The great Chinese Zen Master Yuan Man answers this question for us. He says, “The universe is so expansive, why does the sound of a bell range over only seven notes?” He was saying that basically there are only seven emotions by which we are swayed; pleasure, anger, sorrow, joy, love, hate and desire. We might want to add hope, which can sometimes be very devastating when it keeps us from living in the present. As Alice in Wonderland remarked, “Always jam tomorrow, never jam today.” Doesn’t this sound familiar? Hope is close to desire of course and this is a desire world. That most important characteristic, greed, the maker of war and tyranny, is also closely aligned to desire.

If I can add one personal observation, it is not the emotions that make us unhappy, but the resentment and clinging that they tend to breed.