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Tales of the Fat Monk
Xiaoyao Xingzhe
37 episodes
8 months ago
Send us a text This is one of the "lost chapters" intended to appear earlier in the series but was skipped over. Xiaoyao loses his way at evening in the deep mountains, but a chance meeting saves him from a freezing overnight sojourn. The hermit takes the opportunity to try and teach Xiaoyao the arcane secrets of the River Diagram--the 河圖--which communicates its crucial message symbolically, using a structured pattern of black and white dots. The structure itself is based upon a magic squar...
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Spirituality
Religion & Spirituality
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Send us a text This is one of the "lost chapters" intended to appear earlier in the series but was skipped over. Xiaoyao loses his way at evening in the deep mountains, but a chance meeting saves him from a freezing overnight sojourn. The hermit takes the opportunity to try and teach Xiaoyao the arcane secrets of the River Diagram--the 河圖--which communicates its crucial message symbolically, using a structured pattern of black and white dots. The structure itself is based upon a magic squar...
Show more...
Spirituality
Religion & Spirituality
Episodes (20/37)
Tales of the Fat Monk
The Lost Chapter: River Diagram in the Hermit's Cave
Send us a text This is one of the "lost chapters" intended to appear earlier in the series but was skipped over. Xiaoyao loses his way at evening in the deep mountains, but a chance meeting saves him from a freezing overnight sojourn. The hermit takes the opportunity to try and teach Xiaoyao the arcane secrets of the River Diagram--the 河圖--which communicates its crucial message symbolically, using a structured pattern of black and white dots. The structure itself is based upon a magic squar...
Show more...
1 year ago
27 minutes

Tales of the Fat Monk
Master Nan Huaijin Discusses a Daoist Poem
Send us a text This poem from 張伯端 Zhang Bo-Duan (author of the 悟真篇 Wu Zhen Pian: Understanding Reality, one of the most famous classics of Daoist alchemy) was explained by Master Nan during a seven day Zen retreat held in China. 心内观心觅本心 xīn neì guān xīn mì běn xīn 心心俱绝见真心 xīn xīn jù jué jiàn zhēn xīn 真心明徹通三界 Zhēn xīn míng chè tōng sān jiè 外道邪魔不敢侵 waì daò xié mó bù gǎn qīn SHOW NOTES: Xiaoyao Xingzhe, the self-styled carefree pilgrim, has lived and worked all over the world, having crosse...
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1 year ago
7 minutes

Tales of the Fat Monk
Li Daochun's Preface to his Dao De Hui Yuan
Send us a text Li Dao-Chun (李道純) was a 13th century Daoist Master in the line of the famous 4th generation Master of the southern Nei Dan lineage, Bai Yuchan. Li is author of the Zhōng Hé Jí (中和集) translated as The Book of Balance and Harmony by Thomas Cleary. This selection, which to my knowledge has not been previously translated, is the valuable preface and introduction to Li Dao-Chun’s Dào Dé Huì Yuán, his commentary on Lao Zi’s Dào Dé Jīng, and the rationale for his edits. SHOW NOT...
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1 year ago
8 minutes

Tales of the Fat Monk
Bonus Episode: Resolving Confusion, Cultivating Transcendence
Send us a text Bai Yu-Chan (1194-1229?) was a key figure in Southern Song dynasty Daoism and internal alchemy. The following is written as a discussion with his teacher Chen Nan (d. 1213), the fourth patriarch of the Nanzong lineage. Resolving Confusions in Cultivating Transcendence (Xiū Xiān Biàn Huò Lùn)《修仙辨惑論》 This excerpt is from section four of the Zazhu Zhixuan Pian (miscellaneous essays guiding toward the mystery) found in Bai’s Xiuzhen Shishu (Ten Books on Cultivating Trueness); othe...
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1 year ago
18 minutes

Tales of the Fat Monk
Bonus Episode: Yum Cha as Life Training
Send us a text Xiaoyao meets his old friend Ante Babic, who reveals his discovery of a secret system of life training that the Chinese have instituted without anyone taking notice: the institution of Yum Cha (or "Dim Sum"). SHOW NOTES: Xiaoyao Xingzhe, the self-styled carefree pilgrim, has lived and worked all over the world, having crossed the Gobi in a decrepit jeep, lived with a solitary monk in the mountains of Korea, dined with the family of the last emperor of China, and helped police ...
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1 year ago
11 minutes

Tales of the Fat Monk
Bonus Episode: Two Letters of Liu Yi-Ming
Send us a text Liu Yiming was one of the greatest Daoists of the eighteenth century, with numerous writings on all the Daoist classics. He corresponded with numerous disciples and other devout lay people throughout the country, describing in many cases his owns travails on the Path and the various teachers he learned with. He may then provide spiritual advice for his correspondent (at which point it becomes obligatory to state that attempting to follow spiritual advice designed for another ...
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1 year ago
14 minutes

Tales of the Fat Monk
Chapter Twenty-Four: A Visit into the Monastery
Send us a text Xiaoyao ventures into the Mundus Imaginalis, and finds strangeness, unexpected encounters and … welcome. “Joyful the moment when we sat in the bower, Thou and I; In two forms and two faces—with one soul, Thou and I. The colour of the garden and the song of the birds give the elixir of immortality The instant we come into the orchard, Thou and I. This is stranger, that Thou and I, in this corner here … Are both in one breath in Iraq, and in Khorasan – Thou and I.” Jalāl a...
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1 year ago
23 minutes

Tales of the Fat Monk
Chapter Twenty Three: Pacing the Cosmos
Send us a text Xiaoyao enters a hidden chamber and witnesses a strange dance, before learning more about "medicine," the gathering of scattered medicine and use of it, and its exoteric and esoteric processes. The "Earth of Attention" (意土 yì tǔ) centering the ascending elements of hún (魂) and shén (神) against the descending elements of pò (魄) and jing (精), the evoking of presence as a method of working, and the difference between "heavy" and "light" thinking. And the importance of the saying...
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1 year ago
26 minutes

Tales of the Fat Monk
Bonus Episode Intermediate Worlds Part II
Send us a text Zhuangzi tells the story of Tian Gen who meets the Man without a Name, one who wanders amongst and between the worlds, in a subtle realm with no borders. But how do we know when we have slipped into a subtle realm? There are a few indications: TIME feels different, flexible and shifting; PLACE is no longer so fixed and determinate; PERSONS manifest a light--or a darkness--depending upon the state they are inhabiting at the moment; and our STATE carries a feeling as if we are d...
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1 year ago
37 minutes

Tales of the Fat Monk
Chapter Twenty-Two: Gathering Medicine
Send us a text "Ru zi, ke jiao ye!" The Hermit tests Xiaoyao, who thinks that the Hermit will teach him about locating herbs in the mountains. The Reality, however .... SHOW NOTES: Xiaoyao Xingzhe, the self-styled carefree pilgrim, has lived and worked all over the world, having crossed the Gobi in a decrepit jeep, lived with a solitary monk in the mountains of Korea, dined with the family of the last emperor of China, and helped police with their enquiries in Amarillo, Texas. FAN MAI...
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1 year ago
15 minutes

Tales of the Fat Monk
Bonus Episode: Intermediate Worlds
Send us a text What ARE the "Perilous Realms," the "Unseen Lands' that Tolkien, Goethe, Coleridge, Wordsworth, C.S. Lewis and Henri Corbin have introduced to Western civilisation over the last century? What is the difference between wooly-headed daydreaming and actively employed imagination? And why do scientists and authors such as Iain McGilchrist say things such as "fantasy is one thing but imagination is the only chance we have to reach reality. It is not a matter of putting fancy dress v...
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1 year ago
23 minutes

Tales of the Fat Monk
Chapter Twenty-One: Tea Tales in the Hermit's Cave
Send us a text The Fat Monk and Xiaoyao visit the Hermit for a quiet talk, but find the Boatman and his friend--who Xiaoyao has never met--already there. Tea is the main topic of the day, but in the course of the discussion, the Fat Monk's peculiar aversion to Zhuangzi is exposed. It turns out the Boatman's friend is well-versed in all things Zhuangzi ... SHOW NOTES: Xiaoyao Xingzhe, the self-styled carefree pilgrim, has lived and worked all over the world, having crossed the Gobi in a dec...
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1 year ago
28 minutes

Tales of the Fat Monk
Bonus Episode: the Art of Living and the Game of Go (Wei Qi, Baduk)
Send us a text "Music, Chess, Calligraphy, Painting" are the four arts whcih every refined person should become accomplished in. But "Chess" does not mean Western chess, rather it is the sophisticated--but extremely simple--game of surrounding, known as 圍棋. "Simple" because all you do is place a piece on any of 361 intersections on the board, aiming to surround your opponent. "Sophisticated" because choosing the right place to put that piece involves thinking strategically on many fronts at o...
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1 year ago
17 minutes

Tales of the Fat Monk
Chapter Twenty: Thirty Spokes
Send us a text Xiaoyao discovers a recently established study group now being conduceted by none other than Xiao Jing, assisted by Ling Ling and other past students from Shi Jie's restaurant. Xiaoyao becomes obsessed with discovering the identity of the mysterious "Opener" for the group, and Ling Ling shows him her new "Wu Wei" tattoo. SHOW NOTES: Xiaoyao Xingzhe, the self-styled carefree pilgrim, has lived and worked all over the world, having crossed the Gobi in a decrepit jeep, lived ...
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1 year ago
30 minutes

Tales of the Fat Monk
Chapter Nineteen: Wild Grass Writing
Send us a text While setting up a Calligraphy and Arts exhibition at the Monastery, the Fat Monk and friends discuss the amazing Fu Qingzhu, heroic anti-Manchu rebel, iconoclastic calligrapher who single-handedly transformed the art of writing as an art form, and Chinese doctor famous for his work on Chinese herbal gynaecology. The Abbot shows off a piece by Fu Qingzhu in what appear to be the secret Fu characters known only to Daoist priests, and relates a strange and tragic sto...
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1 year ago
23 minutes

Tales of the Fat Monk
Bonus Episode: Master Nan describes Zhuge Liang's "Letter to my Son"
Send us a text If there is one name every single Chinese person knows, it is Zhuge Liang. Famous for his military strategies employed during the Warring States period, his exploits were immortalised in the Ming dynasty novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms (三國演義 Sān Guó Yǎn Yì), describing his almost prescient ability to anticipate the enemy’s moves and plan in advance. But there are very few remaining records of his actual writing. One is “Letter to My Son,” which Master Nan Huaiji...
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1 year ago
14 minutes

Tales of the Fat Monk
Chapter Eighteen: Billie and the Shaman
Send us a text This is a true story. Not "based on a true story." Even the names have not been changed to protect the innocent. Everything happened exactly as described.* * Well, except maybe the tall farmer. SHOW NOTES: Xiaoyao Xingzhe, the self-styled carefree pilgrim, has lived and worked all over the world, having crossed the Gobi in a decrepit jeep, lived with a solitary monk in the mountains of Korea, dined with the family of the last emperor of China, and helped police with the...
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1 year ago
26 minutes

Tales of the Fat Monk
Chapter Seventeen: Fire on the Mountain
Send us a text A meeting with a stranger in a Hong Kong pub sets Xiaoyao on a path that will involve him in unexplainable occurences. Cook demonstrates the stalk method of divination in using the Yi Jing, and the answer to Xiaoyao's question; an answer which he finds deeply disturbing. Professor Ma explains the difference between "natural" and "supernatural." SHOW NOTES: Xiaoyao Xingzhe, the self-styled carefree pilgrim, has lived and worked all over the world, having crossed the Gobi in a...
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1 year ago
32 minutes

Tales of the Fat Monk
Chapter Sixteen: Trigrams Mountain to Marsh
Send us a text Trigrams Mountain to Marsh finishes the discussion on Kǎn (Abyss) and Lí (Brightness), and then goes on to investigate the last four trigrams Mountain: Gèn (☶), Thunder: Zhèn (☳); Wind: Xùn (☴) and Marsh: Duì (☱). Little does he know that this simple conversation will cast him on a journey toward the green and pacific island of Formosa. Instead of a transcript, a PDF of these two epsodes can be found here: https://thefatmonk.files.wordpress.com/2017/09/trigrams-mou...
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1 year ago
17 minutes

Tales of the Fat Monk
Chapter Fifteen: Trigrams Heaven and Earth
Send us a text Xiaoyao returns to the monastery, only to come face-to-face with the new abbot, an imposing figure feared by not-a-few of the monks. Later, he is able to clear up many misconceptions regarding the trigrams Qián (Heaven), Kūn (Earth), Kǎn (Abyss) and Lí (Brightness) Little does he know that this simple conversation will cast him on a journey toward the green and pacific island of Formosa. Qián (☰) Kūn (☷) Kǎn (☵) Lí (☲) The discussion is continued in Chap...
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1 year ago
31 minutes

Tales of the Fat Monk
Send us a text This is one of the "lost chapters" intended to appear earlier in the series but was skipped over. Xiaoyao loses his way at evening in the deep mountains, but a chance meeting saves him from a freezing overnight sojourn. The hermit takes the opportunity to try and teach Xiaoyao the arcane secrets of the River Diagram--the 河圖--which communicates its crucial message symbolically, using a structured pattern of black and white dots. The structure itself is based upon a magic squar...