Mt. Wudang day 1 part 2

Theres soooo much to tell..all of it bout my new daughter...but as she naps (10:30-11:30 08/31-05) I'll try to continue on the wudang story..I really want to get it out nd catch up so I'm relaying current events...where did I leave off....Oh! Hahah yes...so we're in this court yard and victor points to a small out building. We're to enter it and follow him. This is the "shrine of incresing your luck". He gives us a mantra to chant something like "gongchi-lala" or something like that. I hope I got it right because once we were inside I was saying it over and over...I probably got the tone wrong on the third sylable, rising instead of level and rising...so by going into the building and then squeezing and walking along the outerwall between an inner chamber and the wall(space of 1.5 ft) all the way in the pitch dark around the outerwall of the building you are supposed to increase your luck from bad to good or good to excellent. First victor went, then P and then me...now I have to tell you that both P and I thought we were in there for 10 minutes but really it was 1 minutes. As we emerged into the main room again an ancient taoist priest said something to patrice...victor said he wished you good luck, I think he said "hey look it's hillary clinton." BTW Patrice is REALLY FREAKED OUT at this point...any longer in there and was certain that she would just keel over and they'd have to dismantle the 1100 year old building to get her out. I have to say that there was certainly a minor time dilation vortex in there. So then guess what...more coutyards and small rooms and shrines to Zhenwu ooo BTW here's a little deal on him (it?)

Zhenwu, the "Perfected Warrior," began as an entwined tortoise and snake, the animal symbol of the north in the Five Phase system. This emblem was called the "Dark Warrior" (xuanwu) until the 11th century, when the name was changed to "Perfected Warrior" (zhenwu). From this time onward, Zhenwu assumed human form and rapidly became one of the most important deities in the Taoist pantheon. This was in no small part due to both his identity as a warrior god and his association with the north, the direction from which China was constantly threatened by neighboring people from central Asia. As a result, the Perfected Warrior eventually became known as a protector of the state and imperial family. Sponsorship of Zhenwu by the emperor reached its peak during the Ming dynastyóespecially during the reign of the third Ming emperor, who credited the god with helping him seize the throne. A temple to Zhenwu still stands in the northern quadrant of the Ming imperial palace, later used by the rulers of the Qing dynasty.

Due to the popularity of the Perfected Warrior, his worship spread beyond the confines of Taoism. He became an important member of the Buddhist pantheon as well. Zhenwu is still actively worshiped, and his central temple on Mount Wudang in Hubei province remains one of Taoism's most important sacred sites.

I guess Zhenwu was a noble (perhaps to be emporer) and chucked it all once he saw the mountain...His mom said..oh no you dont, I have some serious dowagering planned and sent 500 warriors to get him back..they came to Wudang and after witnessing Zhenwu's devotion ( and hanging out in the ancient sex street in wudangshan ) decided Wudang was a better deal than the barracks back at the palace. They Stayed and became the 500 celestials...Zhenwu "cultivated" for 42 years and then POOF immortal. The priests and nuns still sped significant time "cultivating" here now. Anyway, we head up some stairs leading out of the courtyard of shrines and to a door., one of three. This one is for humans the other ones are for celestials and devils. They bar the devil one closed ALL THE TIME...wouldn't you? Any way now we follow a stone path and stairs zig zag up to the top...stopping once in a while to catch or breath and the view...the breath part is hard cause the view steals it from you as soon as tyou think you've caught it.

Okay finally to the top. Golden Top. We rest for a bit and shoot more pictures and video. It's actually much more simple up here..no intricate storylines or complex metphores using deities and clestials...just nature..Wu..the great dark emptiness containing all potentialities...we are quiet.

Below us the clouds form as waves slowly washing up and over the surrounding cliffs, Victor says that at a village over there, pointing to a sunny patch of green below us, UNESCO musicologists found old people singing rare folk songs. No pollution, no bustle...just peace. A Taoist monk comes by and kicks a plastic water bottle off the ledge where it had been left. It careens down the cliff and lands in a pile a ways down in a courtyard. {Patrice observes we're witnessing something that will soon be changing. I hope not. We head down. Victor stops to lobby for off campus privialges (taoist monk-wise). I hope he gets it. Cable car down and still no monkeys. We stop to have lunch. Victor and Mr. Sho and us eat at a little, very clean comparitivly, looking place. We have chicken and good mushrooms (with bones and a chicken foot in it which victor quiclkly grabs with his chopsticks and chomp) and steamed hot veggies..no TD here under the watchful gaze of a picture of Mao. Victor and I start to hatch a plan to have Duluth and Wudangshan become sister cities...tourism realted. They have many of the issues that we have..growth in one industry and decline in others...how to balance visitors with maintaining the way of life which draws them. Into the car and down the mountain. It's early sfternoon and we come to where Victor has his "insitiute". It's built into an old school building which served the children of the tea plantation which surrounds us.
We stop and share tea at the plantaion store and buy some and P and I walk off by ourselves for awhile. P is getting tired of always being "guided". We walk for a bit and up to a watertower/obersvation deck. Kids follow us to the top and all say "HALLO" we say "HALLO" and then we all laugh. We walk down. The big black butterflies here are almost birdlike. One more temple and then to our hotel for the night. More soon.