 "Photo: Jacqueline Walker")
More than 100 people gathered on the south side of Barton Springs Monday morning to watch Taoist clergy perform a special ceremony to bless the springs.
The 32 nuns and monks from Wudang Monastery, a 2,000-year-old Taoist temple in Central China, who blessed the springs are in Austin this week promoting Taoist beliefs through workshops and ceremonial blessings. Taoism, a native religion of China, is the ancient philosophy behind yin-yang symbols and tai chi martial arts and meditation.
"This is a gathering of 32 people from one of the largest monasteries in China," said Jampa Stewart, director of the Healing Tao Institute who helped organized the Wudang Monastery's visit to Austin. "It's the first time anything like this has been done like this in the U.S."
Delegates from the Wudang Monastery are visiting two cities in the U.S. as part of their cultural exchange. The Wudang monks and nuns visited Boulder, Colo., earlier this month as part of a three-day summit sponsored by the Association for Chinese American Enrichment.
"Our religion is 5,000 years old and is about finding peace from within," said Master Yun Xiang Tseng, director of the association sponsoring the Wudang delegation. "We use ceremonies for people to clarify the soul and the mind."
The ceremony to bless the springs took place underneath a canopy of a large tree, which shaded both the viewing audience and the clergy performing the ceremony. On stage, three nuns dressed in different colored silk robes, faced an altar with burning incense while they sang rites to bless Austin's sacred waters.
"The ceremony has a name called 'short of heritage,'" said Gong Gin Yuan, a 42-year-old nun who has lived at the Wudang Monastery for 22 years.
The ceremony blends spiritual connections with nature, she said. The nuns performing the rite acted as a bridge between heaven and the mortal world, blessing the springs and the people attending the ceremony.
While elements of Taoism exist in the form of martial arts and tai chi meditation, there is no established temple here in the U.S., Stewart said. "There have been some small Taoist temples in Chinatowns, but there's never been a sizable temple connect to the temples in China."
Promoting outreach and awareness of Taoist traditions, organizers of the event hope to raise awareness of Taoist practices and build a temple in the U.S., organizers of Barton Springs blessing said.
"I'm a representative of a Taoist monk in this country," Tseng said. "Promoting and building a temple in this country is part of my mission. We would like this temple to be built in the mountains. A city would be our second choice."
Delegates of the Wudang Monastery will be holding a series of events in Austin this week, including a Texas Capitol blessing ceremony on Wednesday, a special free performance of martial arts and music at the Austin City Hall at noon on Wednesday, and a Wudang Kung Fu workshop at Zilker Botanical Gardens on Thursday and Friday nights at 7 p.m.
Be the first to comment on this article!