02/11/2026
The Book of Balance and Harmony –
windows on an ancient text
Online Thursday evenings at 7:00, beginning February 12.
Taoism is perhaps more ancient and shamanic in its roots than any great spiritual tradition on
this planet. It has expressed itself in many poetic, and often obscure and alchemical ways; as
well as in the simplest and most naturalistic ways. The same roots show up in the teachings
of Confucius.
Buddhism in China borrowed heavily from the spirit of Taoism to arise as Zen. In turn, when
the later divergent schools of Taoism sometimes got lost in fascinating and secondary pursuits
that missed the essential point, the later reformers borrowed back the essential teachings from zen to renew the essential understanding of the Tao.
This led to a great inter-spiritual under-
standing and school of teaching that united and cross-referenced the essential message of
Taoism, Confucianism, and Buddhism at their roots.
So much is conveyed in so few words of the Taoist teaching, that we could spend a long time
examining and learning to apply the meaning of just a few phrases – and translating them
from terse poetry to meaningful practice.
In our new Thursday evening Zoom program, starting this week, we will enter in to that study
together, slowly and with humility, to demystify and parse the significance of such words as
heaven and earth; body, energy, and vitality; awareness, essence, and spirit; calmness and
openness; the mysterious within the mysterious.
Our text says: “The enlightened make their energy and spirit complete.... The consummation
of humanity is to establish life in the center of heaven and earth, to make essence of the
endowment of open awareness. Establishing essence and life, spirit is therein.”
To me, that accords with what we may call “The Blessing Way.”
You may register under Programs on our website, The Whole Health Center.org
We will send you our program link, if you don't have it.
