LEADING A MEANINGFUL, REWARDING AND WHOLESOME LIFE

Smiling from the Heart

Smiling from the heart

Question

In the Treatise of Zhang San Feng you mention: "When you have the unity of spirit and energy, you have accomplished the essential practice of Taijiquan and in life. It is a sign showing that you have practiced correctly and live your life well. It is a sign that you have attained the essence of Taijiquan and have a meaningful, rewarding life".

I remember that in Ireland you also mentioned to us to live our lives wholesomely.

Can you please explain what are the most important aspects for leading a meaningful, rewarding and wholesome life?

Santi

Answer

To lead a meaningful, rewarding and wholesome life, we need to know what do we mean by “meaningful”, “rewarding” and “wholesome”. Then we select some guidelines that contribute to leading a meaningful, rewarding and wholesome life.

To be meaningful implies that our life has a meaning. To be rewarding implies that our life brings us benefit. To be wholesome implies that we successfully develop every part of our life.

Different people, obviously, have different interpretations. To many people the meaning of life is to get a good job, get married or have a partner, and carry on living as healthily and long as they can.

If they are successful in living their life in this way, their life is rewarding. If, for example, they have to work very hard but are badly paid, they quarrel frequently with their spouses, they die young or are often sick, their life is not rewarding.

There are numerous ways to classify the different parts of our life. We may, for example, classify our life as being physical and intellectual, or being private and social. We may classify the different stages of our life, like childhood, adulthood and old age. If a person is physically healthy but intellectually weak, or being successful in public but leads a miserable private life, or has a happy childhood but is pathetic in old age, we may not call his life wholesome.

Next, it is helpful to select some guidelines. As the Treatise of Zhang San Feng concerns practicing a great martial art, which includes spiritual cultivation, it may not be suitable for leading a meaningful, rewarding and wholesome life. It does not mean that the Treatise is unsuitable. We may select certain aspects of the Treatise to help us in our life.

The Treatise focuses on cultivating spirit and nourishing energy. We can use these two aspects to make our life more meaningful, rewarding and wholesome.

A good set of guidelines is our Ten Shaolin Laws, which are as follows:

  1. Required to respect the master, honour the Moral Way and love fellow disciples as brothers and sisters.
  2. Required to train the Shaolin arts diligently, and as a pre-requisite, to be physically and mentally healthy.
  3. Required to be filial to parents, be respectful to the elderly, and protective of the young.
  4. Required to uphold righteousness, and to be both wise and courageous.
  5. Forbidden to be ungrateful and unscrupulous, ignoring the laws of man and heaven.
  6. Forbidden to rape, molest, do evil, steal, rob, abduct or cheat.
  7. Forbidden to associate with wicked people; forbidden to do any sorts of wickedness.
  8. Forbidden to abuse power, be it official or physical; forbidden to oppress the good and bully the kind.
  9. Obliged to be humane, compassionate and spread love, and to realize everlasting peace and happiness for all people.
  10. Obliged to be chivalrous and generous, to nurture talents and pass on the Shaolin arts to deserving disciples.
These ten laws transcend all race, culture and religion. They are not prohibitive but are a practical guide to high moral values. These laws will surely make our life meaningful, rewarding and wholesome.

Whenever we practice our arts, we smile from the heart. Smiling from the heart is spiritual cultivation. It makes us peaceful and happy. When we are peaceful and happy our life, irrespective of different interpretations, will be meaningful, rewarding and wholesome.

The aims of our school will contribute to making our life meaningful, rewarding and wholesome. The aims are as follows:

  1. Good health.
  2. Vitality.
  3. Longevity.
  4. Mental clarity.
  5. Spiritual joys.
To realize the aims, we just have to practice any of our arts at a level suitable to us.

Hence, the most important aspects leading to a meaningful, rewarding and wholesome life are

  1. High moral values, like our Ten Shaolin Laws
  2. Spiritual cultivation, like smiling from the heart
  3. Practicing our arts

Meaningful, rewarding and wholesome life

Leading a meaningful, rewarding and wholesome life

The questions and answers are reproduced from the thread Questions to Grandmaster on Wudang Kungfu/Taijiquan & Zhang San Feng in the Shaolin Wahnam Discussion Forum.

LINKS

Overview