Review: Lou Reed's Art of the Straight Line

 

The Art of the Straight Line: My Tai Chi
by Lou Reed and Laurie Anderson
Faber, 2023 

 Lou Reed was the singer-songwriter of The Velvet Underground before launching a solo career that lasted from the 1970’s to the 2000’s. A Grammy-winning Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee, he influenced musicians such as David Bowie, Iggy Pop, and Patti Smith. 

In addition to his artistic endeavors, Reed was a dedicated practitioner of Chen style t’ai chi. He began studying t’ai chi as he struggled to stop his drug use, which he described as ‘reckless excess.’ T’ai chi became a constant in his life. He practiced daily, whether at home or on tour and encouraged friends and acquaintances to take up t’ai chi. He studied with Ren Guangyi, a mainland Chinese master living in New York. Working with Ren, Lou Reed took t’ai chi performance art on tour in the 2000’s. He wanted to publish a t’ai chi book but struggled to get it started.

A team of friends (Scott Richman, Bob Currie, Stephan Berwick) and Laurie Anderson (his wife of 21 years) curated the book’s content and published it in 2023, ten years after his death. The book’s title page correctly describes its contents -- “A collection of Lou’ writings on t’ai chi and conversations with friends, teachers, and fellow practitioners.” While the book includes various writings, emails, and conversations with Reed, it is primarily interviews with and reminiscences of people in Reed’s circle. This included well-known fellow musicians such as Iggy Pop and Metallica guitarist Kirk Hammett, as well as friends, fellow t’ai chi practitioners and teachers. Not everyone was engaged in t’ai chi, though all share stories of finding Reed practicing t’ai chi whether on his apartment rooftop or while on tour. Those with knowledge of the Rock and Roll music scene will find sections from Lou’s fellow musicians of interest.

While t’ai chi practitioners may find the discussions of t’ai chi, push-hands, practice and a visit to Chen Village interesting, it is not a ‘sink your teeth into it’ tome on t’ai chi. Rather, the audience for this book is primarily musicians, artists and others who want to discover Lou Reed, the person.

            —Cheryl Powers

Review: The Yijing: A Guide

The Yijing: A Guide
Joseph Adler
Oxford University Press, 2021
paper, 206 pp.

A certain talent is required to render complex ideas understandable for novices. Joseph Adler, who has written extensively about the Yijing, has accomplished this in a masterful guide to the Chinese Book of Changes. The Yijing: A Guide is an excellent introduction for anyone interested in the worlds of Chinese philosophy, history, and literature. It clearly and succinctly summarizes China’s vast intellectual traditions in a very understandable manner.

In seven chapters, Adler describes the Yijing and its layers. He places the book in the context of divination from around the world, and then turns to the specifics of China’s historical and cultural context, covering early, early modern, and modern China, and Western uses of the Yijing, ending with a chapter that asks “Why the Yijing?”

Adler explains specialized Yijing terminology while keeping jargon to a minimum. He succinctly describes the parts of the Yijing, from its hexagram components to the Ten Wings. In his coverage of the Great Treatise, for example, he shows the development of important philosophical ideas and terms. Adler surveys the Yijing’s major schools (Image and Number, Meaning and Principle) and thinkers such as Shao Yong and Cheng Yi. Chapters include:

1. What is the Yijing?
2. Layers of Change
3. Yijing Divination
4. The Early History of Yijing Interpretation
5. Early Modern Views of the Yi
6. The Yijing in Modern China and the West
7. Why the Yijing?
Bibliography

Adler’s prior works include studies and translations of the great Song dynasty philosopher Zhu Xi (1130–1200), including his philosophy and his Yijing commentaries. Zhu was a pivotal figure in the Song era’s revamping of classical education.

The Yijing: A Guide is part of an affordable series that Oxford University Press produces of “Guides to Sacred Texts.” Another book in the series of interest of particular interest to Yijing readers is Livia Kohn’s The Daode Jing.

This book overlaps some in content with Richard Smith’s I Ching: A Biography and with Tze-ki Hon and Geoffrey Redmond’s Teaching the I Ching, however, Adler’s work is squarely aimed at those who are not necessarily familiar with the complexities of the Yijing or with Chinese culture. This makes it an invaluable book for college classes related to Chinese studies, as well as comparative religion, anthropology, philosophy, and literature. Students of allied arts such as Chinese medicine and martial arts will appreciate Adler’s treating theory and practice as being equally important; the Yijingis not just an academic pursuit.

 

Book Review: In the Presence of Cheng Man-Ch'ing

 

In the Presence of Cheng Man-Ch'ing: 
My Life and Lessons with the Master of Five Excellences
by William C. Phillips
Hardcover, 236 pages
Floating World Press, 2020, $24.95
ISBN: 978-0648283126

 Professor Cheng Man-ch'ing (Zheng Manqing, 1902–1975) was a noted painter, writer, herbal doctor, and taijiquan teacher. His last decade was spent in New York City. This brought him into contact with numerous young American martial artists, such as Bill Phillips, the author of this delightful memoir. Phillips, now the head of Patience T'ai Chi, describes the setting of the mid-to-late 1960s, during which numbers of skilled karate, judo, aikido, and taekwondo practitioners, after hearing about Cheng, came to study with him. Even skeptics left impressed.

In this book, we sit at Philips' side listening to Cheng's spontaneous insights about taiji. We hear the formal lectures on Laozi, Confucianism, health, morals, and art. We witness the public and the private encounters, the snapshots of Chinatown of fifty years ago. While much of the book is about Cheng Man-ch'ing and the ideas he imparted, it is told through Phillips' own life course: growing as a martial artist, seeking out a master teacher, maturing and attaining insight with age, and, following Cheng's model of sharing knowledge, becoming a teacher.

Phillips' book joins the ranks of memoirs written by direct students of Professor Cheng Man-ch'ing; in particular Wolfe Lowenthal and Robert W. Smith. All of these paint a picture of a skillful practitioner, revered by many, yet very human.

Bill Phillips does not spare himself in this look back. One year, he willingly took on the task of driving Cheng and his assistants to class, even though it was far out of his way. On one trip to the studio, Cheng and assistant conversed in Chinese, and Phillips heard his name and the word "kung fu" (gongfu) mentioned.

Naturally, I got excited. Was he preparing to tell me a secret of kungfu? Was that to be my reward for driving him? Did I know something about kung fu that he was praising? So I quickly and impolitely interrupted and asked. I was told that [Professor Cheng] had said that I should use more discipline in my driving. What about the words kung fu that I had heard, I eagerly wondered out loud. The answer was: it means discipline, as when American martial artists say, "He studies the art," and we know they are referring to a martial art, when Chinese refer to "discipline," they are referring sometimes to a specific discipline—martial art. However, in this case Professor was not. He was referring to the lack of self-discipline in my driving. I was hitting far too many potholes as I drove. My chest fell, my ego deflated.... It was the first time, but not the last time that I embarrassed myself in front of the Professor.

Those who studied with Cheng often point out that Cheng did not keep secrets. Phillips explains,

I think that many of those people [who doubted Cheng] were too stiff and strong to get a lot of what he was trying to explain. Of course, those who could not seem to get it with their first effort, rather than redouble their effort, chose to think there must be a secret he was not sharing.

Taiji people from all styles will enjoy this view of one of the leading taiji figures of the late twentieth century. Those of Cheng's direct lineage will gain more insight into his teachings and the great impact he had on a wide variety of students.

Great River Director's Book Reviewed

Great River director Barbara Davis' book The Taijiquan Classics: An Annotated Translaton is reviewed by Chinese martial arts historian Stanley Henning in the Fall 2006 issue (published Fall 2007) of China Review International. He writes, "Davis' chapters on the language and literature and ideas in the taijiquan "classics" provide the "icing on the cake"—the insights into Chinese culture, from which to savor her translations....I wholeheartedly recommend this book not only to taijiquan practitioners but also to anyone interested in Chinese martial arts and their place in Chinese culture."

Signed copies of the book are available; write to editor "at" taijiquanjournal.com for ordering information. For those who already own a copy of the book, an errata page can be found at the The Taijiquan Classics website.

New Video and Book on Cheng Man-ch'ing

Two wonderful new items about Professor Cheng Man-ch'ing have recently been released. The first, the long-hoped for "Shr Jung tapes." These were shot in New York City in the late 1960s and have only been shown at special events. Through great effort, these were edited into a coherent, thematically arranged set of four DVDs titled Cheng Man-ch'ing: The Master Tapes. Disks are Form, Push Hands, Sword, and Ch'i (encompassing informal Q & A with students, calligraphy, and flower-arranging. The DVDs, though expensive at $149, are an incredible boon for any serious student, as you are able to "be in the room" with Professor Cheng, watch him teach, and see him interact with students. Ed Young and Tam Gibbs provided translation in the original videos, and you can see many familiar faces among the participants: Maggie Newman, Ken Van Sickle, Lou Kleinsmith, Natasha Gorky Young, and others. New commentary by Ed, Maggie, and Ken make this a very meaningful presentation.


Douglas Wile has come out with another valuable book Zheng Manqing's Uncollected Writings on Taijiquan, Qigong, and Health, with New Biographical Notes (Sweet Ch'i, $11.95), this time combining Professor's own short works with those about him by Chinese students, articles from Taiwan newspapers, and Wile's own extensive essays that focus on historical and cultural context. This is a very intriguing book with much fresh material that will give food for thought.