1 rich Libsyn https://www.libsyn.com 90 600 Sifu Deng Ming-Dao is a Chinese American author, artist, philosopher, teacher, and martial artist who, from a young age, has studied Taoist internal arts such as Qigong and Kung-Fu. He is the author of nearly a dozen books, including Lunar Tao, The Living I Ching, 365 Tao, Scholar Warrior, and Chronicles of Tao. he studied qigong, philosophy, meditation, and internal martial arts for 13 years with Taoist master Kwan Saihung. Deng Sifu is a graphic designer and fine artist whose work is in several collections, including those of the Brooklyn Museum. This is Deng Ming-Dao’s second appearance on Transformations and here we discuss an entirely different set of topics, including: why Daoism, gender identity, the role of a teacher, the ego trap, self-cultivation, acquiring and maintaining skills, jazz, tai chi and why one shouldn’t emulate their teachers, and more. I hope you enjoy listening to my conversation with Deng Ming Dao as much as I enjoyed having it. 0:00 introduction 4:57 Why Taoism? 8:29 Identifying What’s Natural and a True Purpose 11:18 The Role of a Teacher in Living Traditions 14:01 Mentors, Ego Traps, and Achieving Standards 24:27 Self-Cultivation, Journeys, Destinations, Purpose and Peeking Too Soon 30:05 What is a Practice? 34:03 The Natural Self and Relational Reality 38:34 Acquiring and Maintaining Skills 52:42 A Dip into Jazz and Not Emulating Teachers 1:00:07 Progress and Development of New Skills and Methods 1:05:29 Tai Chi as an Embodied Practice of Taoism 1:08:47 The Parallel Virtue of Painting and Tai Chi 1:12:56 How to Become a Superior Person 1:17:42 Closing Remarks Brought to you by Tambuli Media View the video on our YouTube channel Transformations with Mark V. Wiley https://sites.libsyn.com/477525 <iframe title="Libsyn Player" style="border: none" src="//html5-player.libsyn.com/embed/episode/id/29031598/height/90/theme/custom/thumbnail/yes/direction/forward/render-playlist/no/custom-color/88AA3C/" height="90" width="600" scrolling="no" allowfullscreen webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen oallowfullscreen msallowfullscreen></iframe> https://assets.libsyn.com/secure/content/164934673