Session: 221 10:35 am to 11:50 am Values and Vision THE TAO OF SCHOOL LIBRARIANSHIP Tim Gauntley, Instructional Leader, Library Learning and Resources,

Session: 22110:35 am to 11:50 amValues and VisionTHE TAO OF SCHOOL LIBRARIANSHIPTim Gauntley, Instructional Leader, Library Learning and Resources, Toronto DSB.

The wise leader is like water (Lao Tzu). It's time to share softer strategies for effective school library leadership based on compassionate insights from thinkers who see beyond business models and trendy systems. This session will challenge Western perspectives and offer inspiration based on being still, the here and now, the ripple effect, doing less and being more, keeping it simple, and the paradox of letting go. Uncluttered technology will help us.

1. Are you in the right place?

2. The most important Taoist saying.

3. A time to let ----- go.

4. An activity already!

5. The novice, the scholar, and the abbot.

Welcome

The School Library in 2005

• The centre for:– All literacies– All subjects– All students– All teachers– Integration– Intervention– Lifelong learning– Student achievement

The Teacher-Librarian in

2005

• Do you feel like the centre?– Understaffed– Underfunded– Unappreciated– Unknown– Unaware

The Tao of School

Librarianship

A Choral Reading

If you open yourself to insight,you are at one with insightand you can use it completely.

If you open yourself to loss,you are at one with lossand you can accept it completely.

Open yourself to the Tao,then trust your natural responses;and everything will fall into place.

The Tao of School

Librarianship

•Lao-Tzu was a librarian!–his story

The Tao of School

Librarianship

•You need it!•You already have it!

•Are you ready for it?

YANG

TAO Deep understanding from the Way it is.

TEPower from Virtue

THE SAGEThe Wise and Happier Teacher-Librarian

YIN

MUSIC/TAPE Hearing the Way

PLAYFeeling the Way

ART/FILMSeeing the Way

FUNG-SHUILiving the Way

TAOTAO•Tao: The Way and the wayTao: The Way and the way•Yin-Yang: Interplay of Yin-Yang: Interplay of

oppositesopposites•Wu Wei: Non-actionWu Wei: Non-action•P’u: The Uncarved BlockP’u: The Uncarved Block•Ch’I: The Life ForceCh’I: The Life Force

Taoism: A Short History

• Toronto 1965• Lao-Tzu• Chuang Tzu• Lieh Tse• Zen Buddhism• Modern China• John Blofeld

(tape)

The tao that can be toldis not the eternal TaoThe name that can be namedis not the eternal Name.

The unnamable is the eternally real.Naming is the originof all particular things.

Free from desire, you realize the mystery.Caught in desire, you see only the manifestations.

Ch. 1 Trans. Stephen Mitchell

Tao: The Way Tao: The Way and the wayand the way


The Master keeps her mindalways at one with the Tao;that is what gives her her radiance.

The Tao is ungraspable.How can her mind be at one with it?Because she doesn't cling to ideas.

The Tao is dark and unfathomable.How can it make her radiant?Because she lets it.




The Tao doesn't take sides;it gives birth to both good and evil.The Master doesn't take sides;she welcomes both saints and sinners.

The Tao is like a bellows:it is empty yet infinitely capable.The more you use it, the more it produces;the more you talk of it, the less you understand.

Hold on to the center.




When people see some things as beautiful,other things become ugly.When people see some things as good,other things become bad.

Being and non-being create each other.Difficult and easy support each other.Long and short define each other.High and low depend on each other.Before and after follow each other.


Yin-Yang: Yin-Yang: Interplay of Interplay of OppositesOpposites


Know the male,yet keep to the female:receive the world in your arms.If you receive the world,the Tao will never leave youand you will be like a little child.

Know the white,yet keep to the black:be a pattern for the world.If you are a pattern for the world,the Tao will be strong inside youand there will be nothing you can't do.




Therefore the Masteracts without doing anythingand teaches without saying anything.Things arise and she lets them come;things disappear and she lets them go.She has but doesn't possess,acts but doesn't expect.When her work is done, she forgets it.That is why it lasts forever.


Wu Wei: Wu Wei: Non-actionNon-actionWu Wei: Wu Wei: Non-actionNon-action

When taxes are too high,people go hungry.When the government is too intrusive,people lose their spirit.

Act for the people's benefit.Trust them; leave them alone.



Act without doing;work without effort.Think of the small as largeand the few as many.Confront the difficultwhile it is still easy;accomplish the great taskby a series of small acts.

The Master never reaches for the great;thus she achieves greatness.When she runs into a difficulty,she stops and gives herself to it.She doesn't cling to her own comfort;thus problems are no problem for her.



Know the personal,yet keep to the impersonal:accept the world as it is.If you accept the world,the Tao will be luminous inside youand you will return to your primal self.

The world is formed from the void,like utensils from a block of wood.The Master knows the utensils,yet keeps to the block:thus she can use all things.


P’u: The P’u: The Uncarved Uncarved

BlockBlock

P’u: The P’u: The Uncarved Uncarved

BlockBlock

The Tao is called the Great Mother:empty yet inexhaustible,it gives birth to infinite worlds.

It is always present within you.You can use it any way you want.


Ch’I: Ch’I: The Life ForceThe Life Force

Ch’I: Ch’I: The Life ForceThe Life Force

TETETETE•Te: Virtue-PowerTe: Virtue-Power•Tz’u: CompassionTz’u: Compassion•Chih: Intuitive knowledgeChih: Intuitive knowledge•Ho P’ing: Harmony/TranquilityHo P’ing: Harmony/Tranquility•Ching: Quiessence/MeditationChing: Quiessence/Meditation

Giving birth and nourishing,having without possessing,acting with no expectations,leading and not trying to control:this is the supreme virtue.


Te: Te: Virtue-Virtue-PowerPower

Te: Te: Virtue-Virtue-PowerPower

Can you let your body becomesupple as a newborn child's?Can you cleanse your inner visionuntil you see nothing but the light?Can you love people and lead themwithout imposing your will?Can you deal with the most vital mattersby letting events take their course?Can you step back from you own mindand thus understand all things?


Tz’u: Tz’u: CompassionCompassion

Tz’u: Tz’u: CompassionCompassion

My teachings are easy to understandand easy to put into practice.Yet your intellect will never grasp them,and if you try to practice them, you'll fail.

My teachings are older than the world.How can you grasp their meaning?

If you want to know me,look inside your heart.


Chih: Chih: Intuitive Intuitive

knowledgeknowledge

Chih: Chih: Intuitive Intuitive

knowledgeknowledge

He who is in harmony with the Taois like a newborn child.Its bones are soft, its muscles are weak,but its grip is powerful.

The Master's power is like this.He lets all things come and goeffortlessly, without desire.He never expects results;thus he is never disappointed.He is never disappointed;thus his spirit never grows old.


Ho P’ing: Ho P’ing: Harmony/ Harmony/ TranquilityTranquility

Ho P’ing: Ho P’ing: Harmony/ Harmony/ TranquilityTranquility

Nothing in the worldis as soft and yielding as water.Yet for dissolving the hard and inflexible,nothing can surpass it.

The soft overcomes the hard;the gentle overcomes the rigid.Everyone knows this is true,but few can put it into practice.

Therefore the Master remainsserene in the midst of sorrow.Evil cannot enter his heart.Because he has given up helping,he is people's greatest help.


Ching: Ching: QuiessencQuiessence/Meditatie/Meditati

onon

Ching: Ching: QuiessencQuiessence/Meditatie/Meditati

onon

Activities

•Feel the Tao•Get in touch•Go with the

flow•Play•Be receptive•Yield!

THE SAGETHE SAGETHE SAGETHE SAGE1.1. Is one with the TaoIs one with the Tao2.2. Accepts and integrates Accepts and integrates

opposites opposites 3.3. Does (is) more with lessDoes (is) more with less4.4. ““Wanders” freely and easilyWanders” freely and easily5.5. Activates energyActivates energy6.6. Enhances creativityEnhances creativity

THE SAGETHE SAGETHE SAGETHE SAGE7.7. Expresses Te naturallyExpresses Te naturally8.8. Explores range and perspectiveExplores range and perspective9.9. Is free from a sense of self Is free from a sense of self 10.10.Lets goLets go11.11.Lives simply & acts Lives simply & acts

spontaneouslyspontaneously12.12.Radiates possibilityRadiates possibility

Some say that my teaching is nonsense.Others call it lofty but impractical.But to those who have looked inside themselves,this nonsense makes perfect sense.And to those who put it into practice,this loftiness has roots that go deep.

Ch.67 Trans. Stephen Mitchell

The Sage:The Sage: The Art of The Art of TeachingTeaching


I have just three things to teach:simplicity, patience, compassion.These three are your greatest treasures.Simple in actions and in thoughts,you return to the source of being.Patient with both friends and enemies,you accord with the way things are.Compassionate toward yourself,you reconcile all beings in the world.

Ch. 67 Trans. Stephen MitchellThe Sage:The Sage: The Art of The Art of TeachingTeaching


Fan Kuan [11th c.]: Travelers Among Mountains and

Streams

• a massive mountain, deep valley, and layers of mist.

• mist represented as blank silk.

• the void contasts the heavier inked sections

• a sense of delicate harmony and tranquility

• Charles Hartman (SUNY Albany, NY)

Kuo Hsi [Guo Xi, 11th c.]: Early Spring

• The moisture of early spring created by ink washes.

• “with "cloud-head" texture strokes for the mountain forms and "crab-claw" branches on the trees, the landscape in this painting seems to almost pulsate, flow, and disappear (only to reappear again), suggesting the Chinese idea of the mysterious forces of Nature and the cosmos at work”


Wen T'ung (1019-1079). Ink Bamboo

• scholar painting • movement and grace of

forms. • actual appearance of

bamboo, with a metaphor for the grace and resilience of the Chinese scholar

• rich contrast in the ink tones for the bamboo leaves


Fang Ts'ung-I:

• a tall mountain both rises triumphantly in the background, and melts in the moist, primordial atmosphere

• trees on the slope and green bamboo lean in the wind.

• a Taoist vision of the land as a realm where atmosphere (energy; "ch'i") flows, collects, and dissipates--representing the impermanence of nature.

Mu Ch’I (1269).

Six Persimmons

See Creativity

and Taoism, Plate 4

Wu Zhen:

Fishermen

• When I sit by the river, my mind is totally concentrated on fishing and nothing else. I have a good feel for the give and pull of the line so the fish are not even aware when the hook and bait enter the water. To them, the bait is no different from a grain of sand or a bubble, and they swallow it without suspecting. This is the principle of using the soft to win over the strong and the light to hold the heavy. Lieh Tzu

The Tao of School

Librarianship

If you open yourself to insight,you are at one with insightand you can use it completely.

If you open yourself to loss,you are at one with lossand you can accept it completely.

Open yourself to the Tao,then trust your natural responses;and everything will fall into place.

Documents

Session: 221 10:35 am to 11:50 am Values and Vision THE TAO OF SCHOOL LIBRARIANSHIP Tim Gauntley, Instructional Leader, Library Learning and Resources,