THE SUBTLE JOY OF EQUANIMITY
for the last leg of my stay in the bay, i challenged myself with a ten-day silent meditation retreat up at the california vipassana center near yosemite. i couldn't think of a better way to enjoy the holidays and ring in the new year. the experience was unbelievable,.. i highly recommend everyone try this program. now please be aware.. ten days of silence sure does sound nice, but this isn't exactly a vacation.. we're talking ten hours of meditation every day for ten days.. it is extremely challenging - but at the same time, equally rewarding. so if you wanna sharpen your awareness, you can get more information here.. dhamma.org it is offered all over the world, and it's all free! do it!
STRANDED IN CHINA
soon after the retreat, it was time for me to head back to china. i was so busy trying to pull together whatever money i could to fund my training this year, that i hardly got to spend anytime with my friends and loved ones this round. so sadly, i think a lot of people aren't too happy with me - sorry mom. but, happy or not, i still have a reality to create.. and i'd rather be busy than stagnant - so work it is.
upon my departure.. i had to face the most torrential downpour of the year. tons of water came down in buckets, and gusts of wind were clocked at nearly 80 mph. it was insane. needless to say, my flight got delayed three hours - which in turn, made me miss my connecting flight in beijing. so once in the middle kingdom, i had to camp out at the beijing airport for the night before catching the next available flight to shanghai. good fun. if anything, it gave me a chance to read - two books, some 600 pages.. i love it. so glad i came strapped with text.
SOMETHING DIFFERENT ABOUT SHANGHAI
for those of you that have followed my adventures.. you would know that i have always had issues with shanghai.. for the longest time, i just couldn't get right with this city, but now that i am a vipassana meditator (wink wink) all is blissed and bright for dave wei, even shanghai.
the highlight of this round would have to be all the time i got to spend with my disciple brothers jeff and sam. we are some silly dudes. but beyond that.. what made this trip super ultra disgusting (in a good way) would have to be learning imperial dragon bagua from master ming in the park every morning.
this system is amazing.. there is no other way to describe it. ming shifu is awesome, and his sound effects are hilarious. we got along immediately and i was so happy to spend my mornings with him picking up this rare style of bagua zhang. ming shifu ran me through a barrage of training methods.. line drills, applications, footwork, push-hand techniques, conditioning exercises, standing postures, circle walking.. the works. once again, i am humbled by bagua training.. my body is sore allover,.. but i am so excited about incorporating these methods to my regular routine. party.
AND I'M OFF
tonight i head back to wudang mountain. the year of the pig is coming to a close, and the new year is upon us - making travel in china ridiculously difficult. because of that.. there are no direct trains available so i have to transfer in the capitol city of wuhan. despite the drama, however, my travel time will be cut by 6 hours and the bulk of it is spent over night.. so it's not bad at all.. i think i may have found a new way to get back to the mountains.
and that's all. the wu life 300 series is now underway. lots of good stuff is lined up this year so stay tuned.
see you on the other shore,
-wei zi rong
0 comments:
Post a Comment