Omega II: Visiting with the Sages
Day 2 - Evening Session - Part 7

by Alisa Joaquin

At this point Rob asked if they passed out all the paperwork earlier. David replied, no, that it was all there (at the small stage). Rob then got into talking about the notes that he did on his Nine Psalms. He said he made up the Nine Psalms idea, and added his notes with David's into a structured format; where it hopefully would inspire more thought then if they had spelled everything out for us. Rob expressed once again how important it was to be expressive and to make things our own. Though we may have this reference material, we should use it more as a guide. He mentioned that some of the material was going to go on a website. Which one, I am not certain, whether it was David's or Rob's (if Rob has one). The point Rob wanted to make was that this was a living system and that we should continue to create that living system. He stated that this does not have to be a production and we can make it a sutle as we like, but the point was to enjoy and have fun with it. I still have those notes and I take them out and read them. Though the only time I have to really practice is simply going to my own kung fu class, I try to apply what I have learned from Rob and David. It does make a difference in how I view my own kung fu training. There is one set of notes I would like to include here and that's David's NOWISM.

NOWism

Nothing exists but the present

FLIGHT

INSIGHT

CONTROL

ENTHUSIASM

MOLECULAR ENERGY

ATOMIC ENERGY

FULLY PRESENT

Put emotion into your moves. Your exercises and your everyday actions.

Your work, Your play. Eat your breakfast with grace and gusto.

Drive your car with rhythm and delicacy.

Play the keys of your computer with style, like a musical instrument.

Enjoy everything, even pain, sorrow. Revel in being alive.

Love, anger, joy, hatred, softness, hardness, fierceness, kindness, hunger, weariness, boredom, anxiety. Deal with it all, as you move.

Will the wrinkles from your brow. Imagine you see, hear better. Touch what's not there. Taste your own mouth. Taste the air you breathe. Smell the roses in your mind.

You always have a choice.

You're born. You get ego. You want to be admired.

Once again, it shows his wit, his sense of poetry, and his enthusiasm about life. He is as much a philosopher as his character Caine, even more so, because he has learned what life has to offer, and he is still learning to this day.

When the notes were being passed out, David mentioned that in Rob's notes there were pictures. He referred to them as little squiggles. He said that they showed the kind of movement that each of the Nine Psalms involved. David apologized that he was not able to get those drawing in, but Rob added that he thinks the notes were better that way because we can visualize those details ourselves by using our own imagination. And I agree with Rob here. If you go back and read Rob's explanation of each of the Nine Psalms throughout this written account, and I encourage anyone who reads this to print those out and try them for yourselves. Just have fun with them. You might even be surprised that you are doing certain moves already that can be applied and thought up as a Tai Chi move or ever a Kung Fu move. Rob also stated not to be afraid to create your own shapes. He stated that some of his own shapes came from the yin and yang sign or the eight directions of the I Ching. HE used the analogy of the zipper-type ride at a carnival for doing a half yin and yang shape. It would be like cracking a whip. He also said that he taught with a chalk board. One of his students would draw a squiggle and he would then have them try to do that shape, trying to make it come alive.

Rob asked if there were any questions at that point and one person asked regarding the meditations if there were any English translations to the Suttas.

Heidi Singh spoke up and said there were and that there were various suttas. She indicated that there were different suttas for different traditions. Among the handouts where two readings, one being the Eight Verses for Training the Mind which I happen to have a copy of when I saw the Dalai Lama speak at American University on November 8, 1998. Heidi Singh spoke about a little history of the sutta and how it was passed down by word of mouth. She also mentioned there was one by Thich Nhat Hanh, whom I also had the pleasure of seeing. He came to the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Fairfax, I believe that same year (though much earlier in the year) and soon afterward, they opened their own Mindfulness Center there (http://www.geocities.com/~uucoff/mpc.htm).

The second reading is what she shared with us at Omega. It is called Karaniya Metta Sutta. It is from Buddha Vandana which was published by Dharm Vijaya Buddhist Vihara. She mentioned there was a book called "Buddism in Translation" by Henry Clark Warren and that contained a lot of the suttas in English translation.

End of Day 2 - Evening Session - Part 7

Alisa Joaquin Copyright@2001.
This personal account cannot be reprinted or sold in any other form without strict permission from the author. It is being distributed here solely for your enjoyment.

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