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I've just finished a wonderful summer taijiquan training with my master Jesse Tsao and a really fine group of people. We meet each year in San Diego for an intense time of learning new things and deepening our practice. I have learned so much and it will take me the next year to allow the new things to translate from my "mental" to "somatic" understanding. You can grasp stuff with your mind, but your body takes a while to really "get it."
I was reminded that after such wonderful experiences humility becomes an integral ingredient in the process of personal growth. In the very last session, a muscle in my inner thigh made a loud protest. It sidelined me for some time ... Massage, ointment, gentle stretching. Some of the new things I had learned I couldn't do. I was frustrated, to say the least. But, it made me pull back and do a little self-reflection. I have learned that when something unexpected happens, draw back, and take it as an opportunity to lean something else.
I was reminded of the words of the Daodejing:
I have three treasures
That I guard and hold dear:
The first is love;
The second is contentment;
The third is humbleness.
Only the loving are courageous;
Only the content are magnanimous;
Only the humble are capable of commanding.
The third treasure struck me as important today: Humbleness.
I consulted the Yijing for wisdom and received Hexagram 15, Qian ... Humbleness, or modesty. Master Alfred Huang says of the Hexagram, "The structure of this gua is Earth ☷ above, Mountain ☶ below. Normally mountains are high and the Earth is low. What makes a mountain a mountain is its standing high above the Earth. In this gua, the mountain stands underneath the Earth." In the commentary Confucius says: “The superior person decreases what is excessive and increases what is scarce. He weighs things and makes them balance.”
How very taiji! The balance of yin and yang. I was reminded of humility too in the story of Naaman in Jewish scriptures. Naaman, the commander of king of Aman, falls ill. He makes a journey to see the prophet Elijah. The prophet tells him to go and take a bath in the river Jordan. The story continues:
But Naaman became angry and went away, saying, "I thought that for me he would surely come out, and stand and call on the name of Yahweh his God, and would wave his hand over the spot, and cure the leprosy! Are not Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them, and be clean?" Naaman turned away in a rage.
Not much humility there! But Naaman does, in the end, take the lower place. He is cured of his condition.
So, after a great week when I have learned so much, had a minor thigh injury, did some self-reflection, and found help in a salutary ancient Jewish story and from Chinese wisdom, I have much to ponder.
+Ab.Andy