(Article) Earth day celebrations at Disney’s Animal Kingdom
Taoism has a long history of conservation; including botany, zoology and biology, in fact the ancient Taoists are the originators of these sciences. According to the late Professor Joseph Needham in Science and Civilization in China, “The Han time [206 BCE-220 CE] was one of the relatively important periods as regards the history of science in China… Much was done in… the beginnings of systemic botany and zoology… (Volume I, Sections 1-7, p. 111)”
Dr. Needham, further elaborates in the same volume of the “…numerous botanical and zoological monographs, of which Han Yen- Chih’s, ‘Chu Lu’ (Orange Record) of 1178 [CE]…it deals in detail with all aspects of citrus horticulture, and was the first book on the subject in any language—but besides this there were monographs on bamboos, lichis, aromatic plants, cucurbits, and flowering trees, as well as Crustacea, birds and fishes. (p. 135)”
Animals from around the world were brought to China so they could be studied and “cared for” at the Imperial Zoo. The imperial zoo was incorporated into the Forbidden City during the early 1400’s and visiting the zoo remained one of the favorite activities of the imperial families throughout the dynastic/imperial period. There are many paintings of exotic animals being presented for safe keeping at the imperial zoo, including animals from Africa, Australia, New Zealand and the Americas.
It is in this Taoist tradition, especially through the sciences of biology, botany and zoology that the world is waking up to its responsibility of conservation. The recent Earth Day celebrations at Walt Disney World’s Animal Kingdom theme park featured two days full of activities.
The events coincided with the release of a Disney Nature film: Chimpanzee (a collaboration with The Jane Goodall Institute). Last year’s Earth Day event coincided with the release of African Cats.
Some of the activities included (Jackie Ogden, Ph.D., Vice President, Animals, Science and Environment, Disney Parks):
- “Asia (Maharajah Jungle Trek)—Families [could] play a supermarket game and learn how their purchases…make a big difference for wildlife and wild places.
- Africa (Pangani Forest Exploration Trail)—Children [could] observe and identify chimpanzee tracks and clues left behind along trails as they move through the forest.
- Rafiki’s Planet Watch, courtyard—Outside Conservation Station, guests [discovered] fun ways to spend time in nature with their families and find “Chimpanzee”-related merchandise, as well as face painters and caricature artists.
- Rafiki’s Planet Watch, inside Conservation Station—Families [could] visit the Chimpanzee Research Station and participate in a variety of activities based on real conservation work. Guests also [could] talk with cast members who work on conservation projects around the world and learn about the Disney Worldwide Conservation Fund.”
Visitors were thrilled when Jane Goodall made a surprise visit and answered questions from the crowd/guests. VIP guests were able to take part in a Safari weekend which included: “a campfire with the doctor complete with s’mores and stories and a breakfast with Dr. Goodall and Disney characters in Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge’s Backstage Prop Shop. In addition, a special Backstage Safari Tour [gave] guests the opportunity to see Animal Kingdom in a different, behind the scenes light. (Melinda Gregory, Walt Disney World for Grown Ups)”
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(Article) Tai Chi theme park planned near Mt. Wudang in China
Erica Orden reported in the Wall Street Journal that “a Los Angeles-based entertainment group plans to co-develop a $3.1 billion theme park and resort in China‘s Hubei province with a local investment firm, two people familiar with the project said. Ikonic Entertainment Group will plan and design a martial-arts-themed park, as well as a $50 million live show, one of the people said… Ikonic is a new entity co-founded by Tony Christopher, head of Landmark Entertainment Group LLC, an entertainment production company. Landmark has a history of creating amusement-park attractions, including “Terminator 2: 3D” for Universal Studios Florida and “Jurassic Park—The Ride” for Universal Studios Hollywood.”
To place this in more relative terms, a Hollywood amusement park company; which has built some of the most successful amusement park rides in the U.S. is planning on building a major theme park at the foothills of Mt. Wudang, the birthplace of Taiji Quan (Tai Chi Chuan).
On the surface, this may sound like an exciting opportunity, probably a dream come true for most kids growing up in the 1960’s-1980’s, which arguably was the golden age for Kung Fu & Martial Arts movies. Some historical and background information is required, however, to fully understand the ramifications of this plan.
What is Tai Chi?
Taiji Quan (aka Tai Chi Chuan), is a highly sophisticated Internal exercise developed by Taoists for the specific purpose of cultivating the body, mind and spirit. Many people describe Tai Chi as an internal martial art; however, this view focuses only on the minor benefit of practicing Tai Chi while neglecting the major purpose and original intention.
Tai Chi as practiced today is based on the cultivation exercise created by Zhang San Feng (Chang San-feng). Zhang San Feng was a famous Taoist Priest/Minister who developed the Tai Chi system on Mt. Wudang, and eventually built the Wudang Temple as a Taoist School/University. Most accounts state that Zhang San Feng was already an accomplished Taoist when he traveled to the famous Shaolin Temple and after a few years mastered all of the Shaolin techniques and then founded the Wudang Temple to further practice and teach Taoist cultivation.
Based on two Classical Taoist texts, the I-Ching and the Tao Teh Ching, Tai Chi is rooted in Taoist philosophy and science. This is why, if you were to literally translate Taiji Quan into English, you would get a rough translation of “The Supreme Ultimate…” Tai Chi was designed to be the Supreme Ultimate cultivation, which is unfortunately, rendered down by many of its practitioners to just a martial art or merely an exercise. It is this lower form of Tai Chi that the theme park will most likely feature, as the highest and truest form of Tai Chi would never be used for the purposes of entertainment.
Mt. Wudang is considered to be one of the holiest sites among Taoists and is a very special place for a Taoist to practice the cultivation of their body-mind-spirit. It was with this consideration in mind, that Zhang San Feng chose Mt. Wudang as the location to build the Temple. Several of the Taoist buildings on Mt. Wudang are from the 7th century C.E. and were made a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1994.
Ancient Temple built on a mountain considered to be Holy
There are several questions raised in this article that you are asked to reflect on. If Tai Chi was designed and is practiced as a Spiritual exercise, should this exercise be rendered down to a performance/entertainment level similar to dancing or acrobatics? Is Mt. Wudang the appropriate location for ANY theme park, given that it is regarded as a Holy Site and the Wudang Temple is a spiritual training center?
Would we applaud or approve of a theme park at another major religious holy site? How would we react to a Catholic theme park at the Vatican, a Jewish theme park at the Western Wall/Wailing Wall, or a Muslim theme park located around the Kaaba, in Mecca?
What is to become of humanity if we turn everything into a commodity, or if we begin to view everything through the lens of progress and advancement, all the while losing site of our wisdom and history?
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(Article) Australian research proves that Qigong helps Cancer patients
Qigong (aka Chi-Kung) is a branch of the Taoist self healing exercises or Tao of Revitalization and has been practiced for over 5,000 years by millions of people around the world. A University of Sydney research project confirms that “Cancer patients who used [Qigong] a combination of gentle exercise and meditation experienced significantly higher well-being levels, improved cognitive functioning and less inflammation compared to a control group… which deteriorated in all of these areas. (The University of Sydney, Australia)”
The benefits of reduced inflammation were particularly significant for the group practicing Qigong, stated Dr Byeongsang Oh, a clinical senior lecturer at the Sydney Medical School who led the study. The ten week project involved 162 patients, ranging in age from 31-86 years old; 34% of the participants were diagnosed with breast cancer and 12% with colorectal cancer. The group had two 90 minute classes per week and was encouraged to practice 30 minutes per day at home. In addition to the benefits already listed, the participants were pleasantly surprised when they noticed an increased satisfaction with their sex lives as well. Dr. Oh presented the results to the American Society of Clinical Oncology at a recent conference in Chicago.
Other studies involving Qigong and Cancer
This study is one of many recently that confirms the tremendous healing ability of the Taoist exercises, whether they are Tai Chi, Qigong or the Tao of Revitalization. Presently, the Richard Stockton College of NJ is conducting research regarding the ability of Tai Chi to reduce joint pain in breast cancer patients. In China, Dr. Pao Ling conducted a study with over 2,800 terminal cancer patients involving Qigong therapy as their treatment regimen. After a six month period 59% of the patients were cured or showed significant improvement and 41% showed no improvement. You read that correctly, that’s 59% of the people being cured or significantly improved with Qigong as the only treatment in only six months!
It is very promising to see modern scientists and researchers’ confirming what was previously discovered by Taoists over 6,000 years ago. The modern researchers do not understand how these “exercises” produce such miraculous results, however, the ancient Taoists did and still do understand the how and why.
How is this possible?
Dr. Stephen T. Chang beautifully summarizes the process in “The Complete System of Self Healing”: “The Internal Exercises were arrived at by ancient Taoists through careful study and application of the physical laws of nature and the natural principles of healing. Their conformity to these physical laws-the same laws that govern the human body-confer upon the Internal Exercises the special power to coax the diseased bodily parts back to its natural order, to health… When followed daily, they promote not only freedom from disease and pain, but also a wonderful sense of well-being that springs from the heart of the individual… [Taoists] emphasized that one could at the very least obtain perfect health and happiness during their lifetime. They felt that [everyone] had the right to live a life free of physical pain, mental disharmony and spiritual selflessness.”
Through these exercises, it is possible for humanity to live, develop and grow older without worrying about the ailments that most consider unavoidable or a byproduct of being alive. For the Taoists, perfect health, harmony and balance are our birthrights!
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(Article) Jesus and Lao Tzu expressing the same message
In the spirit of honoring Jesus, you are presented with an intriguing question: Are the similarities between Jesus and the Taoist sage Lao Tzu merely coincidental or are they expressing the same message?
In the Bible there is a period of approximately 18 years in which the life of Jesus is a great void. It is quite interesting that the historians, disciples and early church scholars/scribes, made sure to document the birth of Jesus, events up to age 12 and approximately the final three years of his life.
The only mention in the Bible of Jesus’ life during these lost years is vague at best, in Luke 2:52 “And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man.” Most of the Christian leaders and scholars assert that Jesus remained in Nazareth until the time he began to openly teach. There are others, however, who say that during those 18 years Jesus traveled to the East on the Silk Road; studying and living in China and Kashmir near northern India. There are in fact many references to Jesus in China and Kashmir, from signatures signed with the name Issa, to the temple in Ladakh, Kashmir-India which tells the story of the “Life of Saint Issa, Best of the Sons of Men”, Issa is Arabic for Jesus. These are just a few of the many references to Jesus being in the East.
Putting aside for the moment your feelings of the possibility that Jesus traveled to China and Kashmir during those 18 years; let’s explore some of Jesus’ teachings from the New Testament and compare them to what Lao Tzu said in the Tao Teh Ching approximately 500 years before Jesus as well as the I-Ching recorded several thousand years prior to Jesus’ birth.
Please note all Biblical quotes are from the King James Version of The Holy Bible by Regency and Thomas Nelson Publishers. Tao Teh Ching is referenced from the “Tao Teh Ching” by Gia-Fu Feng and Jane English and “The Complete I-Ching” translated by Alfred Huang.
Matthew 26:52
Then said Jesus unto him, Put up again thy sword in his place: for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword.
Tao Teh Ching section 74
…There is always an official executioner.
If you try to take his place,
It is like trying to be a Master Carpenter and cutting wood.
If you try to cut wood like a master carpenter,
You will only hurt your hand.
Matthew 5:5
Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.
Tao Teh Ching section 76
…The hard and strong will fall.
The soft and weak will overcome.
Let’s further examine Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, his most famous and perhaps most important message for humanity. Read this section a few times, even if you are familiar to it, and then pay close attention to the quotes from the Tao Teh Ching section 67 and the I-Ching Hexagram 15.
Matthew 5, 6 & 7, quoted here 5:3-12
…Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.
Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.
Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled
Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.
Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.
Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.
Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.
Tao Teh Ching section 67
…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.
I-Ching Hexagram 15, Qian- Humbleness
Humbleness, Prosperous and Smooth.
It is the Tao of Heaven to send its energy down shining upon all beings.
It is the Tao of Earth to send its energy up linking with Heaven.
It is the Tao of Heaven to decrease the full and increase the humble.
It is the Tao of Earth to alternate the full and make the full humble.
It is the Tao of spirit to harm the full and bless the humble.
It is the Tao of humans to dislike the full and love the humble.
The humble is honored to radiate its brilliance.
When the humble is in a lower position, he does not lose his principle.
Thus the superior person is able to carry his principle through to the end.
In the article, “What is Tao?” it was revealed that Tao means God and Da Tao translates as Great God or Great Tao. Here we also see the emphasis on humbleness, love, contentment and courage, with references to the Tao of Heaven shining down upon all etc… The very same characteristics Jesus was teaching in his Sermon on the Mount. Further articles are needed to discuss the similarities in more depth, for now, the purpose is to begin the search and to introduce the similar message.
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2012 a Taoist year in review
2012, the year of the Dragon was an interesting year indeed. We witnessed many examples of transformation and change, good and bad, as well as apocalyptic failures of apocalyptic predictions, and a continuing slide (or fall) down an ever…(read more)
(Article) Tai Chi offers hope to breast cancer survivors with NJ college research program
“Often, breast cancer survivors must take medication known as aromatase inhibitors, which are designed to prevent the cancer from returning, but may also cause severe joint pain, similar to osteoarthritis, according to Gregg J. Cardena, a student researcher in the doctor of physical therapy program at the Richard Stockton College of New Jersey. (Qi Journal volume 22, no. 1 & Patch Newsletter)”
Many women stop taking this medication as a result of the severe joint pain, which according to Cardena increases the risk of the cancer returning. The college is offering Tai Chi classes through the Physical Therapy department’s research program, and is hopeful that Tai Chi will deliver the same extraordinary results it has for many people suffering from similar conditions. Specifically, the college wants to see if taking Tai Chi classes twice per week for eight weeks will reduce or eliminate the participant’s joint pain allowing them to complete the five year aromatase inhibitor medication schedule.
Tai Chi, or Taiji Quan & Qigong, have already been proven by many medical studies to greatly help or improve the following conditions: Alzheimer’s disease, depression, Parkinson’s disease, Fibromyalgia, Multiple Sclerosis, recovering from stroke, heart failure, high blood pressure, heart attacks, as well as other forms of cancer, to name just a few. “A 2004 study at the Wilmot Cancer Center in Rochester, NY, assigned 21 women who had been treated for breast cancer to either 12 weeks of tai chi or 12 weeks of participation in a psychosocial support group, both for 1 hour, 3 times a week. The women who practiced tai chi showed significant improvements in self-esteem and quality of life when compared with the women in the psychosocial support group. (Breast Cancer.org)”
In Asia, especially China & Japan, thousands of research studies, over several millennia, have concluded the effectiveness of Tai Chi, Qigong and Taoist self healing exercises. In Beijing, China the Xi Yuan Hospital, offers Qigong as a primary treatment for many health ailments. A large percentage of the patients choose Qigong as their therapy of choice.
This is no surprise to Taoists as the Tao of Revitalization exercises & meditations have been regarded as the foremost-superior therapy for over 5,000 years as recorded in the Taoist Classic Huangdi Neijing (world’s oldest medical book). Some readers, as well as some practitioners, might not be aware that the Taoists created both Tai Chi and Qigong as exercises and cultivation for the body, mind and spirit.
The study is coordinated under the guidance of Mary Lou Galantino, professor of physical therapy at Stockton, along with two second year physical therapy students, Nicole Piela and Mary Callens. Classes will be conducted at Gilda’s Club of South Jersey in Linwood and Kennedy Health Systems in Cherry Hill. “Women interested in participating in the study should have had a diagnosis of stage I, II or III breast cancer; have been free of disease for at least three months; be postmenopausal; taking aromatase inhibitors; and have had joint pain related to those drugs for at least three months. (Press of Atlantic City, Diane D’amico)”
If you are interested in participating in this or future studies, contact Richard Stockton College professor Mary Lou Galantino at (609) 652-4408 or by email at galantinoml@stockton.edu.
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(Article) Improve your health with one of the worlds oldest healing formulas
In the article “White rice is the great equalizer”, rice soup was mentioned as the first healing formula listed in the Huangdi Neijing, (over 5,000 years ago). Rice plays an integral role in Taoism as well as Chinese food therapy and Classical Chinese Medicine. Not only will rice bring any meal to a natural acid/alkaline balance, it also serves as the base/foundation for healing recipes. This article includes two basic formulas to help your body heal using rice. Congee has a similar consistency to porridge, if you prefer you can add more water for a consistency similar to soup.
Basic rice congee:
Thoroughly wash/rinse 1 cup of white rice, add 5 cups of water and bring to a boil. Reduce to low heat and cook for 1 hour. Serve with any dish and enjoy.
Benefits: Rice soup soothes the internal organs. It is very good for people with weak stomachs, indigestion, fermentation, extreme fatigue and aids in food absorption.
Chinese Yam congee (modified from “Chinese Herb Cooking for Health” by Dr. Wang-Chuan Chen:
- Wash ¼ cup of red jujubes and discard the pits. Wash a little less than ¼ cup of Chinese yams and divide into small pieces
- Add to basic rice congee recipe and bring to boil
- Reduce to low heat and cook for 1 hour
- Sweeten with raw sugar and serve
Benefits: “Extremely nutritious, good for those recovering from long illnesses, easy to digest and improves strength.”
You can find Chinese yams in most Chinese grocery stores and some organic markets, Whole Foods or Trader Joes etc… White rice is one of the most beneficial food staples and ingredients God has blessed humanity with. You can adapt the basic rice congee recipe as needed and adjust to your preferences. For instance, you can add: chicken, green onions, salt and pepper for a delicious meal, or drop in one egg per person, along with green onion, salt and pepper for a delicious twist to your breakfast routine.
Take the time, at least once per week, to enjoy these simple and delicious rice congee/porridge recipes. Be creative and let the Taoism Examiner know how you like them and if you come up with any of your own variations.
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(Article) Review of Critical Condition: how healthcare in America became big business…
In Critical Condition, Pulitzer Prize winners Donald L. Barlett and James B. Steele attempt to delve into a topic that many Americans say is one of the top three issues in the country today. The subtitle of the book acts as a good summary on its own: “How health care in America became big business and bad medicine”.
The inside cover states that: “More than 100 million people with inadequate or no medical coverage…Dirty examination and operating rooms in doctor’s offices and hospitals…Health care executives pulling in millions in bonuses for denying treatment to the sick…This may sound like the predicament of a third world nation, but this is America’s health care reality today.”
The authors did a thorough job researching many different aspects of what is wrong or ailing in the American health care industry. The term health care industry is one aspect they spend quite some time on, with the opinion that health care should not be viewed as an industry.
The basic view of Barlett and Steele is that the “free market” has destroyed or ruined America’s health care and the attempt to run health care as an industry, similar to the auto or manufacturing industries, is one of the leading causes for the problems in America’s healthcare. They advocate for the Federal Government to provide a single payer health care system similar to Canada and other, as the authors state many times, civilized nations.
Placing this premise aside the authors do reveal many problems with the American approach to healthcare including: hospitals overcharging the uninsured and patients paying cash, insurance companies receiving discounted rates from hospitals, pharmaceutical companies advertising directly to the general public rather than to Dr.’s in private journals, rampant fraud, pharmaceutical and insurance company lobbyists influence in Washington politics, Doctors being disempowered by insurance companies, Big Pharm. Industry being too powerful for the FDA to effectively regulate etc…
Each issue or fault is given its own chapter with the following titles:
- A Second-Rate System
- Wall Street Medicine
- Anatomy of a Systems Failure
- The Labyrinth of Care
- Madison Avenue Medicine
- The Remedy
- Epilogue: Medicine in the Media
In general the book serves as a good primer on the very important issue of Healthcare in America. However, the authors in their zeal to prove that “free market” economics has ruined health care failed to share what, if anything, is working well in the American approach to health care. They list some solutions or remedies as they call them; however, they only devote 12 pages to the remedies after using 227 pages to list the problems.
The main remedy the authors propose is, as previously mentioned, that the government should provide a single payer system, and this singular unbalanced focus, is one of the drawbacks of an otherwise good book. No mention is made of other possible solutions without completely socializing health care as so many other countries have. From the authors’ perspective, the single payer solution is the only solution, and that lack of openness to other sides of this issue is why the review is three stars out of five.
As an example of another solution, we could look at the Taoist approach to health, and how healthcare was delivered in two “golden age” dynasties in ancient China: the Han (206 BCE-220CE) & Tang (618 CE-907 CE) dynasties. The Taoist practitioner’s role, especially during these two dynasties, was/is to first and foremost prevent ailments of body, mind and spirit. The practitioner would charge a fee, or accept a donation for the classes/lessons and consultations on prevention; however, if the student became ill anytime during the lessons, the Taoist was obligated to treat the student for free.
This philosophical mandate, and others, served as a natural way to prevent many of the problems Barlett and Steele discuss in Critical Condition. There is an old Taoist proverb that would serve modern day physicians well: “the highest healer teaches people how not to get sick, the lowest level healer focuses on those who are already sick”.
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