THE GHOST FESTIVAL
It was a cold and stormy night,.. well, not quite.. but it was pretty cold and misty. i had to wear my jacket.
brother jeff and i, led by our tour guide cathy, shot up the mountain one night to observe a taoist ceremony - the ghost festival. originally, we went up thinking it was some sort of devil day, and we were excited at the possibility of seeing a taoist exorcism, or better yet, A GHOST!!! but alas, there was nothing of the sort.. what there was, however, was a beautiful ceremony held in honor of our ancestors past. money was burnt and offerings of fruit, crackers, and soft drinks were made. the event itself was held at the mystical purple heaven palace, and it was truly amazing to witness such a ceremony.. ghosts or not. to make it even better, we ran into so many of our martial uncles that night, and we even got to burn some money for our loved ones passed - i hope my grandma and grandpa enjoy the red envelopes i sent em.
that night, there was no way to get off the mountain, so we stayed in a small hotel for the night. the next morning, was so damp and misty that you couldn't even see 20 feet ahead of you - it was so awesome. after a short breakfast, cathy led jeff and i to a small temple cave that was inhabited by one old monk. seeing the monk was so surreal.. he rocked the classic taoist robes with a taoist cap that had a hole for his taoist top knot. his weathered, wrinkled face was highlighted by his deep glowing eyes,.. and further accented by his long, gray, knotty beard. his smile lines creased as he chuckled a welcome, revealing his crusty, toothless grill. his steps were light and soft,.. he gracefully glided across the rocky ground before inviting us to have a seat on two old meditation cushions. once seated, he disappeared into the temple for a moment only to come out with apples for everyone - apples that had been blessed from the previous night. we sat and chatted for a while, and he told us how numerous legendary masters such as zhang san feng and xuan wu had cultivated and trained at that very cave. jeff and i could hardly contain ourselves. as a parting gift, the monk pulled out a couple hand carved jade pieces and handed them to us with a smile. he walked us about half way down the path before fading back into the forest temple cave. i'm still in awe.
after all that goodness, jeff and i walked back to the purple heaven palace and checked out all the halls and temples,.. we stopped in each one to make small offerings and to give our respects to the deities. at the top of the temple grounds we found the parental hall, so jeff and i took a moment to go in and give an offering of honor to our parents,.. it was especially cool because there was a nun inside that rang a small gong each timed we bowed.. it was magical. from there, we chatted with a sweet old nun that was feeding the turtles and fish in one of the octagon elixir pools - there were two, one for the sun, and the other for the moon. before leaving, we took the time to take a couple kung fu pictures along the steps like good tourists. in all, the whole experience seemed like a fairytale - it was nothing short of amazing.
MONKEY VALLEY MADNESS
earlier this week, the government invited our school up the mountain to the mouth of monkey valley to enjoy a competition. that day was extremely cold and wet, and it rained nearly all morning as they set up for the show. to kill time, we all just chatted with students from the mountain schools and did our best to keep from getting soaked. the funniest part of the morning had to be this director that yelled orders at everyone.. you could even see his face get red, it was cute. once the event started, we were shocked to see that wu ben, the master of jet li, was invited as a judge - and here we are sitting just a few feet behind him! could this week get any better?
the event itself was rather boo boo. there was only a short martial arts demo, most of which was contemporary wushu - which is more like a flash dance than kung fu - there was even a guy that was trying to move like bruce lee.. really, really boo boo. after the martial arts demo, there was this silly event where the participants had to sing or dance.. now that was really cheesy. everyone that sang, blatantly lip synced, and the only cool dancers were these two dudes that did a breaking routine. all the rest were horrible. the whole show was more like a 'star search',.. it was nothing like a traditional kung fu competition. to boot, the event ended with a rigged vote to see who would win some fancy sword.. well, if anything, it was entertaining,.. but i would have rather been training.
TIME IS WINDING DOWN
i am now officially down to my last 8 days in wudang. from here, i shoot over to shanghai for a couple days, and then i'm on a jet plane across the pacific to my home by the bay - richmond, california.
once home, i'll be running a weekend workshop in berkeley - and just in time for the autumn equinox on the 23rd.. i'm really looking forward to it! it will be a three day program, saturday and sunday morning, and one monday evening to close. i plan to share a lot of goodies including taoist yoga, breathing, meditation, qigong, and more. you can find more information about this program here:
www.WudangWorkshops.blogspot.com
as for my hawaii fund raising.. i am still just 200 shy of a plane ticket. hopefully, i can get that taken care of before i leave china. if any of you would care to contribute (dad), you can do it via paypal here:
www.DonationBox.blogspot.com
alright, that's it for this round. now i gotta get back to packing up my winter gear for storage and breaking down my office here.. time is almost up. catch you all next week for my last wu life in wudang.
aloha
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