the kongdan foundation

Eric Butterworth wrote a book he called “The universe is calling”. For me, asking what happens when our prayers are unknowingly answered… under the title below with “Previous Encounters”? We are to learn to adapt to the true essence of emptiness and tranquility, watching everything side by side arise only to see them return. In this stillness, we remain constant, all-embracing, fearless, and wise in accepting this tranquility and returning to our root. (Chapter 16, Tao Te Cing)

Taoism and Lao Tzu

We’re always finding our way back home. Sometimes it happens without us even realizing it, and other times it’s a vague, indescribable pull toward places that feel both unknown and familiar that are asking even waiting for us to go there. As though our memories seem to know the path long before we do. Even for places we’ve been before that slip from our sight or drift from our minds entirely.

Our fate, along with that of others, waiting for us to recognize this path as if it were a dream we’re destined to follow. We go without question or fear, as it seems to be calling us back to places, we’ve always known. In reality, I wasn’t just crafting master plans in Florida for others as a neighborhood specialist. I was charting my own path, guided mainly through this writing into what I thought was the unknown.

Sometimes it feels like life’s events flow beyond our control, guided by some greater force or spirit, and we’re just along for the ride, filling in the details of a path already set or decided on. Some might call it meditation or prayer, others might speak of spirit guides or even dragons, but I’ve always seen fate as a curious thing. Who are we when we know, and what do we do once we do? For some, this calling may never come, and they might be perfectly happy staying right where they are.

When I wrote my commentary on the Tao Te Ching in May and June of 2000, I was driven by a passion that had fully consumed my energy for over seven years. I had moved from Massachusetts, where I first encountered this ancient philosophy, to Florida, where it felt as though a window to the universe had opened. In October 1999, six months before I wrote the entry below, I traveled to Qufu, where I was shown my past and caught a glimpse of the next chapter I was meant to follow.

I returned to Boynton Beach after establishing its sister city relationship with Qufu in 2000, leading delegations there and hosting visitors from Qufu. After retiring from the city in 2005, I began traveling to China frequently, which eventually led to teaching at Qufu University and, in 2011, living and working at a school founded by the descendants of Confucius.

My books on the I Ching and Taoism were published in China in 2004 and 2006, and I founded The Kongdan Foundation in 2007 as a repository for my writing, later launching my website in 2012. I returned to Florida in 2013, moved back to Missouri in 2015, and now, ten years later, it’s 2025.

Verse 16 – Previous Encounters

Remaining on course, I return to the place of my youth to reflect on previously self-

imposed limits as to who I am ultimately to become, as if a final cleansing of those things that made me full of myself.

Given an opportunity to further release those things that have held me back from identifying and knowing my final destiny.  To free myself of endeavors that keeps me full of ego and self-interest.

Once recognized, I can let go and let the dragons, or angels, lead the way without intrusion.  Declaring my freedom and turning aside all those things that betray my true path as I declare “free at last, free at last, thank God and the Tao I’m free at last”. Finally letting go of all that has gone before me, I can see the way leads to stillness and tranquility as the knowing sage.

As I let go, my true path is unveiled and my enthusiasm, my greatest attribute that opens the door for all others, becomes totally and completely apparent.

In returning to my roots, I have unconsciously re-discovered the stillness I knew at the beginning. Thereby allowing me to become shapeless once again. Knowing that the path now followed and the endeavors now cultivated can now prevail; I am reminded of my travels with Lieh Tzu.

I feel a great swoosh… As if a great gust of wind has picked me up and carried me closer to my ultimate destiny.

(Written in June 2000 during a trip home to Joplin and Lamar Missouri where I grew up. I lived in Lamar from 1952 when I was born until 1964 when we moved to Joplin from the seventh grade through two years of college. 1964-1973).

第16节      往事

漫游中，我回到我的成长之地。回想起从前对自己的希冀，仿佛对自己过去的所作所为进行一次最后的清理。

又获得一次机会来摒除障碍，明辨方向，把自己从充满自我之中解脱出来。

一旦认清了方向，就可以出发。让神龙或天使引路而不受干扰。我说，“我终于自由了，我终于自由了，感谢神，感谢道，我终于自由了！”我宣布自由，所有的挡道之物都得以排除，过去的终于成为过去。作为一个聪颖的圣人，我能够看见通向宁静的道路。当我踏上旅途时，我的热情和我扶助众人的高尚品格变得如此显而易见。

回到故里，我不知不觉地重新发现曾经拥有过的宁静，再次变得无形无状。我知道我现在所循的道和所作的努力切实可行。我与列子同游。

我仿佛听见风声飕飕，一阵大风将我卷起，带着我走近我的最终归宿。

（2000年6月作于重访密苏里祖泊林期间。1964年－1973年我在那里度过了小学7年级至大学2年级这段时光）