Hi everybody, welcome to my China blog. Instead of sending many, many emails to all my friends I have set up this blog on which I will write things whenever I can get to an online computer. So, if you feel like it, have a look from time to time.I fly to Beijing on 23rd March and return on 28th May. As usual I have no idea what will happen when I am there so this is another jump into the unknown! My main aim is to meditate but it seems like things will be quite sociable as well. My very lovely Chinese friend, Naomi, who I met last time, has arranged for me to stay at a Buddhist 'nunnery' near the Wugulun Academy where Master Wu Nafang teaches Kung fu. There is internet access at his school. Naomi will stay at the nunnery for part of the time and maybe Panky will too. She arrives a few days after me and will be in Dengfeng for a month. We might go to the Hua Mountain (a day's journey) which is where Lao Tzu wrote the Tao Te Ching after being captured on his way to Tibet.
Once in China I plan to get a Chinese sim card for my mobile phone and if you have a BT line you could phone me for 1p a minute! More info on that later.
Over the last few months I have been working on Naomi's website and one for Europe with a Dutch guy called Remco to help get the form of Kung fu taught by Wu Nanfang more known. There is a plan to bring him to the UK, Holland and Spain for a tour in October this year. Most of you know by now that I was inspired to go to the Song Mountain area after seeing the BBC documentary 'Extreme Pilgrim'. As this is where Bodhidarma, Osho's favourite Zen master, sat in a cave on the mountain and changed Indian Buddhism to Zen Buddhism (very simplistically put!) it feels like a pilgrimage for myself!
The website addresses are: www.shaolinwugulun.org and www.shaolinwugulun.eu
A video clip of Master Wu Nanfang explaining Zen to Peter Owen Jones, the presenter of 'Extreme Pilgram' is http://www.56.com/u21/v_MzE2NDkxMjI.html or you can see a short version under the Media link on the .eu website.
Ok that is all for now, Love, Veena
