Sacred Peaks

We are going to briefly describe some sites of early Taoism on these pages but our main interest is in this unique, health giving, daily practice of chi kung, meditation, and internal martial arts. The early Taoists sought to push beyond preconceived boundaries and maximize their potential through this practice. The techniques devised by the ancients are as useful and meaningful today as they were then.

There were Taoist temples throughout China but the great masters preferred to live high up in the mountains where they could be away from the day to day world. This solitude helped them to harmonize with the earth's energy and commune with the spirits. Taoists practiced one point meditation to achieve a tranquil mind at least a thousand years before Buddhism was introduced to China. This was a time when art and science were not two separate things and the Taoists studied and cultivated both side by side.

What these "old boys" achieved was a process, a method, of individualized education and inner cultivation that created many exceptional people over a long period of history. Much of this ancient wisdom is contained in the Taoist Canon [Daozhong] and is preserved there for academics to translate and debate. What we have found through working with all of this information for a long time, is that this process still works and is invaluable on a day to day practical level. The Taoists said "Cultivate Yang virtues" and this daily practice is an excellent discipline for putting those words into action each day. When we consciously cultivate the positive virtues of wisdom, kindness, love, trust, and strength and beauty, we work to make the world a better place for everyone.

The way [Tao] is through connecting to the higher self that is inside of us all and which watches as the neutral observer. You maximize your potential by getting out of your own way mentally, this is meditation. Dissolve ego conflicts and gain some degree over your autonomic nervous system by stopping internal dialogue [no mind] in order to find your true human potential.

The Classics say "Forget yourself and yield to others." This implies meditational absorption. The practice, be it Tai-Chi, meditation, or chi kung, is to lose the ego, get out of the way and let your true potential pour forth effortlessly.

Journeys to sacred peaks are perhaps once in a lifetime events. As Amy, my teacher, said to me after first meeting me, "You cannot go to the mountain." In other words we are of this world and have to participate in it. Taoist master Ni, Hua Ching says that the "friction of an ordinary life is necessary" for growth. So, in this modern world each individual needs an inner life, practice, or devotion. We are put here to learn, in other words to solve our karma. We don't live in the "quiet room" at the foot of a great mountain. We have to make this place inside of ourselves, and this ability is more important now than ever. We have to sit on our meditation throne inside of our sacred space and dissolve the stress of everyday life, as well as past lives and subconscious resistance, all without going anywhere.

In the book Watching Your Back-Chinese Martial Arts and Traditional Medicine the author, Anthony L. Schmeig M.D. says, "There were three levels of traditional masters, each with their role to play in service to the people and to the ancient culture at large." The first was the sage on the mountaintop, downloading the wisdom from "the Tao." We don't really understand the process by which some of this was accomplished but we do have much of the information that they passed down over the centuries and this provides the basis for Chinese medicine and Chi Kung.

Schmieg continues, "The second level is the doctor/scientist who uses and teaches the information to large numbers of people and who lives in the higher strata of society. He creates institutions and publishes written works so that the information is not lost. He is an important link in the dissemination of wisdom down to a practical level where it can benefit the most people."

"The third level is the "man of action" who lives among the common people and at times of crisis is able to lead or act in defense of the knowledge, the ancient culture itself."

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