49: Revolution
Lake above and Fire below
Yesterday I was drawn to the I Ching in search of some self realisation. My question was huge “How do I be love and compassion?”. Revolution was the ginormous answer that found me. Essentially there can be no ego, so to be love and compassion you must first be selfless.
The hexagram reveals Lake to be joyous and Fire to be luminous, the basis of joy is illumination. It is time for storage and returning to the root, time to refine the yin energy. Burn away all of the pollution of conditioning. At the age of 16 Yang culminates and produces Yin. So this is my 30th year of acquired conditioning! I do however feel a massive sigh of relief knowing this is my 20th year as a tai chi practitioner and surely this has reduced some of the pollution throughout my journey of life’s puzzles. Revolution is to return to the true energy of the patterns of heaven and earth that we were all gifted with at birth, clear and bright. Pollution emerges because of the “self” which obscures the mind of the Tao. Revolution must be overthrowing the ignorance of the self and restoring illumination and clarity, this will lead to understanding the self. Understanding is the path to truth. Revolution is truth.
Revolution does not abandon the root and seek out the branches. Seeking out the branches is like craving and desire. Revolution is riddance of personal desires, because they reveal your ego. Love and compassion realise the existence of other people. The path of revolution is to gently persevere and resist desires. In this way the will gains more strength over time, purging the heart of past influences which have polluted the celestial energy. The true innate self is love and compassion. The truth is love and compassion. I recall the teaching of the Red Faced General, Guan Kung, that we are all brothers and sisters, we are all equal … all life is a gift. This is truth.
Thanks and blessings for both the practise of tai chi and selflessness. Thanks and blessings to Maggie for this beautiful drawing of a sketch of Guan Kung. Finally, thanks and blessings for ‘The Taoist I Ching’, Translated by Thomas Clearly, Shambhala, Boston/London 1986.
MAY
2014
About the Author:
Tina Barry started learning tai chi in 1994. She became very interested and fascinated with tai chi having found a great and wonderful teacher, Grandmaster Ho Lo at the Tai Chi College of Australia. Tina has continued to study tai chi intensively under the guidance of Grandmaster Ho Lo since that time. Grandmaster Ho Lo’s understanding and teaching of the art of tai chi is deeply profound and Tina has grown, developed and nurtured her own immense appreciation for it with the aid of his incredible teaching. Tina’s understanding of the subtlties of tai chi continue to develop under Grandmaster Ho Lo's patient guidance. It seems the more she learns, the more there is to appreciate and understand and Grandmaster Ho Lo’s intensive teaching has remained inexhaustible after all these years. On occassion Grandmaster Ho Lo allows Tina to lead the students at the Tai Chi College of Australia through the tai chi form, appreciating her expression of tai chi. Sometimes Tina thinks perhaps she is getting it right!