Monthly Archives: May 2015

FOUR VERSIONS OF SHAOLIN KUNGFU, OR ANY KUNGFU

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(reproduced from http://shaolin.org/answers/sp-issues/versions.html)

Shaolin Kungfu

The fundamental purpose of practicing Shaolin Kungfu is combat efficiency

Question

I really want to learn the beautiful art of Shaolin Kung Fu. Please, I ask help because I can’t give up my dream.

— Ernando, Brazil

Answer by Grandmaster Wong Kiew Kit

It is a beautiful and beneficial dream to learn and practice Shaolin Kungfu. To make your dream worthwhile and fruitful, it is necessary to know the following two points, which are not often appreciated by many people, including those who have practiced Shaolin Kungfu for many years.

Due to its long history, there are many versions of Shaolin Kungfu today. These many versions may be generalized into the following four categories:

  1. High level Shaolin Kungfu. This was the Shaolin Kungfu practiced by the top monks in the Shaolin Temple in China in the past. It is very combat effective, uses internal force, contributes to excellent health, and is a process of spiritual cultivation.
  2. Middle level Shaolin Kungfu. It is combat effective and contributes to good health. There is emphasis in force training, but much of it is external, like hitting sandbags and striking wooden poles. Its foucs is on combat rather than spiritual cultivation. Its training contributes to good health, but if the force training is incorrect or excessive it becomes detrimental to health.
  3. Low Level Shaolin Kungfu. Its practitioners practice genuine Shaolin kungfu forms but they do not know how to use Shaolin forms for combat, and has no spiritual cultivation. They borrow techniques of othe martial arts, like Karate and Kick-Boxing, for their force training and sparring. Their training may be detrimental to their health.
  4. Flowery Fists and Embroidery Kicks. Its practitioners have beautiful Shaolin Kungfu forms but have no force and are ineffective in combat. Their practice contributes to good health.

The classification is for convenience and there is often overlapping. If we accept kungfu as a martial art, it is even debatable whether the third and the fourth categories can be called kungfu, although practitioners of the third category can fight but they use techniques of other martial arts for their fighting and not those of kungfu.

Most of the Shaolin Kungfu practiced today belong to the thrid and the fourth categories. Kungfu of the second category is uncommon, and that of the first is rare.

It is important to realize this first point, otherwise you may spend many years practicing Shaolin Kungfu, and may even attain a high level in it, yet derive little benefits from your practice. This is because you may attain a high level of a low level art, which is quite common among many kungfu practitioners today.

The second important point is to appreciate the difference between learning and practicing. Learning involves knowing more and more material, often in theory. Practicing involves going over and over again material that you know, usually in action.

Even if you have a rare chance to learn high level Shaolin Kungfu but if you do not practice it regularly and sufficiently, you many not have many benefits. You may know kungfu history and philosophy in theory, but you may not be able to defend yourself, have good health, vitality and longevity, and experience peace and spiritual joy.

Shaolin Kungfu

The highest attainment of Shaolin Kungfu is spiritual fulfillment

LINKS

The question and answer are reproduced from Question 1 of the November 2006 Part 3 issue of the Question-Answer Series by Grandmaster Wong Kiew Kit.

AHA EXPERIENCES OF LIFTING THE SKY

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(reproduced from http://shaolin.org/chikung/18-lohan-hands/lohan02.html)

18 Lohans

An old picture showing Grandmaster Wong perform Lifting the Sky

Question

Sifu, would you kindly share with us which one is, from the 18 Lohan Hands, your favorite one? why? Did you have any “Aha” Experiences while in your own practice and/or teaching them? If so, would you kindly share the one/s that you might consider more relevant?

Santiago

Answer by Grandmaster Wong Kiew Kit

Without doubt “Lifting the Sky” is my favorite not only from the 18 Lohan Hands but from all chi kung exercises. This is the chi kung exercise that I practice the most by a big margin from the second.

When someone asks me which chi kung exercise I have practiced the most, I have no hesitation to answer that it is “Lifting the sky”. If he asks me which exercise I have practiced the second most,, I would have to think hard for an answer. Actually I still haven’t thought out the answer.

Why is “Lifting the Sky” the one I have practiced the most?

Historically it was the first chi kung exercise I learned from my sifu, Sifu Ho Fatt Nam. Rather this was the first exercise I recognized then as chi kung, and performed it correctly.

On hindsight the first chi kung exercises I learned were the various stances from Uncle Righteousness in Penang taught to me by a siheng, but at that time I practiced them as enduring physical exercise.

I also learned chi kung exercises from Wuzuquan in Sifu Chee Kim Thong’s school in Dungun, taught to me by his eldest son, Sifu Chee Boon Leong. The whole San Zhan set was chi kung, but I did not derive any chi kung benefit from it, not because of my teacher’s teaching but because of my own ignorance.

I also learned Abdominal Breathing from my Wuzuquan sibengs, who had much internal force, but I only performed the technique, lacking the skills to develop internal force. I knew then that Abdominal Breathing was chi kung, but I did not succeed in practicing it as chi kung. Without realizing it myself, I practiced it as gentle physical exercise.

“Lifting the Sky” was the first chi kung exercise that I performed correctly as chi kung. If I remember correctly, it was the first exercise Sifu Ho Fatt Nam taught me, even before teaching me stances. And he taught it to me himself, not delegating it to one of my seniors.

My sifu did not tell me it was chi kung, neither did I regard it as chi kung. As a good student, I just learned and practiced it dutifully. Indeed my sifu did not tell me anything special about “Lifting the Sky”. All that about “Lifting the Sky” I am going to explain below came later from my own experience, my students’ experiences and my research into chi kung classics.

I practiced “Lifting the Sky” everyday at the start of my kungfu training, as taught to me by my sifu. This is good confirmation of my advice to students that by following faithfully what the teacher teaches, and not by trying to be smarter than him to add practice material on their own, the students will get the best benefits.

I did not generate external chi flow movements with “Lifting the Sky” like what we do in Shaolin Wahnam. But there must be internal chi flow, though I was not aware of it at that time, because I obtained a lot of chi kung benefits.

My migraine and hemorrhoids disappeared without my conscious knowing. I might not be conscious of it then, but “Lifting the Sky” improved my posture, mental clarity and kungfu performance.

Because of the many benefits that I myself have obtained from it, if I have to teach someone a chi kung exercise, I would inevitably choose “Lifting the Sky”. It was later on hindsight that I listed out why “Lifting the Sky” was my favorite. The reasons are as follows.

  1. It is relatively easy to learn and to practice.
  2. The benefits are many and varied.
  3. The benefits range from the basic to masters’ levels.
  4. At the basic level, it generates an energy flow.
  5. At the most advanced level, it can enable practitioners to attain the highest spiritual fulfillment.
  6. The benefits come relatively quickly.
  7. Even when it is performed wrongly, out of carelessness or forgetfulness, the adverse effects are not serious.
  8. Even when it is performed as gentle physical exercise, the benefits are good, like relaxation, good posture and loosening joints and muscles.

I did not learn the complete set of 18 Lohan Hands from my sifu. He only taught me “Lifting the Sky”, “Separating Water” and “Big Windmill”, and each exercise was taught to meet the need at the time.

“Lifting the Sky” was taught to start my kungfu training. I remember my sifu saying, “There is no need for warming up in kungfu. But Lifting the Sky acts like a n excellent warming up exercise.”

“Separating Water” was taught to increase my internal force. “Big Windmill” was taught as part of my Cosmos Palm training.

I once asked my sifu politely whether I could learn the whole set of 18 Lohan Hands. He explained kindly, “18 Lohan Hands were meant to make the Shaolin monks healthy so that they could practice kungfu. You are already very healthy. Focus on your kungfu.” I am grateful for his advice, otherwise I might not have the kungfu attainment I now have.

I was sentimental over the 18 Lohan Hands because they were the exercises taught by our first patriarch, the great Bodhidharma. So years later after leaving Kuala Trengganu where I learned from Sifu Ho Fatt Nam, I researched extensively and deeply into the 18 Lohan Hands.

I gathered the 18 exercises I considered the best and formulated them into a set, starting with the widely known set of eight Taoist chi kung exercises known as the Eight Pieces of Brocade.

Interestingly, the health exercises I practiced as a boy scout, and which were listed in the book, Scouting for Boys, were similar to the eight chi kung exercises in Eight Pieces of Brocade.

I remetmber I was smiling to myself when I formulated the 18 Lohan Hands, thinking that future critics would point to our 18 Lohan Hands and say, “Hey! Look, these so-called Shaolin chi kung exercises were taken from Taoist chi kung1”

Image my surprise when later I found in a classic that the same 18 Lohan Hands were recorded in the same order I listed them in our set! I could only attribute this wonderful co-incidence (or was it a co-incidence?) to my tapping into the past during meditation, or more poetically to divine guidance.

I had a few “Aha” experiences with “Lifting the Sky” and other of the 18 Lohan Hands.

Aha, I discovered that not only I could generate an energy flow with “Lifting the Sky”, which was the original and usually the main purpose of my practice with this exercise, but also I could build internal force, not only at my arms but all over my body and focus the force at my dan tian.

Aha, I discovered that I could use “Lifting the Sky” to generate a cosmic shower. Before this, the method I used was Taoist meditation, opening the rush meridian and let energy blossomed out from “baihui” like a fountain, and come down as cosmic shower. This method was called “Opening of Five Petals” and would take years to accomplish. Now, using “Lifting the Sky” or “Carrying the Moon”, I could transmit the skill to students and let them have a cosmic shower in just a one-day course. It was ridiculous but true.

Aha, in fact I could use “Lifting the Sky” or any chi kung exercise, though “Lifting the Sky” is usually more cost-effective than the others, to accomplish any chi kung skills! Not only the highest kungfu, but also the highest chi kung, is the mind.

Besides “Lifting the Sky”, I also had a “Aha” experience with the prosaic-looking “Big Windmill”. The “Big Windmill” my sifu, Sifu Ho Fatt Nam, taught me was the forceful “Big Windmill”, not the gentle “Big Windmill” we normally practice in our school.

This “Aha” experience happened years ago. After performing the forceful “Big Windmill” a few times I felt my arms and palms very powerful. I thought I could try breaking a brick. It broke, and I was very surprised because earlier I spent more than 2 years training Iron Palm from a book but I could not break a brick.

I thought it could be accidental. I tried a second time, and the brick broke. I tried a third time, and the brick still broke.

Another “Aha” experience was with “Three Levels to Ground”. At first I did not think highly of this exercise, though in my younger days I practiced it everyday for two years in the Art of Flexibility, and taught it often to people with knee or leg problems to help them recover. I sometimes wondered why I considered it one of the best 18 exercises to be included in the 18 Lohan Hands. It must be divine guidance.

It was during the UK Summer Camp in 2007 that I broke some tendons at my right knee during a kick. The injury was so back that I could hardly walk up some stairs. I did “Three Levels to Ground” and “Bear Walk”. In two days, my right knee recovered! Suddenly it occurred to me that Bodhidharm is great.

Lifting the Sky

Grandmaster Wong teaching Lifting the Sky during an Intensive Chi Kung Course

The questions and answers are reproduced from the thread 18 Lohan Hands: 10 Questions to Grandmaster Wong in the Shaolin Wahnam Discussion Forum.

THE COSMOS HAS NO PURPOSE!

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Grandmaster Wong Kiew Kit

Grandmaster Wong

Question

You have said “At the highest level, the level of the spiritually awakened, the cosmos has no purpose! But the reason for this realization is different from that of the ordinary people. The cosmos is an illusion, a creation of mind. It exists because of our ignorance. Our purpose, when we are ready, is to cast off the ignorance, to break down this illusion, to liberate the personal mind to attain Universal Mind, called variously by different peoples as God’s Kingdom, the Great Void or Enlightenment”.
(Source: http://www.shaolin.org/answers/ans05a/jan05-3.html)

How do we best go about this? How can we truly begin to both understand and experience the cosmos as an illusion … to free our ignorant minds to attain Universal Mind?

Answer

How we can best go about understanding and, more significantly, experiencing the cosmos depends much on how we perceive the cosmos to be. The numerous perceptions of the cosmos may be generalized into three broad levels.

At the basic level, which applies to the great majority of people in our world, the cosmos has no purples. The less educated may not be aware of the cosmos. What they are aware of is their immediate surrounding. Some may not have ventured beyond their immediate surrounding for their whole life. The more educated would know of the cosmos, and that the world we live in is a very minute part of it. But even to the educated, the cosmos is not meaningful. Many of them would know that it consists of galaxies with countless stars and planets which, as many of them believe, are cold and lifeless.

At the intermediate level, which applies to the spiritually concerned, the cosmos is purposeful. It provides the space and time for them to cultivate. To them the cosmos is full of life. Our world where we now live is only a small part of the cosmos. Those who have cultivated blessings will go to heaven, as promised by God or whatever name they call the Supreme, to enjoy eternal life of happiness, whereas those who have done evil will be punished in hell where there is constant suffering.

At the highest level, which applies to the spiritually awakened, the cosmos has no purpose, but this purposeless cosmos is different from the purposeless cosmos conceptualized at the basic level. To the spiritually awakened, the cosmos is an illusion, a creation of mind. This does not mean that the spiritually awakened imagine the cosmos to be there when it is not there. The cosmos exists when the mind conceptualizes it. The spiritually awakened are also aware that the cosmos is real to the great majority of people at the basic level who conceptualize the cosmos as galaxies and stars, and to the spiritually concerned at the intermediate level who conceptualize it as the space and time containing heavens and hells.

Beyond this, the spiritually awakened are aware that if they have perfectly no thoughts, in practice and not just in theory, there are no galaxies and starts, no heavens and hells, and no cosmos. They themselves do not exist as individuals. There is no differentiation at all. In religious terms, there is just God, and only God, and nothing else. In scientific terms, it is just a universal spread of energy without differentiation, not even a single sub-atomic particle.

To say that the cosmos has no purpose is not to say that life has no purpose. Different people, understandingly, have countless different purposes in life. But if we are to sum up the countless purposes in life into one main purpose, it is to understand and experience the cosmos to the best of our benefit and the benefit of other people.

To the great majority of people at the basic level, it is to be healthy and happy, and to live life in this world as long as they can. To the spiritually concerned at the intermediate level, it is to do good and avoid evil, while also enjoying healthy, happy and long life. To the spiritually awakened, when they are ready, it is to attain no-thought or no-mind so as to accomplish Universal Mind, called variously as returning to God, merging with Tao or attaining Enlightenment.

There are numerous ways to accomplish the noble purposes at these three different levels. An excellent way is to practice any one, or two or all the arts taught in our school, Shaolin Wahnam, namely chi kung, Shaolin Kungfu and Taijiquan.

The arts taught in Shaolin Wahnam will help practitioners achieve the purpose at all the three levels. At the basic level, the arts enable practitioners to generate an energy flow to have good health, happiness and longevity. At the intermediate level, the arts enable practitioners to have mental clarity and a lot of energy to do good and avoid evil. This development is intrinsic, not merely told by their teachers. At the highest level, the arts enable practitioners to expand their spirit to realize the most supreme purpose.

How do we understand and experience the cosmos as an illusion, to free our ignorant minds to attain Universal Mind? This can be accomplished through two approaches – understanding intellectually and experiencing directly.

Understanding what is meant by the cosmos is an illusion and how to free our ignorant minds to attain Universe Mind, sets both the foundation and the direction of our training towards our goal. It saves us a lot of time grouping about aimlessly, and prevent us from going astray.

The cosmos is an illusion means that what we see and think is real, is only relatively real and not absolutely real. The chair you sit on is real relative to how your sense organs receive data, especially how your eyes perceive energy and how your mind interprets it. Millions of micro-organisms floating in front of you will see and think of the same chair differently because they have different sense organs.

The chair, therefore, is a phenomenon, an appearance. All other things and beings in the cosmos, including the distant galaxies and stars and heavenly beings, are phenomena.

This does not mean that the galaxies and stars and heavenly beings as well as all other things are merely imaginary. They are real relative to the conditions you are subjected to in the phenomenal world.

What, then, is Absolute Reality, called variously by different peoples as God, Tao, Emptiness and Universal Mind? It is just God, Tao, Emptiness or Universal Mind and nothing else – without subject and object, without the knower and the known, without any differentiation.

More important than intellectual understanding is direct experience. Indeed, having understood what the concept of the cosmos is, you should do away with intellectualization if you wish to attain Universal Mind, because intellectualization which necessities thoughts will cling you to the phenomenal realm.

To have direct experience of Universe Mind, you have to learn personally from a true master who not only is capable of helping you to accomplish this noble task but is willing to teach you. It is naïve and unreasonable for people to believe that if a student wants to learn, a master must teach.

To help students attain Universal Mind, it is often not merely instruction, but heart to heart transmission from the master to the students. Unless you are an exception, it is unlikely you are ready to be completely merged with the Universal Mind, or permanently returned to God the Holy Spirit, Yet, a glimpse of Universal Mind or God, called a spiritual awakening, is a life-changing experience. It also brings you tremendous joy and freedom.

The above extract is reproduced from “Your True Nature: Wisdom of Living Masters” by Natalie Deane and Damian Lafont.

You can order this book from here or here.

HEART CLOSED HEART OPEN

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(reproduced from http://shaolin.org/discussion-2/charles.html)

Sifu Charles Chalmers

The old monk in his golden robe sat across the low tea table from me, held up a fist, and spoke softly in Vietnamese. Slowly he opened his hand so the fingers stretched out and his palm pointed up towards the sky. The translator explained: “He says that your heart is closed like this fist, but that in ten years in will open.”

I felt my heart sink, because I knew it was true that my heart was closed, and I was shocked to imagine ten more years of suffering and unhappiness.

Thankfully, I was soon to meet my dear Sifu (teacher), Grandmaster Wong Kiew Kit, and amazingly, my heart blossomed in an instant. It was the most incredible experience of my life. I felt my worry, sadness, fear and anger instantly washed away, replaced by an unprecedented, almost overwhelming happiness.

The last eight years of my life, since I learned Shaolin Chi Kung from my sifu have been positively joyful. I have done things, and enjoyed things I never would have if it had not been for my practice of the Shaolin Arts. I have become, in every way, a better person.

I have enjoyed many benefits from practicing our chi kung and kung fu, but for me, the heart opening was and remains the greatest gift of our practice.

Simply put, I am a happy man.

Thank you Sifu, from the bottom of my heart.

Charles __________________
Sifu Charles Chalmers

Opening the heart

Participants of an Intensive Chi Kung Course in Sabah with Open Heart

The above discussion is reproduced from the thread Heart Closed Heart Open in the Shaolin Wahnam Discussion Forum.

SMILING FROM THE HEART

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(reproduced from http://shaolin.org/discussion-2/santiago04.html)

smiling from the heart

Smiling from the Heart

Santiago

Shaolin Wahnam Spain

17th March 2015

“We shall never know all the good that a simple smile can do.” – Mother Teresa

Everything started when Sije mentioned in one of her classes: How many of you Smile from the Heart in the morning just before opening your eyes? I could not answer “yes” to that question. That made me realise a lot of things. If I always smile just at the very start of my practices and it is so beneficial, why not starting my day with a beautiful Smile from the Heart?

Smiling from the Heart is a simple but incredibly profound skill that brings me enormous and various benefits. I must confess that I sometimes forget this fact and it is not always easy for me to practice it at the very start of my day. When that happens I just take a couple of seconds and try gently for some more times. Then the miracle happens. I find it there, just in the heart, bring it out and share it with the world.

I never regretted commencing my day with a Smile from the Heart. It totally changes the entire day. This practice really boosts my energy, relaxes me, opens my heart and makes my life much more joyful.

As I was progressing in this practice and getting more and more benefits I decided to implement it to the rest of my day. For that, every time that I realised that I wasn’t Smiling from the Heart I was taking a deep breath, closing my eyes (when possible) and searching for an honest smile that came from the heart.

It is so beneficial that Smiling from the Heart is becoming very natural in my life. I am more aware than ever when I am not Smiling from the Heart. It is amazing how much the heart can close during the day. I totally understand now why I was feeling always so sad and depressed.

Whenever I am working and feel stressed I stop and Smile from the Heart. I realise then how much I was tensing as I feel that tension disappearing with the smile.

It is so simple, so profound and it has so many benefits that I cannot thank enough for this wonderful gift.

In fact, I think that it is impossible for me to worry or intellectualise when I am Smiling from the Heart. Smiling from the Heart connects me with God and refreshes my whole body, energy and spirit.

Adding to that, I have noticed that my practice has improved a lot since I Smile from the Heart more often as it instantly takes me to a Chi Kung State of Mind.

Many months have passed and many lessons have been learned by bringing alive this simple but profound practice.

Smiling from the Heart hasn’t always been easy. In fact, one day I was looking at my pictures over the past 10 years and I decided to destroy most of them as I looked incredible sad, upset and locked up. I didn’t want to keep such a terrible memory of myself. It was time for a fresh start, for a second opportunity.

It is inspiring to see how different my pictures look now. That shows me how profound these arts are and how much I have progressed since I practice them. Without realising, the change has been so enormous and meaningful that it is hard to believe.

I once heard that “a smile is the shortest distance between two people”. I have understood by direct experience that an honest smile coming from the heart opens the door to the wonders hosted in people’s hearts. A smile is the best way that I know to connect and bring the best out of me and people.

In fact, it was Sifu’s smile that opened my heart. It connected my heart with his and heart to heart transmission happened.

The more I walk this path the more respect I have for these beautiful arts. Having such meaningful lessons and teachings keep me really humble as I can see the limitless power of God reflected in every one of them.

Santiago

The above discussion is reproduced from the thread The Shaolin Journey posted on 17th March 2015 in the Shaolin Wahnam Discussion Forum.

SELECTION OF QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS MAY 2015 PART 1 BY GRANDMASTER WONG KIEW KIT

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(reproduced from http://shaolin.org/answers/ans15a/may15-1.html)

internal force and charisma

Internal force provides charisma

Question 1

Sigung has attracted thousands of people around the world to build Shaolin Wahnam into one of the most successful and biggest martial arts school today. I believe this is in part due to Sigung’s tremendous internal force, sincerity and charisma.

Charisma is a great asset to have in order to advance oneself professionally in the business world, and I believe the underlying factor is having a lot of energy.

Could Sigung kindly share some techniques to increase one’s personal charisma using internal force or chi?

— Stephen Chang, USA

Answer

Thank you for your kind works.

Yes, internal force, sincerity and charisma are important factors for the success of our school. There are also other important factors, two of which are the wonderful benefits of our arts, and our dedication in preserving them.

Although they are not the same, internal force, sincerity and charisma are related. A person may have internal force and sincerity but not charisma. On the other hand, having internal force and sincerity strengthens a person’s charisma.

The following aspects increase one’s charisma:

  1. Good health and vitality.
  2. Confident posture.
  3. Assuring voice.
  4. Benefit and interest.
  5. Sincerity.

Good health and vitality are necessary to be charismatic to people. No people will find a person charming if he is sick or feeble. A charismatic person must poise himself confidently to his listeners. His voice should also be assuring. A person who mumbles or whose voice is hard to be heard is never charismatic. What a charismatic person says is beneficial and interesting to his audience. His body expression and voice should convey sincerity.

All these five aspects are the direct and indirect results of developing internal force. Internal force directly gives a person health and vitality, confident posture and an assuring voice. Health is a direct result of harmonious chi flow, vitality a direct result of vigorous chi flow, confidence a direct result of chi strengthening the gall bladder, and good posture a direct result of chi strengthening bones. All these are the direct results of increasing internal force.

It is worthy of note that these attainments are intrinsic. In other words due to the increase of internal force, these attainments naturally happen. There is no need for practitioners to worry about how to have good health when their chi flow is harmonious, etc. Good health naturally occurs when chi flow becomes harmonious. These worries or questions are academic, i.e. they occur to people who have no internal force. Those who have internal force will experience these intrinsic results.

In the same way there is no need for people to worry about how to increase their purchasing power when their cash flow increases. Due to the increase of their cash flow, their purchasing power will naturally increase. Asking how an increase of cash flow will increase purchasing power is an academic question, i.e. it occurs to people who have no increase of cash flow. Those who have an increase of cash flow will experience the intrinsic result of an increase of purchasing power.

The fourth aspect, making his interaction with others beneficial and interesting to them, has to be learned, and having internal force gives him the mental clarity to accomplish the learning task more efficiently.

Which one of the following three statements is most beneficial and interesting to your audience?

  1. I wish to start a chi kung class.
  2. I shall teach genuine chi kung which is rare today.
  3. Practicing genuine chi kung gives you good health and vitality.

Those with little mental clarity will have to learn, sometimes the hard way, that the third statement is the most beneficial and interesting to their audience. With mental clarity you will learn it quickly.

Sincerity, the fifth aspect, is also much enhanced by internal force, though some people with some internal force may be insincere, especially when they lack moral cultivation. When your bones are strengthened by chi as an indirect result of developing internal force, you will not only have good posture but also be sincere.

If a chi kung teacher tells his students that practicing genuine chi kung will give them good health and vitality, but he is actually more interested in starting a class, he will be less charismatic than another teacher who is sincere in helping his students attain good health and vitality.

Our school is very special, probably unprecedented in the whole history of chi kung and kungfu, in the extensive range of techniques to develop internal force. We are also probably unprecedented in cost-effectiveness. You can choose any one or more of the following techniques, but more important than the techniques are the skills involved.

  1. Lifting the Sky
  2. Pushing Mountain
  3. Reverse Hanging of Double Hooks
  4. One-finger Shooting Zen
  5. Three-Circle Stance
  6. Golden Bridge
  7. Lifting Water
  8. Grasping Sparrow’s Tail
  9. Triple Stretch
  10. Iron Wire

Internal force will provide you with the essence, or foundation, which is most important.

You may also apply the following specific techniques:

  1. Stand upright and be relaxed.
  2. Face your audience at a comfortable spacing.
  3. Talk to your audience, not to a wall, pillar or floor.
  4. Let your voice come out from your dan tian, but do not strain your vocal cords.
  5. Believe in what you say.

Question 2

I had a couple of days when I was completely charged with chi and I just ‘knew’ that practicing chi kung could make me healthy, and that kung fu could overpower any other martial arts, and streetfighters.. I felt no aches and pains in my body, no tiredness, no stress, which is not typical for me, and instead I felt blissfully happy and had the sensation that anything is possible.

I also had a couple of combat experiences where I simply allowed myself to relax and flow. On one occasion I subdued two opponents using moves I had never actually learned.

When I have had the experience, it felt like this mental, physical and energetic state would last forever, but it never did. I tried to repeat whatever I was doing when it happened in the hope of reviving the experience. For example: when it happened on courses with you, I tried to do more courses. Sometimes it happened when I had been training things like stances intensively, so I practiced more and more stances to try and repeat the experience, but without success. Sometimes it was the opposite, and happened during a period when I only trained lightl, so I tried to keep training lightly to revive the experience, but again without success.

Sifu, I feel as if I have had these glimpses of something marvelous. Is there a way to keep my practice at a level where I will experience this all the time? Do I need to train more, train less or rain differently, or should I treat these as glimpses provided by heaven to remind me to keep training normally until one day I reach the level where I have this fantastic physical, mental and energetic state all the time?

— Paul, Ireland

Answer

Your experiences are not uncommon with some of our students.

The best approach is to follow the three golden rules of practice as follows:

  1. Don’t worry.
  2. Don’t intellectualize.
  3. Enjoy your practice.

This means you should not worry whether these experiences will happen again to you or how you can make them happen again.

You don’t intellectualize why they happen or don’t happen, and what must you do to make them happen.

Just practice, and enjoy your practice. You can practice in whatever ways you like. You don’t worry about or intellectualized on how you should practice. Just practice and enjoy it.

You also don’t worry about or intellectualize on whether it is heaven’s reminder for you to train. Irrespective of whether it is heaven’s intention, you train and enjoy your training. If you follow the training you have learned from me, you will certainly be a good martial artists, including be able to handle our martial artists in sparring or fighting. More importantly, you will be happy and healthy

Xingyiquan

Xingyiquan at UK Summer Camp

Question 3

I am training Xingyiquan as my main training. Also our core from our Shaolin Kungfu, mainly footwork and our core sequences.

I have a problem with the Santi Stance. In Santi Stance, with the right arm outstretched, force automatically flows up to the right side of my hand and base of the middle, ring finger and pink fingers. This hurts very badly.

It also makes me aggravated, so that I have a hard time relaxing. Usually I need to stop and step out of the stance, or I’ll ruin my practice session altogether.

In Santi Stance in the left arm, the force is at the palm, and everything is in harmony. I can either expand or let it flow or both. My arm is also fully stretched and my stance is good.

— Tim, Belgium

Answer

This is not usual. Probably you did something wrong, or there was already something wrong inside you, and the strong chi flow is clearing out the blockage.

But whatever it is, you need not worry. Just follow the three golden rules of practice of not worrying, not intellectualizing and of enjoying your practice.

This is one of the best advantages in our school, which is not available in other schools, and which causes some people, especially Chinese, afraid to train internal arts.

In other schools, if something goes wrong and practitioners do not know what it is, or do not know hoe to remedy the problem, they may be in big trouble, especially if the force training is powerful.

This is also the reason why many Chinese dare not train internal arts. They are afraid of deviation, which is given a frightening name in the Chinese language, namely “chow fo yap more”, or “escaping of fire and entering of monster”.

But this is not a problem in our school! It is almost ridiculous, but true. Deviation is not a problem because of our chi flow. Our chi flow will wash away any deviation unwittingly caused, and still give our students a bonus. Because of our cost-effectiveness, the bonus is quite substantial. Students of other schools do not have this great advantage of chi flow.

Question 4

With my problem in the right arm, it get’s better if I don’t make my arm fully stretched. This way I can have more control.

Sifu, is that okay? I have a mental blockage wanting to do everything right from the start, but it’s so powerful sometimes that I get aggravated. I actually still feel good afterwards, but hot tempered.

Answer

Yes, it is okay. You don’t have to worry and don’t have to intellectualize. Just enjoy your practice.

You can easily clear your mental blockage. You don’t have to do everything right from the start. Our training is so powerful and cost-effective that even if you attain only 30% of the potential, you still have good results. If you attain 100%, it would be over-training. As I have said, it is ridiculous but true.

Mistakes here which result in you having only 30% of the potential benefit are due to carelessness or forgetfulness. It is not purposefully going against instructions, which of course is foolish.

Drunken Eight Immortals

Tim performing the Drunken Eight Immortals

Question 5

I am practicing my Kungfu now every day from now on, especially combat sequences. I focused some time on just Chi Kung, but got cleansing symptoms, rashes, that didn’t go away. I foolishly though to postpone Kungfu untill everything got cleared but the cleansing just kept coming. Even when working or doing activities the cleansing stayed.

Now that I practice sequences much more, the rashes actually went away in just a couple of days! I can’t believe how foolish I was. Sifu told us all this time, and still I was so foolish to keep on doing only light chi kung.

Answer

Chi kung students are advised to practice for only 10 to 15 minutes per session, whereas kungfu students may practice for an hour although the chi kung exercises in kungfu are more powerful.

This is because of the dynamic nature of kungfu training, like in set practice and combat sequences. These mobile aspects of kungfu training spread the force developed in static training, like in zhan zhuang. Unless he has progressed gradually, if a person were to practice just zhan zhaung for 15 minutes, it would be over-training.

Question 6

Sifu, my main point of focus is still our basics, our core sequences and footwork, and Xingyiquan, but I’m very curious what would be the best for me to specialize in, of the material I have learned so far.

I like Xingyiquan a lot, and also the Drunken Eight Immortals and the Triple Stretch. But I also like Baguazhang very much. I would like to train Baguazhang at times together with the Wudang Sword. All these styles and sets I would like to become good at.

Sifu could I ask what would be best for me to specialize in?

Answer

The basics are very important. When you are good at your basics, you can specialize in any of our arts. Again we are unprecedented. No schools in the whole history of kungfu and chi kung provide such a wide range of arts for specialization as we do.

You can choose to specialize in Xingyiquan, Drunken Eight Immortals or Triple Stretch. Personally I feel that Drunken Eight Immortals would be your best choice for specialization. You can practice Xingyiquan and Triple Stretch as supplementary arts, and the other arts like Baguazhang for fun.

This does not mean that the other arts have not been useful. They give your breadth and depth. As I mentioned in one of the courses on our selective arts, even if a student in our school were to attend just a course on a selective kungfu style, and then totally forget about it, that kungfu style will still tremendously enhance whatever other styles he chooses to practice or specialize in.

Explode Force of Zhang San Feng

Explode Force of Zhang San Feng

Question 7

What would be the most cost effective force training method for me? I learned the 18 Lohan Arts, our core stances, the Triple Stretch Set, Santi Stance, and the Iron Wire which I learned from two of my sihengs.

Answer

It is simply amazing that we have a very extensive range of internal force training methods, ranging from the very soft Yang Style Taijiquan to the very hard Iron Wire. This is unprecedented in kungfu history. Most schools have only one or two force training methods.

They are not just ordinary force training methods. All the force training methods we have are legacies from great masters.like:

  1. Sinew Metamorphosis of Bodhidharma,
  2. Flowing force of Bai Yi Feng (the founder of Wuzuquan),
  3. Crushing force of Yue Fei (found in Xingyiquan),
  4. Eighteen-Lohan Art of Northern Shaolin,
  5. One-Finger Shooting Zen of Southern Shaolin,
  6. Exploding force of Zhang San Feng,
  7. Double Worshipping of the Buddha of Ng Mui,
  8. Triple stretch of Hoong Hei Khoon
  9. Iron Wire of Thiet Kiew Sam

On top of this, we believe we have followed the training methods correctly. How do we know? We may not know for sure whether the way we train is exactly the way the past masters trained, although the methods are the same, but we know the results are the same, or at lease similar, even though we may not be at their levels. Most importantly, the internal force derived from training these methods gives us good health, vitality, longevity, mental clarity, peak performance and spiritual joys.

You can choose any one of the methods you have learned as the main method, and other methods as secondary. If you intend to specialize in Drunken Eight Immortals, an excellent choice is the flowing force of Wuzuquan. If you have not practiced Wuzuquan, you can substitute with the flowing force of Taijiquan. If you have not practiced Taijiquan too, you can use One-Finger Shooting Zen.

Suppose you are not familiar with One-Finger Shooting Zen. You can then choose an exercise from Sinew Metamorphosis or Eighteen-Lohan Art. Even if you had made what to other students of other schools the worse choice, Iron Wire, your result will still be many times better than other students making their best choice, which often is their only choice.

Other people, as I have often mentioned, may think I am arrogant for making these statements, and that is their business, but I am stating the truth which any member of our Shaolin Wahnam Family can readily verify from his own experience. How many other kungfu students, for example, have your internal force that enables you to enjoy your work and play wholesomely? Indeed, and it is actually sad, most other students would be lucky if they do not suffer silently in pain and anguish from their deviated training and perverted views.

Why is it that even if you had chosen the worst method (to most people in general) in your training, you still have better result than other people who have chosen the best method? It is important to note that “worst” and “best” here are relative.

In this case, using the Iron Wire method to develop internal force for application in Drunken Eight Immortals is a worst method to most other people, but it is still a very good method for us. On the other hand, without meaning to be vain, the “best” methods used by other people are bad methods to us!

Why is this so? Why the “worst” method is still a very good method to us, and why other students’ “best” method are bad?

A “worst” method can still be a very good method to us because of the magic of chi flow. We can readily employ chi flow to convert the consolidated force in Iron Wire training to flowing force in Drunken Eight Immortals application. Most other people can’t do this. The consolidated force they have will be a deterrent in their Drunken Eight Immortals application.

The “best’ method of other students are bad because it brings adverse effects. Even when it works correctly for a small percentage of these students, it takes them a long time to develop some internal force. How many students, for example, have internal force? Many of them have internal injury instead.

One suggestion is to practice your main training method on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. On the other days, practice the other force training methods you have learned on rotation. You can have other arrangement if you like. As long as you train, you will have wonderful benefits.

But don’t over-train. Indeed, a common advice in our school nowadays is not to train more, but to train less. Our training is to enrich our life, not to enslave us. Use the extra time as well as mental clarity and enrgy to get yourself a good wife.

Question 8

May I also ask how I could include in the best way the Small Universe and Big Universe in my training please?

My chi flow usually ends or slows down with Big Universe flowing spontaneously. I was wondering how to include the practice without overtraining. I’ve heard some say it is best to practice the Small Universe every day, and others say it is too powerful to practice it every day.

Answer

The Small Universe and the Big Universe are real treasures, more valuable than gold. The Small Universe will enable you to live beyond a hundred years. The Big Universe will enable you to realize that you never die!

All people never die but most people do not realize this cosmic truth. Our body may change and decay, but our spirit, our real self, lives forever until we return to transcendental Cosmic Reality, called by different names by different peoples.

Most other people may think I talk non-sense. It needs some cosmic wisdom to understand what I say. You and all other members of our Shaolin Wahnam Family understand the truth of my statements. The Big Universe enables us to directly experience, not just read about, our spirit expanding beyond our physical body.

Both statements that the Small Universe should be practiced everyday and that it is too powerful to be practiced everyday, are true. It depends on various factors like the development stage of the practitioner, his needs, his aspirations and sometimes his whims and fancies.

For you and all other students and instructors in our school, it is not necessary to practice the Small Universe everyday, though you can do so if you want to.

It is not necessary because we have so many other arts that give us wonderful benefits. Although the other arts may not have the specific benefit of enabling practitioners to live beyond a hundred years, most of our Family members have not reached 60. When they reach 60 they can reconsider their training schedule.

“Not necessary” does not mean “not beneficial”or “not desirable” . It is not necessary to earn a million euros to live happily, but it is beneficial and desirable to earn a million euros. Obe notable benefit which many students have reported to me, and which is not mentioned in chi kung classics, is that practicing the Small Universe brings good luck in both their personal and professional life. This should be no surprise to us, as the Small Universe is excellent in ensuring a good circulation of energy, and a “good circulation of energy” is “hou yun qi” in Chinese, which means having good luck.

Practicing he Small Universe the way we do may be too powerful to some other people. But for those in our Family who have been invited to learn this art, it is not too powerful even when they practice daily.

A good procedure when you practice various arts is to practice the Small Universe at the end of your training session. Even if you do not practice the Small Universe formally, it is often that your energy will flow in a small universal pathway when you have completed other exercises. The small universal chi flow at normal times without special practice is a clear indication of radiant health and vitality, and promising longevity. If you energy flow takes the big universal pathway, it is even better.

THE IMPORTANCE OF PICTURE PERFECT FORM

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(reproduced from http://shaolin.org/video-clips-8/baguazhang/glimpse/chris.html)

baguazhang, pakua palm

Grandmaster Wong helping Chris to attain picture perfect form

What a great course. I’ve had the pleasure of attending the past few summer camps and again Si Tai Gung has taken his teaching to a new level.

As my brothers have said on day one alone we learnt enough content to take away for at least the next six months. This included the Eight Mother Palms, Circle Walking, and force building.

In the context of the course there are always simple instructions to follow, simple but with deep meaning. If these are followed and taken home our Kung Fu, Tai Chi and Baguazhang will greatly improve.

Si Tai Gung mentioned a number of times picture perfect form and highlighted its importance

Question: Why do we use the patterns and techniques we practice in our training?

Answer: Because of the advantage they give us in combat not only to help us win but also to help us in not handing defeat to our opponent.

When you have picture perfect form the chi flows correctly and this is how Kung Fu practitioners can spar for long periods of time. Not only will they not get tired but actually have more energy than when they started. This is so true today.

We had two great sessions going over and over in detail the form of the combat applications in the Baguazhang set. I have never felt so charged at the end of a full day training.

At one point after having a small chi flow we were ask to go through the patterns we had just practiced. I was so focused from this set that it actually felt as if rather than having two eyes I had one single point of focus, the force and flow were amazing word just don’t do it justice.

I know there are many points that I will take home and would like others to share. Take the time to make sure your form is perfect, slow down you training to make sure pattern by pattern its 100% correct then add the pieces together say three at a time then as you build your set make sure no form is lost, then when the form is correct and you know the set well move to the next level.

Take out the false stops and flow between movements. Again start with just three patterns and build up. if you find that the form is not picture perfect, stop and go back to get it right, then move to flow again. When you have perfect form and correct flow only then add in some force.

Using these methods will give you the best results and deliver Kung Fu that can be used for combat/competitions while also working on many other levels like good health and vitality. If this course is held again make sure you’re on it I can’t wait or day three!!

Chris
Worthing, England
19th June 2012

baguazhang, pakua palm

Having picture perfect form gives practitioner the best technical advantage in sparring

The above is reproduced from the thread Baguazhang at UK Summer Camp in the Shaolin Wahnam Discussion Forum

Glimpse of Baguazhang at UK Summer Camp