Yin Xin Tang: Journey into the Center of Yourself / Wei Fo Jung / 2024

As a practitioner of qi gong under the tutelage of master Wei Fo Jung, I found his book useful in introducing me to the range of arts important to the practice of the yin xin tang school of martial arts. Some of these elements may be surprising, like the art of eating or the art of sleeping, where traditional masters offered thorough instructions for how to intentionally do something for maximum health and benefit, which we all mostly just do mindlessly. Some elements of this book will mean more after a student has some concrete experience to connect for the texts. For example, the lineage chapter clearly states that one of the roots of yin xin tang is the practice of tantra. This meant very little to me until Master Jung introduced tantric elements into my actual practice. Many of the explorations here are introductory glances into profound arts, such as meditation or the study of the mind. In one charming journal entry, for example, Master Jung describes a conversation he had with his master as a child about the nature of the self. The journal entry doesn’t arrive at any clear answer or distinguish in much depth the journey to attempt to arrive at an answer. That’s fine for an introductory text, intended to inspire and accompany study with a master, not replace it. In that sense, readers should not expect this book to teach them yin xin tang, but rather introduce them to the core areas of practice in yin xin tang and some of their history. That’s all. 4 out 5 

The Banished Immortal: A Life of Li Bai / Ha Jin / 2019

The Banished Immortal: A Life of Li Bai / Ha Jin / 2019

I trusted that this book would be the right window into Li Bai, known in the West primarily as Li Po, because Ha Jin is a Chinese born and bred author who writes novels in English that have been highly successful and retain a foreigness in my readings at least. Thus, I trusted him to be an adequate cultural translator of sorts, who wouldn't dumb down to many details for my American brain. I was grateful for his deft breakdown of Li Bai's multi ethnic origin and his class position in feudal society, as well as the concise and gripping summaries of Chinese history. I was disappointed by Li Bai as a character, as his commitment to Daoism was much more flaky and self interested than I hoped. While I expected some drunkenness and sexism, I was impressed to learn just how much of a rapper he was. His early work bragged about his deadliness with the sword with a swag that made me think of drill rappers. It was a favorite pastime of his to get drunk and improvise verse like a freestyle rapper. His arrogance was yeezy-esque. It's a pity he was so dissatisfied with being a poet and mystic that he spent his life chasing political aspirations really foolishly. Ha Jin had this hilarious narration style where he would mention a major shortcoming, such as Li Bai absentee fatherhood, and raise a pitifully weak defense of Bai's behavior in an ostensibly unbiased, academic, and unmoved tone. At first, it seemed like Jin was biased towards Bai, but he doesn't blink away any of Bai's failures and shortcomings and his defenses are so meager, it seems as if he's trying to speak the truth without offending the legions of Bai fanatics that surely must be out there. Feudal society sounds like a shitty place to attempt to class ascend and Bai was ultimately a disappointing figure. That said, Jin's research and narration are skilled and enjoyable. He did a great job contextualizing Bai's work in relationship to his peers. As a work of biography, I'd argue this book is 4/4. More poems would've made it 5/5. I enjoyed it at a 3/5 level.