Tag Archives: QUESTIONANSWERS

CLEARING THE CONFUSSION OVER KUNGFU, WUSHU AND SELF-DEFENCE

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

Modern Wushu

A modern wushu pattern demonstrated by a wushu champion. The picture is reproduced from http://martialarts.com.my/community/modules/news/article.php?storyid=1834

Question

I live in a small city where there are not any very good instructors who teach martial arts. In my kungfu school, which is the only one that teaches wushu in my city, we never really spar. We do mostly forms and drills. Do you think this is the proper way to learn kungfu and learn how to defend myself?

— Jeff, Canada

Answer by Grandmaster Wong Kiew Kit

There has been quite a lot of confusion between kungfu and wushu, and the main reasons are as follows. In the Chinese language, the current technical term for martial art is “wushu”, although many Chinese, especially overseas Chinese, colloquially call it “kungfu”, which is also the term commonly used in the West.

Secondly, since the 1970s, the Chinese government has promoted wushu as a sport and not a martial art. Today there are many wushu teachers, Chinese as well as non-Chinese, teaching this sport all over the world.

Thirdly, some kungfu schools which have existed outside China before modern wushu was invented in China, now also teach modern wushu besides traditional kungfu. The standard of traditional kungfu in these schools is generally low, usually without training in internal force or sparring. In essence, in these schools there is not much difference between “kungfu” and “wushu”. The difference is in appearance, and is easily noticeable. By “kungfu” they usually mean traditional kungfu forms, by “wushu” they mean modern forms invented since 1970s.

Apart from these three points, there is another aspect which is more subtle or subjective, and can be quite sensitive. To me, kungfu is a martial art. So, if someone practices traditional kungfu forms, as distinct from modern wushu forms, but does not know how to use his art for combat, I would not call it kungfu. This is a minority opinion. The majority still call it “kungfu” even if it is devoid of any martial application.

Sometimes I use the term “genuine kungfu” or “real kungfu” to differentiate kungfu that is capable of combat application from “kungfu” that is devoid of combat application. I also use terms like “external kungfu forms” or “kungfu gymnastics” to refer to the latter. These terms are not ideal and sometimes cause resentment but I could not think of better terms.

Modern Wushu

A traditional kungfu pattern demonstrated by a kungfu master. The picture is reproduced from http://www.ycwong-italy.com/forms.htm

This background information explained above, can help to overcome much confusion and help to solve many arguments over kungfu and wushu. For example, one person may argue that all kungfu is wushu, and another person may vehemently oppose. Both persons are right from their own different pers;pectives. The first person argues from the perspective that the Chinese word for kungfu is “wushu”, whereas the second person argues from the perspective that kungfu is a martial art but wushu is a sport.

Reversely, one person may argue that what he practices is kungfu, whereas another may argue that it is wushu. The first person argues from the perspective that his forms are traditional, whereas the second argues that although the forms are different in appearance from modern wushu forms, they are practiced not as a martial art but as a sport and therefore in essence is modern wushu.

Today many schools only practice forms and drills, and never spar — irrespective of whether they teach only traditional kungfu forms, or only modern wushu forms, or both traditional kungfu and modern wushu forms together. This is the norm.

Those schools that teach only traditional kungfu forms, as well as those that teach both traditional kungfu and modern wusshu forms are usually called kungfu schools, whereas those that teach modern wushu forms are usually called wushu schools — if we refer to them in English.

If we refer to them in Chinese, all of them are usually called “wushu” schools, including those that practice traditional kungfu forms, and even if they use genuine kungfu for sparring. This is the de-facto situation, and sometimes causes confusion. My school, for example, is “Shaolin Wahnam Kungfu Institute” in English, but “Shao Lin Hua Nan Wu Shu Guan” (Cantonese: “Siu Lam Wah Nam Mo Shert Kwoon”) in Chinese.

If you mostly practice forms and drills, no matter how long you may practice them and how beautiful your solo performance may be, and irrespective of whether they are traditional kungfu forms and drills or modern wushu forms and drills, you will not be able to defend yourself if you have never learnt sparring methodically. Although this is the norm, in my opinion it is certainly not the correct way to learn kungfu (as a martial art) and learn how to defend yourself.

Anyone, master or novice, who has never learnt to spar, will be unable to spar or fight effectively. This is only logical. This is as logical as anyone who has never learnt how to speak Spanish (although he may know the meanings of written Spanish words) will be unable to speak Spanish, or anyone who has never learnt how to drive a car (although he may have read many driving manuals) will be unable to drive a car.

Shaolin Kungfu in combat

Irrespetive of whether you practice traditional kungfu or modern wushu, unless you also learn combat application systematically, you would not be able to use it to fight

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Reproduced from Questions 11 in the January 2003 Part 1 issue of the Question-Answer Series.

QUALITIES OF A GOOD MASTER

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(reproduced from http://shaolin.org/general/qualities.html)

A priceless photograph showing Sifu Lai Chin Wah demonstrating the Kwan Tou. Sifu Lai Chin Wah was Sifu Wong’s first kungfu teacher. Sifu Lai was better known in kungfu circles as Uncle Righteousness.

Having a good master is definitely a tremendous blessing in kungfu, taijiquan and chi kung training. As mediocre instructors are socommon nowadays – some even start to teach after having attended only a few week-end seminars – finding a great master is like finding a gem in a hay stack. Here are some guidelines to help you find one.

A living example

A good master must be a living example of what he teaches. A kungfu master must be able to defend himself, a taijiquan master must have some internal force, and a qigong master must exhibit radiant health, as these are the basic qualities these arts are meant to develop.

A master of kungfu, taijiquan or qigong does not enjoy the luxury of many coaches in modern sports like football and athletics who often cannot dribble a ball or run a race half as well as the students they teach. There are also some kungfu, taijiquan or qigong instructors today who cannot perform half as well as their average students, but they are certainly not masters, although as a form of courtesy they may be addressed as such by their students, or the general public.

Understanding Dimension and Depth

Besides being skillful, a good master should preferably be knowledgeable. He should have a sound understanding of the dimension and depth of the art he is teaching, and be able to answer basic questions his students may have concerning the what, why and how of their practice. Without this knowledge, a master will be limited in helping his students to derive the greatest potential benefits in their training.

However, especially in the East, some masters may be very skillful, but may not be knowledgeable. This is acceptable if we take the term “master” to mean someone who has attained a very high level in his art, but who may not be a teacher.

The reverse is unacceptable, i.e. someone who is very knowledgeable, but not skillful – a situation quite common in the West. A person may have read a lot about kungfu, taijiquan or qigong, and have written a few books on it, but has little kungfu, taijiquan or qigong skills. We may call him a scholar, but certainly not a master.

Sifu Ho Fatt Nam demonstrating “One-Finger Shooting Zen”, a fundamental internal force training method in Shaolin Kungfu. Sifu Ho was the other Shaolin master whose teaching on Sifu Wong was decisive. To honour his two masters, Sifu Wong name his school Shaolin Wahnam.

Systematic and Generous

The third quality of a master as a good teacher is that he must be both systematic and generous in his teaching. Someone who is very skillful and knowledgeable, but teaches haphazardly or withholds much of his advance art, is an expert or scholar but not a good master.

On the other hand, it is significant to note that a good master teaches according to the needs and attainment of his students. If his students have not attained the required standard, he would not teach them beyond their ability (although secretly he might long to), for doing so is usually not to the students’ best interest. In such a situation he may often be mistaken as withholding secrets.

Radiates Inspiration

The fourth quality, a quality that transforms a good master into a great master, is that he radiates inspiration. It is a joy to learn from a great master even though his training is tough.

He makes complicated concepts easy to understand, implicitly provides assurance that should anything goes wrong he is able and ready to rectify it, and spurs his students to do their best, even beyond the level that he himself has attained.

High Moral Values

The most important quality of a great master is that he teaches and exhibits in his daily living high moral values. Hence, the best world fighter who brutally wounds his opponents, or the best teacher of any art who does not practise what he preaches, cannot qualify to be called a great master.

A great master is tolerant, compassionate, courageous, righteous and shows a great love and respect for life. Great masters are understandably rare; they are more than worth their weight in gold.

RISKS OF SELF-LEARNING AND UNQUALIFIED TEACHING

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

Many people wrongly and unknowingly think that chi kung is just gentle physical exercise

Question

I am a teacher at a senor citizens’ home. After reading your book, “The Art of Chi Kung”, I decided to try it myself. I tried both the Moon and one of the other momvements to induce chi. I found nothing happening. The only thing that happened was that I started to fall forward as if I was loosing my balance. After two or three times like this I finally started to sway. I am not sure if I consciously started to sway or it was from the movement.

— Larry, USA

Answer by Grandmaster Wong Kiew Kit

It is difficult to tell from an e-mail description whether your reaction was due to induced chi flow, or due to your loss of balance, or due to your conscious attempt to sway. But even if your sway was due to chi flow, it did not necessarily mean you were practising chi kung. Chi kung is not merely swaying.

Question

I decided to try it in my class of 8. I had the class close their eyes and I said to them if they started to sway they were to go with it. (in accordance with the instructions in your book). Out of the 8 only one started to sway. Is this sway something that is consciously brought on, or is it just supposed to happen?
Answer

Yours is a typical example of how little knowledge and respect many Westerners have of chi kung. Many Westerners (and modern Easterners) think that they can just read from a book, try some exercises on their own, and then start teaching others. Especially if they are unemployed, they may continue teaching so-caled chi kung for a living, and after a few years they may call themselves, or others may call them, masters.

You have done yourself, your students and the art a great dis-service. You have not learnt or practised chi kung properly, yet you have started to teach others. This is unprofessional. You do not understand the effect chi flow has on your students, and despite my warning in my books that incorrect practice may lead to serious harmful effects, you have decided to try it on others. This is unehical.

The sway may or may not be brought on consciously. Whether it should or should not happen, depends on numerous factors. But swaying itself is not chi kung

Question

Also, I am very interested in your intensive courses on healing incurable diseases. However, financially it is impossible for me to travel to Malaysia. Are you planning by any chance to bring your classes to the United States, or can someone learn what you teach through a video? And do you have such videos available?
Answer

Merely being interested is far from sufficient. Before you think of becoming a healer or a teacher, be a student first. The large number of people, especially in the West, who imagine that they can become healers or masters, without having to make the minimum effort to learn and practise the art first, really amazes me.

I sometimes teach in the United States.

People may learn external forms from videos, but these are actually not what I teach in my chi kung or kungfu classes. What I actually teach in my chi kung classes are skills to manage energy, and in my kungfu classes skills for combat efficiency, internal force development and spiritual cultivation. Anyone who thinks that such skills can be learnt via videos do not know what chi kung or kungfu really is. Hence, I have not produced videos for the purpose of self-instructio

Question

I also had a lady whose heart started to beat fast after the exercises in your book. Does this have any significance, as she was starting to get a little nervous?
Answer

Luckily she did not collapse. Your unprofessional teaching could have killed her.

The heart starting to beat fast during a chi kung exercise may or may not be good. It depends on various factors. In my teachng, many students with serious heart problems had their heart beating very fast during their practice under my supervision. I had to be extremely careful, and observe them and their reactions closely.

On one occasion I was about to ask a student to slow down and stop when she exclaimed how wonderful she felt. She as well as the other students soon recovered from their illness. But a less experienced instructor might have killed them in similar situatons.

Teaching chi kung to those with heart problems must be done by a master. Even trained instructors may not be competent enough to handle students with serious heart problems. In such cases, it is best for the instructors not to teach these students.

To be a chi kung teacher calls for great responsibility

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The question and answer are reproduced from Questions 11 to 14 of the January 2000 Part 1 issue of the Question-Answer Series.

TO PROVE THAT QI IS REAL AND QIGONG NOT A FAKE HEALING ART

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

The Qigong Grandmaster, Dr Yan Xin of China

Question

Why will no masters come forward to conclusively prove once and for all that qi is real and that qi-gong is not a fake healing art. It seems to me a lot more Westerners would be willing to accept and try qi-gong if there was a demonstration, a scientifically designed study that conclusively demonstrated qi-gong’s effects.

— Paul, USA

Answer by Grandmaster Wong Kiew Kit

Numerous experiments were carried out under strict scientific conditions both inside China and outside which proved conclusively that qi is real, and that qigong, besides having other uses, is a genuine healing art.

For example, the Qing Hua University in Bejing, one of the most prestigious universities of China, conducted many experiments with the great qigong master, Yan Xin, which showed that qi is real and has measurable influences on matter. These scientific experiments were supervised by top Chinese scientists, including Professor Qian Xue Sen, the father of the Chinese rocket.

Numerous hospitals in China, particularly the People’s Hospital of Shanghai, conducted many scientific experiments which conclusively showed that practising qigong enables many patients to recover from their diseases.

Numerous scientific experiments were also conducted outside China. Dr Kenneth Sancier of the United States, whom I had the pleasure to meet at the Second World Qigong Congress in San Francisco in 1997, is a leader in this field, and he has tirelessly collected volumes of scientific reports on qigong, gallantly attempting to bring its wonderful benefits to the Western public.

At this Second World Qigong Congress, Professor Fang Li Da of China, a medical doctor trained at the world-famous Harvard School of Medicine, provided convincing evidence from her many years of research that practising qigong can overcome cancer. For her brilliant research, she was named “Qigong Research Scientist of the Year”.

There were many top scientists and qigong masters at this Second World Qigong Congress. A special committee edited the findings and reports of the Congress and submitted recommendations to relevant authorities at both the United States government and the United Nations Organization.

The question remains. Why is qigong not widely used to overcome diseases, especially so-called incurable diseases like cancer, cardio-vascular disorders, diabetes and asthma, against which qigong is said, in fact has been proven, to overcome?

There are many answers, and different people will give different answers according to their perspectives. To me, there are two important answers, the relevance of which may not be easily understood by the public. One, genuine qigong masters are basically qigong masters, not marketing experts. They do not have the means, or the interest, to let the world know of their abilities to cure illness. Two, marketing experts who are already enjoying handsome rewards for their effort, may not like qigong to disrupt the de facto situation.

At the International Congress for the Unity of Science held at Seoul in the year 2000 where Nobel Prize winners and top practitioners of their respective fields were invited, I was honoured to speak on qigong. Answering a request from the Congress committee on alternative medicine, I recommended a simple, direct yet scientific approach to test the effectiveness of qigong in overcoming so-called incurable diseases as follows.

Let a medical committee selects a group of patients with a so-called incurable disease. Also selects a control group. Let a genuine qigong master work with the group of patients for six months. Examine the health conditions of the patients at the start, the middle and the end of the six-month period using standard medical tests. Compare the results with the control group.

I knew my proposal was only an academic issue. As expected, no one has thought it worthwhile to implement the recommendation.

Grandmaster Wong Kiew Kit at the International Conference on the Unity of Sciences, Seoul 2000

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Reproduced from Question 1 in the July 2001 Part 3 issue of the Question-Answer Series.

SELECTION OF QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS MAY 2015 PART 2 – GRANDMASTER WONG KIEW KIT

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(reproduced from http://shaolin.org/answers/ans15a/may15-2.html)

All answers by my Sifu, Grandmaster Wong Kiew Kit

The northern Shaolin Temple. Picture taken from http://english.eastday.com/e/voy1/u1a4043498.html

Question 1

I have read your book, “The Art of Shaolin Kung Fu”, numerous times, reading parts of it before attending a Shaolin wushu academy in China and rereading the whole book numerous times while I stayed there.

— Namir, USA

Answer

Many people have kindly commented that my book, “The Art of Shaolin Kung Ku”, greatly inspired them in their practice. The book will show you, amongst other benefits, the philosophy and purpose of practicing Shaolin Kungfu, but you need to learn from competent teachers the skills of applying the techniques mentioned in the book to get desirable results.

Question 2

I should have heeded your warning with more tenacity, that if a Shaolin master gets angry easily, he is not a true Shaolin master; and that if a Shaolin master is reluctant to teach genuine kung fu sparring and instructs to use gloves during sparring (we only sparred during Sanda class), and if he focuses only on performing forms instead of applying them, then he is not a true and genuine master.

Answer

Your observation is exact. The three suggestions I gave — namely, not getting angry easily, using kungfu techniques in sparring, applying forms and not just performing them — provide an excellent way to tell whether an instructor is teaching genuine Shaolin Kungfu.

The southern Shaolin Temple. Picture taken from http://www.chinauniquetour.com/arts.asp?id=1343

Question 3

My first thoughts were whether they were really Shaolin monks?

Answer

Honestly, I don’t like to state it publicly, but despite my dislike, when faced with a sincere seeker asking me for an answer, I choose to tell the truth. Many of the so-called Shaolin “monks” were accomplished wushu practitioners recruited by a clever German entrepreneur to act as Shaolin monks by shaving their hair and putting on a monk’s robe to tour the West to demonstrate wushu as Shaolin Kungfu. Many of these “monks” remained in the West to teach wushu as Shaolin Kungfu.

We must be fair to these “monks”. They never claimed to teach traditional Shaolin Kungfu, though some of them claimed to be successors to the Shaolin Temple, which I find misleading. They may, or may not, have learnt Zen or other Buddhist teachings from a genuine Shaolin monk (who probably did not practice traditional Shaolin Kungfu), but to imply that the wushu they teach is a succession of traditional Shaolin Kungfu in the past is grossly misleading.

Some Shaolin “monks” may not know the following historical facts. The Shaolin Temple in Henan, which these “monks” claimed lineage from, was not burnt by the Qing army. This northern Shaolin Temple remained throughout the Qing Dynasty, and was burnt only in 1928, i.e. 17 years after the Chinese Republic had overthrown the Qing Dynasty, by rival warlords using guns and cannons, with nothing to do with kungfu fighting. Before this burning, including during the later part of the Qing Dynasty for about a hundred years, the northern Shaolin Temple in Henan was deserted, with no kungfu or chi kung practiced there.

The burning of the Shaolin Temple, which is well known in kungfu circles, occurred in the southern Shaolin Temple. Not many people know that there were two southern Shaolin Temples, and both were burnt to the ground by the Qing army in the 1850s.

During the Ming Dynasty, which existed before the Qing Dynasty, an emperor built another Shaolin Temple in the south in the city of Quanzhou in Fujian Province, and moved the status of imperial temple from the northern to the southern Temple. When the Qing Dynasty replaced the Mong Dynasty, some Ming generals retreated to the southern Shaolin Temple at Quanzhou and plotted to overthrow the Qing.

The Qing emperor, Yong Cheng, who infiltrated into the Temple as a monk, ordered the burning of the Shaolin Temple at Quanzhou with the help of Lama experts from Tibet with their infamous flying guillotines.

The Venerable Chee Seen escaped to the Nine-Lotus Mountain, also in Fujian Province, and built a second southern Shaolin Temple. Unlike in the earlier Shaolin Temples, most of Chee Seen’s disciples were laypersons, like Hoong Hei Koon, Lok Ah Choy and Fong Sai Yoke. This southern Shaolin Temple on Nine-Lotus Mountain was also burnt to the ground by the Qing army, led by Pak Mei.

Question 4

Then I proceeded to learn fitness exercises and always asked when were we going to learn to use the moves we learned in forms?

Answer

Wushu practitioners pay much attention to fitness exercises similar to Western gymnastic exercises. This is quite different from traditional Shaolin training which pay attention to energy exercises based on chi or energy flow.

Unfortunately, these fitness exercises make practitioners fit, but may not be healthy. There is a saying amongst wushu practitioners that they have to win trophies before 20. After 20 they have endured so much injury that they have to become coaches.

A wushu demonstration taken from http://wushuadventures.com/want-to-train-wushu-in-hong-kong/

Question 5

Communication with my teacher there was next to impossible. With or without a translator, I could not discuss my training with him.

To tell you the truth, I feel very wronged that I spent a year in China and my teacher has probably never been taught how to kung fu spar himself, and therefore he could not teach me. I was naive and thought that if they are from the Shaolin Temple then they know Kung Fu comprehensively.

Answer

Lack of communication is actually a norm, even with genuine masters. Not only there is a language problem, they also believe in a doctrine of no questions. Students only practice what they are told to. We in Shaolin Wahnam is a rare exception.

You time in China is not wasted. You have learnt genuine Shaolin forms, but as wushu and not as traditional Shaolin Kungfu. The forms are similar. When you learn internal force and combat application from us in Shaolin Wahnam, you will be able to convert your wushu to traditional Shaolin Kungfu.

Question 6

While I was there, I made the most of it. Your book inspired me to train Ma Bu. When I arrived the students did three minutes of Ma Bu twice per week. I thought that was a joke. And you say in your book five minutes is the minimum. So drawing inspiration from your book when I did not get any from the teacher, I trained Ma Bu all year, and could hold it for 80 minutes at the end. I still train it

Answer

Mabu, or stance training, is the foundation of kungfu, expecially building internal force.

But it is not easy to practice stance training correctly. Many people practice it as an endurance exercise, which is a big mistake. Its secret, which I discovered after more than 30 years, is relaxation.

Remaining at a stance for 80 minutes, regardless of whether you have practiced it correctly or wrongly, is a remarkable achievement. Even if you had practiced wrongly, it is a testimony to your diligence and endurance. If you have practiced correctly, though not necessarily perfectly, you would have developed tremendous internal force.

Lifting the Sky

Question 7

You book discussed the spiritual aspects of Shaolin Kung Fu; I was very attracted to that, but after spending time amongst these supposedly temple-trained monks, I got less spiritual. I felt more dull training with gloves. The students at the school grow more and more troublesome, angry, and stupid instead of less as your book suggested proper training should do.

Answer

It is worthwhile to note that “spiritual” is not the same as “religious”. Shaolin Kungfu and any kungfu are spiritual, but not religious. Practitioners develop their spirit besides their physical body, i.e. they become peaceful, happy and mentally fresh besides being healthy and full of vitality. You are right: becoming troublesome, angry and dull are certainly becoming less spiritual.
Editorial Note: Namir’s other questions will be continued at May 2015 Part 3 issue of the Question-Answer Series.

Question 8

Recently I started practicing the pushing sky qigong exercise from your book and have gotten good results. Thank you very much for sharing these wonderful arts.

Although I practiced qigong for several years, the chi sensations were more localized in certain parts of my body. The pushing sky exercise produces soothing chi sensations that lasts throughout the day and is more spread out on the entire body.

I have applied for and will be attending your Intensive Chi Kung exercise in December to properly learn the skills.

Meanwhile, I do have a question and seek you advice:

Currently I am training for a fitness test, one of which requires me to run 2.4 km in a certain amount of time (13 minutes is the passing mark for my age group)

Although I had been able to pass the running test in past years, it had always been very straining. As i get older, it has become harder and always at the risk of injuries or becoming sick due to over-training.

I realize that this is not the way to train long-term, but am at a loss on how to approach it. When I try to run within comfortable limits, the timing is often not fast enough to pass the test. I wonder if you could advise on how to systematically train to run faster with endurance, without over-exerting myself?

— Gabriel, Singapore

Answer

Congratulations for having good results with “Lifting the Sky”. I am glad you will attend the Intensive Chi Kung Course in December. Many people are amazed at the wonderful results of the course though it is only for a few days.

Applying chi kung for running or any activity without panting for breath and without feeling tired will be one of these benefits. But meanwhile you can try the following exercise.

Performing “Lifting the Sky” about 20 to 30 times. Then stand upright and be relaxed. If the chi starts to flow, relax and enjoy the flow. If there is no chi flow, it does not matter. After a short period (about 3 to 5 minutes) of enjoying your chi flow or standing still, start running, first slowly then quite fast. Do not tense your muscles in you running, but let your chi flow, which may or may not manifested outwardly, do the running for you. You don’t have to know how your chi flow do the running, but just have a gentle thought that it does the running for you.

Do not worry about your breathing, just breathe normally. In case your breathing starts to become fast, breathe out gently and keep your breathing slow. In this way you will find that you can complete your fitness test quick easily.

THE TYPE OF STUDENTS GENUINE MASTERS WANT

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

Kungfu masters teach kungfu, not enlightenment

Question

It has been a while since I have been in search of a teacher that I feel I would become a great student from. I have visited your website and I am very interested in learning from you. I am so determined that I am willing to travel to Malaysia. Basically I need a fresh start in life and I have come to the revelation that this in the only way I am to find the path of greatness that I have been longing for

— Konrad, USA

Editorial Note: The student also mentioned in later questions (not reproduced here) that he had no money and he was seeking for enlightenment.

Answer by Grandmaster Wong Kiew Kit

Many people have written to me with requests similar to yours. Basically they have the following points in common.

They are sincere in their requests.
They want to be enlightened.
They want to save the world, or at least teach others what they set out to learn.
They think they are the kind of students masters should accept, if not it would be to the masters’ great loss.
They want to be taught according to the ways they like.

The above is the perspective of many young people in the West aspiring to be masters one day. They would benefit much from knowing the typical perspective of Eastern masters whom they wish to learn from. The masters’ perspective is as follows.

Sincerity is a pre-requisite, but there are other required qualities like determination, perseverance, diligence and ready to make sacrifice. Most students say they have these qualities, and honestly think they have, but actually they don’t. Masters have many ways to test them.
Kungfu and chi kung masters do not claim to teach enlightenment. They will ask you to seek enlightenment somewhere else. Almost all these students have no idea of what enlightenment is. Thinking that they can be enlightened in a few months, or even in a few years, is one clear indication of their ignorance.
Telling a master that you want to teach others before you even have learnt what you intend to teach, is a clear indication that you are so ignorance about the art and its tradition, as well as so ignorant about the long and difficult task ahead just to become a good student. You also suggest that you are arrogant, for which the masters know you will not make a good student.But it is different if you mention that you know the way is long and difficult, but you are willing to work hard, and you hope that one day you may prove to be worthy of your master’s teaching, and with his blessings you may teach others.
It often amazes me why so many people, especially in the West, seem to think that just because they want to learn, a master must teach them. Most masters are not interested to teach. Some of them may not want others to know they are masters.To many genuine masters, becoming a master is a by-product! They have trained hard for many years, not because they aimed to become a master and then teach the world, but because they wanted to be healthy, full of vitality, live long lives, mentally fresh, and have spiritual joy. They are acknowledged as masters not because they teach others, but because they have mastered the methods leading to these benefits.
A master has spent many, many years mastering his art. He knows better than you what, how and when to teach. Therefore, you learn according to his terms, not according to yours.I have mentioned a few times that those who wish to learn Shaolin Kungfu or Taijiquan from me, the best course of action is, after being familiar with basic Shaolin or Taijiquan forms, to attend my intensive courses.
But some people told me, albeit politely, “No, the best for me is to study with you for a few years, during which time you provide me with food and lodging, and in return I work for you.”

In essence they were suggesting I was not sincere in my statement about the intensive courses, and that they know better than me how to teach them. They should therefore seek another master. Such students also imply, unreasonably and selfishly, that masters have nothing better to do, but to make them masters.

An Intensive Shaolin Kungfu Course in Sabah

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The question and answer are reproduced from Question 9 of the May 2001 Part 1 issue of the Question-Answer Series.

HOW CHINESE MEDICAL PHILOSOPHY CAN ENHANCE WESTERN MEDICAL PRACTICE

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(reproduced from http://shaolin.org/answers/sp-issues/chinese-medical-philosophy.html)

Harmonious energy flow results in yin-yang harmony which means good health and happiness in Western terms.

Question

Western medicine kills 250,000 people per year and is the third leading cause of death in the United States. Death caused by Western doctors has been called iatrogenocide. Ignoring this fact, many Chinese doctors want to integrate Western and Chinese medicine. Do you think that Chinese and Western medicine should be integrated or combined into a single system?

— Marcus, USA

Answer by Grandmaster Wong Kiew Kit

I admire your brave and honest statement, made with sincerity and hope that something could be done to overcome a big problem facing modern societies regarding health and illness.

To me this situation is pathetic on two points. One, traditional Chinese medical philosophy and practice can be used to overcome this big problem of numerous so-called incurable, and sometimes fatal, diseases facing modern societies, but this is not being done due to ignorance, prejudice or vested interest.

Two, instead of introducing traditional Chinese medical philosophy and practice into modern societies to overcome this urgent problem, even those in a position to do so are turning to conventional Western medicine. In China, for example, there were hospitals where traditional Chinese medicine and conventional Western medicine were offered side by side on an equal footing, and patients could choose which medical system to use.

But the trend now is that traditional Chinese medicine is becoming a secondary system, with traditional Chinese physicians fearing that they would be phrased out eventually. Most decision makers in hospitals as well as in governmental health care bodies are trained in Western medicine. Against such a background, your question becomes the more important.

Many people, including most Western trained doctors and some mediocre traditional Chinese physicians, view health and medicine from only one perspective, and it is usually the Western medical perspective. In practical terms it means that if a Western doctor who is sympathetic to traditional Chinese medicine, could not overcome a particular disease, he may look for a traditional Chinese medical method, such as acupuncture or herbs, to treat the disease. To most people, this is only logical. This is because most people view health and medicine from only one perspective, the Western medical perspective.

On the other hand, when a Chinese physician treats his patient, he may take his patients’ temperature and blood pressure, and recommends Western medical drugs in his treatment. This is often regarded as an improvement, and the Chinese physicians is regarded as more advanced than his traditional counterparts who do not know how to use Western medical instruments.

Such enterprising Western doctors and Chinese physicians may be successful in individual cases, but for Western medicine as well as traditional Chinese medicine as a whole, it is not a good development. The reason is that Western medicine and traditional Chinese medicine employ different paradigms and methods which are often incompatible. Hence, Chinese medicine and Western medicine should not be integrated or combined into a single system. This does not mean that they cannot work together. They can work together side by side, but they cannot work together as an integrated, single system.

Suppose you live on a river bank and you wish to travel to the river mouth. You can reach your destination by car or by boat, but you cannot use your car as a boat or your boat as a car. You may, if desirable, make part or parts of your journey by car, and part or parts of your journey by boat, consecutively or in any order, but you cannot drive your car on the river or sail your boat on the road.

This gives a rough idea of the incompatibility of integrating Chinese and Western medicine into a single system. In your effort to help a patient make the journey from illness to recovery, you may, if desirable, make part or parts of the journey using Chinese medicine, and part or parts of the journey using Western medicine, but not using Chinese and Western medicine as an integrated, single system. This can’t be done simply because Chinese medicine and Western medicine use totally different philosophies and approaches.

Take for example a patient suffering from an illness that Western medicine calls high blood pressure. Western doctors define the illness from its symptoms. Thus, to overcome the illness, doctors overcome the high blood pressure. This is normally done by taking drugs to dilate the blood vessels which will them reduce the pressure of blood flowing through them. Western doctors are satisfied with this treatment because from their perspective they have done their job, i.e. lowering the patient’s blood pressure. But for the development of medicine, this is unsatisfactory because the treatment only eliminates the symptoms but not the illness.

An enterprising Western doctor employing Chinese medicine as an integrated system, may incorporate Chinese therapeutic methods like herbs and acupuncture (if they are permitted by their medical authorities to do so). But this is also unsatisfactory because actually he is still using the Western system although he substitutes herbs or acupuncture for pharmaceutical drugs. Basically, his attempt is still eliminating symptoms, and not the illness itself, although the therapeutic agents he now uses are herbs and acupuncture.

Chinese medicine operates in a different paradigm. In Chinese medicine an illness is defined not by its symptoms, but by the patient’s reaction to disease causing agents. Often it may not be necessary to know what the disease causing agents are! This fact may appear ridiculous to those who only view illness from the Western medical perspective, but paradoxically it is one of the crucial differences between Chinese and Western medicine that will help Western medicine to overcome its present impasse.

In traditional Chinese medicine, a high blood pressure patient will not be described as suffering from high blood pressure! The description depends on his reaction against known or unknown disease causing agents, and in this case it is usually “rising yang energy from the liver”. In other words, a patient described by Western doctors as suffering from high blood pressure, is likely to be described by traditional Chinese physicians as suffering from “rising yang energy from the liver”. The crucial difference is that “high blood pressure” is a symptom, whereas “rising yang energy from the liver” is the cause of the illness.

When Western doctors succeed in eliminating “high blood pressure”, they eliminate the symptom, but the illness remains. When Chinese physicians succeed in eliminating “rising yang energy from the liver”, they eliminate the cause, and the illness disappears.

There are different ways to eliminate “high blood pressure” and “rising yang energy from the liver”. In their historical development, Western doctors have found pharmaceutical drugs useful for eliminating “high blood pressure”, whereas Chinese physicians have found herbs, acupuncture, massage, chi kung and other means useful for eliminating “rising yang energy from the liver”.

The use of pharmaceutical drugs, herbs, acupuncture, etc are means, whereas “eliminating high blood pressure” and “eliminating rising yang energy from the liver” are principles. People often identify a medical system by its means, and seldom by its principles.

In my opinion, while both are important, principles are more important than means. Principles come first, means follow. When we have decided on the principles, we find the means to realize the principles.

The impasse faced by Western medicine today, I believe, is that many of its therapeutic principles may not be valid. In the example of high blood pressure above, Western medicine mistakes the symptom for the disease. Thus, although the means are excellent, the disease still cannot be cured because the therapeutic principle is faulty.

Another example is the case of SARS. The principle underlying research today in finding a cure for SARS is that if doctors understand the SARS virus they can cure patients of SARS. In my opinion, this principle may not be valid. If out of 100 persons infected with the virus, 98 of them could overcome it, the problem lies not with the virus but with the 2 persons who succumb. The question then is not how the virus kills people, but why the 2 persons could not overcome the virus when the other 98 could. The onus of the research, therefore, should be on the patients, rather than on the virus.

Research scientists could ask “What went wrong in the natural working of the two persons who succumb to the virus?” In other words, the Chinese physician attempts to find out the patient’s conditions in relation to the disease causing agents. If, for example, the patient’s condition is “weakening of the lung system”, by strengthening the lung systems by appropriate therapeutic means the Chinese physician can help the patient recover.

As shown in the two examples above, due to the different philosophy between Chinese and Western medicine, these two systems cannot be integrated into a single system. The greatest contribution Chinese medicine can make towards Western medicine, I believe, is its philosophy.

According to traditional Chinese medical philosophy, a person becomes ill because one or more of his natural systems are not working properly. If we restore the natural working of these systems, the patient will recover as a matter of course. Therefore, the onus of medicine — in diagnosis, pathology, therapeutic, research, etc — should be on the patient, finding out what went wrong inside him due to the influence of outside factors, and not on the outside factors like cholesterol and virus that cause the changes inside him.

Doctors can apply Western medical practice to implement Chinese medical philosophy

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The question and answer are reproduced from Question 1 of the May 2003 Part 1 issue of the Question-Answer Series.

LOOKING AT DISEASES FROM THE CHINESE MEDICAL PERSPECTIVE

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

It may sound ridiculous to many people but according to the chi kung perspective all diseases are caused by energy blockage. Hence, when the blockage is cleared the patient will regain health as a matter of course. High-level chi kung is excellent to generate chi flow to clear blockage.

Question

Further tests and detail examination have failed to identify a correctable cause for my patient’s illness. Sifu’s reply is indeed very much welcome and has restored our hope in helping him.

— Dr Lim, Malaysia

Answer by Grandmaster Wong Kiew Kit

I have many successful cases of helping patients to recover from diseases where conventional medicine could not identify the cause or site. This in fact is common.

If the cause or site of a disease can be identified, and if a remedy is available, conventional medicine is usually more effective, or at least speedier. But when the cause or site is unknown, chi kung provides an excellent alternative.

You would probably have read my explanation on why chi kung can succeed in overcoming such diseases when conventional medicine may not. Nevertheless, I shall explain it again here.

From the Chinese medical perspective, there is only one disease, called yin-yang disharmony. There may be countless symptoms, and conventional medicine names the disease, or its many manifestations, according to its symptoms.

Chinese medicine also names the various manifestations of the one disease, but the names are given not according to its symptoms but to its cause according to Chinese medical philosophy. Hence, while conventional medicine calls such disease manifestations as high blood pressure and bronchitis, traditional Chinese medicine calls them as “rising yang energy from the liver” and “excessive heat in the lungs”.

This difference of perspective gives traditional Chinese medicine a big edge over conventional medicine. When the cause of a disorder cannot be determined, or when there is no known remedy as in the case of viral infections, conventional medicine is quite helpless. It is not a question of conventional medicine being less effective; it is a situation where conventional medicine becomes a victim of its philosophical limitation.

Basically the therapeutic principle in conventional medicine is to define the disorder according to its cause, then prescribe the appropriate remedy. Such a philosophy works well when the cause is known and where a remedy is available. But when the cause is unknown or where a remedy is unavailable, treatment becomes impossible according to this philosophy.

Such problems become irrelevant in traditional Chinese medical philosophy. This is because traditional Chinese medicine (1) defines a disorder by its cause, and (2) all causes are correctable as their reference points involve the known conditions of the patient’s body. The following example may make this philosophical discussion clearer.

Suppose a patient suffering from what in conventional medicine would be referred to as high blood pressure, consults a traditional Chinese physician. After a thorough diagnosis, the physician concludes that his patient suffers from “rising yang energy from the liver”.

Why does he call the disorder “rising yang energy from the liver”? The answer is straight-forward. He finds yang energy rising from his patient’s liver. Had his finding been different, say excessive dampness in his patient’s stomach or insufficient heat in his patient’s gall bladder, he would define the disorder as “excessive dampness in the stomach” or “insufficient heat in the gall bladder”.

Now, when a disorder is defined as high blood pressure, a conventional doctor only knows the symptoms of the disorder; he has no clue to what the cause is or what a possible remedy can be. Hence, he does his best according to his philosophy and training, which is to relieve the high blood pressure.

High blood pressure is actually not the disorder, it is only the symptom of the disorder. The patient therefore has to take medication for life.

When a disorder is defined as “rising yang energy from the liver”, or “excessive dampness in the stomach” or “insufficient heat in the gall bladder”, a traditional Chinese physician knows exactly what the cause of the disorder is and how to remedy it. If he can lower his patient’s rising yang energy at the liver, or reduce dampness at the patient’s stomach, or increase heat at the patient’s gall bladder”, his patient will recover. The physician can achieve these objectives with the use of herbs, acupuncture, massage, chi kung exercises or other means.

Hence there is no such a thing as an incurable disease in traditional Chinese medical philosophy. One major objective in my writing “The Complete Book of Chinese Medicine” is to convey this philosophy to conventional medical scientists, in the hope that it may help them to overcome their present philosophical limitation.

This point is not generally realized. Most conventional doctors today interested in traditional Chinese medicine, only seek to borrow suitable therapeutic techniques from traditional Chinese medicine, such as what herbs, acupuncture points or chi kung exercises may be useful to overcome what disorders. They do not usually appreciate that major break-throughs in conventional medicine can be made by overcoming their philosophical limitation in viewing disease.

There is, however, a big problem traditional Chinese physicians have to face, that is, their diagnosis must be accurate. If their diagnosis is incorrect, such as mistaking “excessive fire in the liver” to be “rising yang energy from the liver”, their treatment logically would be wrong.

Hence, I believe medicine is more of an art than a science. It is the skill of a doctor or therapist in making right judgment and winning the patient’s confidence that are often more crucial than the knowledge of anatomy and pathology he has.

Chi kung does not even have this one big problem. There is no need for diagnosis in chi kung! This is simply because chi kung works on the most fundamental level, the level of energy flow. Other medical or healing systems work on higher levels.

When we define a disorder as high blood pressure or “rising yang energy from the liver”, for example, we operate at the levels of organs or systems. From the chi kung perspective, whatever factors that cause high blood pressure or “rising yang energy from the liver” are intermediate factors. The ultimate factor or cause of disorder is disrupted energy flow.

In other words, to a conventional doctor or a Chinese physician, his patient may have taken too much alcohol or has been exposed to too much anger. Due to his excessive alcohol or anger, he has high blood pressure or “rising yang energy from the liver”.

To a chi kung master, the excessive alcohol or anger may (or may not) have caused the high blood pressure or “rising yang energy from the liver”. But as a result his energy flow is disrupted.

It actually does not matter if the cause of the patient’s disorder may not be alcohol or anger but something else. It is also not relevant, according to this chi kung perspective, whether the patient has high blood pressure, “rising yang energy from his liver”, “excessive dampness in his stomach”, viral attack in his spleen, certain chemicals lacking in his system, or other pathogenic factors. All these are intermediate causes. The crucial point is that one, some or all of these intermediate causes result in his energy flow being disrupted.

In other words, a chi kung master has only one consideration, that is, whether the energy flow in his patients or students is harmonious. Harmonious energy flow is a Chinese medical jargon. In simple language it means the energy that flows to all the cells, tissues, organs and systems is making all the cells, tissues, organs and systems working the way they are supposed to work.

This energy flow may be interrupted by intermediate factors like excessive alcohol, anger, virus, inadequate chemical supplies, etc and the disruption or blockage may occur at the liver, blood system, a minute cell deep inside the body, or anywhere else. But irrespective of the intermediate causes and sites, once the energy flow is restored to be harmonious, all the cells, tissues, organs and systems will work the way they are supposed to work, which means the person will regain his good health.

How does the energy flow know the blockage is at the liver and not at the stomach, or in one particular cell or not in another? It is a natural characteristic of energy flow, like water flow, to flow from high levels to low levels. Areas of energy blockage are areas of low or no energy levels. If one practices chi kung sufficiently and regularly, energy flow will clear all areas of blockage, starting with the most serious areas (lowest or no energy levels), then the next, and so on.

This takes time, and the energy flow generated must be adequate. This explains that chi kung is not suitable for acute illness, but excellent for chronic disorders where the cause or sites may not be known.

Practicing chi kung and kungfu generates a lot of chi flow. Hence chi kung and kungfu practitioners exemplify good health.

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The question and answer are reproduced from Question 1 of the January 2005 Part 2 issue of the Question-Answer Series.

FOUR VERSIONS OF SHAOLIN KUNGFU, OR ANY KUNGFU

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

The fundamental purpose of practicing Shaolin Kungfu is combat efficiency

Question

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

— Ernando, Brazil

Answer by Grandmaster Wong Kiew Kit

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The highest attainment of Shaolin Kungfu is spiritual fulfillment

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

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

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

Internal force provides charisma

Question 1

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

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

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

— Stephen Chang, USA

Answer

Thank you for your kind works.

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

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

The following aspects increase one’s charisma:

Good health and vitality.
Confident posture.
Assuring voice.
Benefit and interest.
Sincerity.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Lifting the Sky
Pushing Mountain
Reverse Hanging of Double Hooks
One-finger Shooting Zen
Three-Circle Stance
Golden Bridge
Lifting Water
Grasping Sparrow’s Tail
Triple Stretch
Iron Wire

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

You may also apply the following specific techniques:

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

Question 2

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

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

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

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

— Paul, Ireland

Answer

Your experiences are not uncommon with some of our students.

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

Don’t worry.
Don’t intellectualize.
Enjoy your practice.

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

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

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

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

Xingyiquan at UK Summer Camp

Question 3

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

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

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

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

— Tim, Belgium

Answer

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

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

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

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

This is also the reason why many Chinese dare not train internal arts. They are afraid of deviation, which is given a frightening name in the Chinese language, namely â€œchow fo yap moreâ€, or â€œescaping of fire and entering of monsterâ€.

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

Question 4

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

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

Answer

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

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

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

Tim performing the Drunken Eight Immortals

Question 5

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

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

Answer

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

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

Question 6

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

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

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

Answer

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

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

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

Explode Force of Zhang San Feng

Question 7

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

Answer

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Question 8

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

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

Answer

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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