Four Events at University of San Francisco Worth Checking Out

EMPIRE OF SILVER
A talk by writer/director Christina Yao, with excerpts from her film
http://www.usfca.edu/pacificrim/events/#Silver

Tuesday • August 30, 2011 • 5:45 PM
USF Main Campus, Fromm Hall
Enter from Parker Street between Golden Gate & Fulton, San Francisco

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An Evening of Enchanting
INDONESIAN ETHNIC DANCE
http://www.usfca.edu/pacificrim/events/#Dance

Monday • September 12, 2011 • 5:45 PM
USF Main Campus, Fromm Hall
Enter from Parker Street between Golden Gate & Fulton, San Francisco

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A JESUIT IN THE FORBIDDEN CITY:
Matteo Ricci (1552 - 1610)
http://www.ricci.usfca.edu/events/index.htm

Wednesday • September 14, 2011 • 5:45 PM
USF Lone Mountain Campus, Room 100
Enter from Turk Street near Parker, San Francisco

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TURANDOT
"Excerpts and Explanations"
http://www.usfca.edu/pacificrim/events/

Monday • September 19, 2011 • 5:45 PM
USF Main Campus, Fromm Hall
Enter from Parker Street between Golden Gate & Fulton, San Francisco

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The Great Brawl of China

The number of times I've been asked by Chinese Americans whether or not I'm "Chinese" is a badge of pride for me.  Which is why I'm posting these fun loving links below.  There is an on going debate about whether or not Mainland China is a threat to the United States.  One argument is that China is a growing economic power and that means the US is in decline.  I don't understand this argument, we are both getting richer, why would it matter if China got out in front?  A related argument is that with economic superiority, China could build a bigger, scarier military than we have.  That's possible.  So then the question becomes why would the Chinese see it in their interest to compete with us militarily?  To this there are two answers.  The first is that the militaries of large powerful countries maintain an order which allows commerce to thrive.  That's probably true, but it doesn't matter much to the commercial world which nation is maintaining that order, we all still get rich.  Of course a rich country with a large powerful military could decide to pick winners and losers, and in so doing tightly restrict the flow of natural and other resources.  Which leads us to the other answer.  The Chinese could wish to challenge the US militarily because of past grudges, a feeling of superiority, or because they believe war is fun.

If you accept my analysis, than you probably agree that thoughtful diplomacy is very important. And we're not just talking about the yabbos at the State Department, all of us have a role to play in diplomacy.

And with that I give you The Great Brawl of China!



More commentary here, and more video here.

And a "welcoming" greeting to Joe Bidden, perhaps taken out of context by 1000's of news outlets:

"The United States has entered a long period of decline," wrote economist Xia Bin, who advises China's Cabinet and central bank, on his blog.

And Gary Locke kicking ass and taking names with his personal "diplomatic pouch" and the courage to wait in line at Starbucks!

But is Gary Locke really Chinese?

Daoism: Religion, History and Society

There is a new journal on the scene published out of Hong Kong you may want to check out.  It's called Daoism:  Religion, History and Society.  The current addition has an article by Terry Kleeman who does wonderful work and who bought me a mango drink in the basement of Ikea in Taipei, Taiwan two Summers ago.  He was full of reading suggestions and encouragement.

UPDATE: I haven't been able to figure out how to get past the wall, by hook or by crook.  I even looked for a way to pay!  Anyone know how to get to the text?

Portrait of an American Daoist

Me with Bamboo

I wrote this essay for the first additions of The Journal of Daoist Studies.  I recommend you buy the journal.  However, in our world everything is free if you are willing to put up with a few ads.  You can read the full article here. I clicked on the download button because I wanted to know if someone could possibly be making any money on the article I wrote, it then asked me to log-in through Facebook--is that scary?

Anyway if you like the article and you want to prod me to come down from the mountain more often and write blog posts, feel free to scroll down the sidebar and hit the donate button!  Or you can come visit me in lovely Lafayette California (where I just moved) and challenge me to a duel.

Watching TV is more Dangerous Than Smoking

Well, what if you watch TV and smoke at the same time? Do they cancel each other out since smoking is an appetite suppressant?  Oh dear, what about horror movies, good for blood circulation no doubt, but could too many lead to loss of sleep.  And what about the various theories of intensity?  A fast beating heart for a short period of time each day makes the heart beat slower for the rest of the day.  Texting?  Does it shorten your life?  What about Sexting?  Does muting the commercials help?  The article says that watching TV for an hour takes  twenty minutes off of your life.  Now I only watch TV on the computer and I didn't watch any TV between age 12 and 34 so I'm probably going to live forever.  However, what would happen if people visualized the process.  You know, sort of like a giant game of hang man!  You could put your life span up on the wall.  Paint in just a little bit more of that giant hang man every time you turn on the tube.  You could paint in a little bit every time you stay up late or drink single malt whiskey.  The more demonstrably visible this giant hang man was, the more talismanic it's effects would be.  Here is another idea, you could have a watch that counts down to your demise.  It could have a "bit-o-life-lost" button which you would have to push every time you got in a stressful argument.  Heck, they should bust out an app for that!  How many minutes do you have left?

Stripping For the Dead?

I don't have much of a commentary on this yet, but it is a must read.  When people claim that a type of Kung Fu is 'just x' or 'just y' and it was 'originally just z' but then got mixed with 'a little p influence,' they are usually just repeating something they heard from someone who either didn't know, or was trying to cover something up.  The real history of religious Kung Fu theater ritual is itself an incredible treasure, way more interesting and complex than any of the spins we have heard yet.  This is the first I've heard of stripping for the d



ead, and I've been reading about this stuff for a long time.

Here is the Director/Anthropologist's website.

This article about the film is pretty good too.

Bagua Mud Walking

I’ve heard a lot of explanations of why Bagua mud walking has that name.  When the Buddha walked through mud lotus flowers came up in his foot steps.  Mud is strongly suggestive of the yin element.  Occasionally I hear the term “Pure” Yang Qi.  It’s a bit redundant because the category yang implies purity in the same way that yin implies impurity, a mix of stuff, water and earth, mud.

I’ve heard mud walking refers to waist high thick river mud that makes your legs heavy and forward progress difficult.  I’ve heard that it is the stickiness of surface mud which creates a delay of the foot finding the ground and mushing in and then holds it back when one tries to pick it up creating an opening and closing of the joints, particularly the hip (kua).

On my own I came up with the idea that Tai Chi is an ocean art and Bagua is a mountain art.  The Tai Chi body moves as if it was constantly re-balancing while standing up in a boat.  The Bagua body moves as if it was constantly re-balancing while walking along a mountain ledge.  In either case, if you tense up your belly you are in trouble.  On the ocean if you tense you will loose your balance and fall down.  I suspect that sea sickness happens because the length of an ocean swell is longer than we can hold and release tension.  The more chaotic the environment the more important it is that rebalancing happens continuously, a muscular on/off switch will fail under natural pressure.  When walking on mountain ledges you simply have to have the feeling of upwardness connected to continuous rebalancing or you will freak out every time you look down.  It is both a spacial presence and a letting go.

The more upright you are, the easier it is to relax the belly, and the more relaxed your belly is, the easier it is to continuously rebalance.
Walking in mud also has this ‘just drop the pretense of superiority’ tone to it.  After all, walking in mud is just a slip away from rolling in it!  In that sense walking in mud means giving up social conventions.  Walk like you really don’t care who is watching.  Discard all your style, swagger, swing, lilt, lithe, bounce, and strut.

Nearly every video I’ve put on Youtube has at sometime been criticized by some yabo who insists that a STREET FIGHT is the purpose and the meaning of life.  While humans have been leveling ground for many centuries, the ubiquity of street pavement is quite new.  150 years ago most fights and surprise attacks happened in mud or dust.  That was true on the battle field, in towns, and on country roads.  Of course there was snow too, and many other surfaces, some of them level some steep and rocky, but as often as not, the ground was slippery and unstable.

And on slippery ground, getting power from pushing against the ground (a so called ‘ground path’ strategy) doesn’t work.  What we in the martial arts world call “rooting” is simply a losing strategy.  It’s like when a football player hits you at full speed while you are just standing there.

So in my humble opinion, all these explanations of mud walking have their place, but the best explanation is that mud walking is walking on a very slippery surface.  A surface where you don’t rely in any way on either forward momentum which pushes off the back foot, nor on rebalancing by using the front foot as a brake.  The center of mass must stay over the feet without structural tension, without engaging any posture correcting muscles.  In Bagua, the center of mass spins like a top to maintain uprightness with momentum.

Below is mud, all around is water; the body is like a pebble landing in a still pond, sending out ripples of pure yang qi-- the substance of inspiration.
Now go get dirty.