Go Wash Your Bowl

Participating in the Peaceful Dragon entails more than just going to class.  Each month there is a lesson that is sent out via email.  These lessons are geared to enhance your understanding of the Shaolin studies and principles that we do not have time to go over during our normal class sessions.  So there's homework that is due every month.  Nothing strenuous, but it provides a great insight into the core teachings that you can apply to your everyday life.  Here I thought homework would stop when I got my other degree. Oh well...life goes on...

While reading this month's lesson, I particularly enjoyed a chinese parable that was at the heart of the first lesson:

A young student arrived at the Temple, anxious to embark on the training that would lead him to enlightenment. Upon being introduced to the master, the student proclaimed, “I have just entered the monastery, ready to learn. Please teach me.”

The master asked him, “Have you eaten your breakfast?” 

“Yes,” replied the student, “I just finished.” 

“Then go wash your bowl,” replied the master.

Now at fist glance I thought, "boy this master needs an attitude adjustment."  But after reading the rest of the lesson and working on the homework assignment I began to realize the lesson that the Master was trying to convey.  In every new adventure our imagination tends to paint a picture that we will be elevated immediately to the highest level of the activity and will always have a great time.  We so often forget that, to get the to highest level of anything, there will be a great deal of time devoted to mundane (sometimes boring) tasks that we don't think are particularly fun, but are needed to teach us important skills along the way.  We students need to understand that we must take every task and apply what we have learned in order to get the most out of living.  The experiences in life are here to help us learn and become more intricately woven within the fabric of existence.  Now washing dishes does not seem to be the most enlightening activity, but understanding how a clean and organized environment can help reduce stress and elevate your mood is worth its weight in gold.

I am starting to understand that every activity, task, and relationship, that is set before us is a time to learn and experience what it is to be human.  Maybe these chinese monks where on to something!   

the Path of the Black Shirt

Well I did it. Last Thursday I made the leap into being a Black Shirt at the Peaceful Dragon.  It is a big thing for me to tell you the truth.  It is my commitment of not only learning a Martial Art again, but it also signifies my commitment to my weight loss goal.  It will be cool to get into sparring and to finally get into learning weapons.  It was cool though to get my first class as a Back Shirt taught by Sifu.  We were sweating by the end of that class with quads that burned.

I am excited to see what is to come.  You never know.  I may start competing again if I don't get beat up too bad in practice.

Cost vs Benefit: a Decision of Delayed Gratification

*** THIS IS A DELAYED POST! *** This was written back when I achieved "B" block status with Tai Chi about a month ago. Enjoy! ***

I am sitting here at the Dining Room table thinking about how sometimes you really want something, but to attain that something you must give up something else.  Cryptic I know, but I am having a real life decision at the moment based on my opportunity to move into the Disciple Program at the TPD.  I was fortunate enough to sit down with Sifu today and go over the benefits of this program and of course the costs associated with access to more activities it offers.  The cost increase to move into this program was not extreme by any means, compared to what I am already paying.  In fact, I was all ready to sign the paper to move into the program, but one thing stood in my way.  I could not get a hold of my wife to talk over the increase financial investment and to see how it would impact our current financial plan.  See in our household my wife and I have clearly defined roles in our new single income family.  I make the money and figure out how it can be spent as quickly as possible.  She is the keeper of the family budget and the director of the "Snap Dada back into reality" foundation.  This is a balance that has definitely worked for us so far.

A little back story for a minute.  3 years ago my wife and I started our married life with some substantial debt that we both accrued separately.  We were both working and making good money (for ourselves) at the time, but we also wanted children.  After doing the numbers, we found out that if we both worked and sent our child to day care, that we would basically be taking my wife's paycheck and give it directly to some day care agency.  We looked at that and decided that when we had kids, we both wanted her to stay home to raise our children.  However, in order to do that we would have to pay down a substantial amount of debt to even think about making that into a reality.  So we made a goal.  Pay down the debt to a predetermined amount and then we could start our family.  This way, we would be in a position to live off of one income and take care of our child the way we wanted to.  Now some people would think that is just a waste of effort, that debt comes back regardless of what you do.  Just have the kids when they come and just grin and bare it when it happens (no pun intended ladies).  But to us, this is the cost we needed to incur in order to have the delayed gratification of the life we wanted to live with our family.  So to make a long story short, we downsized our life to fit within my paycheck (which was not a lot for a family to live on) and used the majority of her paycheck to pay off our debt.  It took us two years to pay down the debt, but we did it. Now we have a beautiful and healthy baby boy being taken care of by his Mummum everyday.  Just the way wanted it to be.  

Now how does this fit into my current situation?  It is all about delayed gratification and setting goals.  The increase to my TPD tuition may not be a great amount, but if I do that, what will I have to NOT do in return to balance it out?  There are many things that I know my family needs that takes a lot of money: a new house, a car for my wife (not a new one, just a car), and fixes to our current home to make it sellable in this economy to name a few.  All of these things take priority to something that purely effects me. I may make the money, but I do not just support myself.  

So even though I want to be in a black shirt more than anything, I need to understand that now is not the time for the added expense.  I am still getting a great experience with the Zen Super Boot Camp and myTai Chi classes.  I may not get to some other very neat stuff right now with Tai Chi, but a new home for my growing family means a lot more to me right now.

So I am setting a goal to save towards the Disciple program so that I will not place the added expense on our shrinking credit card debt.  I will continue with the ZSBC and my Tai Chi classes and work to continue the success that I have already started to see in my mental focus as well as my body.  I will be a black shirt, but first I must do the right thing and continue my family's efforts that are currently underway.  In the end, when I put on that black shirt, it is going to feel that much better.

Some of you may be thinking that I am writing this to talk people out of moving into the Disciple or Mastery program.  That would not be further from the truth.  I am writing this post for those like me who struggle with balance in their life.  Who may be faced with a similar decision about moving into the next level of training and feel that everyone else will be moving up and they will be left behind.  I can tell you that I felt that way while thinking this over.  What I want to convey in this post is that you have to make the correct decision for you and your family.  Members of the ZSBC have a commitment of 12 months already.  If you are like me, the time commitment alone limits the amount of activities you can participate in and still have a life outside of TPD and work.  It is ok to delay this decision to move on if you believe it is the right thing for you to do and know you are not alone.  

Guan Gong: the man and the mystery

If you come to the Peaceful Dragon, you may have wondered why, at the beginning of each class, we bow three times to a scroll on the wall of a guy that looks like a chinese version of Santa.  Is this idol worship?  Was this a past teacher of the school?  The short answer is No to both.  The picture on the scroll is of a legendary figure in Chinese history named Guan Gong.  Guan Gong is a legendary General that represents the embodiment of loyalty, righteousness, and benevolence in Chinese history and mythology.  

Guan Gong lived towards the end of the Han Dynasty in China.  He is famous for making a brotherhood pact with Lui Bei and Zhang Fei who looked to reinstate the Han Dynasty from the warlords trying to come to power.  The pact between these brothers symbolizes the true bonds of friends that look after each other in hardship.  In his battles, he was known to disarm and then free the survivors of an opposing army so that they could return home to their families and lead peaceful lives, showing his benevolence.  Unfortunately Guan gong is reported to have been captured and then beheaded during the battle with the Wu forces.  

Even though Guan Gong was a real person, his legend has far surpassed him.  Most likely his brutal death set Guan Gong as the beloved martyred hero in history.  Many chinese view him as an amalgamation of great wisdom, charity, and even warfare.  So when we bow to his depiction at the beginning of class it is out of respect of what he represents, but not of him.  It is interesting to learn about Guan Gong and what he represents.  His depiction changes depending the artist, which can provide an insight of that particular artist's period and interest in Guan Gong.  

 

If you find out anything interesting about Guan Gong, feel free to post a reply. 

Zen Super Boot Camp

As this new year has started I have already experienced some major changes in my life.  Last year the Mrs and I had our first child, who we will call the "baby boy".  I have to say that he is so rat blasted cute, that it isn't even funny.  The other major change occurred when I left a company that I had been a part of for 10+ years to start a new career in another another company.  It is a big deal to leave what you have known for your entire adult life to date and start a new life as it were as the new guy in a different industry.  However, I have determined recently that life is not a destination, but a journey we must all experience while we roam these lands of the physical world.

Well the last 10+ years of my "journey" has left me with a good bit of baggage which I am determined to drop along the roadside.  As I was stopped at a traffic light on the way to my new job, I happened to take a survey of the Chick-fil-a bags that littered the floor board.  I seriously think that I have single handedly subsidized my local Chick-fil-a over the past year, morning, noon, and night.  I should have a drive through named after me.  But I digress.

Taking a look at my surroundings gave me pause enough to finally do something about my weight and my state of mind.  Recently I have noticed my family's growing concern about my weight and its effects on my health.  I come from a family with numerous physical ailments which I could be staring down the barrel of if I don't change my ways soon.  Over the past decade I have packed on an average of 7-8 pounds extra per year until I have reached my current weight of 270 lbs.  I am only 5'-10" so you can imagine what that looks like on my frame.  According to the doc, I should be around 185 lbs for my body type.  For anyone that knows me, we all can agree that ain't going to happen.  I personally believe 200 lbs is my ideal weight for a healthy lifestyle.

I'm not going to lie, I'm a big boy and 70 pounds is a significant amount of weight to shed.  I sport a 44" waist, which took me by surprise a few weeks ago as I started buy clothes for my new job.  For some reason I have some REALLY missed placed priorities that need to be corrected.  Especially now that I have a son that will be looking up to me.  Being a good example for him really weighs on me (no pun intended).

So this brings me to my recent decision.  After some good web searching and some soul searching with the Mrs, I have decided to participate in a Zen Super Boot Camp put on by The Peaceful Dragon here in Charlotte, NC.  Now I am not sure what your thoughts are about Easter philosophy, but this is something that actually appeals to me.  I realize that the majority of my problem is mental and not necessarily physical.  The Zen Super Boot Camp is designed to work on the mind first through meditation and TaiChi which will in turn help the body respond to physical conditioning.

I know, it sounds like a 2am infomercial, but it is a serious program that has been honed over time by The Peaceful Dragon.  Plus it helps that I like the Eastern Philosophy and Martial Arts. Something has got to work and being a professional procrastinator doesn't help within the self paced lifestyle of the local gym. We will see what happens over the next year.  To participate in the program you must commit to a 12 month program that deals with meditation, TaiChi, strength training, and yes a little Kung Fu to boot.  For me to commit to a 12 month program, I must be desperate.  But sometimes you just have to let go and let God.

So follow me as I travel along the windy road of inner inspection in order to facilitate my physical correction.