Interview with Jon Braeley by Daoist Arts Organization International is now published on YouTube. This is a recent interview of our director which at almost two hours long, is longer tham most feature length movies, so we hope you are sitting in a comfortable chair. Above is Jon Braeley with Wudang Mountain Grandmaster Zhong Yun Long.
The mission of DAOI, is to promote and elevate Daoist and other traditional knowledge including but not limited to Martial Arts, Xiu Dao and Traditional Chinese Medicine by developing a community adhering to a non-partisan objective standard of practice. For more information on DAOI visit here.
The Interview on YouTube
While the Daoist Arts Organization International is focused on the internal martial arts of China, Bill Bentley of DAOI is similar to myself, in his passion for most traditional martial arts and how they can benefit us, beside of course, the self defense aspect. If you enjoy this interview please visit the video on YouTube and make a comment. Thank you.
I just watched your interview. It is very insightful and inspiring. I hope you will share more of your knowledge with us in the future!
Daoism and Martial Arts
In terms of the Tao and Chinese martial arts, practitioners strive to embody the principles of Daoism, particularly the concept of harmony with the Tao, or the natural way of the universe. This is most often seen in a practical sense with Tai Chi Chuan and Wudang Mountain is a perfect place to explore both Daoism and Tai Chi Chuan. Below is an excerpt from my book, Masters of Tai Chi, which talks about the first meeting with grandmaster Zhong Yun Long.
Wudang Mountain Martial Arts
In 2008 I finally had my first interview with grandmaster Zhong Yun Long. My request to film an interview at his cave retreat was politely refused, and I was told to wait and make this request in a year or two. In fact I would wait for six more years before I was granted permission to film Zhong Yun Long at his cave retreat and also at his new martial arts school. No one can say that the Taoist priests of Wudang Mountain worry about time. Thirteen years passed before I was given permission to film Zhong Yun Long teaching tai chi chuan.
In the last three decades, Zhong Yun Long has worked tirelessly to establish this Taoist retreat as a major center for internal martial arts and most notably, tai chi chuan. Many of today’s most respected martial arts instructors at Wudang Mountain started their martial arts practice as a student of Grandmaster Zhong Yun Long. Thanks to him, a large network of martial art schools are flourishing across the mountain. Today the Chinese government, have trusted the stewardship of Wudang Mountain martial arts to Zhong Yun Long. He left his cave retreat in 2009, to establish and govern his own school, the Sanfeng Academy for martial arts at the bottom of the mountain.
In Wudangshan, the town, there is now a local government office of martial arts that governs the Wudang schools and ensures rules are met by school owners, teachers and students. The rules included me as a film director, and I had to register on arrival at the bureau of martial arts and submit my film schedule. I then spent three frustrating days waiting for approval. The bureau also prohibited me as a foreigner from filming in certain ‘sensitive’ locations on Wudang Mountain but I never discovered what these were, because master Zhong Yun Long assured me that I could go anywhere on the mountain if he was by my side
