Brian L. Kennedy

Hi Mal, Yeah, it is kind of interesting because for the majority of Taiwanese their only "live" exposure (I mean other than Shaw Brothers movies and Kung Fu soap operas) to Chinese martial arts comes through these Daoist temple street parades and performances. So thanks for the kind words. You do Yang style taiji right? take care, Brian

Hi folks, thanks for the input. I appreciate you all taking the time to write. Xuesheng, thanks for reminding me about the wu wei aspect. I will include that as a separate "presumption", in the same sense that "te" ("virtue") is a slightly different concept from Dao. In a very rough sense "dao" is the thing and te and wu wei is how it operates in the world humans see. It is an interesting cross cultural problem, because I strongly suspect that as a white American born in the 1950s I am going to have trouble seeing the "Dao" in the same sense that a Han Chinese born in the early or middle part of Chinese history saw it. You see it with a lot of concepts that try and cross cultures; oftentimes they get "corrupted" or "twisted" somehow. I see it with criminal law concepts (I teach American criminal law in Taiwan) and with martial arts concepts. take care, Brian

Right, Buddy is taken. I remember well back when I started pakua back in California back in 1983, that pakua was viewed as some "super mystical", "special" martial art that was supposed to be kind of the "PhD. of chinese martial arts". And I remember white guys "ohhhing and aaaahing" when they first saw it and heard all the talk about the I-Ching and vortexes of chi and all the rest. And let me be quick to add, I was one of those white guys with his mouth hanging open in amazement. But then the years go by and it becomes quite obvious that it is human movement, and that is that. Here in Taiwan it is just another Chinese martial art. No one views it as being much different than any other traditional Chinese martial art. In an interesting side note, one of the things that is supposed to make pakua so "deep, profound and mysterious" is the use of the Yi Jing symbols but in fact that way of talking about things is used in other martial arts including the Northern Shaolin art of 3 Kings Cannon Pounding (an art favored by bodyguards of the late Qing) and by Taiwanese Crane Boxing. I should take a moment and give thanks and praise to someone. This guy is often kicked and kicked pretty hard by the martial arts forums but I owe him a big thanks, so I will send it through cyberspace right here and now. I send thanks and praise to Bruce Kumar Frantiz. He learned from Wang Shu Jin and then he taught the guy (Dirk Johnson) who taught me. If I remember right Buddy studied under the guy too, so Buddy knows him. take care, Brian

Over the summer here in Taiwan there was an animated movie made which was about the Daoist Goddess Matzu 媽祖. Matzu is extremely popular here in Taiwan and in Fukien Province where many Taiwanese families originally came from. In a basic sense she is the patroness of seafarers. As Taiwan was in the past intimately connected with the ocean, worship of Matzu became widespread. Nowadays she is probably the most popular Daoist deity in Taiwan. So, she was at the premier of her movie a few months back and that is where this picture was taken. I want to mention a couple of things about this picture. First of all, offering her the Coke Cola and the theater snacks (it maybe hard to see but she also has a package of the most popular movie snack food in front of her) is not meant as a gag or to make a funny photo. The people who brought her to the movie premier and who made those offerings to her were very serious, very sincere and really accept the idea that Matsu is a living presence who like any person enjoys Coke Cola! It is not a posed joke photo. And actually the handlers of these Matsu statutes are very, very careful of protecting her dignity and they would never let her be used as a prop for a funny photo. She is treated like living royalty. And that kind of brings me around to one of the reasons I posted this picture and that is to show that Daoism, at least in Taiwan, is always growing, modernizing and staying current. People in the 21st century like Coke, so---Matzu living in the 21st century likes Coke too. Daoism is not frozen in the Han dynasty. That fact is often overlooked by people who study Daoism in a non-Chinese environment. Oh, I should close by saying I did not take this photograph. It is out of the newspaper. The premier of the Matsu movie was a red carpet A-list affair. And people like myself who are not on the A-list of Taiwan society were not invited! Take care, Brian

I had never realized that before, but Cat is right, I never see liquor offered to female deities. Now I won't say never, but normally the female deities get tea or fruit juice (or coke!) while the male gods (in particular Kuan Gong) get expensive "high proof" hard liquor (there is a type of liquor here in Taiwan called Kaoliang and it is higher proof than Bacardi 151 Rum! and it is Kuan Gong's favorite). I presume that that is a reflection on the traditional Chinese idea that alcohol is not proper for women. That traditional idea is still quite alive and well in Taiwan by the way. But yeah, no booze for Matsu. take care, Brian

Yeah, it amused me too. And I think the China Post (one of the english papers in Taiwan) did run it for kind of its "weirdness" effect. In addition to showing how diety worship has been modernized it also points out something else about Taiwanese Daoism, which is the damn gangster involvement with it. The guy who carried this Matsu into the movie opening and who did the voice over for one of the characters is a major mover in Taiwanese organized crime. Oh, and the sleaze ball is also a legislator. In other words he is a well rounded Taiwanese success story: Matsu Temple Committee + Fucking Gangster + Legislator = Taiwanese success story. Such is life. take care, Brian p.s a lot of my research for my book on Taiwanese Daoism can be done quite conveniently over at the Criminal Courthouse where I am everyday.

Good Morning Buddy, Yeah, I should have remembered that from Luo Laoshi's teaching. On a broader note, let me say Happy Chinese New Year to you and your family. I know we had our cyber-fights before but one of my resolutions for the new year was to (try) and cool it with the cyber screaming matches and to patch things over with people I have gotten into it with before. Truth be told I can not actually remember what we first were arguing about, but I do remember it got nasty. If I remember right it was over on George Wood's old forum, although it may have been Empty Flower. In any event I apologize for the past trouble and appreciate talking with you. Take care, Brian

Glad folks found it of interest. I do it several times a week. Too bad about it being in a movie, I thought I had invented it, I was going to patent it...such is life. Just kidding, take care, Brian

Normally when folks think of a Patron Saint for Chinese boxers they think of General Kuan Gong but actually here in Taiwan a fair number of martial artists choose as their patron saint a deity named Zhong Kui, who is the Imperial Demon Catcher and a fairly popular Daoist deity here in Taiwan. For example this comic book series, which is put out by a Singapore Chinese publishing house (AsiaPac Books) and illustrated by a Chinese-Malaysian guy named Chan Kok Sing, is super popular here in Taiwan. Zhong Kui is admired by Chinese martial artists for his fighting skill but also for his wude, martial virtue and the fact that he has the fearless courage to enter hell and subdue all the demons! In any event, I thought it might be of some amusement. I should mention that I have in my home an alter specifically set up for Lord Zhong Kui who I view as the Saint Michael of Daoism. I also have a St. Michael medallion---my theory of religion is that there really is one religion that manifest in many cultural settings, a person is either religious or not, what specific clothing their religion wears is of no importance to me. Take care, Brian

Masterforge, Let me make a little suggestion. When you have new people, such as myself, come on to the board and post threads about on topic traditional Chinese Daoist things, and I usually take the time to add graphics to make things more interesting. And I strongly suspect I am one of the few people on this board who ever spent any time living in a Chinese culture (I have lived in Taiwan for 15 years now) which is the "native soil" of Daoism and who have written extensively on both Chinese martial arts and on Daoism.. And then your response to that is to call me a fucking "troll" on the "etymology of Dao thread" and say I ought to be banned because I point out in a civil manner that somebody was wrong about something; that does not encourage well informed people such as myself to continue here. And then you bitch and moan about the quality of Taobums. How it looks to me is this. I normally get paid cash money for my words and my photos. I give them for free here because there are some civil folks and I am interested in seeing traditional Chinese Daoism flourish in the west and also just for the social fun of posting on a forum. But then I set back and ask myself, and my wife asks me the same question, why am I wasting my time. So there is a little something to think about. The other thing that I have noticed is on two of my threads, one of which I asked a serious straight forward question on Max's historical background, the thread got high jacked by a bunch of babble about fucking animals. I presume it was the Max disciples "solution" to any vague hint that Max's history is not so credible. Then same thing happens on the etymology of Dao thread; I make a straightforward comment and then a bunch of off topic, mocking, of my use of horseshit. I guess I should have said something more "modern" like "motherfucking bullshit"; but I was trying to stay civil and I thought horseshit was more mild. The point being, threads going way off topic is another problem; I realize that thread going off into nonsense is a common deal on all forums but I did notice it happened to two of mine in the last week and it does not encourage people to post well thought out comments because what is going to happen is the thread is going to fall into nonsense....kind of like this one is with the talk about tampons. take care, Brian Kennedy

I got a private message about my "rudeness". Note that I did not criticize anyone by name in this thread, and I did not know who posted it on wikipedia and in fact I do not care. As one could read in my post I wrote "it is horseshit", meaning the fact, not the person. The person I simply called "uninformed". I was as civil as I could be and I am not sure an apology is in order. But to keep the peace I will make one. I am sorry to Mr. Stigweard for saying anything and as long as I am doing the mea culpas, I am sorry to Taomeow for saying less than kind things about Ms. Eva Wong's translations. Brian L. Kennedy

Here in Taiwan we are getting ready for the New Years holiday and I sat down this morning and watched a bit of a movie with budaixi (布袋戲) (i.e. hand puppets). The one I was watching was kind of the most famous international one called Legend of the Sacred Stone. I guess it has got some international fame and exposure. The official website for it is: http://movie.pili.com.tw/en/ I mention this on a Daoist forum because a lot of the budaixi themes and characters come from Daoist practices and Daoist martial arts; albeit in a very fictional sense. The budaixi themes are part of a broader stream in Chinese culture known as the wuxia; which are martial chivalry stories. In any event the movie is amusing and certainly exciting. I guess there is a version with english subtitles. Here is the Wikipedia blurb on the film. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legend_of_the_Sacred_Stone So there is a wild Daoist puppet movie for your amusement. Take care, Brian This is a picture of me and my wife Elizabeth playing chess over the weekend. Just kidding, it is a still from the budaixi move. The guy facing you is White Lotus, if I remember right.

Thanks Seadog, I will pass your good words along to her. take care, Brian

That is a great find, thanks Mota. The Heavenly Masters--at least the latter day version of them--are still alive and well here in Taiwan. In fact interest interest in the Heavenly Masters School has been growing among the Taiwanese public. take care, Brian

I went over to Lung Shan Temple several months back for some of the ceremonies connected with Ghost Month. While I was there I got a couple of religious medallions for myself and my wife. The one I got for myself is this one It features a famous historical figure, Hua Tuo, (華佗) who was a Han dynasty physician and later deified in the Daoist pantheon. People may know him as the inventor of the exercise program known as the 5 Animals Frolic as well as his fictional appearance in the novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms, where he performs surgery on Kuan Ti. The story is that Kuan Ti had been struck with a poisoned arrow and Hua Tuo offered to anesthetize him so that the operation would not hurt, but Guan Yu simply laughed and said that he was not afraid of pain. So Hua Tuo performed the surgery while General Kuan Ti continued to play chess as if nothing unusual was going on. I post it simply to point out the longstanding connection between Daoism, Chinese medicine and famous martial arts figures. Plus I quite like the medallion. I noticed yesterday that the shrine holding Hua Tuo was extremely popular with the folks coming to worship. He is considered a powerful deity in Taiwan, and along with General Kuan Ti, a favorite of Taiwanese martial artists. Ali had Dr. Ferdie Pacheco as his fight doctor, General Kuan had Hua Tuo. Take care, Brian

Hi Folks, thanks much for the good words, I appreciate them. And I very much enjoy being here too. This is me doing the Happy Dao Dance. Actually it is a page out of a Qing dynasty training manual (it was me in a former lifetime). On a more serious note, I do appreciate everyone taking some time to welcome me in. That is super. Sean, thanks much for taking the time to write, overall it looks like a great crew of people you have here. I am sure I will enjoy it and I am glad to contribute as I can. Pietro, the book on Daoist training manuals I expect will be published about a year down the road. I have made a personal vow to get the text done by June, then the publishing company has to do the lay out and all that jazz; so it is looking to be early 2009. Take care, Brian

Thanks hfd, That was one of a set of six training manuals that my wife and I got at auction. They are all from the mid to late 1800s and the other ones cover different types of Daoist fortune telling, fengshuai and talismans. As a historian I need to be upfront----they could be forgeries. Fake antique books is and has always been a cottage industry in China. The forensic tools that it would take to determine if any Chinese manuscript is fake or not, simply are not available. Nonetheless, the drawings are outstanding! take care, Brian