For The Silk Road Kung Fu Friendship Tour Part 18, click here.

Day 1 April 22, 2017, Saturday

The strong wind blows, peppering the silly serious people with countless granules of sand, blinding them. But not the camel as he has two eyelids, inner and outer, unfazed and so undaunted, he marches onward. There am I, amongst endless sensually-molded vistas of sand and sky, great mountains and little truths, munching some prickly desert weeds wherever found. Sun and heat are nothing, only going forward. Now, up into the dunes where nothing grows.

This journey is a bit unusual, perhaps dominated in some mysterious way by the wisdom of the camel - that loving but cantankerous beast, the ocean liner of the desert – he who is wiser in the ways of nature than any man. This trip culminated in a week in the Gobi Desert oasis town of Dunhuang in China’s northwest Gansu Province, one of the most ancient Silk Crossroads in Asia, home the largest collection of Buddhist art and literature in China, a diverse Muslim community, and intermingled families great and small. Time has no meaning here beyond the sun, moon, trillions of brilliant bright stars and changing of the seasons. Minutes and centuries are indistinguishable.

I came here to discover for myself the ancient secrets of Wushu, and there it was directly from the camel’s own rather comical mouth, and highlighted in bold relief, the brilliant artwork in Mogao Caves 285, 196, 465, 249 and oh, so many other places.

Sunbeams illuminate, leading back to the primary source of energy on earth.

Just so while researching my upcoming travel in Gansu Province I found an article by Wang Kun from the School of Wushu at Shanghai University (in Chinese of course). In that article the author analyzed academic papers on ancient Dunhuang Wushu published from 1984 to 2016, specifically the relationship between Wushu and ancient Dunhuang social development, geographical environment and cultural traditions and characteristics and value of ancient Dunhuang Wushu. Simply put he reviewed articles that tried to reconstruct ancient Wushu from art, mostly paintings that survived the nearly two thousand years of Silk Road history in Dunhuang. What one will find in the Buddhist cave art frescos of Dunhuang include kicking and punching combined with acrobatic play, throwing, take-downs in both single and melee fighting and battles great and small. In the caves and in other museum artwork there I also found quite a lot of dance maneuvers that were indistinguishable from martial arts. Gansu and Xinjiang in particular were and are heavily influenced by Uighur culture which traditionally reveres martial arts, music and dance. Indeed musical instruments and dancing girls are ubiquitous in Dunhuang displayed everywhere from the caves to the museums as well as sculptures on streets and corners, bridges, restaurants, hotels, shops, and so on.

One might argue the best martial arts are forged in the hottest fires against the most diverse adversaries and those historically were at the Chinese frontier cities of Jiayuguan, Jiuquan, Dunhuang, Yanguan, Yumenguan, and Hecang, just some of the places I visited on this trip. They were the individual and collective locations of many battles great and small, seen objectively through the doe like, almond shaped, dark brown eyes of my new familiars.

Day 2 April 23, 2017, Sunday

Yesterday under the silent ice capped eternal gaze of the Qilian Mountains my small plane from Gansu’s provincial capital of Lanzhou touched down in Jiayuguan, the end of the Great Wall, the Western Silk Road gateway to China and last outpost of the “civilized word,” from a Chinese perspective for a thousand years.

Today I visited the Jiayuguan Castle at the western end of the Great Wall which was once very much like “The Wall” in Game of Thrones. Nomads like the Xiong-nu (3rd Century BC to 1st AD), Tanguts, Khitan, Jurchen, Bayarku, Uighurs, Mongols, Manjus, and so on beyond “the wall” were characterized as fearsome beasts – inhuman aberrations of nature, yet those who lived here at the end of the wall, the last gate, the frontier, knew better.

On the north wall (of Jiayuguan Fortress) is the story of Zhang Qian being dispatched to the Western Region by Emperor Wu (who reigned 140-87 BC during the Han Dynasty). According to history, Zhang was sent with the intention of forming an alliance with Yue-Zhi (a tribe originally northwest of China, which moved to the west to escape Xiong-nu) to fight against Xiong-nu (the Huns). Although his mission failed, he travelled as far as Bactria (Afghanistan), and brought home very detailed information about Central Asia and even India.

In fact Zhang Qian fathered a child – a son - while held prisoner of the Xiong-nu for seven years… but that’s another story.

The nomads where people who liked and needed to trade, and as long as they were permitted to trade they were joyful free spirited horse and camel loving wanderers. It was complicated back then, as perhaps today. For example in the 8th Century the Turgis made an alliance with the Tibetans that would have cut China off from the west, so the Chinese made a deal with Arabs who had penetrated as far east as Kashgar and effectively broke that treacherous alliance.

Beyond Jiayuguan, what was once the absolute western terminus of China, lies the forbidding Gobi Desert which adjoins the Taklamakan Desert, also known as the most dangerous desert on earth and which in the local language means: “You go in and never return.” These are the hottest, driest deserts in the world and the farthest from any sea or ocean. This is the wasteland into which the Western Gate of Jiayuguan empties. The Western Gate is also known as the “Gate of Sorrows,” because through it walked disgraced officials, officers and others, magistrates and emperors preferred not to kill, but rather exile into the terrifying merciless desert and wild “barbarians” beyond. Or that’s what most people believe.

Yet hope also passed through these gates in several forms, caravans for example traveled east and west through this momentous narrow doorway to and from China along the Silk Road. Pilgrims also such as the illustrious Xuanzang and all manner of other humanity passed through this archetypal doorway into the beyond.

No great truths can be kept truly secret and it is said there were also those in China who simply chose to leave preferring the more socially mobile and relaxed nomadic way of life west of the wall. Though there are two formidable deserts, there are also fertile valleys all along the periphery fed by sumptuous water from mountains and glaciers that still exist in the region, and dots of oasis – lush with fruit trees, grass and other life - like Dunhuang, Hami, Karash, Kucha, Aksu, Kashgar, Yarkand, Khotan, etc.

Jiayuguan Castle rests strategically located in the 15 kilometer valley between the Wensha Mountain, a branch of the Qilian Mountain range, and the Black Mountains, a branch of the Mazong range, at one of the narrowest places in the 1000 kilometer long Hexi-Corridor – the bottleneck border region between western China and east Central Asia. It was from here during the reign of Emperor Hongwu (1328 – 1398) at the founding of the Ming Dynasty, the great General Fengsheng was sent to destroy the last of the retreating Yuan Dynasty Mongolians.

Silk Road Museum Map.

 

Thus one might well reason, Jiayuguan Castle was a martial arts paradise manned by soldiers who relentlessly trained for war. It should be noted that like the Samurai, even an ordinary Chinese gentleman 2,500 years ago had to train in martial and academic arts. Confucius for example was educated at a school for commoners where he trained in the Six Arts: Rites, Music, Archery, Charioteering, Calligraphy, and Mathematics.

Archery obviously has martial applications, though it was most commonly used for hunting. Chariots came to China a thousand years after it was invented in Central Asia by the Hittites (whose civilization peaked around 1600 BC) and by Confucius’ time (500 BC) it was also a “sport” not unlike in Ben Hur, and parade spectacle like Julius Caesar (100 BC - 44 BC) celebrating a triumph. In any case, Jiayuguan Castle has been fully restored and it can take several hours to explore all around. There’s a noteworthy museum there too; and camels? Oh yes, yes, yes, many camels just out the west gate, any one of which can trigger the great enlightenment in any motley illusion driven modernist, if he or she is worthy. Don’t believe it? Remember the words of Yoda: “Many of the truths we cling to depend on our point of view.” And, “Through the force you will see other places, the past, the future, old friends…” In fact one night in the desert I even got reacquainted with an ancient Sogdian trader friend from the Tang Dynasty named Suyoa, which also means archer. Was he one of Yoda’s ancestors? Only the camel knows.

For those with less esoteric leanings, one can simply take a short camel ride for a paltry sum, led by acolytes of the Kings of the Desert.

Day 3 April 24, Monday

I went to the Silk Road Museum in Jiuquan about an hour’s drive from Jiayuguan, experienced and absorbed and photographed their exquisite collection, then was very fortunate to interview the Director, Ms. Mei Qin Yin, mother of Ms. Mei Ping Wu, the amazing lady that gathered this collection mainly from overseas, returning China’s national treasures to China. Everything there was striking, a talisman to the ancient world, but one in particular stood out for me, a small black statuette of a nomadic tribesman from the Jade Kings Tiger Iron Sword of the Xiongnu Empire (403 to 221 BC). Then a short ride to Wei-Jin Period Tombs (A.D. 300-500) and descended into the underworld of one excavated tomb with clear and beautiful paintings of many aspects of life more than a millennium and a half ago, politics, economy, military, culture art and folk customs.

Then, a dash to the bus station to go to Dunhuang at the Western end of the Hexi Corridor, the most vital hub of Eurasian cultural convergence and dissemination, the transcendent oasis town of myth and legend. This more than anywhere is where the Han (Chinese) and non-Han met and traded and sometimes fought.

Day 4 April 25 – Tuesday

Dunhuang’s Mogao Caves are homes of the largest collections of truly ancient Buddhist art and manuscripts nestled into 735 surviving caves along the mountain cliffs. The labor of love creating this monumental mostly Buddhist metropolis was begun in the year 366 by monk Le Zun who had a vision of a thousand Buddhas bathed in golden light. The caves and art evolved over the millennium –ever expanding, ever more powerful, every more beautiful.

Records of ancient Wushu are well preserved here. For example Cave196 has the painting of Raudraksa’s battle with Buddha’s disciple Sariputra and though it was more a battle of magic than brawn, therein one may find several figures in martial activities from wrestling poses to a well-structured large hammer strike.

In Cave 465, nicknamed the Huang Grotto there is a Tibetan Tantric image of a deity and his consort in what appears to be standing yogic coitus, each with drawn bow targeting opposite directions painted sometime between 1271-1368 CE. (A bit reminiscent of Mr. and Mrs. Smith actually.)

But in my opinion, the heart of any good story is in transformation, the sweet melody of loving kindness aided by philosophical religious signposts guiding one to forgiveness and redemption. The greatest battles are not of the flesh but of the spirit, and the story in one painting in Cave 285 exemplifies this transformation splendidly. It’s titled “500 Bandits become Buddhas.” The story goes that 500 starving people in South India rebelled, and upon imperial orders an army was sent to subdue them. They were horribly beaten in battle and exiled to uninhabited mountains. The Buddha heard their pitiful lamentations and gave them the opportunity to reform themselves - in the end they all attained enlightenment.

Another painting in that same cave is of the battle (won by the government troops) and one can clearly see the weapons, stances and movements of their martial arts – the use of swords, shields, halberds, spears and bow and arrow. The battle painting is sumptuous, depending on whose eyes one sees through.

Though the cave art at Mogao Grottos in Dunhuang is usually characterized as “Buddhist,” in fact they are fantastic amalgams, syncretic expressions teaching enlightenment through many processes, including the martial way. Dunhuang was the major crossroad foci between Asia and Eurasia, east and west and naturally therein one may find the whole world and its philosophies fused in brilliant expression reflecting the ultimate plurality of culture, religion, and oh so many arts.

Transformation is alchemic path of Hindu’s four Purusarthas, which include Dharma (teachings), Artha (work and prosperity), Kama (passions and desires) and finally Moksha (liberation, freedom and salvation). Tao, Buddhism, Chan, and the great monotheistic religions likewise teach transformation as do all masters of Wushu Kung Fu. Guided by proper teachings, through the fires of great effort (Artha) we master our passions (Kama) and attain awakening, enlightenment, liberation and harmony (Moksha). Hindu, Zoroastrian, Buddhism, and many more faiths and religious are encoded in the paintings at Mogao Caves.

If I have learned anything traveling the Silk Roads these past couple of years, it’s how well the followers of the great philosophies and religions got along in history. Certainly this is displayed in living mosaics of color here at Mogao, but also I saw it so very clearly at the ancient ruins of Taxila in Pakistan this past spring with scores of temples of different philosophies and religions all residing next to each other for a thousand years – in peace.

Probably my favorite martial art painting is Mogao Cave 249 (Western Wei 534-556AD) with tumblers and fighters who appear to be running at each other – a formidable dauntless attack style. There is an orange, red and blue mandala in the center of the ceiling painting which makes it easy to recognize, and they’re surrounded by flying asparas, female spirits of the clouds and water in Hindu and Buddhist mythologies. In this cave one finds Buddhist images alongside immortals and gods from Hindu and Chinese mythologies.

The wrestling scene from Buddha’s life stories in Mogao Cave 290 painted in the Northern Zhou Dynasty is very clear and beautiful.

Unfortunately in the early 1900s five foreigners came along and made off with the cream of the hundreds of thousands of manuscripts stored in a previously hidden cave chamber which are now scattered around museums in Europe, U.S, Japan and South Korea. (This story is told in the book, Foreign Devils on the Silk Road by Peter Hopkirk.)

Nonetheless, the thousands of cave wall paintings and large, sometimes giant Buddhas which mostly remain are transcendently inspiring to a higher level of existence, not only undiminished but in fact enhanced by the thousand plus years since their creation.

Though one could spend an entire lifetime studying the Mogao cave grottos and even just the martial arts and warriors within, there is much else I need to do here in Gansu Province – yet a part of “me” remains in every place I’ve ever been, and a part of the spirit of a place comes with me when I leave.

After the splendid eternity at Mogao Grottos the phenomenal sand dunes of Mingshashan (Whistling Sand Dune Mountains) rose to greet. Located in Yueyaquan National Park, Mingshashan is about 105 km. in circumference and as high as 1,715 meters. There my friend and I rode camels (again) for a few hours up near the top of some mountainous dunes; then we climbed to the very top to view the spectacular sunset. In the cool evening we walked to and around Half Moon Lake – a magical geologic anomaly in that the lake has been there for at least 1,600 years but has never been engulfed by the mountains of sand starting only a few hundred meters away. Whole towns have disappeared beneath the shifting mountains of sand, yet Half-Moon Lake shines back the starlight towards the heavens every night – untouched by time.

An old friend from Hong Kong back in the early ‘80s told me that the Yin Yang symbol is really about change and harmony of opposites. Here on the side of the ancient Crescent Moon Lake at the edge of the sand mountains desert at sunset, the cool evening air swept in. The self evaporates like morning dew when immersed in such timeless change.

For The Silk Road Kung Fu Friendship Tour Part 20, click here.