Remembering Lady Gongsun

"There lived many years ago the beautiful Lady Gongsun,
Who, dancing with her sword, drew from all four quarters
An audience like mountains lost among themselves.

Heaven and Earth moved back and forth, following her motions,
Bright as when the Archer shot the Nine Suns down from the sky
And rapid as angels before the wings of dragons.

She began like a thunderbolt, venting its anger,
And ended like the shining calm of rivers and sea.

But vanished are those red lips and those pearly sleeves;
And none but this one talented pupil bears the perfume of her fame,
This sword dancer from Lingying, the Town of the White Goddess,
Who still dances and sings in the carefree old ways.

After the dance, we chatted for awhile.
We sighed together, saddened by the changes that have come.
There were a thousand ladies in the late Emperor's court;
But Lady Gongsun's sword dance was first among them all.

Fifty years have passed, like the turning of a hand;
Wind and dust, filling the world, obscure the Imperial House.
Instead of the Pear Garden Players, gone like the fog,
Only two girl musicians remain to charm the cold Sun.

There are now man-sized trees by the Emperor's Golden Tomb.
I seem to hear dead grasses rustling on the windy cliffs of Qutang.
The song is done, the slow strings and quick flutes have ceased.
At the height of joy, sorrow comes with the eastern moon rising.

And I, a poor old man, not knowing where to go,
Walk away slowly into the lonely hills, tired, facing the sunset."

- Du Fu, The Sword Dance Performed by a Pupil of Lady Gongsun
"300 Chinese Poems" The poet Du Fu (712-770, 杜甫) mentioned in his poem "Witnessing Gongsun Da Niang's Disciple Sword Dance Performance" (观公孙大娘弟子舞剑器行) that there was a female sword dancer in the court of Emperor Xuan Zong (唐玄宗) who was probably the greatest in her field.

"Another aspect of the martial dance is the "sword dance," devised by master swordsmen. Ancients sought to combine the ethos of swordsmanship with the sword dance, calling it "sword vigor." The most famous sword dancer of the Tang Dynasty was legendary beauty, Lady Gongsun. As a child, the celebrated Tang poet Du Fu once watched her dance, and the specter created by her superb skill remained forever fresh in his memory. The square in Yancheng, Henan Province was a sea of people. Following a roll of drums, Lady Gongsun appeared, rapier in hand. The sword glinted with every change of posture and stance, whispering like silk on being unsheathed and flashing at each thrust. Her dancing seemed to evince a power that could hold back rivers and repulse oceans. Years later, Du Fu watched the sword dance performed by Li Shi'erniang, one of Gongsun's adherents. Her execution of it was so reminiscent of Gongsun's original performance that Du Fu, now in his 50s, was fired with new vitality, and wrote a poem, 'The Sword Dance Performed by a Girl-Pupil of Lady Gongsun.'"
- Tang Dynasty Dances


Taijiquan Sword: Bibliography, Links, Resources, Instruction, Guides, All Styles

T'ai Chi Ch'uan Sword: Poems, Sayings, Quotations, Wisdom

Tai Chi 32 Sword

Eight of Wands

Eight of Wands

By Mike Garofalo

Tarot

The Spirit of Gardening

Months

Eight Sacred Times of the Year

Bibliography and Links

One Druid's Journey

The Green Man

Chaos Magic

Notebooks of the Librarian of Gushen Grove

Sexual Magick

Sacred Circles

Sigils

Trees

Green Way Blog

Cloud Hands: Mind-Body Movement Arts

Meditation

Pulling Onions

Above the Fog

Grand Master Chang San Feng

Eightfold Model

Feel Your Legs

"If you want to know if your brain is flabby, feel your legs."
- Bruce Barton

"If you look for the truth outside yourself,
It gets farther and farther away.
Today walking alone, I meet it everywhere I step.
It is the same as me, yet I am not it.
Only if you understand it in this way
Will you merge with the way things are."
- Tung-Shan

"Who will tell whether one happy moment of love or the joy of breathing or walking on a bright morning and smelling the fresh air, is not worth all the suffering and effort which life implies."
- Eric Fromme

Ways of Walking

Five Animal Frolics

Someday, someday soon, maybe this summer when I'm not employed, I will return to working on my webpages on the Five Animal Frolics.

I have really enjoyed doing the Deer Frolic this spring. I've also taught some of the Five Animal Frolics Qigong practices to the students in my Yoga and Qigong classes. We have a good time with the deer Frolics.

Taiji Cane

Lovely day at home for practicing Taiji and with my cane.

Currently, I am learning the Chen Broadsword (Saber, Dan Dao) 23 Movement Form.

Mowed 2 acres of grass today, before the rains come tonight.

Reading:

The Taoist Body. By Kristofer Schipper. Translated by Karen C. Duval. Foreword by Norman Girardot. Berkeley, California, University of California Press, 1993. Originally published in French in 1982 as Le Corps Taoiste. Notes, bibliography, index, xx, 273 pages. ISBN: 0520082249. VSCL.

Tai Chi Chuan 32 Sword Form

Simplified 32 Taiji Sword in the Yang Style. By Michael P. Garofalo. This popular webpage includes a comprehensive bibliography, scores of links to webpages, an extensive listing of the names and name variations for each movement (English and Chinese), a detailed analysis of each posture and movement sequence with explanations and numbered illustrations, instructions, selected quotations, sword techniques, a comprehensive media bibliography, and a comparison of the 32 and 55 sword forms in the Yang style. © Green Way Research, Red Bluff, California, January 2008.

Return from Vacation in Oregon

Karen and I enjoyed a week of vacation in Oregon. We were in Portland from Friday through Wednesday, and at South Beach State Park in Newport, Oregon, on Wednesday through Friday.

Alicia, Sean, Makenna, April, Katelyn, Mick and Mike. A shark exhibit at the Aquarium in Newport.

Mike walking the dunes at South Beach State Park, Oregon

Looking north from the South Jetty at Newport, Oregon.

More photos

Walking

Taijiquan Outdoors

I enjoy practicing taijiquan and qigong outdoors in the springtime.

During the March and April months we have many trees in bloom in Red Bluff, California.

The white blossoms of the cherry trees are always treasured.

Zhang San Feng and Wudang Mountain

"Mount Wudang, also known as Can Shang Mountain or Tai He Mountain, is located in the Qin Ling Mountain Range of northwestern Hubei Province. Because the scenery around Mount Wudang is so majestic and beautiful, it has been given the name The Famous Mountain Under Heaven. Wudang is a major center for the sudy of Daoism and self-cultivation.

The legendary founder of Wudang wushu was Zhang San Feng. Zhang San Feng was a Daoist who lived in these mountains to cultivate the Dao during the Ming Dynasty. Zhang San Feng was born in 1247 A.D. in the area of what is known today as Liao Ning. Zhang San Feng is a very famous figure in the history of Chinese wushu. His martial abilities and healing techniques were superb and he was known to have cured many people of illnesses. This brought about great admiration from the common people. The emperor of the Ming Dynasty erected a monument on the mountain to commerate the contributions of Zhang San Feng. During Zhang's younger years he met Daoist Huo Lung (Fire Dragon) with whom he studied the Dao. After attaining the Dao, Zhang moved to Wudang Mountain and cultivated an additional nine years. Many historical documents suggest that Zhang San Feng was the person responsible for synthesizing the wushu of the common people with the internal methodology and philosphical principles of Daoism. Wudang wushu is primarily known for its internal styles.

Zhang San Feng created Wudang wushu by researching the basic theory of Yin and Yang, the Five Elements, and the Eight Diagrams (Ba Gua). Wudang wushu has a very close relationship with the theories of Taiji, Yin and Yang, the Five Elements, the Eight Diagrams, and the Nine Palaces. Zhang San Feng was able to incorporate the Daoist practice of changing the Essence into Internal Energy , Internal Energy into Spirit , and Spirit into Emptiness to form the theory of Wudang wushu."
- Introduction to Wudang Martial Arts



Grandmaster Zhang San Feng: Bibliography, Resources, Links, Quotes, Notes

Wudang Qigong

Chen Style Tai Chi Chuan Short 18 Form

Thanks to three readers who made comments and suggestions regarding my new webpage on the Chen Style Taijiquan Short 18 Form of Grandmaster Chen Zhenglei.

I do intend to complete that webpage, someday. For now, it is still useful for Taiji players wanting to begin learning the form.

I have regularly used the instructional DVD and book that I recommended for the study of this short Chen form. Those resources are excellent tools for self-instruction and home practice.

Since I still work for a school district, teach yoga and taijiquan, and am an active gardener, my progress on new webpages is often quite slow. That's OK by me: slowing down, steady progress, absorbing, quietly flowing ....

Actually, I'm quite active with my studies in Druidry and Tarot Ceremonial Magick. As a member of the ADF Feather River Druid Grove and the Order of Bards, Ovates, and Druids, I've been active in online discussion groups, High Days Celebrations, and studying books and their formal initiatory studies programs. I often listen to OBOD lectures on my MP3 player as I walk in the early morning.

I will be updating and improving my Months webpages each month, starting with April.

Warmer Spring weather and more sunshine has spurred growth again. Beauty everywhere.

The Hole in Your Life

"AUTOBIOGRAPHY IN FIVE SHORT CHAPTERS
by Portia Nelson

I
I walk down the street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I fall in.
I am lost...I am helpless.
It isn't my fault.
It takes me forever to find a way out.

II
I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I pretend I don't see it.
I fall in again.
I can't believe I am in the same place
but, it isn't my fault.
It still takes a long time to get out.

III
I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I see it is there.
I still fall in...it's a habit.
My eyes are open.
I know where I am.
It is my fault.
I get out immediately.

IV
I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I walk around it.

V
I walk down another street."

An activist might get some friends together to fill up the hole with gravel.

Mostly Sitting Still and Learning to Be

Looking north from the shoreline at Point Reyes.



Looking east from the hills of Point Reyes.

I spent the past week camping at Samuel P. Taylor State Park near Point Reyes National Seashore. I attended a Four Foundations of Buddhist Mindfulness workshop at the Spirit Rock Meditation Center not far from San Anselmo, California. Lots of people out enjoying the pleasant weather and beautiful lush green hills.

Back home now in Red Bluff. Much to reflect upon in the next coming months.

Here I am reading in the afternoon shade of the eucalyptus tees that surround our tea house. As I read, a hose is slowly watering the new fruit trees I planted. Hard work!!

"My work is loving the world.
Here the sunflowers, there the hummingbird —
equal seekers of sweetness.
Here the quickening yeast; there the blue plums.
Here the clam deep in the speckled sand.

Are my boots old? Is my coat torn?
Am I no longer young, and still not half-perfect? Let me
keep my mind on what matters,
which is my work,

which is mostly standing still and learning to be
astonished.
The phoebe, the delphinium.
The sheep in the pasture, and the pasture.
Which is mostly rejoicing, since all ingredients are here,

which is gratitude, to be given a mind and a heart
and these body-clothes,
a mouth with which to give shouts of joy
to the moth and the wren, to the sleepy dug-up clam,
telling them all, over and over, how it is
that we live forever."
- Mary Oliver, Messenger

Just Being Kind

"So many gods
So many creeds
This wind, that wind.
While just the art
Of being kind
Is all the sad world needs."
- Ella Wheeler Wilcox


"Wise sayings often fall
on barren ground;
but a kind word
is never thrown away."
- Sir Arthur Helps

Lifestyle Advice for Wise Persons

Kindness (Metta)

The Dalai Lama's Rules for Living

1. Take into account that great love and great achievements involve great risk.
2. When you lose, don’t lose the lesson.
3. Follow the three Rs: Respect for self, Respect for others, Responsibility for all your actions.
4. Remember that not getting what you want is sometimes a wonderful stroke of luck.
5. Learn the rules so you know how to break them properly.
6. Don’t let a little dispute injure a great friendship.
7. When you realize you’ve made a mistake, take immediate steps to correct it.
8. Spend some time alone every day.
9. Open your arms to change, but don’t let go of your values.
10. Remember that silence is sometimes the best answer.
11. Live a good and honorable life. Then when you get older and think back, you’ll be able to enjoy it a second time.
12. A loving atmosphere in your home is the foundation for your life.
13. In disagreements with loved ones, deal only with the current situation. Don’t bring up the past.
14. Share your knowledge. It’s a way to achieve immortality.
15. Be gentle with the earth.
16. Once a year, go someplace you’ve never been before.
17. Remember that the best relationship is one in which your love for each other exceeds your need for each other.
18. Judge your success by what you had to give up in order to get it.

Neuromuscular Integrative Action (Nia)

Fundamentals of Nia:

The joy of movement is the secret of fitness.
Fitness must address the human being, not just the body.
Movement must be conscious, not habitual.
Use you body in the way it was designed to be used.
Use your body to heal your mind, emotions, and spirit.
Take the path of least resistance.

The Five Principles of the Body's Way:

The body thrives on dynamic ease.
The body demands balance.
The body is balanced in yin and yang.
The body's way demands simultaneous mobility and stability.
The body itself reveals the body's way.

The Nia Technique. The High-Powered Energizing Workout that Gives You a New Body and a New Life. By Debbie Rosas and Carlos Rosas. New York, Broadway Books, 2004. Bibliography, glossary, 324 pages. Illustrated with photographs. ISBN: 0767917308. Nia is a newer fusion exercise system, and "Nia" stands for "Neuromuscular Integrative Action."

Pulling Onions Again

Here I am pulling up some nice onions
in May of 2007.


Pulling Onions

636. Chaos breaks its own rules to allow Order to play.

358. Gratefully, shit happens!

676. The ten thousand things are more enchanting than the Silent One.

427. Walking needs earth, space, and the walker.

372. Sometimes, just one 'thing' is critical because twenty other 'things' are just so.

633. Take the time to melt into the Details.

296. Gardening is a kind of deadheading - keeping us from going to seed.

674. Don't interfere, be still, and listen to the litanies of bees.

106. Tooth and nail, and the stench of a dead animal on the wind.

96. When life gives you onions, it stinks.

670. A rake is spaces held together by steel.

680. In the student's mind there are few possibilities, in the teacher's mind there are many; but only time to realize very few.

Pulling Onions by Mike Garofalo
Over 680 quips, one-liners, sayings, and "insights" from an old gardener.

When I walked this morning I listened to Ken Cohen's lectures on Daoism. He suggests that gardening is one of the contemplative mind-body Daoist arts leading to insight, enlightenment, enchantment and compassion.