Second Daoist Conference – A Post-Pandemic World: Visions of the Dao in a Modern World

Conference Program

Second Daoist Conference – 2-Day Online Event (download conference program PDF)

Daoist Conference

Join us for a two-day event via Zoom on July 30 – 31, 2022. The event will feature presentations from distinguished Daoist practitioners on various topics related to the Dao and its relevance to a post-pandemic world.

All are welcome!

PROGRAM and EVENT DETAILS
(download as a PDF)

All events are on ZOOM
Meeting ID: 854 7432 4280
Passcode: 841617


This event would not be possible without the generosity of several individuals and organizations who support our work, including the Daoist Gate Center Xuan Ju and Daoist Gate students. In addition, a special mention to Master Zhou’s student,
Sam Wuest, LAc (Licensed Acupuncturist) of Blue North Acupuncture and Wellness in Santa Barbara, CA, who was instrumental in engaging our panelists to participate in this event.

Josh Paynter, 裴理文, is a 22nd-generation Longmen Daoist. He was a Chinese study major at Bard College and attended Yunnan University. He has been a licensed acupuncturist and herbalist for 22 years. Josh is the co-founder of Parting Clouds Daoist Education. He has translated 4 of the main Daoist liturgical texts; the Morning and Evening Gongke, the Beidou Jing, and the Sanguan Jing.

Panel 1
THE IMPORTANCE OF ETHICS IN MODERN SOCIETY

Josh Paynter
Saturday, July 30, 2022, 9 AM (New York EST)
9 AM – Zoom link opens, welcome and introduction
9:15 AM – PANELIST Josh Paynter
10:15 AM – Q&A

Using Daoist Scriptures such as the Sanguan andBeidou Jing, Josh will discuss key doctrinal features pertaining tosocietal harmony. We will explore how communities and theindividual have shareddestinies and how eachof us can affect the outcomes of our largersocial sphere.

All events are on ZOOM
Meeting ID: 854 7432 4280
Passcode: 841617

Deng Ming-Dao is an author, artist, and teacher. He is the author of: 365 Tao; Chronicles of Tao; Scholar Warrior; Everyday Tao; The Lunar Tao; The Living I Ching; Zen: The Art of Modern Eastern Cooking; and The Wisdom of the Tao, Every Journey Begins With a Single Step, and The Way of Heart and Beauty. His books have been translated into a variety of European and Asian languages. Deng Ming-Dao has trained in a variety of Chinese martial arts since 1975. His teachers have come from Beijing, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and two Daoist mountains, Huashan and Wudangshan. He has been most involved with the internal systems of Xingyiquan, Baguazhang, and Taijiquan, and he has given many workshops to introduce Chinese martial arts and Taoist wellness techniques.

Panel 2

Return to Your Dao

Deng Ming-Dao

All events are on ZOOM
Meeting ID: 854 7432 4280
Passcode: 841617

Saturday, July 30, 2022, 2 PM (New York EST)
2 PM – Zoom link opens, welcome and introduction
2:15 PM – Panelist Deng Ming-Dao
3:15 PM – Q&A

The ultimate value in Daoist wisdom is to guide us toward the most fulfilling life. That means that we have to learn to cope with good and bad fortune. The current COVID pandemic, the war in Ukraine, social divisions, economic disparities, injustice, and climate change certainly present a turbulent mix of confusion and catastrophe. Nevertheless, we have to find a throughline that will not only preserve us but reveal hidden Daoist lessons.

In this talk, Deng Ming-Dao will discuss the following:

  • How do we see Dao in the cosmological, political, and personal contexts?
  • What were the apparent possibilities when the pandemic began, and how do we return to seemingly normal life as it seems to be lifting?
  • What lessons about good and bad fortune, the cycles of life, and personal cultivation can we glean from the Yijing?
  • Why should we keep to our personal practice at all times?
  • What are our social responsibilities during times of great tragedy?
  • How do we keep with the eternal and ever-present Dao?
Master Zhou Xuan Yun is the founder of Daoist GateCenter Xuan Ju, his charitable organization based in NH. He lived and trained in the Wudang mountains. He belongs to the Orthodox Unity sect.
(正一道 Zheng Yi Dào) of Daoism, trained in internal and ritual arts, chanting divination, and internal alchemy.

Panel 3

USING THE DAO TO EXPLAIN THE PANDEMIC AND DAOIST PRACTICE METHODS

Master Zhou Xuan Yun

All events are on ZOOM
Meeting ID: 854 7432 4280
Passcode: 841617

Sunday, July 31, 2022, 9 AM (New York EST)
9 AM – Zoom link opens, welcome and introduction
9:15 AM – Panelist Master Zhou Xuan Yun
10:15 AM – Q&A

The COVID-19 pandemic may be the deadliest viral outbreak the world has seen in recent memory. The researchers estimate that a pandemic similar in scale to COVID-19 is likely within a span of 60 years. Why, then does this pandemic happen every sixty years? And why is the political landscape of the world change with every pandemic? Master Zhou will explain the pandemic from the perspective of the Dao and how we, as ordinary people should face this pandemic calmly. He will also share how to change oneself with the practice method of a Daoist priest and the purpose of Daoist practice.

Lindsey Wei, Daoist Name – Wei Cheng Ling, 魏诚灵, is a 24th generation lay disciple (俗家弟子sújiā dìzǐ) of the Chun Yang Sect of Wudang Daoism. She trained Traditional Chinese Gong Fu and Daoshu (Daoist Arts) in a remote mountain temple in the Wudang Mountains, Hubei Province, China, under the renunciant Abbot Li Song Feng for over 9 years before returning to the US in 2010 to start her martial teaching career. She is a practitioner of Taiji Quan, Qigong, Bagua, Double Edge Straight Sword (Jian), and other weapons arts. Lindsey is the founder of Wudang White Horse Internal Arts Academy. Her passion combines ancestral skills and indigenous world views of how to steward the earth, exist, and thrive in wild places with the lifeway of internal martial arts cultivation and health practices. She leads martial training camps in wilderness settings in the context of studying the Dao as it follows Nature.

Panel 4

ZHEN WU – PERFECTED WARRIOR OF THE NORTHERN HEAVENS

Lindsey Wei

All events are on ZOOM
Meeting ID: 854 7432 4280
Passcode: 841617

Sunday, July 31, 2022, 2 PM (New York EST)
2 PM – Zoom link opens, welcome and introduction
2:15 PM – Panelist Lindsey Wei
3:15 AM – Q&A

Zhen Wu is the patron deity of the Wudang Mountains. He manifests with martial and thunder power, depicted with a sword, golden armor, and the directional symbol of a turtle snake. In addition, he is associated with the Northern Celestial Realms and the color black. We will discuss the emergence of Zhen Wu throughout the dynasties and orally transmitted myths locally in Wudang Shan. The worship of Zhen Wu, along with other founders such as Lu Dong Bin and Zhang San Feng, has influenced Wudang Mountain culture. Emanating from this rich lineage of masters and knowledge of internal movement arts is the blossoming of differing martial methods and Daoist practices, which continue to this day.

We will discuss the essential relationship of the embodiment arts with the main features of Daoist cosmology, mantra, talisman, hand seal, and Neidan development. Examples are Taijiquan, Baguazhang, and Yang Sheng Gong exercises. When martial culture is included in the lifestyle, worldview, and character development of a Wudang Daoist, it can create a strong, healthy vessel for authentic practice and transformation.