Group photo with Master Chen

　　In China, September is one of the harvest months. During this extremely beautiful season, China Wudang Kungfu Academy welcomed students from Italy’s Dao Jing Martial Arts School to come and improve their knowledge of martial arts by studying Wudang Wushu. Their team leader, Umberto Garofalo and all of his students were full of enthusiasm to study martial arts, especially Wudang Wushu, under the guidance of the respected Master Chen.
　　Although they only stayed here for 13 days, they impressed everyone in the school. They were hard-working and very curious about the proper application of this traditional martial art. They were divided into two groups: Roberto Morello and Umberto Garofalo studied Wudang Sanfeng Taiji 13 Form and Wudang Taihe Quan；Gabriele Misseri and Claudio Frusteri studied Wudang Xingyi Quan and Xuangong 1. Their purpose was to learn as much as they could in a short time and to share forms with each other after returning home. Master Chen arranged to teach them himself. With their efforts and Master Chen’s help, they can now perform the forms very fluently and beautifully.
　　We can still remember the scene when they practiced Wudang Daoist’s XU LING DING. They walked in the sunlit ancient temple so calmly and practiced with much concentration, in the spirit of Daoist “Tian Ren He Yi” (known as “Nature and human are combined together”). It was beautiful.
　　Before leaving, they had their photos taken with Master Chen and invited Master Chen to Italy to spread Wudang Kungfu and Daoist culture. They pledged their intention to spread knowledge of the benefits of Wudang Kungfu in Italy.
　　Comments: Here we think it is necessary for us to introduce Wudang Daoist’s “XU LING DING JING”. This phrase is extracted from Taiji. Most people who practice Taiji know the phrase, but few people realize the importance of it in the practice of Taiji. On one hand, Daoists believe that the consciousness of a new-born baby is round and starts to spread into different directions when he is growing up. This is because he needs to worry about his study, work and life, etc. Since our consciousness is spread, we can’t focus on what we are doing at a particular time. Consciousness is very important in our Daoist training. Therefore, gathering our consciousness becomes a very necessary step before we start to study Daoist Kungfu. On the other hand, Daoists believe that Nature and human are combined together and the balance of Yin and Yang are the ideal states of the world. Our XU LING DING obeys this rule properly. Master Chen explored this concept into our training. The sky is above our head, so our BAI HUI XUE (an acupoint, on the top of our head) can take Yang Qi from the sky. The ground is under our feet, so our YONG QUAN XUE (an acupoint, at the sole of our feet) can take Yin Qi from the ground. Our body becomes the bridge of Yin and Yang exchanging. At this time we are immersed in, and combine ourselves with nature. Suffice to say, XU LING DING is a separate training step to prepare for the study of Wudang Daoist Kungfu. In our academy, students can still learn some old Daoist’s forms as XU LING DING, which are being lost elsewhere.

Wudang Daoist Sitting Meditation

Wudang Daoist Standing Meditation

Practising Wudang Daoist’s XU LING DING

China Wudang Kungfu Academy
26th, September, 2011