I’ve decided to show the hermit Xuan Kong’s videos on my website. He was the Buddhist abbot I met in Huangshan/Yellow Mountain in October 2007, 25 years ago, through the invitation of his disciple David Verdesi . The videos below show 3 of his demos: one shows what might be pyrokinesis, the ability to project heat from the hands; the second is teleportation, moving objects (in this case a lighter) with energy; and the third is something I do not have a name for, but it involves drawing the Qi from the bulls. Earlier in the week, Xuan Kong showed us a demo (not recorded in a video) where he drew the Qi from a plant. I’ve kept these videos to myself since 2007showing them only to a few friends. But recently I was told that they were posted on the internet, that in fact they have been available online for years now. A friend even sent me a version of the demos by e-mail just a few months ago. He found it on the internet.
Continue reading “Huangshan Videos Redux “Month: October 2026
Lola’s 85th Birthday in Philly
We did have a wonderful weekend in Philly for Lola’s 85th birthday. Al did all the driving to and from Philly, except for Uber within the city. The weather was ideal Autumn, but for the tail end of the hurricane that brought rain and wind on our way home.
We stayed at Marriott in the Old Town for the duration. We had a movie and museum on the schedule but the old folks were too exhausted for it. But the walk to the park around the block was wonderful and having the family’s presence was magical.
We had feasts at Zahav, an Israeli resto on Friday, the Southern Thai Kalaya (Nok, the owner and chef, is a friend), on Saturday and a nameless but excellent dim sum in Chinatown on Sunday. Norm and his wife Jenn flew in from SC to join us.
That was for Lola’s 85th. My 86th (DOB: 10/40, the Year of the Metal Dragon) is on the 25th! I’ll settle for a trip to Shang Wei, a Sichuan restaurant on Main Street in Bethlehem!
Photos below show Lola’s birthday party with family at Kalaya when it was just a kind of hole-the-wall 6 years ago. Nok Suntaranon, chef and owner, is shown sitting in front of me and beside Lola. Kalaya has since then been recognized as one of the best restaurants in the US.
Diary 9/10/26: A De-Colonized Tai chi chuan (Part 2)
A quote from the preface of my book “Of Fire and Water: Alchemy and Transformation”
(Tambuli Media: 2023):
A last cautionary tale. The Western Procrustean Bed. The Eastern paradigm of the human being and the world includes not just the physical and material but also the energetic, mystical, intellectual, emotional as well as the spiritual. But much of Eastern culture is often perceived and practiced through the framework of the materialistic West. Yoga has been reduced to an exercise for physical fitness and flexibility, meditation as a mode of relaxation, and nothing more. Martial art, a temple discipline among monks, has become just a system of fighting, sans philosophy, compassion, and virtues. Sunzi’s Art of War, the classic of warfare, is just a manual for capitalist business and gamesmanship. Eastern disciplines often pass through the procrustean bed of the West. We have a long way to go to reach the heart of authentic Eastern culture.
Continue reading “Diary 9/10/26: A De-Colonized Tai chi chuan (Part 2) “