Recently my teacher Liu Bogu has passed, and at this time there is sadness. I want to write a tribute to a special person who has influenced my life, but words are short from expressing how I really feel and how special this teacher was. Non-the-less, I share the story, what brought me to my teacher and the experiences after meeting him. In Huai Xuan, for which master Liu was the 5th generation standard bearer, a sage is a regular person, except that every fiber of their body embodies heaven’s principle force. But being common and ordinary is the rule, not lofty and remote. So I would like to share my ordinary story.
In 2007, when my middle child was born my father also passed. I accompanied my dad on his last journey with courage and sadness as I loved him immensely. At the very end, maybe at a higher state of realization, maybe by a shear luck, my dad said to me: “don’t be stingy, you must be a gentleman.” I was thinking to myself, my dad being older generation, when a gentleman would still open the door for a lady, probably meant that kind of a gentleman. Heart broken I vowed to myself to be in mourning 3 years, and to start a weekly Friday evening Jewish ritual for those 3 years that included singing songs and some blessings in memory of my dad.
As destiny wanted, 3 years later in 2010, I met for the first time Mr. Liu Bogu. I was practicing a branch of Chinese medicine called Fire Spirit. Late 19th century, the founder of Fire Spirit was a practitioner called Zheng Qinan. In one of Zheng’s books I translated, in its preface, Zheng mentions how he learned everything he knew from his prominent teacher and how really he could only grasp just a little bit from what his teacher taught him. I was intrigued. Zheng’s teacher was a scholar named Liu Yuan also known as Liu Zhitang. I found out that Liu Zhitang had a descendent living in Chengdu and I resolved to go see him. This is what brought me to Liu Bogu, Liu Yuan’s great grandson and to a face to face encounter with Huai Xuan. I remember when I was sitting side by side with Mr. Liu that a small thought was scurrying in my mind over and over, this man looks like my father. Physically he looked somewhat like my father, his face and hair and how he moved, but more so there was a similar warmth coming from the heart, it felt like home, like I didn’t want to leave. We spent few hours at his home, I was somewhat struggling with the heavy Sichuanese dialect, but luckily I recorded it all so when I went back home to the US, I could rewatch it over and over. Mr. Liu also handed me few Huai Xuan texts and recommended to start learning.
In this first meeting I was still not entirely clear of the scope of Huai Xuan. Before the interview, Mr Liu explained that it was impossible to convey the entire Huai Xuan in one conversation, but that he could describe couple of main points and would give me more materials to explore. “To become a good doctor, not only do you treat the physical disease of the patient, but also you must altar the thoughts and feelings of the patient” he said. “The heart must be broad and generous, like in the time of Confucius for a gentleman.” I knew that I belonged here. Just like seeing the tip of the iceberg and not knowing how deep it goes, and just like staying at the footsteps of a tall mountain and not knowing how tall the mountain is, so was I there knowing that I want to go there just not knowing how far this goes.
From that point on and for the next 12 years, everything was common and ordinary, but it did not feel the same. Day in and day out I learned Huai Xuan texts and practiced whatever methods I knew, I had few chances for personal instructions over the years, much less than my school brothers and sisters, so I feel shy from commenting on the many amazing things that Mr Liu was teaching the students. I can say that the little I was able to learn from the teacher, to me was complete life changing. Slowly but surely, I was able to overcome old bad habits, narrow mindedness, one sidedness perspectives, impatience, intolerance, viewing the self as better and many other common negative tendencies. I was able to change them, alter them for the better one by one. None of which would be possible without Huai Xuan and without my teacher.
What my dad was asking me to and what Mr Liu was teaching were to me one and the same. In Chinese the word Teacher Shi Fu translates to teacher-father, a fatherly teacher. I think this is the reason why.
Although the 3 year morning for my father has ended, now 15 years later I still continue the Friday evenings Jewish rituals in his memory, which I hope to keep for the rest of my life. I am now starting 3 years of remembrance of my teacher. For me, he will never be forgotten, always part of me, what I say, how I think, what I feel, how I teach, who I help. It will always be thanks to him.
Dear teacher, tears are running down my cheeks as I am writing these lines, you have shown me generosity, and you have demonstrated what a gentleman is like. I am forever grateful and hope that you can see up there in heaven that I have tried my best to be a good student.
Yours truly
Yaron Seidman Dun Fu
大度君子——紀念劉伯谷
最近我的老師劉伯谷過世了，此時有一種悲傷。我想為一個影響我生活的特別的人寫一封敬意，但言語不足以表達我的真實感受以及這位老師是多麼特別。儘管如此，我還是分享了這個故事，是什麼把我帶到了我的老師那裡，以及遇到他之後的經歷。在以劉大師為第五代旗手的槐軒中，聖人就是普通人，只是他身上的每一根纖維都凝聚著天道。但平凡平凡才是常態，而不是高高在上。所以我想分享我的普通故事。
2007 年，當我的第二個孩子出生時，我的父親也去世了。在我非常愛他的時候，我帶著勇氣和悲傷陪著我父親踏上了他的最後一段旅程。最後，也許是在更高的悟性狀態下，也許是運氣好，我爸對我說：“別小氣，你一定是個紳士。”我在想，我爸是老一輩了，當紳士還為女士開門的時候，大概就是那種紳士吧。心碎了，我向自己發誓要哀悼 3 年，並為這 3 年開始每周星期五晚上的猶太儀式，其中包括唱歌和一些祝福以紀念我父親。
如命運所願，3年後的2010年，我第一次見到了劉伯谷先生。我正在修煉一個叫火神的中醫分支。十九世紀末，火神的創始人是一位名叫鄭欽安的修行者。在我翻譯的一本書的序言中，鄭提到他如何從他的傑出老師那裡學到他所知道的一切，” 余蜀南临邛人也，迁居于成都省城，学医于止唐刘太老夫子，指示《黄帝内经》、《周易》太极、仲景立方立法之旨。余沉潜于斯二十余载，始知人身阴阳合一之道，仲景立方垂法之美。”我很感興趣。鄭的老師是一位名叫劉沅的學者，也被稱為劉止唐。得知劉止唐有個後裔住在成都，我決定去看看他。就這樣，我來到了劉沅的曾孫劉伯谷，與槐軒面對面。記得和劉老師並肩而坐的時候，一個小念頭在我腦海裡一遍遍盤旋，這個人長得像我爸爸。他的身體和我父親有點像，他的臉和頭髮，他的動作，但更多的是一種類似的溫暖從心底傳來，感覺就像家一樣，我不想離開。我們在他家呆了幾個小時，我對沉重的四川方言有些掙扎，但幸運的是我把它都錄了下來，所以當我回到美國的時候，我可以一遍又一遍地重溫。劉老師還遞給我幾本槐軒文，建議開始學習。
第一次見面，我還沒有完全弄清楚槐軒的範圍。採訪前，劉先生解釋說，一次談話不可能傳達整個槐軒，但他可以描述幾個要點，並會給我更多的材料去探索。 “要成為一名好醫生，不僅要治好病人的身體疾病，還要補救病人的思想感情。”他說 “心要寬廣，像孔子時代的君子。”我知道我屬於這裡。就像看到冰山一角不知道它有多深，就像站在一座高山的腳下不知道山有多高一樣，我在那裡知道我想去那裡只是不知道這有多遠。
從那時起，在接下來的 12 年裡，一切都是平常而平凡的，但感覺卻不一樣了。日復一日地學槐軒經，所學練法，這些年親自指教的機會很少，比我的學弟學妹少，所以不敢評論先生的許多神奇的事情和劉老師在給學生上課。我可以說，我能從老師那裡學到的一點點，對我來說是徹底改變了生活。慢慢但肯定地，我能夠克服舊的壞習慣、狹隘的思想、片面的觀點、不耐煩、不寬容、認為自己更好以及許多其他常見的消極傾向。我能夠改變它們，一一改變它們。沒有槐軒，沒有我的老師，這一切都不可能實現。
我父親要求我做的和劉老師教的對我來說是一回事。在中文裡，師父這個詞翻譯為一位慈父般的老師。我想這就是原因。
雖然我父親 3 年的喪已經結束，但 15 年後的現在，我仍然在他的記憶中繼續星期五晚上的猶太儀式，我希望在我的餘生中保持這種儀式。我現在開始三年紀念我的老師。對我來說，他永遠不會被遺忘，永遠是我的一部分，我說的話，我的想法，我的感受，我的教導方式，我幫助的人。這將永遠感謝他。
親愛的老師，寫下這些文字時，我的淚水從我的臉頰上流了下來，您向我展示了慷慨，您向我展示了君子紳士風度。 我永遠心存感激，並希望你能在天堂看到我努力成為一名好學生。
敬上
敦甫
