As if expected, serendipity came along to change my plans that would take me to Songshan Mountain and the famous Shaolin Temple about an hour and a half away. He came in the form of a professional film maker who was staying at my hostel and planned to stop there on his was back to Shanghai. He invited me to come along so I changed my plans. I left my suitcase and computer at hostel gathered things for my backpack and away we went… I never learned the name of the city we were going to, it didn’t seem important. (I will text him later) We were going to the Songshan Mountain Area that included the Songyang Temple we would visit later this afternoon after arriving (pictures here today are from the temple). On Friday, climb one of the mountains we intended to climb and the Shaolin Temple and Pagoda Forest at it’s base. And on saturday climb to the summit of a second mountain that was adjacent to the first (we didn’t go because the tram was broken). More on all that beginning tomorrow. First, to clarify, I do not write under some false illusion of one day being published. I write simply for my own enjoyment and enlightenment because it is my writing that takes me there. If others choose to come along for the ride… you are welcome.

Today on the bus to I wasn’t sure where, I couldn’t help but think of our divine presence and what that means for ourselves and others. Changing from within first to the alignment with the universe we came in with and the things we am here to work on or correct this time. As if a piece of the star I am from.. to simply come into focus and let my light shine. Moving to who I am supposed to be. Simply to find and go with the flow I have always known with no pre-conceived intent or outcome and let the spirit of the Tao (the universe) guide me. First of all, it is not for me to write down someone else’s impressions (ie., that found in google, etc,) – but to add my own take on the environment I find. Everything is context. My travels in China are not simply going to these places for pictures.  It is in keeping with a personal journey whose purpose has not been fully revealed as yet. It is my reflecting what I see with what I write and with what I already know. As if leaving behind and much as I take. As if I am seeing what has changed since my last visit and writing about the antiquity that lies in each of us. As if the ancients don’t want to be forgotten, so that even their own immortality might come into question.

To let these images from the past take you there. Each with  a story to tell – just waiting to be told of when they were someone or something of importance. Something more than they are considered now. It is as if in the stillness they reside, they lie in wait for vibrations… for the storyteller. Not just being present only for your own story, but to tell the story of everything around you – with the older the story – the more there is to tell. And I don’t write fiction. With no pre-conception of where what you are here to learn may lead. As doors are waiting to open for the stories just waiting to be told. Many simply wanting to have their say.

People you meet here to take you to places you are needed – the stories are endless and your role never-ceasing. The more you write the more you need to write. You are a conveyor of ancient wisdom, use your time wisely. It making me wonder, are we moved by “divine order”. Or are we taking and receiving “divine orders”. Who is to say?

It was here at Songshan Mountain and Shaolin Temple where so much occurred where people came for centuries. Three religions in one body (Buddhism, Confucianism, and Taoism) were formed as what was seen as a “convergence” in this area. Emperor Wudi and Empress Wuzetian came here to commemorate the mountain and convey its importance to this belief. As if life is about remembering who we are yet to become before we forget.  Songshan Mountain has been famous as a place where people came with a desire to improve themselves and discover their inner virtue. The temple, a repository of ancient wisdom, here but a reminder that there was more to climbing mountains than the climb itself. It is the appreciation of the overwhelming outer nature you find with the mountain as you climb, just as life has its ups and downs your eyes remain on the horizon and the clouds above.   I am here at one of the five most famous mountains in China. Tomorrow I climb the mountain. (I have more pictures when time allows).