Photo Note
A Bigu Class Begins · 16 September 2026辟谷正式开始 · 2026年9月16日
Around a long linen-covered table, a bigu class begins its practice, with each day to be recorded honestly, just as it is.
A long table dressed in pale linen, a few stems of red spider lily in small ceramic vases, printed sheets and pens laid out at each place. Around it sit the members of a bigu class on the day their practice formally begins. Some read through their notes, some listen, some simply sit with their chins resting in their hands.
The room is quiet and warm: lattice screens, timber chairs, a shelf of books and tea, a whiteboard in the corner. A small brass bell hangs from a wooden stand in the middle of the table, ready to mark the start and end of each session.
Keeping an honest record
Bigu, 辟谷 (bìgǔ), is an old Daoist practice of setting aside grain and ordinary meals for a period, usually under a teacher's guidance, as a way of turning attention inward. In a class like this one, much of the work is not dramatic at all. It is noticing: how the body responds from hour to hour, what each day in the classroom brings, how fellow practitioners are really doing.
The sheets on the table are part of that. The group records what happens plainly, without polishing it: the easy moments, the difficult ones and the subtle changes that are only visible when they are written down. Kept day by day, such a record becomes a quiet account of practice as it actually unfolds.
An everyday moment
A table, a few flowers, pens and paper, and a group of people paying close attention to themselves and to one another. This is the first day, and more will follow. Everyday Wudang will keep the story going as the class continues.
This is a cultural record of the class. It is not medical advice or instruction in fasting; bigu should only be undertaken with proper guidance.
About this entry
- Place
- Wudang Mountain