NANPUTUO TEMPLE
STUDENT MONK
COMMON SCHEDULE

0430 Wake up (clapping of wooden blocks)
0450 Meditation or Sutra Chanting (Great Hall)
0615 Breakfast (Dining Hall) Observe Silence
0645 Apartment (anything)
0700 Cleaning Temple Grounds
0800 First Class (Buddhism/Social Science)
0900 Second Class (Buddhism/Social Science)
1000 Third Class (Buddhism/Social Science)
1055 Lunch (Dining Hall) Observe Silence
1130 Walking Meditation and Chanting
1145 Apartment (personal time and rest)
1400 First Class (Buddhism/Social Science)
1500 Second Class (Buddhism/Social Science)
1600 Meditation or Sutra Chanting
1730 Dinner (Dining Hall) Observe Silence
1800 Apartment (personal time)
1830 Self Study (Classroom / Library)
2000 Apartment (personal time)
2100 Sleep

One of the monks named 'Da Xing' invited me to his study / library where we drank tea. He had internet connections, a small library of books on a wide variety of subjects, and lots of paintings and calligraphy he had drawn. He was a professor of Indian Sanskrit language and trained martial arts. We had some small exchanges about southern / northern differences.  Later, he supplied me with the daily schedule of Nanputuo's student-monks as shown below.

(I didn't want to take a picture and Monk Da Xing wouldn't take one alone).  If you have what it takes to be a monk, Nanputuo is accepting students!  For me, it seems like too much Buddhism/ Social Science.  So, I carried on to the local vegetarian restuarant for some fake shrimp made of tofu.  I have to admit it was good though!

Still having not found the Crane 108 boxing, I resorted to some old fashioned tactics - I let my fingers do the walking through the yellow pages.  But alas, there were only three martial arts schools listed in Xiamen, a contemporary wushu school for competitions, a Tae Kwon Do school and a kind of spa kick boxing.  Fortunately, one of the TKD teacher's friends knew a friend who knew a crane boxer.  So, all said and done, the Crane boxer and his four students ended up in my hotel room late that night. 

We had some hour or so of discussions and some demonstrations.  Of course, I opened the conversations with, "I'm not here to challenge you or say that mantis is the father of crane, just to make friends and have some friendly exchange".  And thats what happened.

However, I soon discovered that this Sifu Lin was teaching Five Ancestor style not Crane.  And they didn't have 108.  Instead he taught what is said to have come from five styles; Da Zhuan, Tai Tzu, Lohan, Monkey Style and White Crane.  The movements resembled Crane and Mantis.  Three steps, four corners, eight directions, etc.  But, the question of a common root is better left for another report. 

When questioned about 108, Lin Sifu stated the previous story that a separation occured some 80 years past and only some lineages of the old style crane retained 108.  I encouraged Lin Sifu to write down his Five Ancestor story and he said he would if I would come back again!

Fujian, with or without Crane boxing, is still one of my favorite places in China.  I encourage everyone to have a merry Fukien Xmas, at least once!
                                                                    ---Roger D. Hagood

Copyright 2007

I questioned many of the resident monks about their training.  Most said they trained 18 Buddha style.  Also, there was Tai Chi, Xing I, Ba Gua, but surprisingly very little of the Fujian southern styles.  No Crane boxing. 

You can't get a good shot of this Temple as its just way too big.  It sits on the side of mountain and has dozens of small buildings, halls, temples and shrines.  Thats Huang Yan below, nestled among the turtles, caged birds and butterflies at one the many smaller shrines. 

Page 3  --  A Merry Fukien Xmas!