CENTER & ROOT

A derivative work combining knowledge disseminated
to D.L.Keur
by Shaolin Shi Forrest Lineberry
and Shaolin Shi Han Lei

CENTER

BODY CENTER

Approximately 4 inches below the navel, centered inside the body between back and front is a place that is called Dan Tien. It is from this place that all movement and all depth of quietude necessary to the martial method of Shaolin does spring.

To find Dan Tien in the first steps, you may try this:
Place your hands on your belly directly over where the Dan Tien resides. Breath down to and through your hands, letting your awareness drop to that place. Now, slowly, begin to move about maintaining your hands over that place on your belly while continuing to breath to and through that place. You will find that you move differently than may feel natural to you, not just because your hands are so placed, but because your body moves differently than you are used to. At first, it will feel ackward.When it becomes your natural manner of movement, you will be ready for the next step. To get to the next step, you must practice this movement enough that your mind memorizes the feeling of the body's balance and being while doing this. When you think you have the feeling memorized, you may carefully remove your hands and continue to move thusly. When you feel yourself lose the feeling, replace your hands over the Dan Tien and begin again. When you can continue to move this way with no hands whatsoever, begin to make yourself move this way in daily life activities. Once you move this way as a natural course, you are ready to learn MIND CENTER.

MIND CENTER

Maintaining integrity of mind center is the mandate of Shaolin and extremely necessary for martial application of the Shaolin warrior art.

Mind Center is achieved by removing all emotional influences from the mind and placing them where they belong and are effective - at the Spirit Center.

Achieving Mind Center:
Move your perspective to a place of reasoned objectivity. You must see the world as it is, not as you hope it to be or fear it to be, just as it is. Your awareness must feel as your body feels when sitting comfortably but with attention. The place of thinking is moved to the front and the back and bottom at the same time. Never to either one side or another. Often to find this place in the mind, we say to drop the awareness to center, or down to the Dan Tien. This is a trick used to bring students to do it right. Sometimes it is said to drop the awareness to the solar plexis or power center. This is also a trick. The mind resides in the mind, or, to say another way, the thoughts resides in the thought place. Those thoughts must be quiet and attentively contemplitive, observing, not deciding. Only in this way can the opinions of the person not gain predominance over judgement, and, judgement must be of what is for a warrior, not of what is wished or feared. When you can at least find this space, you can begin to work on Spirit Center.

SPIRIT CENTER

Spirit Center is the center of self. It is the place where what you call intuition gives the warrior notice of danger. Only at Spirit Center can one hear the rest of the world's intent and move before harm. The Spirit Center uses emotions as it paintbrush to communicate what is happening and what will happen. Most hide Spirit Center from others and from themselves. This brings to them blindness, deafness and unfeelingness which is the root cause of misery and ineffective living. this is also the root cause of that which brings others to harm others - their misery inflicted upon the world. Instead of hiding the Spirit Center, guard the Spirit Center from touch by all others except those most trusted, but never guard that Spirit Center from yourself. (Those most trusted must truly be those who would never betray you, hence many Shaolin never allow touch by any as very few are worthy of that depth of trust. I am lucky in that my mate and one other are of such most trusted status. I am indeed a very lucky human. SSHL)

To find Spirit Center: Find the place that crys inside. Find the place of true (as opposed to false) laughter inside. This is the Spirit Center. The Spirit Center is never itself unbalanced and out of center. Only the person becomes out of center when they hide their Spriit Center from themself. You must touch and always be in touch with your Spirit Center. You must allow yourself to feel and see and hear and touch the world from this place, then measure what your true nature tells your about this from the objective mind. This, once applied to constant practice (state of being) allows the Shaolin practitioner to know self and know the world.

(What Shi Lei means by practice here is not training practice - practice, the verb - but a practice, the noun, as in that which is a lifeway or standard application, because one cannot practice Spirit Center. One can find Spirit Center, and can practice Spirit Centering, but that is different. DLK)

TO BE IN CENTER

What is the minds belongs to the mind. What is the body's belongs to the body. What is the spirit's belongs to the spirit. All three balanced and centered relative to each other bring one to complete center always.

HOW TO BEGIN TO LEARN SHAOLIN EVEN THOUGH YOU HAVE NOT MASTERED CENTER

It is not expected that the student of Shaolin shall have achieved mastery at maintaining center. It is only enough that the student be working toward that goal diligently. It is only necessary that the student be able to find and move somewhat well in body center to begin to learn the Shaolin Warrior Art. The Art itself will help to develop and, later, to hone full centered being. As the physical develops the mental and spiritual, so does the mental and spiritual develop the body and its ability to move well and truly.

A CHUCKLING NOTE from Shi Lei

All things flow from center. This saying is often misinterpretted. The meaning is this. Ease of being-doing happens when one holds always center. Nothing is hard. Mastering center requires a lifetime and more of cultivation, however. One who has secretly so achieved is called a Grand Master and is on the pathway to become an Immortal. (Shi Lei smiled as he finished saying this, and we all laughed, if a bit pensively.)

ROOT

To be as a deeply rooted tree, that is the meaning of root. It is literal. It is symbolic. The Spirit Center or Spirit Self knows all things Tao because Tao is all things and all things in Tao are one. Therefore, to bring this to mind is to deliver it to body and the body knows how to do it. A warning, though, do not let the mind get in the way and begin to second guess what it is to be "rooted as a tree." If you find yourself beginning to try to do this, you are already lost to it...or, better said perhaps, you have already lost true meaning of root from the body. Do not allow the mind for fear of not doing it right to begin to try to do root or try to find and make root. It does not happen that way. Simply let Spirit Self tell Mind "root as tree," then let Mind deliver (not tell) that understanding to Body. Only in this way does true root found itself in body knowledge so that the warrior need not seek root, but instead already owns root when needed.

The same is true of becoming Stone, another useful tool...or Wind...or any of the Shaolin warrior elements that we utilize to help us.

It is also the same with the Animals...but that learning is for another time.

Copyright 2000, D.L. Keur and F. W. Lineberry. No reproductive rights granted. All rights reserved.