Monthly Archives: December 2016

A CHILD PRODIGY

The Way of the Master, written by my Sifu, Grandmaster Wong Kiew Kit, is now officially launched.

You can order the book through Amazon or write a review.

You can also read more delightful stories, or order the special edition directly.

Please enjoy one of the memorable stories from my Sifu’s book below:

A CHILD PRODIGY

(reproduced from http://shaolin.org/general-2/way-of-master/way27.html)

Myself

Myself in the 1940s

Many people were very kind to regard me as a kungfu genius. Only a few people knew that I was called a child prodigy long before that. I knew how to read Chinese even at the age of three due to my father’s and mother’s informal coaching.

One day, soon after my recovery from my long illness after falling into a huge monsoon drain, my parents took me to see my father’s friend who was a restaurant stall owner at the New Life Plaza at Cintra Street in Penang. The New Life Plaza has now given way to residential flats, but in the 1940s and 1950s, it was busy with hawker stalls.

My father was talking with his friend who was chopping barbequed meat for his customers. I couldn’t recollect what their conversation was, but I could remember my father saying I could read Chinese, which is a formidable feat even for adult learners as the Chinese written language does not have an alphabet and readers have to recognise each one by itself of at least a few hundred characters.

“What, a small boy of three can read Chinese!” The restaurant owner found it hard to believe.

“Yes, that’s true,” my father replied.

“I can’t believe it!”

“You can test my son.”

“Well, boy,” my father’s friend looked at me kindly. “Can you tell me these characters?” He pointed to a row of big Chinese characters on his signboard.

“Yeit ting ho fan tim (一定好饭店).” I read each Chinese character loudly and slowly. They meant “Certainly-Good Restaurant”.

The man was astounded.

“Just three years old, and you can read Chinese characters! A real child prodigy!”

He promptly cut a large piece of “char siew”, which literally means “fork-barbeque”, i.e. a piece of meat that was being forked to be barbequed, hanging in a showcase in front of his restaurant, and passed it to me.

“Child prodigy, please enjoy this piece of char siew,” he graciously said.

Years later, when I told my wife this old story, she went to town and on her return, she gave me a nice piece of barbequed meat.

“Child prodigy,” my wife said, “Please enjoy this piece of char siew.”

My father and mother, myself and my wife, my sister and her husband, and my three eldest children in the 1980s

You can read more stories at our Discussion Forum. Here are details to order the special and limited edition. This edition will not be reprinted once it is sold out.

GOOD PAIN AND BAD PAIN

(reproduced from http://shaolin.org/answers/ans16b/dec16-1.html)

Question

On another topic, can you please elaborate on good pain and bad pain. Some students, without proper understanding, give up training chi kung when they experience pain.

— Sifu Sippe Douma, New Zealand

Answer by Grandmaster Wong Kiew Kit

For convenience, pain may be described as good or bad. Good pain is beneficial, and bad pain is harmful.

When a practitioner has generated a vigorous chi flow, the chi flow will break through blockage. In the progress, good pain may result. On the other hand, bad pain is due to illness or injury, or to wrong practice.

Good pain is mild, and is actually quite pleasant, though it is painful. Bad pain is severe, and is unpleasant. This is an academic description, and may not be meaningful to those who have no experience of good and bad pain. A better way to differentiate between good pain and bad pain is though direct experience.

Initially a practitioner may not differentiate good pain from bad pain easily, but with increased experience he will have no difficulty.

An analogy is the sour taste of an orange. An orange can taste sour because it is good, or because it is bad. Like good pain and bad pain, good sour taste and bad sour taste are actually different, but because of the limitation of words we still use the same terms, “pain” and “sour taste”.

A person who had not tasted an orange before would be unable to tell whether the sour taste of an orange was due to an orange being good or bad. But with experience of tasting some oranges, he would have no difficulty telling the difference.

What should a practitioner do when he feels good pain. He continues his training. When the blockage is cleared as he recovers from his illness or injury, the pain will disappear. But if the pain is bad, he should slow down or stop training until the situation improves.

If you have any questions, please e-mail them to Grandmaster Wong via his Secretary at secretary@shaolin.org stating your name, country and e-mail address.

ADDRESSING FAMILY MEMBERS

(reproduced from http://shaolin.org)

I made a mistake regarding addressing family members, and of course it is not late to correct it. Chee Seen’s students, like Hoong Hei Koon and Lok Ah Choy, addressed Ng Mui, who was Chee Seen’s sijia (elder kungfu sister) as sipak (elder kungfu uncle) and not as siguma (elder sister of father).

Hence, you should address the senior female kungfu sister of your sifu (kungfu teacher) as sipak, and the junior female kungfu sister of your sifu as sisook, and not as siguma and sigujie as we have been doing. For example, the students of Leo (Sifu Leonard Lackinger) would address Joan (Sifu Joan Browne) as sipak. Joan’s students would, of course, address Joan as sifu.

We are proud (in a good way) that we are one of the very few kungfu and chi kung schools today that keep this tradition, which, amongst other benefits, contributes to our effectiveness in learning and in everyday life. It is rude to call your sifu by name, whether talking to him or her personally, or talking to other people. Your sifu, who has brought you good health and happiness, is always addressed, with a sense of pride and gratitude, as “Sifu” when talking to him or her, and as “my Sifu” when talking to others.

Grandmaster Wong Kiew Kit
1st December 2016

The Way of the Master, written by my Sifu, Grandmaster Wong Kiew Kit, is now officially launched.

You can order the book through Amazon or write a review.

You can also read more delightful stories, or order the special edition directly.

Please enjoy one of the memorable stories from my Sifu’s book below:

A CHILD PRODIGY

(reproduced from http://shaolin.org/general-2/way-of-master/way27.html)

Myself in the 1940s

Many people were very kind to regard me as a kungfu genius. Only a few people knew that I was called a child prodigy long before that. I knew how to read Chinese even at the age of three due to my father’s and mother’s informal coaching.

“What, a small boy of three can read Chinese!” The restaurant owner found it hard to believe.

“Yes, that’s true,” my father replied.

“I can’t believe it!”

“You can test my son.”

“Well, boy,” my father’s friend looked at me kindly. “Can you tell me these characters?” He pointed to a row of big Chinese characters on his signboard.

“Yeit ting ho fan tim (一定好饭店).” I read each Chinese character loudly and slowly. They meant “Certainly-Good Restaurant”.

The man was astounded.

“Just three years old, and you can read Chinese characters! A real child prodigy!”

He promptly cut a large piece of “char siew”, which literally means “fork-barbeque”, i.e. a piece of meat that was being forked to be barbequed, hanging in a showcase in front of his restaurant, and passed it to me.

“Child prodigy, please enjoy this piece of char siew,” he graciously said.

Years later, when I told my wife this old story, she went to town and on her return, she gave me a nice piece of barbequed meat.

“Child prodigy,” my wife said, “Please enjoy this piece of char siew.”

My father and mother, myself and my wife, my sister and her husband, and my three eldest children in the 1980s

You can read more stories at our Discussion Forum. Here are details to order the special and limited edition. This edition will not be reprinted once it is sold out.

(reproduced from http://shaolin.org/answers/ans16b/dec16-1.html)

Question

On another topic, can you please elaborate on good pain and bad pain. Some students, without proper understanding, give up training chi kung when they experience pain.

— Sifu Sippe Douma, New Zealand

Answer by Grandmaster Wong Kiew Kit

For convenience, pain may be described as good or bad. Good pain is beneficial, and bad pain is harmful.

When a practitioner has generated a vigorous chi flow, the chi flow will break through blockage. In the progress, good pain may result. On the other hand, bad pain is due to illness or injury, or to wrong practice.

Initially a practitioner may not differentiate good pain from bad pain easily, but with increased experience he will have no difficulty.

An analogy is the sour taste of an orange. An orange can taste sour because it is good, or because it is bad. Like good pain and bad pain, good sour taste and bad sour taste are actually different, but because of the limitation of words we still use the same terms, “pain” and “sour taste”.

A person who had not tasted an orange before would be unable to tell whether the sour taste of an orange was due to an orange being good or bad. But with experience of tasting some oranges, he would have no difficulty telling the difference.

What should a practitioner do when he feels good pain. He continues his training. When the blockage is cleared as he recovers from his illness or injury, the pain will disappear. But if the pain is bad, he should slow down or stop training until the situation improves.

If you have any questions, please e-mail them to Grandmaster Wong via his Secretary at secretary@shaolin.org stating your name, country and e-mail address.

(reproduced from http://shaolin.org)

Grandmaster Wong Kiew Kit 1st December 2016

Grandmaster Wong Kiew Kit
1st December 2016