Day 4 - A Miracle

My legs are doing much better. Still aching, but at least i can walk without wincing. Dao-yi told me to join in the group exercises, but I told him I wanted to run around the Buddha a few times. I simply was not up to doing kicking exercises. Master Li told me to do my routine 30 times. I did not do it quite so many, but with each repetition, it got easier and I could move better. 
 

Then the master incorporated me into the group rehearsal of Shao Hung Chung, and they stopped when they got as far as I could go. Then another time or two, before Dao-yi gave me further instruction. The master said a few words to me about one move, palm down! I guess it was. And as the group dispersed for lunch, Dao-yi stayed a while with me and we did a few more steps.

The mostly female group appeared again this morning. I think they are workers in the restaurant. Decked out in black peasant uniforms, like me, but with name tags, they did a few moves of some routine and then they were gone.

Another Westerner, who I saw yesterday, joined us in the courtyard with his own teacher and practiced another form. Don’t know the name of his routine.

Olga, the Russian, came, too. But she soon disappeared. She has been practicing a sword routine.

For the afternoon session only two Chinese students showed up, along with H and me. The older Chinese boy, Liu, showed me a few more steps. The Master said, practice this routine 30 times, so your body will react automatically. So I practiced a bit, rested, and tried the routine again. At one point he personally instructed me how to place my elbow. I did it as instructed and he gave me a half smile of acceptance.

The late afternoon sun burned the patio orange.Then something startling happened. Master praised me! He said I was doing better than many of the young students who had been there for years! Probably because my mind isn’t cluttered with learning kanji. Praise is always good. To top it off, he actually smiled, a full teeth-bearing smile! I felt like caressing his shaven head.

Then he took out the pendant that he wore around his neck from beneath his garment. It was perhaps carved from a blue-green stone. He held it long up to the sun and admired it. This is what a former student had given him. Does he expect the same from me?

He asked me my age. And I asked him his. I am three years his senior. He has been at Shaolin less than a decade. Apparently monks move from temple to temple. His father and grandfather were also at Shaolin. Each monk has his own particular way of performing the steps in any routine. Only four monks at Shaolin teach kung fu. I don’t know the total number of students or monks.