Wudang Taoist Kung Fu Academy

[Dingy]

Is anyone familiar with the Kung Fu academy on Wudang Mountain? Have any of you gone to study there? I read the article in KungFu magazine about the chief priest. But is this place good to learn? do they do crazy things? Does anyone have any info??

[bo_hou_chuan]

I don't know anything about it, good luck in your search.

[GeneChing]

Do you mean our SEP OCT 2004 cover story or my personal e-zine account of going to Wudang ?
I didn't get the chance to train there unfortunately, but I visited two of the more prominent schools. I'm not sure how many there are up there - not too many actually, although I hear there are more in the foothills. I'm not sure what you mean by "crazy things" but there's definitely some good stuff going on up there.

[Dingy]

I was referring to the Sept/Oct Cover story from 2004.

The site for the academy im planning to attend on Wudang mountain is
www.wudang-kungfu.com


Excellent articles by the way.

[GeneChing]

There's more.

Beyond the cover story for the SEP OCT 2003 issue , we did a 'Wudang' special for our Sep Oct 2002 issue - that's where I unloaded a goodly chunk of my Wudang research. You should pick up that back issue too, if you're researching Wudang. In fact, that's the key one, IMO.

[stubbs]

Just out of interest, have you asked how big the class sizes are?

There's a big difference between this:

http://www.wudang-kungfu.com/train_01.jpg


and this:

http://www.wudang-kungfu.com/pics/town_school.jpg

[GeneChing]

I couldn't really get a sense of the size of the classes. When I visited the school, it was quite small. It had some prime real estate, on the mountain facing Purple Cloud temple, but their demo/practice hall was so small that we all had to stand outside and peer in through the windows. Of course, that was back in '99 and I've heard it's expanded considerably. Like at Shaolin, I imagine more practice goes on outside, on the mountain, in the dirt, than inside training halls.

As a foreigner, it's pretty easy fro you to arrange private lessons that are reasonably affordable, and then just sit in on the group classes for the conditioning, etc. That's what I used to do at Shaolin at least...

[Dingy]

Is there any way to pay to view the issue online? I'm leaving soon and i don't think it will arrive in time.

[GeneChing]

...but we do have same day shipping, so it should get to your pretty fast. You can call and ask to see if we can get to LA quickly, although S&H for a single issue is admitedly high, so next-day delivery would be really high. But if you're going to Wudang, it is the best thing about it available in print.

[Dingy]

well, i'm here now. extremely sore. but i'm alive and having a great time. it's a little pricey and the living conditions are kinda gross, but it's an incredible art and it's very nice to be able to train at the temple. the classes are extremely laid back and you basically have all the attention your little heart desires. ohh, and the scenery.. it's beautiful. like something out of a dream.

[GeneChing]

Where are you exactly? Did you opt to train at the temple school above? Let us know how it's going there here.

[Dingy]

Yeah, it's going great. Im up at the temple school on the mountain, on the right just before you come up to the temple. It's $900 a month and we train 2 times a day for about 3 hours each. The food isn't bad. We train up at the Purple heaven palace in the mornings and at the academy at night. There are about 5 other foreigners who are in the class as well. There is a little practice room that we use inside if the weather outside is bad.

The training is great. The teacher is excellent. Also there are other Wudang teachers that pop in for a couple days at a time that will join in on the instructions. Right now im learning the five animal qi gong, some other basic stuff, and some 8 immortals sword.

For me this is a priceless experience, and i am truley having the time of my life. I just got some custom kung fu uniforms made from a lady here in town who also makes alot of the teachers uniforms.

The living conditions at the academy are kinda crappy. Had some water leaking on me last night while i was sleeping.

I cant wait to see the rest of the mountain. Feed some wild monkeys, explore the many caves and temples. I drank from the eternal spring, which was awesome!

My teacher is Master Zhongs nephew, Teacher Bin.

[fiercest tiger]

Any chance you will go to Hua Shan or Wu Tai shan for collecting information for your mag?

What unusual Chi Kung or kung fu systems you find in Wudang Mt?

Garry
FT

[Sensei_Andy]

"Five dragon men frmo Mars must never fight against the mantis - for then true annihilation will be upon the owlrd"

[GeneChing]

All those mountains are on the list, believe me. Unfortunately, the martial arts magazine industry can't afford me to go just like that. It's not like we'll sell that many more issues if I were to go and do research there, and it would cost the company not only in my travel expenses (and I travel light always) but also my time. There would be no one here to cover for me while I was away. Also I don;'t have any guanxi there, at least not yet. Someday hopefully, though. I'd love to see all the sacred mountains of China.

Dingy- that's $900 RMB, is it?