Thomas’ 15-Year Search for Taoism

Text by Qi Fei & Luo Xin

Photos by Feng Kaichun

“When I was a child, I often longed for a chance to learn kung fu in China, but frankly it weirded out my parents.”Though born in a small city with little connection to China,Thomas has always had a special and unexplainable feeling towards China.

After college, Thomas began to learn Chinese systematically.The artistic beauty of Chinese characters held limitless appeal for him. In his eyes they were literally imbued with power and artistry. One day, he just happened to read some Taoist literature, and the book aroused in him a latent passion for Taoism, which originated in the mysterious ancient oriental culture. That was when the idea of “Going to China” started lingering in his mind.

“Since the roots of Taoism lie in China, and I can speak Chinese, I want to seek the meaning of life at the birthplace of Taoism.” One day in 2003,Thomas boarded a plane to China and never looked back.

At first, he studied the Taoist classics and learned the fundamental ideas of Taoism in Qingdao, Shandong Province of China. Then he went to Shanghai to study traditional Chinese medicine and qigong(chi kung). According to Thomas, he felt like a child yearning to glimpse more beauty on the path towards a future filled with mystery,romance and excitement.

After graduating from Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine,Thomas took a trip to the Xianren Cave in Lushan Mountain, and then visited the Temple of the Five Immortals in Shiyan. In 2014, he decided to take up residence in the village of Zixiao Palace in the Wudang Mountains, living there like a hermit.

托馬斯尋“道”中國15年

文/齊菲 羅鑫 圖/馮開春

今年42歲的托馬斯來自法國拉羅謝爾，六七歲時，李小龍的功夫電影是他對遙遠東方的最初印象。

“小時候我經常拜托我的父母把我送到中國練功，他們都覺得很奇怪。”出生于這個與中國幾乎沒什么關聯的小城，托馬斯對遙遠的中國有種莫名的向往。

上大學后，托馬斯開始系統地學習中文。在他眼中，漢字魅力無窮，充滿了藝術感和生命力。后來，他偶然看到一本關于道家的自傳文學，對道家文化這一古老的東方文化產生了濃厚興趣，“到中國去”的念頭開始在他腦海縈繞。

首先依據現行的政策，無法做進項稅抵扣的項目有企業的貸款服務項目，其中發生的征詢費用或者手續費用需要繳納的增值稅不能抵扣，都由企業自己承擔。再者，某些資本和勞動密集型的企業通常每年都要支付大額的利息費用給銀行或者金融機構，這些費用也不能抵扣，給企業帶來無形的稅收負擔。還有一些高科技企業技術團隊的高薪支出和物流行業的高人力資本同樣也無法歸入抵扣鏈條，從而形成稅負過重的狀況。

“既然道家文化的根在中國，我又會中文，那我就要去它的源頭尋找。”2003年，托馬斯義無反顧地坐上了飛往中國的航班。

起初，他在山東青島學習道家典籍和思想，后來在上海學習中醫時，又開始練習氣功，自學中醫經典。托馬斯說，自己就像一個孩子，在不斷前行中逐漸看到更廣闊的世界。

從上海中醫藥大學畢業后，托馬斯先后游歷廬山仙人洞、十堰五仙廟。2014年，他來到武當山紫霄宮村隱居。

“山上人不多，很安靜，周圍還有很多刻苦學習傳統文化的同伴，氛圍非常好。”托馬斯說。

在山中生活，交通是首要難題。山高谷深，日常生活用品靠人挑著擔子徒步運進來。以前土路沒有修整，趕上下雨下雪，道路泥濘濕滑。

“有一次摔倒后，我坐在地上想，自己到底為什么要跑到這里來受苦？但沒辦法，我就是喜歡這里。”托馬斯說，這么多付出似乎僅僅是為了安靜地打坐或享受一杯茶，“但抬頭看看周圍的環境，又覺得一切都值了。”

入山前，托馬斯曾和當地武術館的師父一起學習，后來，他開始在家中獨自修練。從站樁、打坐、練八卦掌等基本功法到研讀《道德經》《坐忘論》等傳統經典，托馬斯覺得，他在一動一靜間慢慢體悟到了東方的心性和態度，他與中國靠得更近了。

“There aren’t many people living here, which gives this place a quiet serenity. It’s the perfect place for me and my companions to study hard and learn traditional Chinese culture,” says Thomas.

Of course, the main nagging problem of living in the mountains is always transportation. All the daily necessities must be delivered from the outside world to the secluded village, with delivery people having to cross the deep valleys and the high mountains.In the past, due to the poor road maintenance, the crooked mountain roads would soon become muddy, wet and slippery if it rained or snowed.

“There was a time when I fell down and just sat there on the ground, wondering why I had come here to suffer. That’s when I realized that I just liked it here,” says Thomas. All that he ever wanted was to sit in meditation or enjoy the taste of hot tea. “Looking at everything surrounding me, I felt that it was all worth it.”

Before entering the Wudang Mountains, Thomas had practiced martial arts with local masters.Later, he began to cultivate himself through practicing basic skills like standing, sitting in meditation, or doing the Eight Trigram Palm drills, and through reading classical Taoist books like The Tao Te Ching and Sitting in Oblivion. Whether being dynamic or static, he started to apprehend the truths and core beliefs in oriental philosophy and got closer to Chinese culture.

Meanwhile, to make the tea garden in front of his house exuberant and valuable, Thomas registered a tea company with the help of local government. On every tea caddy produced, there is a word “Tao” written in one stroke, with a Chinese phrase“There’s no present without a past” embossed on the upper right corner. This is the phrase that reminds Thomas to always learn from the past.

Nowadays, Thomas makes a living by running his tea garden and renting out his guesthouse.He is still a sincere and simple man who follows the precepts of Taoism—every day, he spends some time either being active or being still to maintain his health and inner peace.

Every winter, when Thomas goes back to France, he gives an open class to spread the core beliefs of Taoist philosophy or shares his experience at the local Confucius Institute and community college for the elderly.He states that a growing group of French people are beginning to cultivate their mind-body balance by studying traditional Chinese culture. So Thomas works hard to build a cross-cultural bridge and promote cultural exchange in the hope of helping more and more French people know in detail about Taoism and Chinese culture. (From Xinhua.net;Translation: Li Lanxin)

為了不使房前的茶園荒廢，托馬斯在當地政府的支持下，注冊成立了茶葉公司。在每盒包裝好的茶葉中央，都有一個一筆寫成的“道”字，右上角還印著他篆刻的印章“無古不今”。他借用這個詞不斷提醒自己：向過去學習，以指導今天的生活。

現在，托馬斯主要依靠經營茶園和民宿維持自己的日常生活。在他看來，自己只是一個簡簡單單的求道者，每天根據身體情況抽一點時間或動或靜，維持健康平和的狀態。

每年冬天回法國時，托馬斯都會組織以道家或養生為主題的公開課，或去當地的孔子學院、老年大學講授學習心得。他說，近年來，越來越多的法國人開始向中國傳統文化汲取養分，以修養身心。他希望自己能發揮“文化橋梁”的作用，使更多法國人了解道家文化，了解中國。（據新華社）

托馬斯家里的道家書畫 Taoist calligraphy works and paintings in Thomas’ house