Daoist Studies Conference 2019 Los Angeles

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Here is the description of the workshop I’m teaching in Los Angeles.

Re-Enchanting Internal Martial Arts

(June 20th-23rd)

In this lecture-demo-participatory-happening we will sample Baguazhang 八卦掌 as theater, where the lotus elixir 蓮煉丹 is the source of extraordinary martial prowess.

Through Baguazhang we will meet the child god Nezha 哪吒 and walk through mud, create a lotus body flowering out to infinity, and practice nixing 逆行—walking backwards inside of walking forwards. This anti-journey is reverse shamanism. Once outside of time 先天 (xiantian) we will fight dragons, cut away our flesh, return our bones, and meet Taiyi 太乙, Nezha’s spirit-father.

Together we will re-enchant the physical with the imaginal. This delightful, belly laugh-inducing practice is serious. To become a Zhenren 真人 (Perfect Person) one must walk a reverse path! Wind-fire wheels provided.

Scott Park Phillips is the author of Possible Origins, A Cultural History of Chinese Martial Arts, Theater and Religion (2016), and the forthcoming Tai Chi, Baguazhang, & the Golden Elixir, Internal Martial Arts Before the Boxer Uprising (2019). He lives in Colorado, where he teaches martial arts with improvisational theater, dance ethnology, and Daoist studies to children and adults.

Aikido the Art of World Domination

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My friend Graham Barlow, who lives in the ancient Roman resort town of Bath, has a wonderful podcast interview about the Origins of Aikido. It is a highly recommended walk on dark side.

This is an interview with Damon Smith. By the end, he argues that Aikido is in separable from the religion of Oomoto Kyo. If you want to read about my adventures in Japan with the Oomoto religion, read my book, Possible Origins, A Cultural History of Chinese Martial Arts, Theater and Religion. The part on Oomoto is in the introduction, where I discuss Japanese Tea Ceremony as a way to experience what a religion based in performing rituals is like.

Read Impro

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Every so often I remind people to read Impro, by Keith Johnstone. it is one of the best books ever written. It is about the theater, but it is so transgressive for theater people that they often don’t know what to do with it. However, nearly everyone else who reads it—priests, martial artists, security guards, dentists, navy seals, stay at home moms—they all find it liberating and inspiring. There is a good chance you will too.

A Dark Turn

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There is a lot to unpack in this article from Bitter Winter about Marital Arts Schools in China being forced to “Take the Red Road.” I do not have time to unpack it today, but it is worth thinking about. The Chinese government has these types of goals for the whole world. I guess it is an example of law as a yinyang symbol, rather than the Western idea of a law as a wall. In the West, we believe that a law should be like a wall, or at least a clearly defined line, so that we know exactly when we have crossed it. In China, traditionally as well as now, the law moves in both directions simultaneously. It can seem like religion is getting less illegal in one place or situation, and more illegal in another.

The Little Red Phone is scary. It is scary to me because it is a horrible intrusion into people’s pursuit of individual happiness and creative expression. But even scarier because there is no apparent resistance to it.

INFANT GRABS AT ITS MOTHER’S BREASTS

INFANT GRABS AT ITS MOTHER’S BREASTS

To end on a humorous note, here is Paul Brennan’s latest translation: On Making Martial Arts More Scientific. Regular readers already know what I think of this type of scientizing. This version of it is truly bazaar. It is not something anyone is expected to read. Although it is an important moment in the solidification of the YMCA Consensus. Below is an image from the text called: INFANT GRABS AT ITS MOTHER’S BREASTS. No, really.


Favorite Things

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I know that a significant portion of my readers are attracted to weirdness. I had a new weird idea recently I call “Baby-fat power.” To begin with, if you have to use force, even deadly force, don’t get stuck in fighting. Have a goal to neutralize the threat or escape. In training this translates nicely as: Dance don’t fight. Why? Because dance is not about dominance and submission, it is about the movement itself. Dance is movement imbued with beauty, rhythm, grace, efficiency, fun, and good-will towards your opponent(s)—partner(s).

Now thinking about martial arts as Dance, there are people who dance with their muscles. This tends to look stiff. For example, gymnasts tend to look stiff when they dance. A certain type of ballet dancer, dances with their muscles. If you’ve ever seen Lines Dance Company (led by Alonzo King who was my teacher everyday for two years about 30 years ago) they look strong. They are dancing with muscles, which creates a very solid, extended, and powerful feeling. That’s why it is called “Lines,” it is emphasizing a type of stiffness. There is another, perhaps more common, type of ballet that is “on the bones.” It uses the bones for structure and balance. A good example is George Balanchine’s (1904-1983) style of ballet. The effect, (and this is common among martial artists too) is to look like a fairy—light and perfectly balanced.

My new weird thought is that instead of using muscles or bones, the most beautiful martial artists and dancers use baby-fat. When you dance with baby-fat you are expressing the ancient Daoist practice of returning to the baby, of becoming an infant, of reversing the aging process, of embracing innocence and simplicity. As the Daodejing says: “Its bones are soft, its muscles are weak, but its grip is very strong.”

Here is a fun, short, documentary about Mongolian wrestling. I think the Mongolians have mastered dancing with baby-fat. Watch the whole thing when you get a chance, but you can see how the master teacher moves from around the 12 minute mark to about the 17 minute mark.

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Moving on. I just discovered silicone cups for massage. They are similar to the bamboo or glass cups used by acupuncturists, but they can be applied simply by squeezing. They are applied like the old snake bite kits, if you remember those. Because they make such a good suction, they are easy to move around on oiled skin. This is a great product, I expect it to take off like wild-fire.

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Still moving. I practice standing meditation for an hour everyday. I do this in the snow during the Winter here in Colorado, which is shockingly warmer than San Francisco was. However, when the temperature drops below 15 F degrees, my feet tend to get cold. At least they did until I discovered these awesome North Face Kung Fu Practice booties.