After all these months, a new post! I’ve discovered blogging is a skill not yet developed by this writer. But it seems only fitting to report the recognition Gia-fu’s biography has received. In addition to many kind, thoughtful letters, phone calls, and emails from readers, Still Point of the Turning World: The Life of Gia-fu Feng was winner of a gold medal and a finalist for two other awards.

I’ve come to appreciate C.H.’s wisdom again and again as I hear from people who knew Gia-fu. Some knew him well, others slightly, still others knew him only for a short time, perhaps a few months and in a particular environment. Many understood the complex being they encountered. Others focused primarily on one or two facets, not seeing the complexity beyond. But all hold this in common: whether one, two, or many, all found Gia-fu’s facets  memorable.

 

The website also includes excerpts that will give you a sense of how I’ve approached writing about this multi-faceted, elusive person known as Gia-fu Feng.  What a rich, challenging, humbling journey it’s been.  I so appreciate the many people who have shared information and insights along the way.  For the many I didn’t have the good fortune to talk with, I welcome your thoughts and perspectives here.  There’s always much more to learn, another lens through which one can see, for how can we ever truly convey all the dimensions of another person’s life?

As Nicole Mones so eloquently writes in A Cup of Light, “I can only give you this sum of what I have heard, mixed with my own opinions of the matter.”  Now, I welcome yours.

Still Point of the

 

Still Point of the Turning World: The Life of Gia-fu Feng interweaves the life of translator, teacher, Taoist rogue Gia-fu Feng with the tumultuous historical tapestry of 20^th century China and the United States. From Chinese warlords, Japanese occupation, and World War II to 1950s disillusionment, the Beats, Esalen and beyond, the story traces major events and personalities on opposite sides of the world. In the mix is Gia-fu and the Stillpoint community’s best-selling translation of the Tao Te Ching, the ancient Chinese classic that is the most translated book in the world, next only to the Bible.

Told from the perspective of someone who never knew Gia-fu but who became his heir through the untimely death of her beloved sister, Still Point of the Turning World tracks a life that began with external privilege but culminated in the gradual discovery of the still point within.

 

 

Advance Praise for

Still Point of the Turning World

 

 

 

 

 

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In tackling the improbable and highly original life of Taoist teacher and Tao Te Ching translator Gia-Fu Feng, Wilson completes a sisterly legacy – and also sheds unexpected light on the era when Beat artists and thinkers took the first steps toward a spiritual counterculture.

–Nicole Mones, author of The Last Chinese Chef

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Carol Wilson has given us an indispensable look at a shadowy chapter of the journey of the Tao to America. She tells the story with warmth, insight and authority. You will find it engaging and. . .possibly. . .life altering.

–Luis Alberto Urrea, author of The Hummingbird’s Daughter

 

Excerpt from Foreword by Dexter Woo, nephew of Gia-fu Feng

Carol Wilson’s biography of Gia-Fu is an extraordinary effort that traces the improbable life of my Uncle Jeff. It was fate that brought him to this country at precisely the right time. Contemplating the cultural and social changes Gia-Fu experienced in the early days living in this country, the underlying conditions were ripe for him to do what he was destined to do. I think no one in our family can really put a finger on exactly what his real vocation or profession was. We know that he translated Lao Tzu and taught Tai Chi. According to my mother, Gia-Fu’s sister Lu-tsi, he was an accomplished calligrapher, tutored by the masters during his youth in China. We now know that he was adept at identifying the people, even in the future sense, whom he ultimately partnered with to complete the most important projects during and after his life, people like Jane English, Margaret Wilson and the unsuspecting Carol Wilson who had never met him. I also know that he did not like being a “Master” to those he lived and interacted with. I believe Jane English was most perceptive in calling him a teacher of his art. I’d like to add entertainer to the list of descriptions.