learning Chinese

[Guest guest]

Many on this list know of Father Claude Larre (1919-2001);

those who don't, should--especially those who value learning Chinese. I

recommend the tributes to Larre in the latest Meridians magazine (vol.

8, No. 2, spring 2002). Try www.tai.edu

which probably does not have direct links to the articles, but will tell

you how to get the magazine if you don't have one or aren't near a cm school

library. Larre encouraged us to learn Chinese. "This way, he said, [we]

would not be dependent on translators; [we] could capture for [our]selves

the nuances of wisdom in the Chinese medical classics."--Peter Eckman.

Roger Hill, in his Larre memoir: "Father Larre reminded us...if there is

no meeting of spirit with spirit, heart with heart, then the therapeutic

encounter can at best be only partial." Hill draws a parallel with

Larre and another French priest, Teilhard de Chardin, who said that we

are not so much human beings having a spiritual experience as spiritual

beings having a human experience. Our task, he said, is to do it

well. This great scholar and teacher, along with his colleague in sinology,

Elisabeth Rochat de la Valee, brought their treasures of the spirit to

TAI while I was a student. I eagerly awaited heir visits in fall

and spring.

Frances