Internal martial arts, theatricality, Chinese religion, and The Golden Elixir.
Books: TAI CHI, BAGUAZHANG AND THE GOLDEN ELIXIR, Internal Martial Arts Before the Boxer Uprising. By Scott Park Phillips. Paper ($30.00), Digital ($9.99)
Possible Origins, A Cultural History of Chinese Martial Arts, Theater and Religion, (2016) By Scott Park Phillips. Paper ($18.95), Digital ($9.99)
Watch Video: A Cultural History of Tai Chi
New Eastover Workshop, in Eastern Massachusetts, Italy, and France are in the works.
Daodejing Online - Learn Daoist Meditation through studying Daoism’s most sacred text Laozi’s Daodejing. You can join from anywhere in the world, $50. Email me if you are interesting in joining!
News and Updates
/I posted the link to my workshop in Portland above. It’s called Pure Animal. Please come if you are anywhere near Portland. It is going to be another fun, ground-breaking experience. Read about it here. (Note, the times are 2-6PM Saturday and Sunday June 1 & 2nd, the school is going through a lot of changes, the website might not have updated the times yet, but the content is right.)
I have watched the whole INTO THE BADLANDS Series (AMC), it has the best choreographed fight scenes of the last few years, and the show was getting better in each of three seasons. I highly recommend it to the artistically inclined. Great use of blood splatter too. The last season has the character the Widow fighting in 4-5 inch heels, and it is glorious. Reminded me that there used to be a lot of women fighters in Chinese opera that would fight in bound feet (men of course, and fake bound-feet, but a similar aesthetic). Here is a wonderful interview by Gene Ching with the star of the show Daniel Wu. Check it out
Start getting extra excited because my book is done! My official release date is May 12th. The digital book is up on the server. I’m waiting for a final proof to arrive for the print version. I have a short promo video that we shot a couple weeks ago that should be done in about a week too!
Congolese Wrestling : Catch Fétiche
/This is a terrific article about wrestling in the Congo that makes you want more and more. (hat tip to Theo)
“VOODOO WRESTLING” IS A REAL THING AND IT’S EMPOWERING WOMEN IN THE CONGO
It is from Vice Magazine.
I googled Catch Fétiche which is what it is called. Lot’s of great stuff, check it out.
I could probably write a wild commentary on this if I wasn’t hours away from putting up the pre-orders for my book, with the ToTaL bOOk LaUnCH happening on MAY 12th, which is the angry baby god Nezha’s birthday.
In the meantime, read this book!
Lotus Elixir Body
/It is not quite finished but I have been working on the text for the back cover of my book, thoughts?
The Immortal and the Angry Baby…
General Qi Jiguang was coughing up blood, near death in a field hospital, when he received a visit from the Sage Lin Zhao’en. Lin performed a martial exorcism (with talismans and explosions) enshrining the vengeful ghosts (of pirates) who blamed General Qi for their deaths—Lin also taught Qi the first stage of the Golden Elixir of Immortality. General Qi was completely healed, beginning a twenty year relationship between the General and the Sage. Lin claimed to have learned the Golden Elixir during night time visits by the Immortal Zhang Sanfeng. The Immortal was a fantastic theatrical character who could defeat 24 palace guards with 32 moves while snoring like an earthquake and smelling of booze and vomit. These are (nearly) the same 32 moves General Qi wrote about, which later became known as Tai Chi!
•••
Cutting off his flesh and returning it to his mother, then giving his bones to his father, the dragon-killer Nezha was done. Or so it seemed for several months until his secret father Taiyi gave him a new body made of the Golden Elixir and lotus flowers—making him not only invincible, but also the greatest fighter in all of China. Worshipped by caravan guards and rebels, Nezha was also the nick name for the city of Beijing, Nezha City. Once the most important hero-god in Chinese culture—in 1899 thousands of Boxer Rebels possessed by Nezha failed to protect the capital! Afterwards, Nezha followers became the targets of intense ridicule. Martial artists who practiced the dance of Nezha, had to create a new history to hide it, and they called it Baguazhang, a “pure” martial art.
The reason you never heard these histories….is a reason so dark few have dared to speak about it, until now…
Bio:
Scott Park Phillips has a reputation for making his students stronger, smarter, richer, funnier and better looking. He lives in Colorado, where he mixes martial arts with improvisational theater, dance ethnology, and Daoist studies. He is also the author of Possible Origins: A Cultural History of Chinese Martial Arts, Theater, and Religion (2016).
Is Age an Illusion of Modern Life?
/Enjoy debating this video in the comments!
https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=348048145834677
For monopoly reasons Facebook video is difficult to post in my blog but the link works perfectly.
Daoist Studies Conference 2019 Los Angeles
/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.
Curious about Standing Meditation?
/This morning I got a visit from my teacher Zhang Sanfeng. He shared his latest cryptic theory about feeding the ganglia inwards. He also had this amazing third-wave coffee smell. I took a quick video, but when I checked it later he had turned into a fox.
Stick Fighting in the Caribbean
/This video begins with some fun footage of the trip and then gets into some of the reasons we participate in martial arts rituals.
Aikido the Art of World Domination
/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
/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.