Testimonial letter from Ma Anand Mallika
This letter is one of a remarkable series of over 2650 letters amassed in 1983 to support Osho's attempt to get permanent resident status in the US at the time of the Oregon ranch. The image is reproduced here with the kind permission of The Oregon Historical Society. Information about their collection of these letters and other supporting material -- the "Jeffrey Noles Rajneesh Collection", named for Osho's immigration lawyer Jeffrey Noles, who compiled them in 1983 and donated them to the OHS -- can be found at this page. The wiki is grateful to the OHS for making access available for these documents. For more information and links to all the letters, see Testimonial letters.
This letter is from Ma Anand Mallika (Penelope Matthews). It is "Exhibit A-851" in the Noles collection.
The text version below has been created by optical character recognition (OCR), from the images supplied by OHS. It has not been checked for errors but this process usually results in over 99% correct transcription. Most apparent "errors" are correct transcriptions of typos already in the original. The image on the right in the text box links to a pdf file of the original letter, it has one page.
 Ma Anand Mallika TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN: I took my B.A. Honours from Durham University, England, in 1969 and while researching for my Master's thesis I became fascinated with the culture of ancient China. This led me to the study of T'ai Chi Ch'uan, first with Master Chu in San Francisco and then at the academy of Master Liu in London. I also worked with all the available teachers of T'ai Chi in London, both Chinese and European, and with Gia Fu Feng from the Stillpoint Foundation of Colorado. After several years studying and practising T'ai Chi, Chinese health techniques, self-defence and Taoist meditations, I began to lead classes in T'ai Chi and to research other methods of meditation. Working as a counselor I had great interest in the results of meditation in physical and mental health. In 1976 I was introduced to the meditations of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh and finding these the most effective techniques available I travelled to Poona to meet him. Later I settled at the Shree Rajneesh Ashram, Poona and taught T'ai Chi there until June 1981. During these years I gradually developed a unique style of T'ai Chi which grew out of conversations with Bhagwan. He possesses not only vast knowledge of ancient Chinese Taoist texts, but also deep understanding of the nature and purpose of meditation techniques. In the first year Bhagwan gave me insight into the foundations and principles from which T'ai Chi emerged which eliminated many unnecessary modern additions to the art. These guidelines were enhanced by his series of discourses on Taoist masters and texts. Consequently Bhagwan encouraged me to experiment with different forms of movement in T'ai Chi and the style that has emerged is noted for its clarity, beauty and its effectiveness in balancing the total health of the individual. It has been taught to many thousands of people both in Poona and all over the world - there are now qualified teachers leading classes in most countries. In Rajneeshpuram the T'ai Chi continues to evolve. Although I no longer have the personal conversations with Bhagwan, his silent presence is more than sufficient inspiration. It has taken the intelligence and meditativeness of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh to create the most classically accurate and contemporarily valuable style of T'ai Chi available in the world today. Yours, |
(Please note: We assume that the above letter is still copyrighted, but we regard its historical interest to constitute a Fair Use exception for publication in this wiki.)
