Gengmenpai Winter 2013 Update

[grady]

As of the day before yesterday, Jiang Shifu is officially off to a special location deep in the Nine Glories Mountain range to begin an eighty one day "double yang" retreat (9 is the number of yang, and 9 x 9 = 81) for the purposes of engaging in the face-to-wall sitting practice peculiar to our tradition, that made famous by the progenitor Bodhidharma/Damo, who is said to have pursued this same practice unswervingly for 9 full years of retreat before emerging to assist and instruct the monks at Shaolin.

I will be traveling to the States for a short period to spend Christmas with my family, and then returning immediately to China to help my Chinese brothers fulfill our responsibilities as tudi and take care of Shifu's extended family during the Chinese New Year holiday in his absence.

Following Shifu's return, in the spring of 2014 we will be holding the first ever workshop for *advanced* neigong students, which will take place from March 16th - March 22nd here at the hospital in Yellow Mountain. All those who have already attended a basic neigong training workshop in China are eligible to attend. At this time there are no plans for another basic neigong workshop in China in the spring, but there will tentatively be another waigong workshop held in San Francisco, California in the summer.

Just a few days ago on the 15th day of the 10th lunisolar month, with the moon at its fullest, I traveled with Shifu and his family to the Yongqing Temple, a Chan buddhist nunnery deep in the countryside a few hours from our hospital. Shifu holds the Abbess there in high esteem, and went to pray for success in his retreat and also to discuss with her their insights into the year to come, something he does every year. I'm pleased to share that the omens were all quite auspicious, and as such our Gengmenpai has a lot to look forward to in the coming "Year of the Wood Horse" ...

 

Also, just before he left for his retreat Shifu gave me permission to upload another clip of him demonstrating the qi field phenomenon to a room full of foreign guests at the hospital:

The quality of this one is a great deal clearer than the other.

 

As always, anyone who is interested in learning more about who we are and what we do is welcome to contact me via PM and I will point you in the direction of our private forum. If you write and don't receive a reply immediately please be patient, as we are extraordinarily busy here and the hospital and I do not check the taobums every day.

Edited November 23, 2013 by leandro