Adjustments

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  • #129617

    Anonymous
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    Tai Chi instructors talk always about “Adjustments”, your weight should be here, your tension there, your kwa here, and so on. And so on, and so on, and so on. It’s a great fun game some monkeys on some planet play.

    Well, to me, and correct me if I am wrong, this is required for people who do not get it. When you do not understand you need instructions. When you do not listen you need instructions.

    Tai Chi and the forces that underpin our existence should teach us themselves. We should listen. When we do not listen, when our ears are firmly closed, then we can play the game of getting and giving adjustments. And delay for another day our listening.

    Perhaps there is some value in “Adjustments” etc… but how many are you going to get before you start listening ?

    How miserable existence is if you rely on some crazy planet destroying monkeys to show you The Way.

    If that was your only choice it would be better to die.

    #135839

    Anonymous
    Guest

    Right-on ride

    #135840

    Anonymous
    Guest

    In the 80’s I had the opportunity to observe a presentation by a American who had traveled to Japan and studied zen and flute. The temple he apprenticed in combined the two. After a lecture he played several classical pieces of music. There was a gentleman in the group who asked the question: “why if it’s zen and supposedly spontaneous why is it formal and confined to a prearranged piece? Why not be free flowing and free from tradition?”
    The guest presenter said that in his tradition you don’t just step into freedom and spontaneity …you have to go through the steps to gain it through work. Tradition and instruction by mentors helped open the doors.
    I have had a a dojo and have trained students at university and community college. On two occasions I had young men come in and say that they had read all the works of the founder of Aikido and after reading about how he went into the mountains and secluded himself they themselves had done the same thing. I was informed that they had both had mystical experiences and were ready to join a formal class. They also told me that they knew if they trained by themselves that could get just as much from the “spirit” and it would all come to them. When I asked them why they wanted to waste their time they said they wanted black belts and wanted them from the association I was involved with.
    You cannot compare tradition and mentorship with wishful thinking. Mentors correct and it is the balance of yin and yang. The physical has the align to allow the Things to work. In aikido proper alignment doesn’t just happen for 99% of the students. Maybe a one in a million student. It takes repeated correction and attention. Sorry but it takes time to find freedom in the structure. To move someone who outweighs you by 100-150 lbs takes training. The spirit does not decend and the heaven open up to bestow Magic power. Let that happen when you are injured or sick ,put it on the table for real and your training has to be stable. At that time you are thankful for those monkeys who insisted that you do it again over and over.
    I am sure that it is the same in the water tradition as well.

    #135841

    Anonymous
    Guest

    Right-on David.

    #135842

    Anonymous
    Guest

    Right-on David.

    #135843

    Anonymous
    Guest

    Yes …

    Courage. Raw Courage.

    I have had much training one way or another, so I speak after that.

    I heard once that the old Japanese masters, the way they taught, was that a student had to paint nothing but bamboo for 10 years, all angles, all compositions, all seasons. Until they were sick of bamboo. And then, for the next 10 years, they painted anything except bamboo. Then and only then, after 20 years, were they qualified to to paint. (Osho said this once)

    It is a good way to learn, to be.

    What I see is that many people involved in ‘spirituality’ even at very senior levels really do not ‘believe’. They do not ‘expect’. They are not acting with faith. They have adopted the form of the discipline, but they have not entered.

    Somehow inside it has not clicked that this sh** is real. That we are real. That these forces are real.

    Real. They are what is real. It is not a game.

    We exist.

    How many adjustments will you have ? Searching a teaching here and there, flying around the world … just one more, just one more.

    When one sits to surrender / merge / commune with the great forces it is quite a sundering. Quite a wake up call, and takes time, much time to access comprehend.

    But it is the Way.

    You can delay, seeking human teachers here and there. But the ocean still waits to be crossed, and it is a large crossing. When will you start ?

    Is there really preparation ? To merge with Tao ? Can you say, I am ready I have had the adjustments ?

    You are not ready. You will never be ready. Because to enter is to cease to exist as you once were.

    No-one is ready.

    So, begin. I say.

    These bodies are not much. How long is left ? Begin, begin.

    When you know you will die, how long will you delay ?

    We all look death in the face every day, every breath.

    Begin, begin. Enter. Now.

    The traditions on this planet are deeply conditioned in very primitive ways. I often think we need some red blooded American spirit, if you are going to go, go the whole way including the postage.

    Let go of this side.

    #135844

    Anonymous
    Guest

    In reference to previous comment-responses (on this forum) to what adjustments do (re working with a cert-instructor), also think of ‘being adjusted” like a string instrument being tuned.. whether guitar, violin or piano.. the first time tuned, as well as if haven’t been tuned in a while (gone out of tune, which settles in)… multiple adjustments, as the strings tightened (or loosened) adjusts the structure of the piano frame- but how? not just does it give more or less, but does it rotate sideways to the strings? – see how that sets, and settles-in, then tweak…
    Guitar, Violin, Piano(s) are fixed relative to an animal’s system– changes to structure, changes function (movement, but also pressure in range of breathing, digestion, adjustment to gravity, heart-beats), nerves- which tighten-loosen different parts.. etc….. so does it trigger some reaction, how does it settle in..

    but most of all- how does it stay, vs is it resisted? (above is “Totally” misleading as is about physically change- when it is really the subtle input that adjusts the sound… of the “instrument” and that output of the song(s) played changes the instrument and the performer– as one.)

    -thus it relates to a different comment about developing, as Mozart did (and thus the tuning, as well as learning to perform “scales” of notes in “keys” etc…
    But perhaps one can be a prodigy and just know (vs if what one hears is through ears that are offkey.. so what sounds correct is actually out of tune.. just like stand-straight.. doesn’t feel “natural” until it does… — even Mozart seems to have started learning, and didn’t just “know”…. but shouldn’t one just natural move to what seems right, and thus do “TaiChi chuan” (without having to ‘learn’ it)? -perhaps that is a question in relation to our naturalness– and thus Mind of Man vs Mind of the Tao, and from Ch10 of TaoTeChing…

    “In cleansing and polishing your profound perception, Can you be without blemish?” -actually perceive clearly or distorted?
    ” In loving the people, and governing the kingdom, Can you be without cleverness?” working to arrange one’s parts and actions, can one coord, or be caught up in what seems one should (in overlay)

    and
    “In llluminating clarity to penetrate the Four Directions, Can you be effortless?” – this line is the question..?

    If one gets it, one has got it– as another teacher puts it, one should be put to demonstrate one’s ‘understanding’ through action. If moving effortlessly in relation, than are one’s relationships effortless, and effective? (say martially, does it work? or not?).. if one gets it? then the adjustments have been adjusted…?
    if not, then perhaps either A) the teacher’s worked with aren’t clear what they are adjusting-for or B) one is misunderstanding or C) one is still in-process… if those adjusting don’t know why, is like a piano tuner working the strings, but is tone-deaf… and yet that doesn’t make an out of tune piano ok> (even if one can say, this “tuner” isn’t getting it in tune, no matter how many times they’ve adjusted the piano… can the piano tune itself? –is the piano in tune?

    -if the tuner, and the one listener, both are tone-deaf.. then neither can evaluate… so one can self-eval being adjusted if one knows how why the adjustments are done. (vs blind-monkeys leading each other, in the dark… -towards a cliff :)

    #135845

    Anonymous
    Guest

    A good teacher makes you a finely tuned instrument. And what is your aspiration to be ? Somebody’s little ballerina ? A stupid mannequin?

    Then you are just the clay for another stupid monkey with his own prejudices. He can pretend to be your “master” and you can pretend to be his “student” … 2 deluded apes on a planet playing an old game … when will they wake up ?

    Are humans so worthy that you will surrender to them ? Look how they act on this planet.

    Best to turn to the Tao and forget these addictions.

    Humans will make a great waste-of-time-trail for you. First one teacher, then another then another … by the time you try to listen to the Tao you will be dead.

    #135846

    Anonymous
    Guest

    Right-on ride

    #135847

    Anonymous
    Guest

    Just for some thoughts.

    A swiping statement that all the gurus and teachers are bogus or cheat is quite true depending on where you come from. Again this applies only to spiritual teacher. Nobody knowns the spiritual world and anybody can claim to be a Guru.

    Qigong is different. If the qigong master claim something he should be able to demonstrate his ability to deliver. There is nothing spiritual about it.

    Only action count and just talking and thinking is useless once you are on the path.

    Before you start walking or knocking around, you need to know what you want, there is an aim and purpose to your action.

    Real spiritual master are there in this world. They will come to you if you are deserving to be his disciple. They are super conscious.

    Understand what is tao and eventually to experience the tao is a good approach. It is a good start.

    These are my thoughts to share. Good luck.

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