{"id":499,"date":"2019-08-14T20:50:32","date_gmt":"2019-08-15T04:50:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/oldoakdao.org\/blog\/?p=499"},"modified":"2019-08-14T22:04:59","modified_gmt":"2019-08-15T06:04:59","slug":"method-%e8%a1%93","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/oldoakdao.org\/blog\/2019\/08\/14\/method-%e8%a1%93\/","title":{"rendered":"Method (\u8853)"},"content":{"rendered":"

 <\/p>\n

\"Shu-Method\"Let\u2019s check out this Chinese character \u2013 (sh\u00f9, \u8853).\u00a0 It has 3 parts \u2013 center, left, & right.\u00a0 In the center is the character for wood (m\u00f9, \u6728).\u00a0 Wood is one of the Five Elements or Qi-Phases; it represents young yang, springtime, morning \u2013 like a young shoot piercing through the surface of the earth.\u00a0 I\u2019m not sure what the small stroke at the top means (\u672f), but I surmise that it has something to do with the movement of wood \u2013 so I take the central character to essentially mean growth or the process of qi rising and moving and transforming.<\/p>\n

The character on the left (ch\u00ec, \u5f73) means stepping with the left foot.\u00a0 The character on the right (ch\u00f9, \u4e8d) means stepping with the right foot.\u00a0 If we take the left & right character together and remove the center, it means to step slowly (ch\u00ecch\u00f9, \u5f73\u4e8d).\u00a0 If we put them into a single character, we get x\u00edng (\u884c), which means to walk or circulate \u2013 remember the Xing Qi Jade Inscription<\/a>?<\/p>\n

So what does the full character sh\u00f9 (\u8853) mean?\u00a0 The slow stepping of wood?\u00a0 The step-by-step process of growth and transformation.\u00a0 Moment-to-moment flow of Dao.\u00a0 It may surprise us to learn that the character translates as \u201cmethod\u201d, \u201cart\u201d, or \u201ctechnique\u201d, as in wushu (w\u01d4sh\u00f9, \u6b66\u8853) \u2013 martial art.<\/p>\n

We sometimes refer to our central practice of Zuowang as the method of no-method, similar to Silent Illumination Chan.\u00a0 But of course there\u2019s a method to sitting appropriately, just like anything else.<\/p>\n

I practice a Russian martial art called Systema.\u00a0 One of the central ideas of Systema is not focusing on techniques but rather the principles of posture, relaxation, breathing, & natural movement.\u00a0 Of course there are tons of techniques, but Systema lets them arise spontaneously in response to the situation.\u00a0 This is why I\u2019ve always felt Systema is a marvelous expression of wuwei.\u00a0 It\u2019s not about not having any techniques, but not \u201cmaking\u201d any techniques, not forcing anything onto the situation \u2013 staying precisely in the situation we\u2019re in and responding appropriately based on the principles.\u00a0 Techniques arise of themselves.\u00a0 The nice thing about martial arts is we can test their efficacy \u2013 it\u2019s not just a philosophical position.\u00a0 That unforgiving feedback is really helpful!<\/p>\n

Shu (\u8853) doesn\u2019t mean we have to practice this method or that method.\u00a0 And it certainly doesn\u2019t mean we need to introduce unnatural or exotic practices into our experience.\u00a0 It means if we\u2019re going to practice some art \u2013 whatever it is \u2013 then we need to attend to the process of growth and transformation very carefully, step-by-step.\u00a0 This means staying with reality <\/a>as-it-is right now.<\/p>\n

Our tradition speaks of \u201cmethod\u201d in terms of formal practice<\/a> & informal conduct.\u00a0 Formal practice means various arts of hygiene, meditation, & ritual<\/a>, all practiced within the context of our view-teaching<\/a>.\u00a0 Different ways to support & express our human life.\u00a0 But Daoism doesn\u2019t just mean doing some formal Daoist practice.\u00a0 Perhaps it means staying closely attuned to the clay when spinning a potter\u2019s wheel.\u00a0 Perhaps it means fully expressing each note when playing a flute.\u00a0 Perhaps it\u2019s the way a deer steps through the forest, or the way a poem rises out of an inspired moment*.\u00a0 Is this a method or a non-method?<\/p>\n

Step with care.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

*Shout out to Heath Thompson.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  Let\u2019s check out this Chinese character \u2013 (sh\u00f9, \u8853).\u00a0 It has 3 parts \u2013 center, left, & right.\u00a0 In the center is the character for wood (m\u00f9, \u6728).\u00a0 Wood is one of the Five Elements or Qi-Phases; it represents young yang, springtime, morning \u2013 like a young shoot piercing through the surface of the … Continue reading “Method (\u8853)”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[17,8,18],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/oldoakdao.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/499"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/oldoakdao.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/oldoakdao.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oldoakdao.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oldoakdao.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=499"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/oldoakdao.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/499\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":509,"href":"https:\/\/oldoakdao.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/499\/revisions\/509"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/oldoakdao.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=499"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oldoakdao.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=499"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oldoakdao.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=499"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}