Spiritual Odyssey (May 2022)

The relationship between teacher and pupil is a very noble one in the history of Spiritual Practice. Never, in the history of such relationships, had I ever heard of a chela (or monk, or student) telling, or writing, his Master that ‘I know more than you do; I have gone past you.’ It would have been unthinkable.

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Spirituality is accordance with Reality. This doesn’t come through words or intellectual processes. As the Chi is circulated and balanced, it comes of itself – rather it is just there.

Attachment to self, with the feeling that where we stand is the center of the universe, leads to suffering, not enlightenment.

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When someone comes to visit me,

I take my cue from him or her.

If he speaks in a transcendental manner,

We dwell in Emptiness.

Should he speak from Prajna (Wisdom),

The flow will be smooth.

I am not here to preach or correct.

Offer gold and I will give back gems.

Linger in the dust,

And we will speak in banal terms.

It rests with you, my friend.

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Editor’s Note: This letter was sent to Justin by his dear friend and zen poet Paul Reps after Reps received the first TCC textbook (is this true?) The original letter is posted in the TCC Center in Albuquerque.

Dear dear

INJUST

I AM IMMENSELY ENTHUSED

FROM YOUR GRACIOUS VISIT

THE WORLDS NEED YOU

IT IS EXTREMELY URGENT THAT YOU MOVE

YOU AND THEM

YOU HAVE CAPTURED THE ANCIENT T’AI CHI

BRINGING IT RIGHT INTO ANY ORDINARY MOTION

ANYONE CAN DO

WHAT WE DO MOSTLY

MOVE

AND STILL

FREES US FROM SELF-MADE BINDS

AND KINDS

KEEPONMOVINGSTILLBRINGINGIMMENSEINJOYTOUSALLWITHYOUWITHYOU

reps

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The preaching of no words, the brilliance of no color.

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One cannot strive for softness: the very effort of trying to be soft creates tension. It is the absence of any pressure, moving ‘slow motion in a dream,’ that allows softness to prevail. The best way to forget worries and ease tension is to shun the ego-center, so that no one is doing T’ai Chi Chih, but T’ai Chi Chih is doing itself. In this sense, T’ai Chi Chih becomes a meditation.

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Properly seen, all happenings are Spiritual, arrows pointing at the Real.

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Within this emptiness is a circle, and within the circle are the mountains and the lakes. There is nothing empty about emptiness!

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When we find out Who and What we are, it is as the Lotus Sutra says: ‘Man’s voice is a voice filling the Universe, Man’s life is a life without limit.’

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T’ai Chi Chih and integrity (teh), the power of inner sincerity, are one and the same thing.

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The task of a T’ai Chi Chih teacher is to teach people T’ai Chi Chih. Period. It is not to ally T’ai Chi Chih with any spiritual or religious movement, which would be fatal to T’ai Chi Chih. It is not to gradually be merged with a religion, spiritual movement, Reiki, Maharishi’s teaching, or Yogananda’s traditions – these are completely apart from T’ai Chi Chih.

(KNME) Interviews with Justin Stone & Carmen Brocklehurst

Section on Developing Chi or Prana

Chi is a very deep subject that we could talk about for a very long time. The great Chinese scholar and teacher [Professor] Wen-Shan Huang, from whom I learned a lot, used to talk about the Chi apriori and the Chi apostiriori – meaning the Chi with which you came into this life and the Chi that you accumulated during this lifetime. And T’ai Chi Chih is very helpful in this respect – a great deal of Chi is accumulated and stored either two inches below the navel or in the bones. Being stored in the bones, of course, it hardens the bones and, as you know, as people grow older sometimes their bones become rather brittle. And this is probably responsible for the fact that the dentist has trouble getting the dental floss through my teeth.

Zen Meditation

All Beings are primarily Buddhas:

It is like water and ice.

There is no ice apart from water:

There are no Buddhas apart from Beings.

Not knowing how close the truth is to them,

Beings seek for it afar – What a pity.

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If one can chant from the depths of the diaphragm and with the whole heart and body, without emphasizing individual words or sounds, he or she will feel an overpowering rhythm that has a life of its own, and there will be a steady flow of deep sound from this serious practice, engulfing the chanter and causing that person to die the great Zen Death.

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One’s objective is nothing less than Total Enlightenment. Let the corollary benefits come if they will. Let the psychic experiences multiply if they do – we will ignore them. After all, they are products of one’s own mind and just represent ignorance.