March/April 2009 Wudang Special
As I've stated before: I love the articles on Wudang and Grandmaster Tu's Iron Palm. However, now that I look back on it, I also enjoyed the articles on Daoism and the TCE Championships. I guess that's why KFM's bimonthly. ;)
First of all, I found it interesting to learn that there are certainly more than one form of Daoist. Silly as it may be, the thought never occurred to me. That and unlike the Buddhist monks, the Daoists actually let their hair grow out. Having been raised in a family who loves and creates rock music, I am naturally inclined to admire those with longer hair. I'm not comparing Daoism to hippies by any stretch of the imagination, but I admit I was pleasantly surprised to see that there really was a Religious practice which openly suggests the growth of hair to such extremes.
It's odd though. When I think of a Chinese priest, I immediately think of a Buddhist monk from early kung fu movies. Having been originated in India, you'd think that one would think of the Dao religion first and foremost. It's a true Chinese religion.
By the way, if I happen to be offending anyone, please don't take it seriously. I just happen to think this is interesting and am simply typing what I think as I think it. No matter, I do apologize if I happened to offend anyone in the mean time.
On the subject of Iron Palm, I must admit that "iron body" techniques have long intrigued me since I first heard of them over ten years ago. Naturally, I couldn't wait to read it. Although not to my surprise, the instructions provided for the eight different methods of iron palm training are the same ones my master showed me a while back. That, and Grandmaster Tu's stance and physique's eerily like my father's. He actually showed me similar techniques in about the same manner. I'm not going to give too much away for fear that someone might take my description too seriously and choose not to buy the mag, so I'll leave it to you.
Hell, I'm rambling again! Maybe it's a sign that I should start practicing for a change (lol)! I know I haven't gotten around to blogging about Wudang as well, but I suppose I'll have to save that for tomorrow. I've got an early shift to get to. :eek:
I changed your title slightly
I wanted to add "Wudang Special" in there. It's our first 'official' Wudang special and I'm quite proud that we pulled that off right after our 10th official Shaolin special.
I'm surprised you haven't received your shipment yet, DaoistGate
Did you touch base with Joan about it?
It should be on the way to you now.
Our subscribers were shipped out a few weeks ago. Because we do an in-house bulk mailing, some subscribers might get their issues after the issue hits the newsstands. There's a slight chance that your subscription missed that mailing it was closer to mid-January. You can check on your status by emailing sales@martialartsmart.net. PM me and let me know what they say. That department is based in our TN office, not here in CA.
Thanks for subscribing.
Xuan Yun's unabridged version will be up soon
We saved that for the web platform. We typically let the issue breath on the newsstands for a few weeks before bumping them up with the web versions. It's mentioned in the Author Section. We'll put the table of contents up here very soon. Then we'll make the unabridged and cover stories go live later.
Don Allen is on his way to Wudang this weekend, so I doubt he'll be able to reply to your comments until later.