The Iron Fist and the Eight Trigrams
Trip Start
Mar 21, 2005
1
22
354
Trip End
Ongoing
Beijing,
China
Monday, July 4, 2005
In perfect lies fault
In fault lies change
~R.E.M.
Perhaps R.E.M., the quartet from Athens, Georgia, were drawing upon Eastern beliefs when they wrote their song, "I Believe." Over two thousand years earlier Confucius said:
"Perfection is the beginning and end of things. Without perfection there can be nothing...From perfection to enlightenment is Nature; from enlightenment to perfection is education. When there is perfection, there is enlightenment; when, then, there is enlightenment, there is perfection."
This is also the cornerstone of Gongfu or Kung-fu, as begun in Shaolin, China
1 Confucius Temple
. Gongfu means "achievement through great effort" and is composed of three elements: motivation, self-discipline, and time. Using the original meaning, someone could have gongfu in exhaling smoke rings or cooking. Today, Kung-fu is used to describe the martial arts, which my sister Carolyn and brother-in-law Scott practice back in Delaware at the Shaolin Wushu Kung-fu Institute, overseen by Grandmaster Pan, a.k.a. the Iron Fist.When in China, Grandmaster Pan was known as "The Gangbuster" and kung-fu master. His training consisted, in part, of punching hard objects with his fist. When his town was under assult by a local gang, he went to the gang's lair in a warehouse and beat up the gang, one-by-one, until the leader came. Then he beat him up too and brought him to the police. Today, his fists are covered in calluses: he is the "Iron Fist". When Carolyn met him, he touched her with his fist, gently, yet his light touch was still powerful.
In Beijing is the Confucius Temple, where many practitioners of Confucianism can come to pray to Confucius. Also in Beijing is "The Legend of Kung Fu," a Broadway-quality show performed by some of China's best kung-fu experts. As part of our exploration around Beijing, Nate, Kevin, and I went to both the temple and the show
2 Confucius Statue
.Confucius is best known for the I Ching, which drew upon the ancient's wisdom. The Book of Changes, as it is known, involves the use of trigrams, whose symbols are over 5,000 years old. Eight trigrams in pairs create sixty-four hexagrams representing human or natural phenomena of the universe. Numina, the unseen, select the trigrams through chance--the toss of a coin or the division of a bundle of yarrow stalks. Chance or synchronicity, to use Jung's coined term, is an important aspect of Eastern philosophy, one westerners may have a difficult time understanding. According to believers, the I Ching is a living book within a world of chance and change.
Carl Jung says this:
The I Ching does not offer itself with proofs and results; it does not vaunt itself, nor is it easy to approach. Like a part of nature, it waits until it is discovered. It offers neither facts nor power, but for lovers of self-knowledge, of wisdom -- if there be such -- it seems to be the right book. To one person its spirit appears as clear as day; to another, shadowy as twilight; to a third, dark as night. He who is not pleased by it does not have to use it, and he who is against it is not obliged to find it true. Let it go forth into the world for the benefit of those who can discern its meaning.
My first experience with the I Ching was up in the wood stove heated kitchen of the Big House in Vermont one cold Valentine's Day. There a group of eclectic musicians, Egyptian princes, and puppeteers sought insight into a changing world.
3 Playing the Guzheng in the Confucius Temple
The Confucius Temple was a humble place, of sorts. The ancient tablets of Confucius and other artifacts were covered in dust, lit only by the indirect light from the doorway. Behind the scenes, boxes of artifacts seemed destined to leave China for Europe. Why were China's treasures being shipped away when they seemed at home in the Confucius Temple?
That night, we went to the theatre to see "The Legend of Kung-fu." We were amazed by the children performing backwards somersaults onto their skulls, dream-like lighting, and acts of strength, toughness, and acrobatic skill. Kung-fu masters broke rods of steel with their foreheads and endured beatings with bamboo sticks (see photos for the storyline). Through their suffering, they achieved enlightenment and became masters of kung-fu. We left, pumped up and ready to take on anything that came our way (you know, the feeling you get after watching an adventure movie or getting off a roller coaster).
I believe in coyotes and time as an abstract
Explain the change, the difference between
What you want and what you need, there's the key,
Your adventure for today, what do you do
Between the horns of the day?
~R.E.M., "I Believe"
...or did Confucius say that?
