Here's a story I meant to share for some time...
I went to Wang Liping's second Moscow seminar in May-June (to be blogged or otherwise immortalized later). Most of the participants were the same people who had attended his first Moscow seminar a year before. The story I'm going to tell, I didn't witness myself since it happened at the first seminar, but there were about 40 eyewitnesses all telling it more or less the same way, so here it is.
Some of the practices were taught in the park, since they have to be performed in the open and among the trees (including a neat walking-breathing routine and some qigong aimed at communication and qi exchange with trees). So the master announced the days and times for this particular practice. Saturday and Sunday, from six to nine pm, he said. People began whining, because the weather was atrocious -- bitterly cold, heavy nonstop rain, and more of the same in the forecast for Saturday and Sunday. Wang Liping said, "rain, hmmm... Well, if it was in China I'd talk to the dragon, but I'm not acquainted with the Moscow dragon yet... so I don't know if he will honor my request. Let me try though. Give me a half hour".
He went to his room, closed the door, and was absent for a half hour. The students, perplexed, waited. Then the door opened, Wang Liping walked out smiling broadly, and said, "OK, I've made arrangements with the Moscow dragon. No rain six to nine pm Saturday or Sunday. See you in the park tomorrow."
"Tomorrow" came -- that's Saturday -- and it was raining harder than before all day long and nothing in the sky was indicative of the rain having any intention of stopping by six -- or ever for that matter. All the students... well, I leave their feelings to your imagination, but grudgingly, they made their way to the park.
At exactly six pm, the rain suddenly stopped.
At exactly nine pm, when the practice was completed, it started raining again. It rained till six pm of the next day, Sunday, stopped at six, resumed at nine. It rained nonstop for another two or three days.
Perhaps it's not for nothing that Wang Liping's taoist lineage is Dragon Gate. 

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