Cultivator's Calendar

We've been producing this Cultivator's Calendar for quite a few years.

And, we always have fun with some of the ancillary features of what it means to have an instrument like this that has been a part of the Chinese culture for more than four thousand years. Stop and think about that number for a moment; more than 4,000 years. That's a lot of history.

And, speaking of history, let's take a short look at a piece of our own.

The Periplus

Does anyone know what a "periplus" is? How about a "rutter?" Not to worry. These are terms that are virtually unknown to most moderns.

They shouldn't be; classical education must be slipping in its duties. But, I digress.

Periplus is a Greek word that means "sailing-around book." Essentially, it is a mariner's book of written sailing instructions. This was not a book of sailing charts. The sailing chart didn't make it on the historical scene until the 1300s CE, while the periplus has been around since the 5th century BCE, and -as you might expect -most every culture of sailors had their own version. They were called "portolano" by Italians, "portiero" by Portuguese mariners, and "Seebuch" by the Germans. To the French, they were "routiers," which English navigators artfully altered to "rut-ter." The common English sailor called them "waggoners" which had something to do with "wandering about." (Comforting, huh?)

But wandering about directionless was not what the rutter was for. It contained detailed instructions on how to get from one place to another on the high seas. It contained physical descriptions of coastlines, shoals, reefs, and breakers when sailing close to land, and precise instructions on when, where, and how to set sail across the vast openness of oceans.

Accumulated information on wind patterns, water currents, temperature changes, and other seasonal conditions were recorded in the rutter. Physical descriptions of landmasses, astronomical data, instructions on how to use navigational devices, ship repair, diseases likely to be encountered during journeys and medicinal recipes to combat them, tide records, calendars, inland rivers and fresh water sources, descriptions of ports and harbors, as well as local customs of the inhabitants. All this, and more, was recorded in a well kept rutter.

As you might imagine, a rutter was a very important book to merchants and explorers. Consequently, they were closely guarded. Sometimes, they were written in code with mnemonic patterns known only to the ship's pilot or navigator. Key bits of information were often deliberately left out of the written book and orally passed down from Master Pilot to apprentice navigator. Sometimes, a rutter was written as a sort of fanciful travelogue of an important journey from point "A" to point "B" on the globe. At other times, an important rutter was cleverly disguised as a journey travelogue containing vital sailing knowledge only available to those that knew how to read it - or, for that matter, knew how to obtain one in the first place. I mean, if you didn't have a correct rutter that you could read and understand, there were places that you just couldn't go!

Portuguese navigators, for example, kept the trade routes to the East Indies, China, and Japan a secret from the rest of Europe's mariners for almost a hundred years! You can probably imagine the flurry of shipping that took place when a Dutchman named Lischoten got his hands on one and decided to publish it. (How do you say "There goes the neighbor-hood!" in Japanese?) Explorers, adventurers, and trade merchants of all types flooded the seas of Asia after the "Lischoten Rutter" was made public. The commerce that began to flow between Asia and Europe dramatically changed things in both continents. But - and here's the point - they couldn't have done any of it without the mariner's rutter.

The Cultivator's Rutter

There is a hidden side of life. And I'm not talking "spiritual" or "su-pernatural," as that simply would not fit with the calendar's historic or cultural roots. Instead, call it the "preternatural territory" that our domesticated selves simply aren't aware of. The ingrained patterns of our cul-ture, our language, neurology, and habitual thought processes conspire to hide this territory from us, yet it's always there! We might see its surface 

wonders or occasionally glimpse the miracle of it, but to fully function within its totality remains beyond our grasp. Why this situation exists is a topic for another day. But, as Cultivators, you already possess the skills necessary to explore this territory and discover its manifold wonders.

All you need is a map, a guide to show you how to get there. All you need ..., is a rutter.

Within the panorama of human history, the Chinese distinguished themselves as the world's best natural scientists. For millennia, they dutifully recorded everything they observed. Based on these observations, they invented the magnetic compass, the first seismograph, printing, and Chinese medicine. They pioneered theories of flight long before Da Vinci or the Wright brothers. And Chinese mariners conquered the globe long before Magellan or Columbus. Binary math calculations were "old hat" for Chinese natural scientists long before computers were conceived.

And their skill in astronomy was second to none in the ancient world.

All of these discoveries, and so much more, were the result of studiously observing the patterns of Mother Nature and man interacting with those patterns. Those very same patterns are recorded in this Tung Shu.

What you hold in your hand - in both essence & fact - is a periplus, a waggoner; a rutter for Cultivators. Coded within its square little daily chapters is the accumulated knowledge and experience of Ancient Chinese explorers, artists, and adventurers who have been navigating the "winds & waters" of life for many more than 4,000 years. These folks

- who we call "Cultivators" - were not interested in shipping routes or exploring lands far beyond their borders. Rather, they were interested in tracking the patterns of human life and energy; of man interacting with the natural world. Along the way, they discovered the aforementioned preternatural territory and realized its importance. Throughout the ages, they did their best to record its sights and sounds. More importantly for us, they recorded precise "sailing instructions" for the journey. Those instructions make up the bulk of this "Book of Days."

Why Do I Bother?

It takes a lot of work to produce a calendar of this kind. And, it took a lot of years to learn how! During those years, people have asked me why I bother to keep this thing alive and why I've worked so hard to make it accessible and relevant to a modern western audience. To answer that, I have to go to Scripture:

"The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they reveal knowledge. They have no speech, they use no words; no sound is heard from them. Yet their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world." ~ Psalm 19:1-4a (NIV)

Plainly, I'm one of those that wants to hear those silent words and the knowledge they impart. And, I'm prepared to employ my Cultivation arts to go to the "ends of the world" to hear and to learn. With this rutter as a guide, you can go there, too!

Bon Voyage!

~ Sifu John