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Live Q&A with Grandmaster Wong Kiew Kit- Cosmos Chi Kung for Health and Well-Being

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Streamed live on Oct 13, 2016

Shaolin Grandmaster Wong Kiew Kit, popularly known as Sifu Wong, is answering questions live from the YouTube audience about Shaolin Cosmos Chi Kung for health and well-being. This Q&A commemorates when Sifu Wong was awarded “Chi Kung Master of the Year” in San Francisco in 1997.

Sifu Wong will also be teaching chi kung and kung fu in North America:

San Francisco – New York – New Hampshire – Toronto – Florida

For Sifu Wong’s North America full schedule:
http://www.shaolin.org

A big Thank You to the North American Shaolin Wahnam Family for facilitating this excellent Q&A.

SELECTION OF QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS AUGUST 2016 PART 1 BY GRANDMASTER WONG KIEW KIT

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(reproduced from http://shaolin.org/answers/ans16b/aug16-1.html)

Wing Choon Kungfu

Grandmaster has often said that he remained unbeaten in his early days not because he was combat efficient but because he was smart; he spent a lot of time preparing for his upcoming free sparring

Question 1

Sigung, you were unbeaten in sparring in your young days. Can you please share your secret with us?

— Peter, Ireland

Answer

I used to say “in my young days”, but Douglas, my most senior student in Europe, reminded me at the time when I was about 50 that I was still young, so I have changed the expression to “my younger days”. Even now when I am over 70 and still feel young, I use the expression “in my younger days”.

In my younger days, especially between about 20 to 40 years of age, I spent a lot of time looking for sparring partners. At first I could beat them not because I was good but because I was smart. I chose opponents whom I had confidence of beating.

I made my victory doubly sure by doing a lot of homework, i.e. by practicing over and over again sequences which I used in the sparring. I devised the sequences from the way I expected my opponents would fight. This was not difficult because most of my opponents then were Taekwondo and Karate exponents, with some Boxing and Judo practitioners, and the way they fought was quite stereotyped.

For example, if I had to spar with a Taekwondo black-belt, I knew that he would probably start with some jabbing or side kicks, then round-house kicks, and eventually reverse round-house. So I would avoid his initial jabbing and side kicks, slant my body backward to avoid his round-house kicks, and when he executed a reverse round-house I would swiftly move forward with a coup de grace. I would practice this sequence many, many times, sometimes with modifications. When the actual situation occured during sparring, and this planned scenario almost always happened, I could use my practiced sequence to defeat my opponent easily. I always gently tapped my opponents; I never hurt them.

Having learnt from Sifu Ho Fatt Nam, my combat efficiency, including my internal force, improved tremendously. But initially I still used the same strategy. I chose sparring opponents whom I had confidence in beating, and I did a lot of homework. But gradually I did not have to do much homework as I could respond spontaneously and correctly to opponents’ attacks. As I became confident of my combat efficiency, I did not go out to look for sparring opponents.

I always used kungfu, including good stances, in my sparring. I never used Kick-Boxing, Muay Thai or any other martial arts, although I sparred with opponents from all styles. The difference was that in my earlier years of sparring I used simple punches and kicks, whereas in my later years my techniques were more sophisticated, like felling and chin-na. I discovered that when I used sophisticated kungfu techniques, my opponents just did not know how to defend against them.

So, if I have to give a secret for my unbeaten sparring record, I would say that I used a superior fighting art against opponents whose fighting arts were inferior to mine. Presuming that the skill levels were about equal, if I used simple punches and kicks, my opponents would have no difficulty defending against them. But if I used sophisticated techniques, like subtle felling and chin-na attacks, together with tactics and strategies that created situations for me to apply these attacks, my opponents had no techniques in their repertoire to defend.

Question 2

What are the effects of over-training?

— Sascha, Switzerland

Answer

For convenience, over-training may be divided into three stages.

At the most serious level, a practitioner who has over-trained becomes very weak and sick, or may even die. It is unlikely that practitioners who have over-trained will arrive at this serious stage, certainly not in our school.

But in my younger days, before I started Shaolin Wahnam Institute, I met a well-known kungfu master, who was a daughter-in-law of a kungfu patriarch, who either had over-trained or had practiced wrongly. As I knew him previously he was strong and full of vitality. When I last saw him, he was extremely weak and sickly. I regretted that I did not know chi kung healing them, or else I would have helped him recover.

The intermediate stage of over-training was when over-cleansing was clearly noticeable. Over-cleansing is the result of over-training, but practitioners are often confused over both these conditions. The symptoms are pain, tiredness, sleepiness and feeling of nauseousness. The practitioner who has over-trained feels unpleasant and uncomfortable, and is sometimes sick.

At the beginning stage of over-training, the practitioner feels tired and sleepy after his chi kung training, instead of feeling energised and fresh. The symptoms of cleansing are mild and may not be noticeable. Many practitioners over-train mildly at one time or another, and he will soon adjust to the excess energy from his training even without doing anything special.

Horse-Riding Stance

What a typical Shaolin Wahnam student achieves in one day, it took Grandmaster Wong more than a month to achieve in his student’s days. Hence, it is important to guard against over-training.

Question 3

In a chi kung class, people had different diseases but they overcame their diseases by practicing the same exercises you taught. How did chi kung know which disease to cure?

— Roberto, Spain

Answer

In the chi kung perspective, which is also the traditional Chinese medical perspective, all diseases are caused by energy blockage. Western medical perspective uses different names for the different types of energy blockage.

In Western terms, if energy is blocked from inhibiting harmful micro-organisms from attacking a person, he is said to suffer from an infectious disease. If energy is blocked from working an organ normally, the patient is said to suffer from an organic disorder. If energy is blocked from flushing out negative emotions, he is said to suffer from psychological problems.

Chi kung works at the root cause, which is energy blockage. Other Chinese therapeutic methods, like herbalism and acupuncture, which also deal with energy blockage, work at higher hierarchical order. An acupuncturist or a herbalist will find out where the energy is blocked, and applies acupuncture or herbs to clear the blockage accordingly. Hence, in other Chinese therapeutic methods, correct diagnosis is very important.

It may sound ridiculous to those not familiar with chi kung philosophy that diagnosis is not necessary in chi kung healing! This is because chi kung deals with the root cause. Once the energy blockage is cleared, the patient recovers as a matter of course.

Different students in a same class might suffer from different diseases, like rheumatism, diabetes, cancer, chronic infection, and depression. But regardless of what the disease was, the root cause was energy blockage. Once the energy blockage was cleared, the patients recovered.

How did practicing chi kung clear energy blockage? It was through chi flow. The chi flow generated by chi kung practice cleared the energy blockage.

How did the chi flow know where the energy blockage was? Or, how did chi kung know which disease to cure?

It was a natural characteristic of chi flow to flow from high energy level to low energy level. Disease areas were areas of low energy level where there was insufficient energy to perform natural physiological and psychological functions to maintain normal good health. The energy generated by practicing genuine chi kung would naturally flow to these low energy areas to clear the blockage. When the blockage was cleared, the students would recover, regardless of what diseases Western medicine might call them, as their energy flowed to these areas to resume natural physiological and psychological functioning to restore good health.

Question 4

Can we transmit chi to friends to clear their blockage and help them recover?

Answer

You can but you may not. In other words, it is within your ability to do it, but you should not do it. In fact, every person has the natural ability to transmit chi, or energy, to another person. Mothers do this to their babies when the mothers comfort them. When your girlfriend is cold, if you hug her you transmit chi to her to warm her.

But unless you are trained, the chi you transmit to friends to help them clear their blockage is unlikely to work. You may harm them and harm yourself.

If your friends’ energy is blocked, which is the reason why they are sick, adding more chi to them will aggravate their blockage causing more harm. Their sick chi may back-flow to you making you sick too.

Transmitting chi to patients to clear their blockage and help them recover is an important part of chi kung healing. A chi kung healer must be properly trained. Chi kung healing is not something any person can play about with.

chi kung, qigong

Many people may find it hard to believe, but practicing high-level chi kung can overcome any illness

Question 5

Some schools pay much attention to visualisation. Can you please tell us more about visualisation in chi kung training?

— Dimitry, Switzerland

Answer

Chi kung operates at three levels — the levels of form, energy and mind. The proportions of benefit by practicing chi kung at these three respective levels are 1, 3 and 6. In other words, if all other things were equal,. practitioners operating at the form level may obtain 10% of the benefit of the chi kung training, those operating at the energy level obtain 30%, and those operating at the mind level obtain 60%.

As most chi kung practitioners practicing genuine chi kung operate at the form level, where they perform many chi kung techniques for a long time and get some chi flow, whereas we practice chi kung at all the three levels of form, energy and mind, our benefit is 10 times more than what most other practitioners get.

A common misconception among some people is that when a practitioner operates at the mind level, he has to visualise. This is not true. Operating at the mind level, the practitioner may or may not visualise, but he must be in a chi kung state of mind, or at a heightened level of consciousness.

Many practitioners, especially those who learn from books and videos, confuse visualisation with intellectualisation. They think they visualise when they actually intellectualise.

Even if they visualise, it is still different from visualisation in the mind level of chi kung. These practitioners visualise while in their ordinary state of mind, whereas visualisation in chi kung must be performed in a chi kung state of mind. It is actually having a gentle thought rather than visualisation.

We do not need to employ visualisation at the elementary level of our chi kung exercises, but we still operate at the level of mind (even without visualization). Hence, our students get more benefits practicing our elementary chi kung exercises than other practitioners practicing advanced exercises. Many people may not believe it, and some may become angry at this statement, but it is a fact. Some examples of our elementary chi kung exercises are 5-Animal Play, 18 Jewels, and 18 Lohan Hands.

We use visualisation for some of our intermediate chi kung exercises, and do not use visualisations for other intermediate chi kung exercises. Some example of our intermediate chi kung exercises where visualisation is needed are Cosmic Shower and Abdominal Breathing, and some examples where visualisation is not needed are stance training and 18-Lohan Art.

We generally use visualisation in our advanced chi kung exercises, though they are some exceptions. Two remarkable exception are Sinew Metamorphosis and Cosmic Breathing which are very powerful. Examples of advanced exercises where visualization is needed include Bone Marrow Cleansing and Expanding into the Cosmos.

Question 6

What, in your opinion, will Shaolin Kungfu and Taijiuan be in a hundred years from now?

Answer

In my opinion in a hundred years from now more people will practice genuine Shaolin Kungfu and genuine Taijiquan, instead of practicing Shaolin forms for demonstration or for free exchange of blows, and Taiji dance. The total number of people who practice the genuine arts will still be small, but it will be bigger than the number now where most people, despite their good intention, cannot differentiate the genuine from the bogus.

Genuine Shaolin Kungfu and genuine Taijiquan give practitioners wonderful benefits. Besides being able to defend themselves when needed, these genuine arts provide practitioners with good health, vitality and longevity, as well as mental clarity and spiritual joys. Masters who teach bogus Shaolin Kungfu and bogus Taijiquan also say that their arts give good health, vitality and longevity as well as mental clarity and spiritual joys, but their students never attain these benefits, and they don’t realize it. By the time they realise this fact, they are too proud to change to genuine arts even if they have the opportunities, but usually they may not have the opportunities as genuine Shaolin Kungfu and genuine Taijiquan are very rare nowadays.

It is precisely to preserve genuine Shaolin Kungfu, and later genuine Taijiquan, that I established Shaolin Wahnam Association in the early 1980s, which later evolved to our school, Shaolin Wahnam Institute, in the middle 1990s. We have progressed very well. We now have more than 60,000 students spread over more than 35 countries in the world. Even if I were to retire tomorrow, our Shaolin Kungfu and Taijiquan as well as chi kung will continue to spread as we have very good instructors.

It is legitimate to ask what justification we have to claim that our Shaolin Kungfu and Taijiquan are genuine. The benefits our students get correspond exactly with what genuine Shaolin Kungfu and genuine Taijiquan will give. Besides being able to defend ourselves using our arts, our students have good health, vitality, longevity, mental clarity and spiritual joys.

Internal Force

Internal force is not only used for combat; more importantly it is used to enrich our daily life

Question 7

What is the difference between chi kung and nei gong?

Answer

Chi kung means “energy art”, and nei gong means “internal art”. In this case, “chi kung” is in English spelling, and “nei gong” is in Romanced Chinese spelling.

In Romanized Chinese spelling, chi kung is “qi gong”, and in English spelling hei gong is “nei kung”. Because we are used to English spelling, we may think that Romanize Chinese spelling is funny. Actually it is English spelling that is funny. “Bus”, for example, is pronounced as /bas/, not /bus/, and “phone” is pronounced as /fon/, not /phone/.

The two terms, “chi kung” and “nei gong”, can be used interchangeably, i.e. they have similar meaning though the connotation may be different. Chi kung is a modern term, nei gong is more classical.

For example, 18 Lohan Hands and Sinew Metamorphosis can be called chi kung or nei gong. Calling some exercises as chi kung gives a connotation that they are modern and are practiced to maintain some general well-being. Calling them as nei gong gives a connotation that they are classical inheritance practiced for martial art purposes.

In this connection, most of our chi kung exercises are more aptly described as nei gong than as chi kung, especially when chi kung has today degraded into gentle physical exercise, or “ti cao” (pronounced as t’i c’ao) which is bodily exercise. But we still call them chi kung exercises because the term “chi kung” has been established.

Question 8

We develop a lot of internal force in our chi kung or nei gong exercises. What are we to do with the internal force?

Answer

It is like asking what we are to do with money when we have earned a lot of money. Use it, force or money, wisely.

There are three main functions we can put internal force to use:

  • To maintain life.

  • To enhance life.

  • To enable us to have better results no matter what we do.

Maintaining life is the most important function of internal force. It is also the function that many people with internal force, including genuine masters, fail to realize. The force that changes the breakfast you ate into blood and flesh as well as vital energy is internal force.

The second function of internal force is to enhance life. It is similar to but not the same as the first function. Enhancing life can be manifested in many ways. Having zest in your work and joy in spending time with your family are some of the manifestations of enhancing life.

The third function is to enable those with internal force to have better results than when they did not have internal force, in whatever they do, including martial arts, intellectual work, sports and playing games. Take a few seconds to reflect on this tremendous benefit. No matter what you do, because you have internal force you will do better than when you did not have internal force!

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.

SELECTION OF QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS JULY 2016 PART 2 BY GRANDMASTER WONG KIEW KIT

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(reproduced from http://shaolin.org/answers/ans16b/jul16-2.html)

Cleansing, Building and Nourishing

Cleansing, building and nourishing are important functions in chi kung training

Question 1

What is the difference between cleansing, building and nourishing?

— Amerigo, Switzerland

Answer

In cleansing, chi flow clears away impurities of a practitioner, resulting in him recovering from pain and illness, or makes him healthier and more lively. It is the first stage of chi kung training. It is also the most usual function of chi flow.

In building, chi flow strengthens a practitioner quantitatively, making him stronger and having more vitality. It is the second stage of chi kung training. This is the main function of internal force training.

In nourishing, chi flow strengthens a practitioner qualitatively, giving him longevity, mental clarity and spiritual joys. It is the third stage of chi kung training. This is the main function of longevity cultivation. It enables a person at an old age to be still healthy and full of vitality.

To say that cleansing, building and nourishing are at the first, second and third stage of chi kung training is a matter of emphasis. All these three functions operate at the same time in chi kung training. When a practitioner cleanses, he also builds and nourishes his energy flow, but cleansing is emphasised at the first stage, building at the second stage, and nourishing at the third stage.

If a person is sick, he should focus on cleansing. Building more energy may be harmful to a sick person. For example, if a person’s heart is weak, injecting stimulant to make his heart work harder may kill him.

A person’s meridians should be quite clear when he builds his energy. Adding more energy when it is blocked could harm him, or make him angry or depressed. Some martial artists are victims of this situation, often without their knowing.

A person should be healthy and fit before emphasising on nourishing. Nourishing without cleansing and building may result in being weak and sick at old age.

How does one directs his chi to cleanse, build or nourish? Normally he does not have to do anything special. The chi flow generated by his chi kung practice will cleanse, build and nourish in that order of emphasis. This is the concept of “wu-wei”, which is often described as not doing anything and everything will be done for you. What is not explained is the other half of the secret, the concept of “you-wei”, which is doing the right thing first, then followed by “wu-wei”.

If a practitioner is sick, for example, by practicing chi kung and without doing any thing extra, his chi flow will cleanse him, clearing away his energy blockage to restore him to good health. If a practitioner is weak, after “you-wei” where he performs appropriate chi kung exercise to generate a chi flow, “wu-wei” will take over to strengthen him. If a practitioner is healthy but not peaceful and happy, his chi flow as a result of chi kung practice will nourish him giving him a better quality of life.

However, if a practitioner is knowledgeable, he can choose certain exercises that have special emphasis on cleansing, building or nourishing. For example, Self-Manifested Chi Movement and Five-Animal Play emphasize cleansing, stance training and Eighteen-Lohan Art emphasize building, and Cosmic Shower and Cosmic Breathing emphasise nourishing.

If a practitioner is skillful, he can use his mind to direct his chi flow to cleanse, build or nourish. Nevertheless, unless the practitioner has good reasons to do otherwise, employing the concept of “wu-wei”, after having performed “you-wei”, is safer and usually more effective.

Question 2

My work involves much traveling. During the long traveling in my car, I think of things in my past which make me unhappy. How do I overcome this problem?

— Bojan, Switzerland

Answer

Here are three solutions. Choose the one you think is the best.

Firstly, don’t think of your problem. Clear you mind of all thoughts and enjoy the scenery.

Secondly, don’t think of things in the past that make you unhappy. Think of what you are going to do after your travel to make your wife and your children happy.

Thirdly, make the problem of your problem, i.e. unhappy thoughts of your past, into an opportunity for improvement. Suppose that in the past you wanted to study law, but for some reasons you couldn’t realize your ambition. Think of how lucky you now are being a salesman instead of a lawyer. Instead of attending court you now can enjoy the passing scenery. Instead of worrying over how to present your case the next day, now you can enjoy the evening with your family.

Or be happy with the thought, as well as the subsequent action, that now you can realize your ambition to study law when you couldn’t in the past. One probably reason you didn’t study law was due to lack of money. Another probably reason was because of your parents’ objection. Now you have the money, and are free from your parents’ objection. Make up your mind to resign from your salesman’s job, study law and become a lawyer.

Sinking with Body-Movement

Isabella sinks her stance to neutralize Hugo’s attack

Question 3

Essentially the trick he taught is this: If you can trap and tame an opponent and control their center of mass while also striking, and perhaps kicking simultaneously it is like giving your opponent the sensory illusion that he is fighting 2 or 3 opponents at once. Not only the opponent has to contend with being off balanced but he also has to contend with incoming direct attacks as well.

— David, USA

Answer

An effective counter against this illusion is to let you chi gently sink into your dan tian, and simultaneously shift your stance over to your back leg, without moving your legs. This body-movement, or shen-fa, is called “shallow” or “tun” in Chinese.

This body-movement gives you better focus and at the same time moves your target away from his attack, irrespective of whether it is single or multiple or an illusion of attack from a few persons.

This concept is frequently used in Taijiquan. After swallowing, a Taijiquan exponent shoots out to counter-attack.

Editorial Note: David’s other questions can be read in the previous issue, July 2015 Part 1

Question 4

So in short I am curious, Sigung, if this is a concept and skill I should incorporate in my kung fu toolbox permanently? If so can Sigung give me advice on how to enhance it or “Wahnamize” it and make it better?

Answer

If you find it useful, you can include the concept and application into your kungfu toolbox. In fact, that was why Shaolin Kungfu is so extensive. Shaolin Kungfu is not only an inspiration for many other martial arts, it is also a receptacle for the best of other martial arts.

You don’t have to “Wahnamize” the concept and application. Just take it and use it as it is. Later, when you are fluent with the concept and the application, you may modify it to suit your combat situation. This is in line with the principle “seen hook kai seong, hou ying kai ping” which is “first learn the standard, then modify according to changes”.

As the concept and application come from Wing Choon, and Wing Choon is included in our Shaolin Wahnam teaching, it is unlikely you have to make modification so that the concept and application are in line with our Shaolin Wahnam practice and philosophy. However, if a learnt concept and application come from a martial art that is different from ours, then we may have to “Wahnamize” it.

It is important to remember that if we have to “Wahnamize” a concept or an application, it is not because we want to claim it as our own, but because the modification minimizes its weakness and improves its effectiveness.

We have to acknowledge and be grateful to the source for the new concept or application. For example, many of the take-downs and pin-downs we now practice were first taught by your sipak, Kai, at a Special Advanced Combined Course in Sungai Petani in 2005. They were new to me initially, but later I discovered that these wrestling techniques were actually found in Shaolin Kungfu. But before Kai taught them at the course, I only knew the Shaolin patterns but not their applications. Kai’s demonstration gave me an inspiration to discover their applications.

I had to make some modifications to these wrestling techniques because an exponent using them would be exposed. The exposure was alright in wrestling protected by safety rules, but they could pose serious problems in Shaolin Kungfu where fighting was free.

For example, the wrestling shoot and take-down were similar to the Shaolin patterns “Angry Bull Charges at Fence” and “Emptying Rug-Sack”, except that in the wrestling techniques the attacker could be seriously struck by an opponent, but this was not allowed in wrestling rules, whereas in the Shaolin techniques the attacker had to cover the opponent before making an attack.

Lohan Taking Noon Nap

Sifu Kai Uwe demonstrating a pattern known in Shaolin Kungfu as “Lohan Taking Noon Nap”

Question 5

I would like to mention that I have had what could only be described as an experience with Tiger Force. It was a Tiger Spirit chi flow, I was moving through various tiger patterns with such ferocity. My stance was immovable yet flowing, Tiger Force surged through me and I felt courageous, focused, and agile.

Answer

It is important to note that “tiger spirit chi flow” here means chi flow that resembled the movements of a tiger. It does not mean that a spirit entered you and made your movements like those of a tiger.

While your use of the term “tiger force” is apt, and the term is sometimes used in Shaolin terminology, we usually call “tiger force” just internal force.

Some people could have read that amongst the Shaolin “five animals”, the dragon form trains spirit, the snake form trains energy, the tiger form trains bone, the leopard form trains strength, and the crane form trains essence. They may not understand what is meant by the tiger form trains bone, and the crane form trains essence.

“Bone” here means internal force, and “essence” means elegance of form.

Question 6

My Daan and Seong Fu Jow techniques were manifesting with flowing stances and six harmonies. After this I went into what seemed to be Double Stability of Golden Bridge Flow Mode, and I felt like I was expanding and contracting. Finally when I closed the session I was left with an impression of actually being a Human-Tiger! It was very surreal.

Answer

Congratulations for the remarkable experience. It is due to your dedicated training.

But it is very important that you are in full control. In this case, you were in full control of your force and movement, as well as intention. Your single and double tiger-claws manifested in flowing force, you moved into Double Stability Golden Bridge, and you had an impression of being a human-tiger because you allowed all these to happen spontaneously.

For the sake of discussion though in reality it might not be recommended, if you intended to change your tiger-claws into open palms to be manifested in consolidated force, move into a Single-Leg Stance with your hands spread out, and felt yourself to be a flying crane, you should be able to do so.

It is like in chi kung. You may roll on the ground and make noise like a monkey because you allow these actions to happen. If, for some reason like you do not want to disturb others in a park where you have your practice, you can remain swaying while standing up and not making any loud noise. You should have full control over your force, movement and intention.

Tiger Claw

Dr Damian applies a single tiger-claw to ward off Grandmaster Wong’s thrust punch

Question 7

So my question to you Sigung is whether there is such a thing as Tiger Force. Does it have any relation to Dragon Force, does every animal have a Force associated with it?

Answer

Yes, there is tiger force, and the Chinese term is “hu jing”, which means “internal force of a tiger”. However, the term is not commonly used.

Tiger force is ferocious, whereas dragon force is flowing. Dragon force, though it looks softer, is generally more powerful than tiger-force. A high-level master can change from tiger-force to dragon force or any other type of force, and vice versa. Lesser masters would not be able to do so.

Whether a practitioner develops his force into tiger force, dragon force or any other kinds of force depends on the methods of his training as well as the way he applies it. If he uses methods like jabbing beans, gripping jars, Fierce Tiger Cleanses Claws, he develops tiger force. If he uses methods like Cloud Hands, Swimming Dragon and Dragon Manifests Majesty, he develops dragon force.

It is not rigid that every animal has a force associated with it, but the type of force manifested by certain animal forms is often named after the animal for convenience. For example, the type of force manifested by a practitioner using a snake form, like White Snake Shoots Venom, is called a snake force. The force manifested by a practitioner using a leopard form, like Golden Leopard Enters Rock, is called the leopard force. The force manifested by a practitioner using a crane form, like White Crane Flaps Wings, is called the crane force.

By practicing shooting a palm at a candle flame until the flame can be extinguished from a distance, one can develop the snake force. By constantly punching a sandbag with a leopard punch, he can develop the leopard force. By practicing San Zhan, he can develop the crane force.

By practicing One-Finger Shooting Zen a practitioner can manifest his force in many different ways. By practicing Dragon Strength a practitioner develops dragon force, but he can convert his dragon force to any types of force.

Different exponents may use the same method of force training, like the Eighteen-Lohan Art. Depending on how they use the same type of force, it may be called differently. The force manifested by a practitioner using a monkey form, like Spiritual Monkey Emerges from Cave, is called the monkey force. The force manifested by a practitioner using a praying mantis form, like Seven-Star Hook Hand, is called the praying mantis force.

It is like in Taijiquan or Iron Wire where practitioners develop the same type of force, but when it is used in different ways, it is named differently. When a Taijiquan practitioner uses his force to ward off, it is called “ward-off” or “peng” force. When he uses the force to roll back, it is called “roll-back” or “lu” force. When an Iron Wire practitioner uses his force to press into an opponent, it is called “press” or “pik” force. When he uses his force to strike in a straight line, it is called “straight” or “cheit” force.

Question 8

Most importantly, can you give me advice about how I can use this “Tiger Force” to better my life and my kung fu?

Answer

Tiger force is well-known for its ferocity and courage, and is most useful for business, leadership and positions of authority. These qualities should also be applied in our ordinary daily life.

In a positive way, ferocity is assertiveness. When you talk to your friends or colleague, for example, when the situations warrant it, you should be assertive, and the courage of the tiger-force will enable you to do so.

Assertiveness and courage should be tampered with wisdom and good judgment. We must also know the limits when we should be assertive and courageous, not allowing these qualities to become bullheadedness and bravado.

In kungfu the tiger force is excellent for chin-na and pressing attack. It is particularly useful where techniques of the tiger-claw are frequently used, like in the Taming Tiger Set of Hoong Ka Kungfu.

It was probably that your training of the Taming Tiger Set developed your tiger force. This tiger-force will in return enhance your application of the set.

A common problem with some of our students is that they are not ferocious in their attack. They lack an element of threat. This lack is caused by a lack of courage. Tiger-force overcomes this common weakness and enhances not just the application of the tiger-claw but any style of kungfu you may use.

But again, we must guard against ferocity and courage turning into bullheadedness and bravado. These qualities should be tampered with wisdom and good judgment.. The mental clarity you derive from your training will contribute to good judgment and wisdom — in combat and in daily life.

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.

IT IS HARD TO FIND REAL KUNGFU NOWADAYS

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

Shaolin Kungfu

Sifu Andrew Barnett and his son, Bjoem, demonstrating Shaolin Kungfu in combat application

Question

I have participated in a few of the local schools and can not find one to my liking. I have received a black belt in Kung fu and at this time I do not feel like I deserve it due to my lack of practice and not improving myself in my skills. Can you please send me any information that you may have?

— Joe, USA

Answer by Grandmaster Wong Kiew Kit

At all times in all places real kungfu masters are rare. In China in the past there were many kungfu masters but very few of them would accept students. Today many people teach kungfu, or what they call kungfu, but finding a genuine master is more difficult than finding a gem in a hay stack. Refer to Qualities of a Good Master for details.

What is taught all over the world today, including in China, is either a modernized form for demonstration or a debased traditional form that uses karate, taekwondo or kickboxing techniques for combat. In my opinion neither is genuine kungfu.

This does not necessarily mean that these demonstrative or debased forms are not without their benefits. They are magnificient to watch and is an excellent way to keep the exponents agile and fit, but they are not the same as the kind of kungfu traditionally taught in the past.

In my opinion, the bottom line to decide whether one is trained in genuine kungfu is whether he (or she) can use the kungfu forms he has learnt for some decent self defence. If he can fight well but uses other martial art forms instead of kungfu forms, he does not qualify to have practised genuine kungfu.

The bottom line of my definition is that the kungfu he has learnt must be capable of being used for fighting, even if he loses the fight. The crucial point is that his kungfu forms are more than sufficient for his self defence; he needs not borrow or “steal” other martial art forms, and he should be able to defend himself in a typical kungfu manner. Bouncing about as in boxing and kicking high as in taekwondo, for example, are not typical manners in kungfu fighting.

Good kungfu goes beyond mere fighting. One characteristic feature of good kungfu is the training of internal force for good health as well as combat efficiency. If you ask what internal force is, it is unlikely you have any experience in its training. It is like someone who has not eaten an orange, asking what the taste of an orange is.

As far as I know, this internal force training is not found in most other martial arts. Western boxing and wrestling, for example, pay much attention to external strength and physical mass, and their exponents train in ways which typical kungfu masters would consider detrimental to health.

Some Eastern martial arts like aikido and karate mention about internal aspects like chi (or ki in Japanese), but their exponents do not spend as much time or go as deeply as typical kungfu exponents do in these internal aspects. A typical traditional kungfu exponent, for example, may actually spend more time practising Abdominal Breathing or Stance Standing (zhan zhuang) than practising patterns or sets — a practice that is not normally found in most other martial arts or modern demonstrative, debased kungfu forms.

The best kungfu, like Shaolin and Taijiquan, goes beyond the physical and leads to spiritual cultivation irrespective of race, culture and religion. The onus of spiritual cultivation is direct experience, not mere talking or book learning, and is practised according to the students’ developmental levels.

For those who have so far wasted their time in unwholesome activities, or those who feel empty and lost despite abundant material wealth, turning to a happy, rewarding life here and now is a remarkable spiritual achievement; at the other scale, the spiritually advanced aim for the highest attainment known variously as return to God, unity with the Cosmos, enlightenment or in Zen terms simply going home.

modern wushu

A magnificient demonstration of modern wushu, which is different from traditional kungfu

LINKS

Reproduced from Questions 1 in Selection of Questions and Answers March 1998

WHY IS IT IMPORTANT FOR US TO PERFORM THE FORM CORRECTLY IN A KUNGFU SET?

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(reproduced from http://shaolin.org/answers/ans16a/apr16-1.html)

Why is it important for us to perform the form correctly in a kungfu set?

— Omar. United Kingdom

Answer by Grandmaster Wong Kiew Kit:

It is important to perform the form of a kungfu set, like San Feng Wudang Set, correctly because the success of its combat application depends on its correct form. If the form of a kungfu pattern is not correct, not only it looses its combat effectiveness, it may also offer opportunities for opponents to counter-attack.

Let us take a simple example. An opponent executes a middle thrust punch, like Black Tiger Steals Heart. An exponent responds with Shift Horse Ask Way from the San Feng Wudang Set. This response is excellent when the form is performed correctly. It minimizes the opponent’s force, and places the exponent in a favourable position to counter-attack without little opening for the opponent.

However, if the form is incorrect, not only the same response does not give the exponents these advantages, but also it offers the opponent opportunities to defeat the exponent. If the exponent does not rotate his waist, for example, he will not be able to minimize the opponent’s force. If he does not sink back in his stance, he may too close for the opponent’s attack. If he does not position his legs correctly, he exposes his groin for the opponent to attack. If he leans backward or foreard, his balance is unfavourable for him.

The wrong form places the exponent in an awkward position. Even if the opponent may not be successful in his initial attack, the awkward position of the exponent makes it easy for the opponent to continue, and makes it difficult for the exponent to respond.

Hence, picture-perfect form is very important in kungfu, even for beginners. If beginners have their form correct right at the start, they don’t have to spend much time and effort relearning it later on.

However, you may notice that I am not particular about form for beginners in chi kung. In fact, for beginners if their form is not perfect, though not incorrect, I usually ignore it. The main reason, for ignoring minor mistakes as well as for not particular on picture-perfect form, is that I want beginning students to get on to energy flow as fast as possible.

If I pay too much attention to picture-perfect form, beginning students will be unduly worried about their form, get out from the chi kung state of mind which if often induce, and perform the chi kung technique as gentle physical exercise. Even with imperfect form, so long as the students relax and do not intellectualize, they can generate an energy flow.

As students progress, we pay more attention on form. When students have reached an advanced level, they could have picture-perfect form. Hence, I often mention in class when teaching a new technique that beginning students need not worry about details but just get the general picture right, whereas advanced practitioners can focus on finer points, like picture-perfect form.

However, we have come full-circle. We have become so cost-effective that sometimes I tell advanced practitioners to purposely get their form wrong, to tense their muscles , or to intellectualize sometimes so that they may not have too powerful result from their practice to prevent over-training! This is a big job to other people.

Nevertheless, instructors whether in chi kung or kungfu, whether they teach beginners or advanced students, must have picture-perfect form. It is because they are models for their students to follow when practicing any kungfu or chi kung techniques.

SELECTION OF QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS JANUARY 2016 PART 3 BY GRANDMASTER WONG KIEW KIT

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(reproduced from http://shaolin.org/answers/ans16a/jan16-3.html)

Way of the Master

Many stories described in “The Way of the Master” are incredible but true

Question 1

I have read your book. “The Art of Chi Kung”, over 3 times now, and I’ve really enjoyed it. I look forward to reading “The Way of the Master”.

— Qasim, UK

Answer

Thanks for your kind words for “The Art of Chi Kung”. Many people have kindly commented that it is the best chi kung book they have read. It gives a comprehensive, yet in-depth picture of what chi kung is, as well as what practitioners in the pasts attained in practicing chi kung. Hopefully this book may prevent chi kung from degenerating into mere external forms.

“The Way of the Master” is my autobiography, and has been kindly described by the editor as the real story of a small boy becoming a world legend. Interestingly, it is also the most entertaining book I like to read. Readers will not only have much reading pleasure, but also learn many useful lessons that can enrich their daily life.

Question 2

It a bit sad to see that some form of chi kung is lost, like your teacher Sifu Ho Fatt Nam could jump 10 feet from a standing position. I would love to practice that. Can you do that?

Answer

My sifu did not jump 10 feet from the ground, but his sifu, i.e. my sigung did. I cannot do that, though I have other benefits of the Art of Lightness which my sifu taught me, like running up four storeys fast and without panting, and am flexible and agile at an age most people would consider old, i.e. 70, but I still regard as young.

Although I can run up many storeys and long distances, I prefer to take an elevator or drive a car, or better still be driven by a careful driver. As I have often told my students, we should make use of modern facilities.

It is worthwhile to know that chi kung methods were invented not for fun, but to meet expedient needs. Kungfu masters needed to learn the Art of Lightness to jump high as they were often ambushed by many opponents, and this skill enabled them to escape.

I trained the Art of Lightness in my younger days. After many months of daily training I could jump up to about 5 feet. One morning I fell down and cut my thigh, which resulted in stopping my training.

I discontinued my training not because of the cut, as I learned years ago that greatness lies not in never falling but in rising after every fall. I realized it was not a wise use of time, because now we have elevators and cars. Later my wife commented independently that she would love to see the Art of Lightness. Had I known this earlier, I would have continued my training just to make her smile.

But this does not mean that my training was wasted. One I saved my niece, who was about five years old then, from possible serious injury. She was about to roll down a long flight of stairs. I rushed up to save her before she could roll two steps!

Dim Mak

Dim mak is believed by many people to be an lost art, but we are proud that it is found in our school

Question 3

What is the best form of mediation for calming the mind and raising consciousness?

Answer

The best form of meditation for calming the mind and raising consciousness, or the best form of any art for any purpose depends on various factors, like the philosophy and methodology of the teachers as well as the developmental stage and needs of the students.

For you if you have an opportunity to learn in our school, the best form of meditation is entering into a chi kung state of mind, which we do every time we practice. You may find it hard to believe, and many people may be angry at the statement, but it is true that in just a few seconds you will have a calmer mind and a higher level of consciousness than many others who have spend an hour sitting in a lotus position.

Question 4

I am crying as I write this. I myself suffer from Lyme Disease. My dad cannot keep track of his pills. He could not find his way through an airport. He has Parkinsons and dementia. He puts food all over the floor and cannot figure out how to put on his seatbelt. My dad cannot live without my mom.

Mom is utterly exhausted as a caregiver. Her relationship with dad has degraded so badly, that she resists wanting to try to help him at all anymore. Mom has so many demands on her time in caregiving and running an entire household on her own

— Carole, France

Answer

You dad is in a really bad shape.

It is best that he goes to the Holistic Health Centre straightaway, without having to go for my regional course. It is ideal if you and your dad can have treatment at the Centre.

You should be healed in three months, or perhaps two. But your dad may need six months.

You can help him in the first month, but your help should be progressively less each day so that he could be on his own by the second month. This is definitely for his own good. He must learn how to be on his own, and he can do so everyday in one month.

To be well means, for example, he has to eat his own food, not have someone eat his food for him, and do his own toilet, not have someone do it for him. He has first learn how to live, and then how to wholesomely enjoy living his life, all in six months. He can’t have someone feed him and pamper him for life, even if he has money to employ someone to do so.

Your dad must give your mom a chance to live her life, but still loving to him and be his wife. It is very selfish of your dad to want your mom to be his slave, and it is also very bad for his own life.

Your dad, your mom and you can have all these wonderful things, which are actually normal things, if you all really want them and work for them, not merely hope that they will happen.

Chi Flow

Chi flow can overcome any illness and gives practitioners good health, vitality and longevity

Question 5

As my training progresses, my third eye continues to pulsate but less painfully so. I believe the vigorous circulation from Dragon Strength is helping. Prior to Penang, my focus was on the Small Universe and Cosmic Breathing.

— Stephen, USA

Answer

Small Universe will enhance whatever you do, and Dragon Strength will make it more powerful. The way you learned Small Universe and Dragon Strength was also in the right order.

One would still have very good results if he learned Dragon Strength first, then Small Universe. But if he learned Small Universe first, then Dragon Strength, like what you did, the results will even be better.

Question 6

I’ve noticed that my general intuition as well as sensitivity to energy has grown exponentially over the years. For example, whenever I am visiting Buddhist or Hindu temples, I often now feel energy and force emanating from certain statues.

Are these abilities related to the third eye?

Answer

Your third eye is opening, or has opened. In practical terms it does not matter much whether you are at the opening stage or at the opened stage. Only those who intellectualize unnecessarily worry about such issues. As an analogy, it does not matter much whether your business if picking up or has picked out. What is important is that you are earning a lot of profit and your customers have gained a lot of benefit.

The exponential increase of your general intuition and of sensitivity to energy is one of the many benefits that your third eye is opening or has opened. It is very important that you use this and other benefits for good and never for evil.

We do good and avoid evil because we are righteousness. Even if one ignores righteousness and works only for self-interest disregarding the interest of other people, it is also for his own self-interest that he must do good. If he does evil, evilness will certainly return to him. The law of karma is certain.

Dragon Strength

Dragon Strength learnt at the Dragon Strength course will enhance any art you practice!

Question 7

Is there a hidden link between our Dan Tian and our third eye? The more focused my energy is at the Dan Tian, the more my third eye seems to pulsate.

Answer

Yes, there is a direct connection between the dan tian and the third eye, though I don’t know whether there is a direct link, like a meridian or some nerves in modern scientific terms, connecting them.

The more powerful the dan tian is, the more effectively the third eye will function. In other words, if there is a lot of chi at the dan tian, the third eye will open and the person will be able to perceive things across space and time that is not normally possible in ordinary persons.

On the other hand, if a person’s dan tian is weak, his third eye will be close. Not only he has no psychic abilities, his normal eyesight will also be poor.

Question 8

Finally, at what point will I know when my third eye is finally open and the pulsation stop?

Answer

As suggested earlier, in practical terms it does not matter whether your third eye is opening or has already open. But for your curiosity, when pulsation has stopped for some time, and you are used to perceiving across space and time, your third eye has opened.

But this is not absolute. Even when your third eye has open, pulsation may sometimes occurs, just as even when your business has established, it can still pick up.

The most important issue is that, irrespective of whether it is your business or your third eye, you must always use the benefit for good and never for eveil.

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.

SELECTION OF QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS DECEMBER 2015 PART 2 BY GRANDMASTER WONG KIEW KIT

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Bodhidharma

The great Bodhidharma

Question 1

First I would like to again give my most heartfelt thanks to Sigung for the Legacy of Bodhidharma course in 2012. Since then Iron Wire has become my most prized possession. iI has given me health, a strong body, vitality, a strong mind, and courage on one level.

On another level it has continually brought my kung fu to new levels. As each of the 12 Bridges manifests in my practice I feel as though I take baby steps closer and closer to realizing what past masters experienced, not to mention Sinew Metamorphosis, and Bone Marrow Cleansing. — just wow!

— David, USA

Answer

I am very glad of your progress, which is expected as you have been very diligent in your training.

What you are making are not “baby steps”, as you modestly reported, but “gigantic steps”. We do not mean to be presumptuous, but it is good for you and others of our Shaolin Wahnam Family to know that what you and many of our students can achieve in one year what past masters would take at least 10, but more probably 20!

I myself took more than 20 years of training before I could achieved what you described below, and I was very lucky, I learned from some of the best teachers in the world. Not many past masters had my opportunity.

My mentioning of this fact is not to glamorize our school, but to remind you and others not to over-train. Over-training has become an issue with our diligent students in both chi kung and kungfu. You should avoid their mistake.

Question 2

All the force training I know seems to be almost too powerful now that I’ve been training for some time. I am immensely looking forward to taking all the courses at the UK Summer Camp! Looking forward even more to attending an intensive kung fu course and consolidating all my Sifu has taught me.

Answer

It is important to differentiate my courses, both regional and intensive, from the regular classes taught by your sifu and other Shaolin Wahnam instructors.

My courses, including regional ones, are intensive. My intensive courses in Malaysia are very intensive. Course participants learn in a few days whet they would learn in a year or more in regular classes. Most other students in other schools will never learn what our students will learn, no matter for how long they may train. They may be angry reading this; that is their problem and their business. Frankly, I don’t want to waste my time on them.

What I write here is for our students. It is useful for our students to know the difference between what we practice in our school, and what most other people practice in other schools.

I always justify my statements. What do participants in my courses and students taught by our instructors in regular classes learn in a few days or a year that most other people may not learn even when they have trained for many years? Let us leave aside details like ensuring safety first and rotating the waist, and focus on main points. How many kungfu practitioners today have internal force and are able to apply their kungfu techniques for combat after having trained for 20 years? It is indeed shocking how much kungfu has degraded.

Why don’t our instructors teach in a few days instead of spreading the instructional material over a year? It is for our students’ benefit. Students need time to develop the appropriate skills, which will not only improve their kungfu but also enrich their daily life. The students also need time to adjust themselves to the new levels of energy, otherwise they will over-train with adverse results.

Then, why do I teach a year’s material in a few days? It is also for the students’ benefit. For obvious reasons, it is not feasible for students to learn from me over a year like in a regular class. So I condense the material into a few days so that more deserving students all over the world can benefit.

My courses and the regular classes taught by our instructors complement each other. The focus of my course is to learn. The focus of the regular classes is to practice. Learning constitutes only 5% of practical success; the remaining 95% is practice. Students in our school are indeed lucky to have these two learning opportunities that complement each other.

The Intensive Shaolin Kungfu Course is unbelievable. It covers material ranging from beginners’ to masters’ level. You will learn all that you need to become a genuine master.

Iron Wire

Iron Wire is probably the most powerful kungfu set to generate internal force

Question 3

The main reason I am emailing you is to ask for advice in two matters. Firstly it is somewhat odd but my situation started after practice a few months ago when I was walking around and then relaxing. I started having visions. The earliest one began with me as a very young boy except it wasn’t me as I am now, I was learning a Tiger Kungfu similar to my experience in Post 20 in my training journal.

I recall vague images of some brutal training as well as pleasant chi kung and meditation in a beautiful garden. Then some time later I started getting images of wandering the streets, stumbling around and getting into many fights as well as demonstrating kung fu, and receiving a few coins for food and drink.

These visions got more and more vivid as time went by. The most vivid one to date was a couple of months ago. I think I was walking down a narrow street and got jumped by many men. They were screaming at me, I couldn’t understand them. I think it was Cantonese but I don’t speak the language. They attacked me and I defeated them. But one of them managed to cut me with a knife.

When I came back to my awareness I was sweaty, and my breath was deeper like I just got done fighting for real. I was also bleeding a little bit where I got cut in the vision. This was the last vision I had. I don’t know if another will come.

Answer

It was probable that you relived your past life when you were a skillful kungfu exponent. Just enjoy the visions like you enjoy a movie, but don’t be attached to them.

Experiences in past lives were imprinted into one’s consciousness, but these imprints are not normally accessible to the person in his current life. However, some training, like high-level chi kung and meditation, can erase defilement that blocked these imprints and allow them to surface. Yours appear to be the case.

Question 4

Similarly a couple of months ago I started having very interesting chi flows. I’ve had chi flows that resembled kungfu in the past but nothing like this. I feel so incredible during these flows. It feels like Drunken Eight Immortals but a lot more straight forward and “hung gar-like.” I can feel my spirit and chi expanding and spinning during transitions, contracting and coiling, and exploding straight out again in focused ways with great force.

It is these expansions, contractions, and explosions that seem to cause my body to move in very drunken ways. It is my first time experiencing chi flows at such a deep level like this. Could you give me any advice on how to deal with these emerging memories and “drunken” kung fu flows?

Answer

Enjoy the experience, but do not be attached to them. In other words, when they occur, fine. You can learn a lot and benefit from the experiences. If they don’t occur, fine too. Don’t crave for them.

Many students in our schools have similar experiences, and have enjoyed and benefited from them. There experiences are odd to most other people, especially in Western societies. Some may even think you have gone crazy. But these experiences are not uncommon in our school.

There are two explanations for these interesting experiences. As explained above, chi kung training has erased some defilements allowing some past life memories to surface. The second explanation is that your own training of internal force has enabled you to progress to this high level.

It does not matter which explanation is the actual reason, though I think the first one is more likely. As an analogy, when you go to your bank and key in the right particulars on a teller machine, cash will flow out — provided you have the cash in the bank, just as provide you had the past-life experiences or the necessary high-level internal force training. It does not matter whether it was an officer-in-charge or the bank manager himself who first put the money in the teller machine. In both cases, just enjoy the benefits.

Drunken Eight Immortals

Question 5

The second thing I want to ask you about is the 12 Bridges. They have been manifesting in my practice in interesting ways.

My striking speed was first enhanced incredibly by the manifestation of straight force and inch force. It felt like my punch started off full speed, and then at the last 6 inches or so inch force kicks in and gives a sudden acceleration and an explosion of force like the cracking of a whip. This gave me a sudden flash of intuition that all twelve bridges might be combined simultaneously into an “ultimate strike.”

Since this flash of insight I’ve managed to have 7 bridges manifest spontaneously in my strikes — Lifting, Circulate, Soft, Hard, Straight, Inch, and Press.

Answer

This is an expected result of your diligent training.

All the 12 bridges may be combined into an “ultimate strike” or used separately, depending on the situations. We are the master of the 12 bridges, and we decide how and when to use them. We should not be a slave to rigid theories.

Your manifesting 7 bridges in your strikes is very good. Carry on.

Editorial Note: David’s questions will be continued at March 2015 Part 2 issue of the Question-Answer Series.

Question 6

About 15 years ago some chi kung practitioners opened my chi points. I have been experiencing jing being converted to chi and then to shen. This is a wonderful but powerful feeling, which has made me feel and look younger.

— Ivan, Russia

Answer

Jing being converted to chi and chi being converted to shen are descriptions of two important stages of energy transformation in everyday life or in chi kung training. It may occur naturally at basic levels or through advanced training at masters’ levels.

Jing being converted to chi, or substance being converted to energy, happens to every person in everyday life. It describes, for example, that the food a person eats is converted to vital energy that maintains life.

Chi being converted to shen, or energy being converted to spirit, is also present in everyday, irrespective of whether a person practices chi kung. It describes, for example, that when a person is full of energy, his spirit is u;lifted.

At an advanced level of internal art training, jing being converted to chi may describe some specialized training where a practitioner develops a lot of internal force. Where does the internal force come from? In modern scientific terms, the practitioner breaks down his subatomic particle to release energy.

This modern explanation is from me. The practitioner may not know the scientific operation behind his training. He just trains according to the method taught by his master. Past masters described this process as jing being converted to chi. As I have the benefit of both Eastern and Western education, I am able to explain the Eastern concept using Western terms.

Chi being converted to shen describes another advanced state of training where a practitioner’s energy is converted to spirit. In some of my advanced courses, like Cosmic Breathing and Merging with the Cosmos, many practitioners had this experience. They generated a lot of energy, which greatly strengthened and enriched their spirit to expand beyond their physical body, resulting in a spiritual awakening.

Understandably other people may not believe this happened. But to the practitioners who had direct experience there was no doubt that this happened. More significantly, it was life-changing. If it happened to one or two practitioners in a class of thirty once in a blue moon, critics may say it was their illusion. But if this happened to more than half the practitioners in every class of Cosmic Breathing and Merging with the Cosmos, critics were just stubborn to not accept facts right before their eyes.

Anthony and Grandmaster Wong

When chi if vibrant, the spirit is bright

Question 7

Sometimes I have to slow down or stop everything when this occurs at certain times of the day. My body mass and muscle have consequently reduced significantly much to my disliking. I do not know whether this may be due to ageing, I am 45, but I am only a fraction of the size I used to be. I have also lost weight.

Can I increase my body mass and muscles to my former self? Should I try to oppose the conversion of my jing into chi?

Answer

Your shrinking in size and weight is a serious problem. Either those chi kung practitioners who opened your energy points had done something wrong, or you practiced wrongly.

Irrespective of whether jing being converted to chi, and chi being converted to shen occurred at the basic level of everyday life or at the masters’ level of advanced training, the conversion should not result in a practitioner shrinking in size and weight. It should contribute to his health and vitality.

Of course, you can increase you body mass and muscles to your former self. But you should not do it yourself. You don’t have the knowledge and skills. You should consult a qualified chi kung healer. If you seek treatment at the Holistic Health Cultivation Centre, your recovery is guaranteed.

Question 8

What can I do to improve the results of my chi kung practice?

— Wswaldo, Ecuador

Answer

Contrary to what is practiced in other schools, in our school you don’t have to try to improve your results! In fact we would ask you not to aim at getting the best results when you practice at home. You would have done very well when you practice at home on your own to get only 30% of what you get here in a regional course.

This is indeed very odd, and I need to explain further. In this course not only we practice high-level chi kung, we are very cost-effective. You gain in one day what other students may not gain in one month. The benefit is very powerful. This is alright if it happens once a while, like when you attend a course. But if you get powerful benefit like this every day, it will be over-training.

So, at home when you practice on your own, if your daily result is only a portion of what you get here, like about 30%, that is fine. Your attitude for your daily practice is not that you must get the best of your practice, but to enjoy your practice.

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.

SELECTION OF QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS JANUARY 2016 PART 2 BY GRANDMASTER WONG KIEW KIT

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(reproduced from http://shaolin.org/answers/ans16a/jan16-2.html)

One must be properly train to be a chi kung teacher. The above chi kung exercise, for example, is very powerful; untrained teachers may bring harm rather than benefit teaching it.

Question 1

I’ve gained a lot of benefits from the chi kung class. Can I teach my friends to help them?

— Javier, Costa Rica

Answer

No, you should not. You may be able to practice chi kung, but you are unable to teach it effectively. As an analogy, having undergone a surgical operation does not qualify you to be a surgeon.

You may cause harm to them instead of bringing benefits if you try to teach them chi kung techniques as chi kung. It is because you are not trained to teach chi kung.

If you teach chi kung techniques as gentle physical exercise, which you are likely to do, you will give your friends a wrong concept of chi kung. They will think that they practice chi kung when they actually practice gentle physical exercise. They will not get any chi kung benefits, like good health, vitality and longevity. This in fact has happened to more than 80% of chi kung practitioners all over the world.

As many people may not understand the explanation here, it is helpful to elaborate. More than 80% of chi kung practitioners practice chi kung techniques as gentle physical exercise, and not as chi kung which is energy exercise. Hence, they get benefits of gentle physical exercise like loosening joints and muscles, and not chi kung benefits like overcoming pain and illness, and getting good health, vitality and longevity.

Most of these practitioners do not realize this fact. Why are they ignorant of the fact? It is because the forms are the same in gentle physical exercise and chi kung. They use genuine chi kung techniques, but lack the skills to practice them as energy exercise. They only practice the forms as gentle physical exercise.

The same situation happens in Taijiquan. More than 90% of Taiji practitioners practice genuine Taijiquan techniques as external dancelike movements, and not as an internal martial art. They have no internal force, and cannot defend themselves.

The same situation happens in other martial arts. More than 90% of martial artists today practice their art for demonstration or as a generous exchange of blows, but not as an art of sefl-defence. They lack the necessary skills to use their marital art techniques to defend themselves. In free sparring they even take being hit and kicked for granted!.

Question 2

I had just finished performing the Cosmic Consciousness exercise when a horrible feeling came over me suddenly, and then my heart felt like it contracted and became cold, and then my entire body became so cold as if i had been put into a freezer. I tried thinking of my dan tien to reduce the shock.

My joints all started to ache like I was suddenly becoming very ill. I felt so horrible and this haunted feeling was growing, My fear and anxiety started going through the roof and I could not stop it no matter what I tried. Amongst other things, I tried doing a few simple Lifting The Sky exercises without qi flow

Though not asleep, at one point, I saw an image of a woman’s skeleton with only some flesh left on it and no head being dragged across the room on some sort of trapeze-like device — she was flung over it. I was intensely alarmed! This image came out of nowhere, and did not help my state of mind. Eventually my body warmed back up and after some time I fell asleep.

— Elizabeth, USA

Answer

Congratulations. Your experience was a deep cleansing of your bad karma. Some gentle chi flow will help to ease you of the terror and get you back to normal pleasant living. This deep cleansing was due to your practicing too deeply. Expanding into the Cosmos, which you called Cosmic Consciousness exercise, is very advanced and to be practiced by those at an advanced or master’s level.

It is alright if you practice it once a while, like once a month, but certainly you should not practice it too often until you have become advanced. Even for those at an advanced level, they need not practice it often, though they would not have severe cleansing symptoms if they practice often.

For us, i.e. the great majority of people who live in the phenomenal world, the most useful exercises are those taught on the first day of my Intensive Chi Kung Course, which are meant to overcome illness for those who are sick, and to give good health, vitality and longevity when they are already healthy. Even for our advanced practitioners, it is not easy to realize how powerful our advanced exercises are.

Expanding into the Cosmos

“Expanding into the Cosmos” is a very advanced skill, and should be practiced undert the supervision of a master

Question 3

Can I learn to become a best fighter in your school?

— Pranav, India

Answer

You have come to a wrong school to learn to be a best fighter. Although we are combat efficient, and many of our students are international free sparring champions, fighting is low in our priority.

High in our priority in our aspirations for our training is to have good health, vitality, longevity, mental clarity, peak performance and spiritual joys irrespective of religion. Nevertheless, not to make a mockery of ourselves in training a martial art, we pride ourselves to employ our arts in combat.

We also have helped many people overcome pain and illness, including so-called incurable diseases. We take this as a stepping-stone. In other words, overcoming pain and illness is not a fundamental aim for us to practice chi kung and kungfu. A fundamental aim is to have good health. Having good health means we are free from being sick or in pain.

It is legitimate to ask that if we do not take fighting as a top priority in our training, why do we train combat efficiency. It is mainly because our combat training enriches our daily life without us having really to fight.

Practicing chi kung also enriches our daily life, but practicing a martial art makes it more immediate. For example, attaining good health is the climax of many schools of chi kung, but it is only a starting point of a martial art. In other words, chi kung practitioners would consider their practice successfully completed when they have attained good health. But martial artists would consider having good health the start of their training.

As another example, chi kung practitioners generally have more time in making wise decisions. But for martial artists, like when a punch or a kick is coming from an opponent, they have to make fast and wise decisions on the spot.

Question 4

I was lying in bed and suddenly “it/he” was there again, for the third time now. But this time it was much more powerful. In my ear I started to have something that I would call a tinnitus. Although the sound was very brief and not loud, it had this powerful vibes.

I did recognize it immediately again and then I could literally feel how it was lying next to me, right at my back. I felt like paralyzed and got a shock and wanted to scream but was not able to. I did not know what was happening and without thinking I simply started to recite Guan Yin Boddhisvattva’s name over and over again.

I then got calm and fell asleep. This happened to me twice before. But when it happened earlier, I never felt this tinnitus and it/he would be on the other side of the bed, like there would be a distance between us. And I remember it always felt powerful and somehow also “frightening”, but I had never really big fear or a shock and was rather easily able to go back to sleep.

But this time it stays with me. I have no idea what this thing/being is. I can only humbly say that I really think it is for real and not any imagination in my head.

How do I know if I have to protect myself and how could I do it? If I don’t consider the moment when it happens, I don’t really feel like I am in danger but I feel a lot of respect and uncertainty as I do not know what this is.

— Abelle, France

Answer

The being was real. But you don’t have to be afraid. You can attain confidence with the following facts and action:

  1. Your chi flow is powerful — not powerful when compared to your sifu’s but powerful compared to most other people. Other beings would be repelled by your powerful chi; it is like electricity to them. If you are frightened, it is because of your own emotions.

  2. You can chant the Guan Yin mantra, which is very powerful. Not only the mantra will repel the being, it will also sooth you.

  3. You can apply One-Finger Zen onto the being. This is a drastic step and may hurt the being, so don’t use it unless necessary, and usually it is not necessary. Even if you had to use it, warn the being first. If the being did not heed the warning, point your One-Finger Zen at the being with your index finger pointing upward, not pointing at the being. The being would flee away. If it still didn’t, then point your index finger at it and visualize powerful chi shooting from your One-Finger Zen at the being.

I once used the One-Finger Shooting Zen on a monster, which was much more powerful than a ghost or natural spirit and which was disturbing a student. It fled away immediately.

Combat Efficiency

While we train combat efficiency, we place higher priority on other benefits like good health, vitality, longevity and peak performance in our kungfu training

Question 5

I remember when I had the opportunity to take courses for the first time with you, I later saw a ghost (according to my Sifu after hearing my descriptions) here in my apartment.

The ghost was wandering around somehow and was here for quite some time. Only later I asked him to leave and did send him blessings according to the instructions I gladly received as it started to disturb me. But he never ever felt so strong as this being now. This being now feels to be much stronger than me.

Answer

This being was likely to be an asura, or a titan. A titan is much more powerful than a ghost. Asuras are as powerful as dewas, or gods, but they did not become gods because of their negative emotions. The principal emotion of male asuras is anger, whereas that of female asuras, who are very beautiful, is jealousy. On the other hand, the principal emotion of gods is joy.

Ghosts are less powerful and of a lower spiritual level than humans. Many humans are afraid of ghosts because of ignorance and uncertainty. The fear is due to their own emotions. Ghosts actually shun humans but if a ghost was severely wronged, it might risk its own comfort to seek revenge from the responsible humans.

Our attitude towards ghosts should not be fear, but pity. Ghosts are pitiful. They are usually hungry and often lost. If you see one, like when it could not leave you in time, send it blessings and let it leave.

Question 6

I don’t know if it was a coincidence, but I did indeed cancel in a very short notice, on my day of departure, a trip over New Year’s Eve and stayed for almost two weeks unexpectedly at home. I experienced two weeks of very deep rest and peace and beautiful moments with uplifting thoughts. Maybe this is a coincidence.

If not, maybe this being is even visiting me for some good and I should feel gratitude? But why would it then have this powerful, frightening touch?

Sigung, how can I know about the intention of this being?

Answer

There are three ways to find out the intention of the being:

  1. Ask the being itself. You should do so only when you feel confident facing the being. Don’t do so if you feel afraid.Don’t promise the being anything, even if its requests are reasonable and within your means. Say that you may try to help but tell it that you can’t promise anything. If its requests are unreasonable, tell the being firmly but calmly that they are unreasonable. If the requests are beyond your means, tell it that they are beyond your means and it has to find help elsewhere.

  2. You may ask Guan Yin Bodhisattva for the answer and guidance. Go into a chi kung state of mind, pay homage to Guan Yin Bodhisattva, then ask your question and request for guidance. Conclude by thanking the Bodhisattva.

  3. You may ask the Cosmos. Go into a chi kung state of mind. Ask your question and seek for guidance. Conclude by thanking the Cosmos.

Radiating Good Energy

High-level chi kung gives us radiant energy that lower spirits are afraid of

Question 7

Why do we see these beings?

Answer

These beings as well as higher spiritual beings are around us all the time, but most of us cannot see them, nor they see us because our energy and theirs vibrate at different frequencies. It is just like we do not see waves of energy that carry information across the world until these waves manifest on our computers.

Years ago when I was a student under my sifu, Sifu Ho Fatt Nam, he told me an invaluable lesson. He said in Chinese (Cantonese), “Khui tau sam chet yow shen meng”, which means “When you raise your head to look up three feet, there are gods.” He mentioned this when he was explaining a moral value to me that we must be righteous and have a clear conscious all the time.

When we practice chi kung, we open some psychic points that are normally close to most other people. This enables us to see such beings.

Question 8

I would like to take up my Kung Fu training again. I do love my own Chi Kung training but I do indeed also miss my Kung Fu and the possibility to train with other people. Kung Fu has always been a big challenge for me, but I also feel it’s a big opportunity for me and many good things that happened during the last years are due to my training I feel.

Sigung, am I allowed to take a Kung Fu class with a Sisook if he would accept me? I hope that the question is not disrespectful. Taking classes with my Sisook wouldn’t change my gratitude and respect I feel towards my Sifu whom I indeed honor for everything that he has done for me and for the way he spreads the Shaolin Arts.

Answer

It is good that you have decided to resume your kungfu training. The Shaolin Kungfu practiced in our school is so wonderful. Not only it will give you a lot of benefits, it will also enhance your femininity. Indeed, it is a golden opportunity for women to practice our Shaolin Kungfu, though most of them do not realize it, and some are too lazy to do so. Most other kinds of kungfu or any martial art practiced elsewhere make women rough.

It is best if you learn from your sifu. He is an excellent teacher and has the interest of his students at heart. But if this is not feasible, you can learn from your sisook.

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.

SELECTION OF QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS JANUARY 2016 PART 1 BY GRANDMASTER WONG KIEW KIT

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(reproduced from http://shaolin.org/answers/ans16a/jan16-1.html)

Holistic Health Cultivation Centre

Holistic Health Cultivation Centre, Kuala Lumpur

Question 1

I discovered the Shaolin arts and philosophy, and I am strongly attracted to the original traditional Shaolin lifestyle. Although my age is 59, I like to gain strength, solace, flexibility, health and fitness and spiritual health, and longevity and vitality at old age.

I am a physician in cardiovascular medicine and general medicine. I encounter a lot of fear, anxiety and stress in my patients.

So, it is good and wise to acquire Shaolin training myself and develop myself in order to help others for a very long time. I am convinced that Shoalin Kungfu, qi gong and Zen will help. I am aware of the holistic principle and combat form and meaning of the movements as well as universal energy.

Could you recommend to me where and how I can have the best and genuine Shoalin training? How do I start?

Please take into account that I am just starting and a beginner. I will read all your books in advance to get maximum information. I am also aware of the need to persevere.

At present I am reading your book, “The Complete book of Shaolin”. The other books will follow. But I understand that one doesn’t learn from a book, one learns from practice, instruction and repeating even blindly.

— Dr Joe, Netherlands

Answer

It is inspiring that you intend to have good health, vitality, longevity, mental freshness and spiritual joys (irrespective of one’s religion) starting at 59. Indeed many of my students over 60 told me that they were healthier and fitter than they were at 30.

It is also inspiring that you wish to give confidence to your patients. When you are proficient in chi kung, you can teach your patients some simple chi kung exercise to give them confidence and increase their energy level as a supplement to the normal treatment you give them.

I would take this opportunity to explain that when you teach your patients simple chi kung exercise, you must not teach them at the same level that you practice, because doing so would cause them harm rather than benefit. You must teach them at a much lower level that is suitable for them.

Will you have harm instead of benefit if you practice at a high level? No, you will not. You will have more benefits.

Why is this so? This is because you attend my courses not only to practice chi kung at a high level but also learn remedial exercise to overcome harmful effects if you unknowingly make mistakes. But your patients do not have these benefits. So you only teach them at a low level of chi kung that is safe for them even if they make mistakes unknowingly. When you meet me in person, please remind me to show you about teaching and performing chi kung at different levels.

I would also take this opportunity to explain that what many chi kung instrucrtors teach nowadays is not chi kung but gentle physical exercise although they and their students use chi kung techniques. This statement is made in good faith, and not meant to belittle these chi kung instructors, who are usually kind and have good intention, but they themselves may not realize this important fact. Similarly, many Tai Chi instructors and students today do not realize that what they teach and practice is not Tai Chi Chuan, which is an internal martial art, but some external Tai Chi forms although they use genuine Tai Chi Chuan techniques.

Gentle physical exercise does not give confidence and increase energy level. That is why many chi kung practitioners today are still weak and sick because actually they practice gentle physical exercise, and not chi kung, which is meant to make practitioners strong and healthy.

To attain these two aims:

  1. To have good health, vitality, longevity, mental freshness and spiritual joys for yourself

  2. To be able to teach simple chi kung exercise to your patients, if you want, as a supplement to your usual medical treatment so that they can be confident and have more energy

I suggest the following option.

Attend my Intensive Chi Kung Course. Continue to practice on your own at home. It is sufficient if you practice just about 15 minutes daily. If you can, join a regular chi kung class taught by one of our certified Shaolin Wahnam instructors. If this is not feasible, you can practice on your own at home.

You should be able to achieve the two aims above in about 6 months.

Please see my courses and time-table on my home page. Please apply to the respective honorary organizer as soon as possible.

You can attend my Intensive Chi Kung Course without any prior chi kung experience. But if you wish to learn Shaolin Kungfu or Tai Chi Chuan from me, you need some prior experience. You can first learn some Shaolin Kungfu or Tai Chi Chuan from any of our certified instructors, or from any competent instructors outside our school. Then attend my Intensive Shaolin Kungfu Course or Intensive Taijiquan (Tai Chi Chuan) Course.

Question 2

I’d like to respectfully ask you for your advice. My wife has developed Alopecia Areata in 2012/2013 which probably progressed into Alopecia in 2014. It started during the first pregnancy in 2012 with few small bold spots on her head and she had finally lost all hair on her body in summer 2014, before our second baby was born

The hormonal changes were compounded by stress at work and lack of sleep.. Doctors told us that the disease is simply incurable and the only choice is the wig.

I hope chi kung could be a miracle cure for my wife, as the disease has likely been caused by hormonal changes in her body. Chi Kung could be the only chance to overcome the condition.

— Marian, UK

Answer

I am sorry to hear about your wife’s condition. But the good news is that she has a good chance to recover if she practices genuine, high-level chi kung.

Please note there are two dimensions in the term “genuine high-level chi kung”, namely the chi kung practiced must be genuine, and it must be of a high level.

For various reasons much of chi kung practiced today all over the world is not really chi kung but gentle physical exercise although practitioners use genuine chi kung techniques. Many people may be puzzled by this statement. How could their practice not be genuine chi kung when they practice genuine chi kung techniques?

They will have a better idea if we use a more familiar example of Taijiquan (Tai Chi Chuan). Genuine Taijiquan is an internal martial art, but most people today practice it as an external dance-like form without any internal or martial aspect. But these dance-like practitioners use genuine Taijiquan techniques. They only can perform the external form of the techniques, but they do not have the skills to perform these techniques to develop internal force, and they also do not have the skills to apply these techniques for combat.

It is the same as chi kung. Most people only practice the external form of chi kung techniques, but they do not have the skills to use these techniques to generate an energy flow. Energy flow is the essence of chi kung. It is the energy flow that gives chi kung benefits, like overcoming illness and promoting good health, vitality and longevity. Merely performing the external forms does not give these benefits.

In other words, no matter what chi kung techniques your wife practices, and no matter how beautifully and for how long, if she cannot generate an energy flow, she will not be able to overcome her health problem. So, it is not a question of which chi kung exercise is good for her, but how effectively she can generate an energy flow. For this, she has to learn from a competent teacher.

Without energy flow, practitioners perform chi kung techniques as gentle physical exercise. It is energy flow that makes the practice as chi kung, which means energy art.

The second point is that the energy flow must be powerful enough to bring result. Even if the chi kung is genuine, if the energy flow is weak, which means the chi kung is of a low level, it may not be sufficient to help your wife overcome her problem. Your wife must practice high-level chi kung under the supervision of a competent teacher to overcome her hormonal imbalance and eventually to have normal hair growth.

There are three options for your wife to choose from:

  1. Seek chi kung healing from the Holistic Health Cultivation Centre in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Your wife is guaranteed to be cured within a year, or else she can have her money back. But she must attend daily healing sessions at the centre.

  2. Your wife can learn chi kung from our instructors in UK. Please see our List of Instructors for information.

  3. Attend my Intensive Chi Kung Course where she will learn how to generate an energy flow. She has to continue to practice on her own after the course. Please apply to my secretary for registration. Please see my home page for more details.

Ssholin Tantui

Amongst many benefits, practice kungfu gives us confidence

Question 3

We understand that the child of 4 is more like a baby in development. Therefore we are not sure he will understand instructions for “Lifting the Sky”, etc. In such an instance how would you proceed to encourage chi flow?

— Sifu Tim Franklin, UK

Answer

Here are various ways to help those who may not be able to perform chi kung exercises themselves, like the child, to have chi flow to overcome their health problems.

  1. You can channel chi to him.

  2. His parents can learn chi kung from you, and then channel chi to him by stroking the child about half a foot from the child’s body from head to limbs, and from centre to extremities 2 or 3 times a day but not at noon.

  3. You can transmit chi on water and let the child drink it.

  4. You can transmit chi onto some suitable object, like a coin or a tiny pad, and let the child wear it on its body. Depending on the chi stored in the object, it may have to be renewed once a week or once a month.

I have personal experiences to verify that all the above methods work.

In my early years of chi kung healing I used to channel chi to patients. Later I found it more beneficial for them to generate chi flow themselves.

If the patients were too young or unable to practice chi kung themselves, their parents would practice and then channel chi to them.

When people brought their babies or small children to consult me at my chi kung clinic which I operated in Sungai Petani in my early years, and the babies or small children were too small to practice chi kung, I channel my chi to water or suitable objects for them. It worked very well.

This was inspired from seeing patients drinking sanctified water made from ashes of talismans given by deities in my childhood days as well as by Immortal Li at my sifu’s temple. Often these patients had seen many doctors to no avail, but were cured of their ailments by drinking this sanctified water.

Whether people believe in such methods is a different issues, but the fact remained that the patients were cured. I was puzzled by this fact. Later I concluded that the deities transmitted their chi or blessings to talismans, and the chi or blessings were transmitted to the sanctified water.

For the treatment to be successful, the parents must pay a high fee for your chi kung treatment. If you do it for free, or charge an average fee, the parents may not appreciate it and the treatment may not work. They must want the treatment enough to pay a high fee for it.

The issue is not whether they are rich or poor. The issue is the value they place on their child’s recovery. Even if they cannot afford the healing fee, they will borrow the money if they value their child’s recovery highly enough. And even when your fee is high, it is still low compared to the child’s good health. After all, the child’s problem is supposed to be “incurable” by conventional medicine.

Question 4

I feel at a loss in that it seems I do not know how to not worry, intellectualize, and yet still make decisions, interact with life. I don’t know how to care and do, without deciding what to do via contemplating and intellectualizing.

I do not understand how to do things, like decide whether to take a job that I feel too tired for but need money, or the best route to help connect my family with help they need, or where to live now with no permanent home, or to decide what attitude to have with regards to my friend.

With so much up in the air in my chaotic life, I do not know how to get through all of it without thinking and contemplating and considering it all, planning, making positive and negative lists, considering, but it gets all crazy in my head with the thoughts just causing storms. The thought processes are huge surges of over-thinking, like Attention Deficiency Disorder and Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD).

— Elizabeth, USA

Answer

If you run blindly across a busy street, you risk being hit by a motor vehicle. So you just don’t do it. It is very simple.

If you jump down a three-story building, you risk to have your legs broken. So you just don’t do it. It is very simple.

If you continue worrying and intellectualizing, you risk to be more and more sick. So, you just don’t do it. It is very simple.

Not to worry and not to intellectualize is far less demanding than not to run blindly across a busy street, or not to jump down from a three-storey building. If you fail in the task, you don’t have to die. But if you fail to stop running blindly across a busy street, or fail to stop jumping down from a three-storey building, you may lose your life.

Don’t do something is easier than doing something. Don’t worry and don’t intellectualize is easier than worry and intellectualize. You just don’t do it.

If you have to do something, or want to do something, just do it. You don’t need to worry or intellectualize about it.

If you want to eat your dinner, just eat your dinner and enjoy it. You don’t have to worry or intellectualize how you should eat your dinner or whether you should wear a blue dress or a red dress while eating your dinner.

Chi Kung

Amongst many benefits, practicing chi kung will enable practitioners to have a clear and relaxed mind

Question 5

Here is my current plan. I honestly feel that my dad’s best hope of recovery is if he comes to the Kuala Lampur program for one year, and has energetic assistance every day. My father fears traveling in non-Western countries where diarrhea and pathogen illness is common for travelers. He got very ill once in Mexico. I do not know if I will be able to get him there, but I hope so. As of now, he is refusing for fear of getting sick like I did and also because he is so tired to travel that far, and can’t imagine staying a full year.

I am working with my family on how to speak with dad in a less confrontational way, more feminine, and less telling him what to do. He is now so impaired by the Alzheimer’s aspect of the Parkinson’s Disease that he is becoming more and more like a belligerent child. He apparently has now started refusing to put on a seatbelt — it is hard for him to do it, but he has always done that, and now it’s just all so weird. He’s so angry at his state and his mind is so not its normal self. My “old” dad would never ever behave the way he is now.

In April, they are agreeing to come to a class with you in Canada or the United States. I hope you will have a class you think suitable for them. I am watching the website. Then I will stay with them maybe another month or so to keep their practice going. I am not feeling good about staying into summer, as that is high risk season, when infection is much more likely. It is not safe to be outdoors, as their area is hyper Lyme endemic, and they live in the woods.

My friend is also offering to help me finally sell off all my belongings in Seattle to raise money and get out of the storage space during the summer. So I am hoping they will have enough of a habit to carry on, and then once dad starts seeing some exciting results, he will realize

Answer

He has a hope to fully be cured if he goes to Holistic Health Cultivation Centre in Kuala Lampur.

If you want to ask your father to go to the Holistic Health Cultivation Centre in Kuala Lumpur or to attend my courses in Canada or the United States, just do it.

If you father wants to come to the Centre or attend my course, just do it.

There is no need to worry and intellectuzlize.

Question 6

I’m just a bit curious about unsheathing swords in Chinese kungfu, Are there any techniques to unsheath your sword from your back?

— Nareshwar, India

Answer

You just pull the sword out with your hand. If the sword is long, you may have to bend your body forward.

Wudang Sword

A swordsman uses the scabbard to keep his sword, he uses his sword for fighting

Question 7

What I was trying to clarify was whether a swordsman actually used the scabbard in Chinese martial art. Did he use his scabbard to block an opponent’s weapon?

Answer

A swordsman used the scabbard to keep his sword. He used his sword for fighting.

When he met an inferior opponent, for fun he might use the scabbard, with his sword in it, so as not to hurt his opponent.

Using the scabbard or his sword to block an opponent’s weapon was a clear indication that he did not know how to use his sword skillfully. The hallmark of Chinese swordsmanship was agility. A swordsman might sometimes use his sword to deflect an opponent’s weapon, but he never used his sword, or its scabbard, to block it.

The swordsmanship of the Japanese master in the first video you sent me was excellent. This, I believed, was how a Samurai would fight

His excellent swordsmanship was a sharp contrast to what I saw in a Kendo class in my young days. Two combatants put on cage-like protection gear and hit (or slash) each other with their wooden swords. In 5 minutes they hit each other more than 30 times. It was hilarious. There was no attempt at all to defend against any attack. It was good for executives to let off steam.

The swordsman in the second video was mediocre. Notice that in the many encounters this swordsman in the second video needed three moves to finish his opponent when the swordsman in the first video needed only one.

The opponent in the second video had to freeze himself to allow the swordsman to complete his three moves. In the first video, the swordsman finished off the opponent as soon as the opponent made a move.

Question 8

Another question, if you don’t mind. Are there any shield techniques in Shaolin Kung Fu, shield techniques as in Sword and shield, etc?

Answer

Yes, there are shield techniques in Shaolin Kungfu.

In the past the shield was listed as one of the 18 main weapons, indicating the importance Chinese martial artists considered the shield to be. In battle formations, solders often used shields to cover themselves from charges of lances or from rains of arrows afar.

Nevertheless, the shield is not used in conjunction with the sword. It is because using the shield with the sword would distract, rather than contribute, to combat efficiency. The shield is sometimes used in conjunction with the sabre, and sometimes with one Butterfly Knife.

In Chinese martial art, the sword, known as “jian”, is different from a sabre, known as “dao”. Using a Chinese sword like a sabre, as is sometimes seen in kungfu movies, is a clear indication that the user does not know how to use a sword properly, though many people may not realize it.

A sword is double-edged and is light, whereas a sabre is single-edged and is heavy. Application of the sword depends much on the wrist, whereas application of the sabre depends much on the arm.

In strict kungfu terminology, the Samurai sword and many European swords are sabres, but since their terms have become established, they are being continuously used.

Due to lack of deeper understanding amongst most Chinese, some kungfu terms have been misrepresented, and subsequently mistranslated into English. For example, Shaolin Kungfu is usually regarded as hard and external. As I have often mentioned, much to the displeasure of some people, there are more soft and internal aspects in Shaolin Kungfu than all the internal arts put together!

Xingyiquan (often spelt as Hsing Yi Chuan) is usually grouped together with Taijiquan (Tai Chi Chuan) and Baguazhang (Pa Kua Chang) as Wudang Kungfu and regarded as Taoist. The facts are that there is nothing Wudang and nothing Taoist about Xingyiquan, except the fundamental Xingyiquan set is called Five-Element Fist.

It may be worthwhile to mention the following facts, especially for those who may be dualistic in their thinking. Saying that there is nothing Wudang and nothing Taoist in Xingyiquan does not distract from the great value of Wudang Kungfu and Taoist practice. Just as saying that a bicycle is not a computer does not distract from the value of a computer.

The Five Elements are also found in Shaolin. Different versions of the Five-Element Fist, for example, are popularly practiced in some Hoong Ka and Choy-Li-Fatt schools.

The term “Five Elements” is also wrongly translated! In Chinese the term is “wu xing”, which means “five movements”.

To say that the world is made up of five elements, namely metal, wood, water, fire and earth, is factually wrong. What is meant is that the countless movements or processes in the world can be classified into five archetypes, represented by metal, which indicates resonance, wood, which indicates growth, water, which indicates spreading, fire, which indicates rising, and earth, which indicates coming together.

As the term “Five Elements” has become established, it is being used, often without realizing its misrepresentation. Personally, I prefer to use the term “Five Elemental Processes”, maintaining the established root “element” as well as to indicate that the processes are elemental.

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.

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

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Shaolin Kung Fu

Many in Shaolin Wahnam train kungfu to be the best persons they could be

Question 1

I have been practicing Shaolin Cosmos Chi Kung for over 3 years now and i am amazed by it. It has helped me in ways that i couldn’t believe.

I would love to become an instructor so I can help others

The reason why I am asking a lot about being a Sifu is that it will help me move forward in life. i have had so many difficulties in life. I suffered 10 years of depression. I was stuck for a long time. I have many more problems

Becoming a teacher will help me move forward. It will help me with income too. Don’t get me wrong. I’m not wanting to make lots and lots of money. There is more to life than money., but it will help

That’s why i asked you if I could spend some time with you.

At this time I’m very happy and life is good and healthy but i need to move forward.

— Qasim, Ireland

Answer

Before becoming a chi kung instructor you must first be a good chi kung student. It is very important to realize that being an instructor in our school is like being a father to your students, and to preserve our arts for posterity by passing on to your students our arts so that they too will get the wonderful benefits we enjoy, like good health, vitality, longevity, mental clarity, peak performance and spiritual joys.

The main aim in becoming an instructor is not to overcome your own health problems, to move forward in life and to become rich, though interestingly all these results will be accomplished as bonuses if you are successful in teaching our chi kung.

You need to be healthy first before becoming a chi kung instructor. As a teacher of an elite art, your teaching which requires that you are a living example of the art, will move you forward in life. As the fees we charge are high when compared to what most other chi kung instructors charge but little when compared to the benefits our students get, you can become rich if you have a large class.

But all these results are bonuses, and not the reason why one becomes a chi kung instructor in our school. The aim is to pass on our arts to deserving students so as to preserve our arts for posterity.

This means that if an instructor in our school does not move forward in life and does not become rich, but succeeds in passing on our arts to deserving students, he has accomplished the aim of becoming an instructor. Becoming healthy is a prerequisite. We do not want an instructor who himself is sick.

Unlike in most other schools, a potential instructor does not have to spend a long time studying with me, though he (or she) has to spend a long time practicing the art on his own to be proficient in it. He needs to attend my Intensive Chi Kung Course as this course covers the whole range of chi kung skills ranging from a beginner’s level, which he needs to teach his beginning students at the level of the students and not at the level the instructor himself practices, to a master’s level, which the instructor is at or aspires to be. It is important that an instructor teaches at the level of his students, and not at his own practicing level. This is a teaching point many new instructors neglect.

It is our school policy to appoint instructors according to seniority and usually recommended by the Chief Instructor of the country. As there are many students more senior than you, it is unlikely that you will be appointed.

Question 2

My practice is going very well. I have been focusing more on chi kung lately, but taking that step back seems to have taken my Kungfu to a newer level.

— Tim Hooren, Belgium

Answer

This is natural and logical for us in Shaolin Wahnam.

This was also natural and logical for past masters. In the past there was no separation between advanced kungfu training and chi kung training. Advance kungfu training was chi kung training.

In other words, when a master trained kungfu, called “lian gong” in Chinese, what he actually trained was chi kung, like developing his internal force. He had long past the stage of practicing kungfu forms.

Gaun Dao

Grandmaster Wong performing a Guan Dao

Question 3

Character development is for me personally the major change right now happening, and I think it’s the most important for me also. Looking back I was very weak in daily life, in everything.

I am becoming harder — in my ways, my doings. In taking decisions, speaking out to people, I am becoming very straight forward, and this is fusing completely with my combat ability.

Answer

This is wonderful. Indeed, this was a mark of great kungfu in the past. When master trained great kungfu, they became the best person they could be. Those who trained lower level kungfu became good fighters.

I am glad that many students in our school has made this their aim, to become the best person they can be.

Question 4

I had special experiences. At home, one evening outside of practice, all of a sudden I felt like holding two broadswords, and I could use them and apply them in such a fantastic way. I did a sequence with these swords.

I also had experiences applying a spear and Guan Dao, all the way to experiencing pushing my energy to the sharp blade of the Guan Dao. Even more amazing, I felt the difference between the weapons. The spear felt very light, and I could even sense the red cloth under the spearhead. I could basically hit any point of an opponent’s body with the spear-point.

Dear Sifu, why is it that I can sense these weapons so well? I actually can still to this day sense the Tiger with me as well.

Answer

You were reliving your former life or lives

Pressing Attack

An effective way to spar is to employ a combat sequence to press into an opponent

Question 5

People would think I’m living in a fantasy world, but I’m very much down to earth about all of this, and of course I don’t go telling people about all this, but I thought I had to share these experiences with Sifu.

Answer

Yes, many people would think you have gone crazy. It is not wise to share such experiences with them.

Many people do not even believe things like internal force and overcoming so-called incurable diseases, which are clearly recorded in kungfu and chi kumg classics. Either they do not believe such things are possible, or they do not believe we are capable of such abilities. They think we are crazy, or we are big liars.

Question 6

I asked a street fighter who won most fights about his fighting, and he told me it was very simple to be victorious. Go in and don’t stop.

This brings me to our combat sequences and what Sifu has been advocating all this time. We go in with a pattern and immediately follow up with our other patterns from our sequence until the opponent is down.

Answer

There is one big difference. We follow the principle of “safety first”, but they don’t. We make sure we are safe by covering our opponents adequately.

Their opponents are not good at combat. As long as they move in relentlessly, they can easily beat their opponents, who are quite helpless.

An excellent strategy in combat is to press into an opponent with a combat sequence

Question 7

In the past, I couldn’t apply this strategy, because I didn’t have the correct mind state. And this is the most fantastic, the character development and life experience lead me to experiencing and understanding the mind state needed to fight, and use our Kungfu, which is just fantastic.

Answer

Yes, the mind set and internal force are actually more important than the fighting techniques. The street figher, for example, does not have the techniques and internal force. He only has the mind set. Yet he is quite successful in winning fights.

Question 8

I want to become a world’s best fighter. What should I suppose to do?

— Name and country not stated

Answer

If you want to become a world’s best fighter, you have come to a wring school. Although we place much importance on combat efficiency in training a martial art, or else we shall make a mockery of ourselves, becoming a great fighter is low in our priority.

High in our priority is to have good health, vitality, longevity, mental clarity, peak performance and spiritual joys. In other words, we are dedicated in our daily training not because we want to be great fighters but because we want to be healthy, have zest in our daily life, live to a ripe old age, clear in our thinking, do well in our work and play, and be peaceful and happy.

If actual fighting is not high in our priority, why do we place much importance in combat efficiency? Isn’t it a contradiction?

No, it is not a contradiction. We place much importance to combat efficieny because we practice a martial art. We do not want to fight if we have a choice, but if we have to fight for whatever reasons, we shall fight very well. More significantly, training a martial art enables us to gain the benefits mentioned above, like good health, vitality, and spiritual joys, more immediately and deeply.

Good health, for example, represent the climax of chi kung training, but the starting point of martial art practice. In other words, practitioners in chi kung consider their training completed when they have have good health, but martial artists consider good health the beginning of their training.

Moreover some desirable qualities, like mental clarity, are more urgent in marital art training. For example, chi kung practitioners normally have more time to emplly mental clarity to make wise decisions, but in martial art training when an opponent’s punch or kick is coming at you, you need mental clarity instantly to make wise decisions.

Unfortunately, many martial artists today show a glaring lack of mental clarity. They do not realize that they are becoming more unhealthy the more they train, and their training does not enable them to defend themselves, otherwise they would not be routinely hit in free sparring!

There are many useful things you could do. For a start I would suggest, for your own benefit, that you learn to write a letter properly. You should at least have a salutation at the beginning of your letter, and a signature at the end.

You should start your letter with “Dear Mr Wong”, “Dear Sifu Wong” or “Dear Sir or Madame”. You should end your letter with “Yours faithfully” or “Yours truly”, followed by your name or pen-name.

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.