One of the analogies Stuart often used was the idea of pushing the boat so it can drift with the current. This comes directly from Taoism itself. The character for Tao (道) shows a person floating in the water, going with the flow of the river. It’s the image of being at ease and not fighting against...

In this Tao Talk, Tim Burkett explores humor as a core Taoist and Zen practice rather than entertainment. He frames laughter as the moment conceptual clinging breaks—when rigid thinking, expectations, and self-seriousness loosen their grip. Drawing from Taoist stories, Zen anecdotes, and everyday si...

Stuart taught us that spiritual cultivation must always combine practice with study. He wasn’t saying theory matters so you can sound smart or explain things intellectually. He was saying that theory gives the practice its internal alignment. He often repeated the line:

“Theory without practice is ...

Stuart used to talk about the Laying the Foundation stage as men restoring Jing to the kidneys and women restoring or settling the Blood in the womb. This stage sounds simple on paper, but in practice it’s one of the hardest stages for people to truly enter. Many students hover around it for years, ...

In this session, Tim Burkett continues his series on Zhuangzi with a deep exploration of humor as a spiritual tool in Taoism and Chan/Zen. He begins by situating Zhuangzi as the second great Taoist sage, whose playfulness influenced how Buddhism transformed once it entered China. Taoism had already ...

Tim is now alternating talks in his Way of the Butterfly Series between the Sanctuary of Tao and the Minnesota Zen Center. Here's a link to the talk he gave at the Minnesota Zen Center on 10/26/25: https://youtu.be/dzA7bWLxZBs

Summary of the talk he gave for the Sanctuary of Tao on 11/16/25:

Tim B...

Most people are first drawn to Taoist internal arts because something about the practices feels exciting or mysterious. They hear about energy cultivation, spiritual awakening, and immortality, and are curious, if not positively determined, to achieve such states. That curiosity and desire are good....

This begins a new series of reflections on what it means to be a cultivator, a sincere practitioner of Taoist and Buddhist philosophy, meditation, Taijiquan, and Qigong. Each article will explore the inner realities of practice, the living transmission of our lineage, and the art of integrating cult...

Chuang Tzu Verses
#3
The great Tao cannot be named. It is rooted in not knowing. This is called Inner radiance
Take from it, it is never depleted … It is the inexhaustible treasury

#6
The master is not trapped in opposites. Their this is also a that.
They see that life becomes death and death becomes li...

When I think about Stuart and everything we went through with him in his illness and death, what keeps coming up for me is the image of the lotus and the mud.

All our lives, we’re trained to look at the lotus in people—their greatness, their strength, their shining moments. We want to see them at t...

The world is always changing—and so it is that a person from another country, some 5,470 miles away between Hamburg and Phoenix, can find a teacher who touches him deeply.

In 1993, through a friend, I was introduced to Chen Family Taijiquan and began training with Jan Silberstorff in Hamburg. Along...