Ron: Over the last several months, almost on a weekly basis, GQ has been teaching me the Chinese language and giving me insights about the Chinese culture. To see the Chinese culture from inside the language is amazing. We, in our world, define words by class and what is distinct in that class. We look at a "tree," and call it an "oak," and then identify what makes it special in that class, a white oak, black oak, pin oak. The Chinese understand words by an association of sound and images. They bring pictographs and phonetics together and derive meaning from the combination. It’s a whole different way of looking at the world. Language becomes art … and GQ has my "report card" on how well I’m doing in mastering the art of the Chinese language.

GQ: It is wisely said that Sundays are not good days to lie … since Sundays are the time to be with God, … so tomorrow I can say your Chinese is wonderful!!!

Ron: The main thing I want to learn from my Chinese is to glimpse the Tao Te Ching in its original language. In the West, next to the Bible, the Tao Te Ching is the most translated and distributed scripture. We have many versions of it. And too, many books are written appealing to the philosophy: The Tao of Physics, The Tao of Power, the Tao of Leadership. I’ve read translations of that Tao Te Ching. GQ is giving me an opportunity to hear it in its original. The Tao Te Ching was written by Lao Tzu, over here in our windows. And I’ve asked GQ to tell us a little bit about it.

GQ: Lao Zi, the most important philosopher of China, lived in the 6th century BC. He wrote the Tao De Jing , only used about 5,000 words, but they constitute the foundation of the Chinese culture. Here I would like to read our selection from chapter two in Chinese. [Reads selection from chapter two in Chinese.]

Ron: Here is a translation: "Under heaven all can see beauty as beauty only because there is ugliness, all can know good as good only because there is evil. Therefore having and not having arise together, difficult and easy complement each other, long and short contrast each other. So that everything is relative, these two spring from the same source but differ in name."

GQ: The circle represents the universe and the white portion represents the Yang, the male force, and the dark portion represents the Yin, the female force. They are equal in every way except the color. They coexist and are in a dialectical tension with each other. The circle turns and generates energy. I learn about life mainly through my vocal study. Not only the ancient Chinese Lao Zi thought so, also the Italian old school of singing says about the mature singing voice must have the color of  "Dark and Bright" at the same time, in order for the singer to achieve the maxim beauty, power, and vocal health. It is the opposing force that brings the effortlessness in singing.

Ron: The electrical charge of a magnet is positive and negative. They pull against each other, yet they need each other. Take away one, and it would no longer be a magnet. We see the Tao, the Way, this dialectical play of opposites, in everything. All creation evolves with its dialectical counterpart. Full and empty. Tense and relaxed. The extension of force and the yielding to force—this is what Tai Chi is all about. We see the circle of the Tao turning in beauty and ugliness, good and evil, difficult and easy, having and not having, long and short. We see the circle of the Tao turning in summer and winter, day and night, waking and sleeping. One side follows the other, as two fish, each chasing the tail of the other. The energy of all power, the flow in all conflict, works according to this dialectical principle of Yin and Yang. All conflict takes place in a larger circle of the whole. Consider the implications of this! There is no enemy to eliminate, for the enemy is a part of us. The trick is to find the balance. There’s a quote in the movie, "Jeremiah Johnson," attributed to Native Americans … "A person’s character depends on the strength of the enemy."

Experience with yielding, application of Yin-Yang Principles 

GQ If we do things without the understanding the rules of the universe, the direct result was that Northbrae almost had lost the tenor section leader. A couple of years ago, I was swimming in the Crissy Bay in San Francisco, and I had no knowledge about the current, so I have encountered one, and it was dragging me out to the ocean, great fear flooded me and I tried and tried to swim toward the shore, but it seemed I was not moving at all, only later I was able to get on the shore with exhaustion and gratitude. Then people told me that I should have swam parallel to the current and not to fight with it. Now I have try to practice not to fight with current in life either.

Ron: I had a similar experience swimming in the "Firehole River" in Yellowstone National park. This river was geyser fed, and hence, is like a heated swimming pool. We’d shoot the rapids down to a small pond of water. Then the river narrowed and shot through a groove in the rock, taking a right angle turn. It was fun trying to swim through that groove, except I’d end up with bloody knees and bloody elbows. I remember my frustration, and later my amazement, when I learned to relax, to not fight those rocks, and to just flow with the current. Floating like a limp piece of moss, the whole world slowed down. I had much more control, gently touching the rock and pushing off in the direction I wanted to go. And, it was much more fun. I look back at that moment, and while I didn’t know the word at the time, that was when I first learned what the principle of the Tao feels like.

GQ: Talking about fighting with the force, Chinese people know the America under the current leadership is in war. It is sad for us to see the great nation once a hero, and now, "war" is such an often used word in the America, war on terrorism, war on obesity, war on anorexia, war on this, war on that. I think the reason we have wars is that we have wars inside of ourselves; from the Taoism point of view it is caused by losing of the balance, it can only achieved by the opposing powers and the acceptance of them.

Ron: In our culture, people don’t like conflict. We either want to avoid conflict, or we want to run over our enemies and destroy them so we don’t have conflict any more. The Tao of the Chinese culture offers us a different alternative: to embrace conflict and find in it the gift that it holds for us. The gift that opposition offers us, in the opposition itself. Instead of a struggle, it becomes a dance. A dance, until the movement of Tai Chi finds its natural balance in the stillness of Wu Chi.