Beijing 2008

It is obvious to any who have studied Chinese history that 2008 is not just an Olympic event, it is China’s coming out party after a 1,000 year sleep. I personally think the 2 major civil wars and 2 major world wars as well as a world wide depression within a 50-year period had something to do with waking her up. The one thing that can be made certain now is that China is wide awake, has taken her bath, exercised her flab away, and is now finishing with the final touches of grace as only the Chinese can do it.

China is ready to take her place in the world.

I’ll try to give you a hint of what’s happening from a trip I made to Beijing but first I need emphasize that Beijing cannot be visualized through books, pictures, or conversation. It must be experienced first hand for even the most basic beginning of understanding. In Ci Xi’s Summer Palace are 10,000 oil paintings of China’s history and this is just what you see in the beginning. The Temple of Heaven is a 300-hectare scientific laboratory for sound, wind, astronomy, light, agriculture, architecture, map making, mathematics, craftsmanship, and meditation to name a few.

I took a week-long Chinese style tour where each day we visited a minimum of 4 historic sites, 2 shopping malls , And attended lectures on topics as varied as Chinese Medicine and Massage given by Beijing University Professors to the proper preparation, qualities and medicinal functions of Tea given at Empress Dowager Ci Xi’s Summer Palace to Silk weaving, Jade carving & Fung Sheui to name a few, and this was the schedule each day from 7:30 AM until 7:30 PM. And, I could still see many, many more historical sites that were missed as we 14 tourists were chauffeured from site to site.

Needless to say the few hours we were able to stay in each historic monumental plantation could not do it justice other than to be able to say that we’ve been there. The weeklong trip can only be viewed as a brief introduction. We were only able to walk the Great Wall of China for two hours and 30 minutes… A month may give the sites I saw in a week proper justice in respect of taking photographs, seeing all of the sites, and comparing repetitive themes in artwork so as to see what was being communicated to the future.

We had a driver, a security guard that kept us from getting too scattered as well as very safe, and our guide that held a B.S. in Chinese History who continued the lectures, answered questions and gave us choices during the drive time. All were exceptionally professional. Not a minute was wasted.

I understand some Chinese and there were 5 bi-lingual members of the group which allowed me to travel Chinese style although it seemed that the English medium groups had the same schedule and employee structure as ours. The total cost of the trip was $400. in U.S. Dollars for Airfare from Hong Kong, a 3 star hotel, 3 meals a day, entrance fees, samples, and a small bus. We each gave about 50 U.S. dollars tip, for the week, to our guides as they were exceptional. The bellboy was tipped $1. The most I saw spent on souvenirs was about $400 US dollars by someone that bought antiques, pearls, a large jade statue and makeup. Prices are about 1/3 to 1/10 that in USA after bargaining is finished.

Bring camera, clothes, your own basic toiletries including soap, an umbrella, and some suntan oil and a backpack to leave in the van.

I requested food with no MSG to be added, as I am very sensitive to it, and each meal was prepared perfectly. It was the best Chinese style meals I have ever experienced and I have lived in Asia now for over 4 years.

Meditation of TEA

The function of Tea in meditation escaped me until I made a trip to the Taoist temples in Beijing.

Often I think of Tea as just something to buy at the supermarket. Even here in China it has been this way. I've learned to enjoy teas as here it is everywhere and it is free with dinner, meetings etc. But I did not see the lifestyle of Tea or the true meanings of the word.

To make a Tea, Is to extract the essence out of something by boiling it, whereas by "boiling" it can be literally with hot water or by heated actions. Either way the essence is extracted. This is also the ancient way of making medicines for the sick.

I watched an old man drink a cup of tea after work.

As soon as he was served in the busy tea house, his attention focused only on the small cup resting like a dot in the center of the small round table. As he watched the steam drifting up a few inches and disappearing, it was as if the tenseness of the day was rising on the steam. I could almost see the weight lifting from his back as his shoulders and facial expression relaxed.

He mildly placed both hands around his cup as if guarding it from all outsiders and softly stroked it with the tips of his fingers while teasing the steam with his breath. First, gently blowing the steam away and then inhaling the fragrant vapors into his nose. It was as if he was whispering to his mate. His face relaxed into an expression of baby-like innocence.

When he sipped, it was more like a kiss as he even closed his eyes the first few times his lips touched the small cup, afterwards, he slightly opened them to follow the cup to the table. Finally when the tea was about half gone, he just held it and looked deeply in the depths as his workday passed out of his mind. It was clear that he was meditating.

In the center of the capital of the worlds most populated nation where, a few blocks away, over one hundred twenty million people passed through a single train station on Chinese New Years day, he was alone with his tea as if resting by a lake high in the mountains.

He was once again back to his essence, the excess baggage of the workday was gone.

When leaving, he took with him the expression of innocence that had found him. I could see he had found a mindset the Chinese call "wu-wei" or going with the flow.

As I looked around the room, I could see that he was not the inventor of this meditation. It seemed to be as old as Chinese tea.

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A few words from Asian Phillosophy (Meniscus)

Heaven, when it is about to place great responsibility on us, first tests our resolution, wears out our sinews and bones with toil, exposes our body to starvation, subjects us to extreme poverty, frustrates our efforts so as to stimulate the mind, and toughens our nature to make good our deficiencies.

Only when intentions become visible on our faces and audible in our voices can others understand them.

We, for the most part, can only mend our ways after mistakes have been made and shame has been realized. Thus to be without shame is to be only a child without experience, discipline or learning.

As a rule, a state without law abiding families and trustworthy Gentlemen on the one hand, and, on the other without the threat of external aggression, will perish.

Only then do we realize, from the above statements, that anxiety and distress lead to intelligent life and that ease and comfort end in ignorant death.

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