Free Sample issue of The Empty Vessel - CommunityAwake

Monkeys! (Photo by Solala Towler)mountain where we were to meet with Master Zhong athis school. That's when a very curious thing happened.We got caught in the dreaded "Chinese people do notrespect lines whatsoever."It is so interesting to me that as nice and polite andfriendly Chinese people are, when it comes to standingin line or getting on a bus or train in an orderly mannerit's every person for themselves! I have been elbowedin the ribs by elderly Chinese ladies and if you don'twatch your step you will get stepped on!We were standing here in the rain, covered in ourmismatched ponchos when a whole group of Chinesetourists, all decked out in identical purple ponchoscame up behind us. Then, once the bus arrived it wasevery purple poncho for themselves as they swarmedin front of us and we had to fight to get on the bus.Fortunately one of our members staked out a sectionHiking its many many trails and visiting ancienttemples where people have been cultivatingfor hundreds of years fills me with excitementand helps me to reestablish my own practice.Whenever a Daoist walks by with their topknotand ancient style of dress, there seems to be atangible power field around them, they are sogrounded and strong in their practice and intheir being!The weather gods were smiling on us for mostof the trip and we had wonderfully warm andsunny days. The day to go to the Golden Summitwas pretty foggy (no one could see a thing whenthey reached the top) but it was fun anyway.The last day we were there it was really rainingand we had to gather with all of our luggage bythe side of the road to catch the bus down theOur friend Jiaye, the Bee Daoist with hisbee friends (Photo by Solala Towler)Full moon meditation with RichardLieherer (Photo by Solala Towler)of the bus for us and another member, a verystrong massage therapist, grabbed everyone'sluggage and heaved it up into the bus so wecould get on!Once our bus made it to the bottom of themountains we walked to the Wudang SanFeng Academy to meet the grandmaster ofWudang mountains, Master Zhong we spent adelightful hour or so drinking tea and visiting.After we took the train to Wuhan again wespent the night in a hotel by the train station(where we had a memorable lunch the firsttime we took the train where they served usSzechuan french fries!) The next morning weflew to Beijing for the last few days of ourjourney.One of the high points of the trip came inBejing where I was able to end a three-yearThe Empty Vessel 27