I had the great honor of being invited to China for the International Taoism Forum held during 22-25.10.2011. The forum was organized by Hunan Organizing Committee of International Taoist Forum and sponsored by Chinese Taoist Association, China Religious Culture Communication Association, Hong Kong Taoist Association, Macao Taoist Association and Chinese Taoist Society (Taipei, Taiwan)
The forum took place in China, Hunnan province, at Nanyue Hengshan mountain (南岳衡山). The mountain area was extremely beautiful. About 300 invited guests were present. The guests were Taoist leaders, internationally recognized experts and scholars, and personalities from political, economic and cultural circles. Most of the invited people were coming from China, Hong Kong, Macau and Singapore. About 20 people were from Europe. There were also people from Australia, USA, Canada and Mexico. The media was also following the forum and the reporters from newspapers and staff from TV-stations were present.
The forum itself had been organized with utmost care and consideration. There were guides and transportation between sites. The language barriers were overcome with simultaneous translations to English (and to Chinese when the speakers were not native Chinese speakers). The accommodation was in very high class hotels like five-star Changde Cohere Hotel. At the hotel there were choice between Western and Chinese food. I chose to eat Chinese food. The food was exquisite. (I miss it already). And as a foreign guest I had the luxury of having very friendly and talented personal guide arranged to help and escort me around. She informed me about everything I wished to know and organized the transportation to seminars I wished to attend.
The topics of the forums were:
The focus of discussions and presentations were mostly about Taoism and its meaning for modern world and how the ancient Taoist ideas, values and practices might benefit the modern society and ease the crisis that the whole world is currently facing. The future of the planet looks disastrous if something is not done. The forum was intended to promote Taoism and to introduce ideas for the change needed.
In the presentations the Taoist ideals of simplicity of life and quieting the over fast pace of living was seen as balancing factor for consumerism and industry. The caring of nature and the fundamental Taoist conception that the humans being are part of the nature is more and more important in modern life. Without these ideals the ever growing industrial development, expanding cities and ever growing capitalism with lack of morals will soon use up and destroy the natural resources and balance. As the people will have hard time finding balance between the desire for more luxurious life style and simplicity needed to conserve new ways of more fulfilling and satisfying lifestyle must be found. The advancements in science and ecological fields was seen as one way of creating both success and preserving the nature.
The ideal of tolerance was clearly apparent in speeches. The dialogue between East and West and between different religions was greatly encouraged. The utilization of new scientific discoveries were cherished. Instead of blaming or judging there was hope for new ways of co-operation and returning to ancient values of honoring the nature.
The essence of Taoism is harmony, purity and simplicity. The harmony between the humans and the nature is essential for well-being for humans and nature. The harmony in society is essential for success of its members and the harmony within an individual can bring spiritual and physical well-being.
The forum also held great promise for everyone interested in Chinese Medicine or should I say in this content Taoist medicine. There were many people having great concern about the loss of roots in constant modernization of Chinese medicine. The attendees, as one can guess, were well aware of broadness of the ancient philosophy and knew the Taoist basis of Chinese medicine. During the forum I spoke with many people interested in making these ancient roots more available and known. Many researcher, Taoist priests and Chinese medicine professionals were interested in translating and making public the ancient Taoist classics containing ancient medical knowledge. Many wanted include ancient classics to teaching of Chinese medicine. The promotion of ancient classics, Taoist, Buddhist and medical writings was seen as the way to help the people truly to understand the Chinese medicine. It will contribute overall quality of practice of Chinese medicine everywhere.
If we together can initiate the changes that were brought up in the discussions the Chinese medicine will in the future see more translations, publication of classics in many languages and better availability of medical classics that western people have not seen before. Many classics and other writings are currently only available in the temples but they can be made available also in electronic forms. This is great news for every researcher, translator and members of general public interested in Taoism and Chinese/Taoist medicine.
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Were you speaking about acupuncture there? I hope to be able to attend your lectures again!
Actually I did write (or tried to write) about beauty of Neiguan practices and “non-religious” forms of Taoism in the West. I did not submit my writing. I had too little time and I was not satisfied with it.
I could not stop thinking about the audience. All those priests. I understand that the essays were not asked to be perfect but I still felt like I was a little boy giving advises his own parents. (But I am still bit embarrassed about not submitting anything.) But this way I did not need to be nervous there and I could listen better what others were speaking.
I much prefer ifnormative articles like this to that high brow literature.
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