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Mr. Ching has suggested I need a little more Tao in my diet to better understand and tell the Master Tu story. To that end, I’ve been cramming in the books on the Tao. I’ve read three different versions of the Tao Te Ching. The first was a joke book that you can buy at Barnes and Noble that is usually found near the front of the store with the pocket massage kits. I read it during the screening of Clash of the Titans and on the subway to the theater. Reading the book in a darkened theater and underneath the flickering lights of a subway car is probably not the best introduction to this philosophy.

The second was a New Age version done by Ursula K. LeGuin. It came complete with CD’s of her reading the book. I did not listen to the CD’s. But, with the exception of an emphasis on the female in the Tao, it seemed just like the cheap version I found laying around the house. In both versions, I desperately wanted somebody to tell me what I was supposed to be gleaning from the prose. In the LeGuin version, she did offer her opinions of certain passages, but they just confused rather than informed. When Lao Tzu starts talking about being and non-being, I tend to get sleepy.

There were passages that made lots of sense. The ideas about putting the country ahead of your own ambition and acting humbly, just seemed like common sense. I did like that analogy about the empty part of the bowl being the useful part of the bowl. But most of it was very opaque to my poor western educated mind.

Finally, I read “The Essential Tao” by Thomas Cleary. It combines the Tao Te Ching with the Works of Chaung Tzu. The Chaung Tzu works did a little to help complement Lao Tzu’s work. I think it made my understanding of the Tao fractionally better. Plus, it had extensive notes at the back.

What didn’t help my understanding was seeing some posts on a martial arts forum. It talked about left handed and right handed Tao. One was for ascetic internal contemplation, the other promulgated a more hedonistic approach. The post then broke down each different hand and what it stood for. Yikes.

I took a break from the Tao to read “The Illustrated Guide to Chinese Medicine” Nothing says America like a book with pictures. But I must say this book is really helping me with the concept of Qi. And it’s not really helping me with the concept of Qi by expanding the types of Qi. It talked about which Organs use which type of Qi. And how all these functions and systems interact to make the body healthy or at least stable.

I also got a little bit of a taste of the Yin-Yang interaction and how Qi relates to the five element. If I figure out the five element theory, it’s going to make a great structure for the film. Or maybe I’m asking a bit much trying to cram thousands of years of learning and culture into my head by reading a few books.

The final book that has been the most help so far is “Tao:The Watercourse Way” by Alan Watts. Watts book is different in that it starts from a western perspective about the difficulties in understanding the Tao. One of the most useful things so far in the book, I’m still reading, is the discussion on the Chinese written language and calligraphy. The book details how calligraphy can transmit so much information with so few strokes. It was an eye opening chapter about language. It makes me want to go down the rabbit hole of learning a bit more about writing Chinese. Maybe I have enough on my plate already?

It all flows nicely back to Master Tu. One of the points we talked about in last weeks extensive interview was how he incorporated the Tao into his Qigong practice. A few weeks of book learning made that statement a little clearer. The books on calligraphy and the five elements showed me a tad about what Master does with his paintings and his teaching.

Does all this help? Of course. Do I understand? Barely. I just question the validity of a man telling me to read a lot of books that has his name in the title.