The form of the formless the image of nonentity…this is called the amorphous. Following behind it you cannot see its back; Approaching it from the front you cannot see its head.
Lao Tzu
Tai Chi and Sword on a Saturday morning by the lagoon at Dee Why is always a pleasure, but especially on a glorious sunny day, when shadow visits dancing in her taoist way. Shadow flows beautifully, seemingly carefree, joyous and lively. As I watch her move I am not watching myself but something more pure, a taoist scripture in motion.
It reminds me of Chuang Tzu’s butterfly dream; “once upon a time I dreamed I was a butterfly flying happily here and there, enjoying life without knowing who I was….. Did I dream I was a butterfly or did the butterfly dream he was me? ”
So what I wonder is, does tai chi shadow play with me or am I playing with her? If I truly understand the equality of all things there is no distinction! But I do not, so I keep searching for some kind of black and white answer so that I can just let it be, whatever it is. I found this in the taoist sourcebook ” Vitality, Energy and Spirit”
Children playing with shadows do not realise the shadows are playing with them
T'an Chiao Transformational Writings
It is what it is not one or the other. Happy practising….. may you learn from your shadow.
NOV
2012
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!