Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Are you still teaching?
A: Yes. We have a new center now in the hills outside San Antonio Texas where I do teach intensive workshops and the longer term Apprentice Program. But I no longer have a school open to the public for daily classes.
Since I devote most of my time to other projects, I teach elsewhere only when I am invited to do a workshop. You can find out more about the Workshops at the Center here, or look at the menu items in the sidebar under Study. You should be able to download a brochure with detailed information for all of the events at the Center from the related page here on the site. If you can’t find the answer to your question here, you can contact me.
For information about the workshops on the road, contact the sponsoring location.
Q: Is there someone I can contact in my area that teaches or does Cheng Hsin?
A: Look at the list of Trainers and Teachers, which also includes people who are not necessarily qualified to teach, but are trying to organize Cheng Hsin study groups in their area. If there is someone listed you’d like to contact who has no e-link, let us know and we will pass on that information to them.
Q: Are there any videos or other books available?
A: Yes, videos and books are available. See DVDs and Books for details. Look for future book and video announcements in the Cheng Hsin Newsletter. if you haven’t subscribed, please do, it’s free.
Q: Where can I find more information on this or any similar type of work?
A: Although there are many martial arts and spiritual practices in the world, Cheng Hsin is unique. Some other practices are valuable and worth a look, yet I consider many to be wishful thinking, dogmatic belief systems, or insincere hype. Some are that way because the people heading them are fantasy-oriented or inauthentic; many are that way because the people simply believe what they themselves have been told, without really investigating matters thoroughly. To distinguish what is authentic, listen for real honesty and direct experience. Ask yourself: past all the fabrication and rhetoric, is the communication valuable and empowering or is it simply a fantasy or dogma?
Q: Given my personal history, can you advise me as to what path to take?
A: Not really. I can only recommend being as honest as possible. Cut through the fantasies that accompany all teachings and go after and eradicate every belief that you can possibly identify. Set out to directly and authentically experience for yourself what is true in the world. Regarding the Cheng Hsin communication, “listen” for awhile and discern the guiding principle or force behind every one of the considerations addressed. This will provide a valuable sense from which to take on any practice. Question.
Q: What is the difference between Zen and the Cheng Hsin Consciousness work?
A: Like Zen, Cheng Hsin embraces the spirit of authentic and personal direct experience of the truth. Cheng Hsin, however, is open to using a wider variety of methods to pursue this end. Aside from enlightenment experiences, the Cheng Hsin work addresses many other issues that are inextricable from our experience of living, such as: the nature of perception, emotion, interpretation, vitality, and mind, and principles of body-being, energy, relationship, interaction, and effectiveness. Any matter that constitutes our experience of being are addressed freely and deeply in the Cheng Hsin ontological work. We stand not so much on ritual and tradition as on the fundamental principles of honesty, questioning, authenticity, and effectiveness. We wish to address the whole matter that appears as being.