OVERVIEW OF QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS SERIES
January to June 2004

January February March April May June

January

January 2004 (Part 1)

Sifu Wong and Sifu Kai

If you practice genuine chi kung, even if it is of a low level, you will definitely experience chi. The difference is that in low level chi kung, you may take months or years to have some feeling of chi, whereas in high level chi kung you can have a tremendous chi experience after a few days or weeks.

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January 2004 (Part 2)

Kungfu Sparring

The ability to think well is enhanced when the mind is clear. Have you ever wondered what is actually meant when we say “the mind is clear”? It means the mind is cleared of all thoughts. When the mind has been cleared of all thoughts, we bring forth the one thought in question and focus on it. This is attaining a one-pointed mind, which means the mind is cleared of all irrelevant thoughts.

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January 2004 (Part 3)

Internal Force

At that time he was just about 10 years old, at an age when breaking a brick with physical strength was impossible. He used internal force and an appropriate technique. The brick was genuine, and there were no tricks. It was not a public demonstration, but a private test to confirm his internal force.

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February

February 2004 (Part 1)

Meditation

Zen meditation is quite different. It aims at non-thought. Since the phenomenal world is the result of thoughts, if a cultivator attains non-thought he breaks down the phenomenal world and attains transcendental reality, which is Enlightenment.

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February 2004 (Part 2)

Golden Bell

You are right to say that in kungfu training there is nothing like the bond between a teacher and his pupil. Unless you are already proficient in kungfu, it is difficult, but not impossible, to learn from a book. Subtle points like how to adjust your body weight and how to exert force, need to be explained and demonstrated by a living teacher. But if you have some kungfu foundation, a good book can be very useful. It enables you to learn from a master who may be far away from you in time and space. Often a good book also presents the instructional material in a more coherent and systematic manner.

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February 2004 (Part 3)

Taijiquan Sparring

A physical exercise will deplete your energy. But an energy exercise is different, it increases your energy. In other words, when you perform any physical exercise, you have less energy after the exercise, but when you practice a genuine chi kung exercise, you have more energy at the end of the exercise than at the beginning. Hence, if you practice “Lifting the Sky” consistently, you will have more strength.

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March

March 2004 (Part 1)

Uncle Righteousness and Sifu Wong

In our philosophy, we aim for the best, and are ready to work very hard to get it. In all our endeavor, we are both honorable and charitable. But if we fail to get what we want, we will not be angry, sad or depressed. We make the best of what is available.

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March 2004 (Part 2)

Anthony Korahais

The most valuable part of my teaching is heart to heart transmission. This is especially crucial in high level arts. Heart to heart transmissions are of varying levels and may be effected in different ways. For example, when I notice that chi flow is about to break through some emotional blockage of a student, but he is holding back the emotion, I may, depending on the need of the moment, coax him or shout at him to let go. As he lets go, he may cry like a baby. I would then say, “Very good. Carry on.”

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March 2004 (Part 3)

Combat Application

We rehearse preferred responses to particular attacks many, many times before putting them into combat application. If an opponent attacks us with a right Bruce Lee kick, for example, we would not think, “Now which technique from my repertoire I should use to counter this kick”, but spontaneously move our right leg diagonally forward and strike his groin with our left fist using the Wahnam Taijiquan pattern “Bend Bow to Shoot Tiger” if we want to be nasty, or squat down and grip his left knee with our left tiger-claw using the Shaolin pattern “Catch Tiger in Mountain” if we “let mercy flow from our hands”.

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April

April 2004 (Part 1)

Free Sparring

Why are you too slow? And why can't you use the kungfu techniques that you perform in solo forms? The reason is that your free sparring has been haphazard and unmethodological. After 10 years of free sparring you may not be more efficient than when you were in your first year!

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April 2004 (Part 2)

Free Sparring

If a person tenses his muscles, emotions and mind once a while, as in executing punches with mechanical strength, it is alright. The resultant harm is negligible and can be cleared away by his normal chi flow. But if he tenses them habitually, the accumulated harm over time can be substantial, and may cause physical, emotional or mental disorders, such as allergies, aggression and dull thinking. Usually he or his doctor may not realize the cause of the disorders was habitual tension.

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April 2004 (Part 3)

Shaolin Sparring

Similarly, if he wants to have a happy family, he should abstain from the desire of wanting to have illicit sexual experiences with different women, or of spending all his time and money for himself and not providing for his wife and children. Again it is not a moral issue, as different cultures may hold different values. It is a practical issue. From repeated practical experiences, it has been found that if a man indulges in illicit sex or does not provide for his wife and children, he would not have a happy family.

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May

May 2004 (Part 1)

Satori

A few persons had satori, which is a Zen term meaning spiritual awakening. For example, Piti, who is a Shaolin Wahnam qigong instructor as well as a trainer for top business executives, experienced an “internal explosion” with bright lights radiating out from “inside” his “body”, though he found he had no physical body but that his spirit was expanding into Cosmic Reality. In Christian terms, in that timeless moment, he was uniting with God. He told us he was filled with tremendous peace and joy. In our school, Shaolin Wahnam, we normally do not ask about a person's religion, but I think Piti is Christian. Such experiences are not uncommon in our classes.

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May 2004 (Part 2)

Satori

The results of the courses have been extraordinarily amazing. Many students, many of whom are Christians, with tears in their eyes have openly expressed their deep gratitude, describing their deeply spiritual experiences while enjoying chi flow or meditation. In Zen terms, they have had satori, or spiritual awakening. In Christian terms, they have been in touch with God. Please don't have the wrong impression that my students are hippie-type of persons. In fact, many of them are leaders in business or professions.

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May 2004 (Part 3)

Emiko Hsuein

You are correct to say that you reflect the attacker's own energy back onto him. You can also channel your own internal force along his attacking arm to shake him up to show your superior internal force so that he may gracefully retreat, or if necessary channel your internal force into his chest to let him have a sensation of an invisible palm strike. Your own arm and the opponent's arm are “bridges”, along which your internal force travels to strike him.

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June

June 2004 (Part 1)

Shaolin Wushu

Wushu practitioners realize that both what they practice and what the modern Shaolin monks teach are wushu, yet the two look different, and they cannot define the difference because they do not realize that the difference is in the sets. They practice newly invented standardized sets as wushu, whereas modern Shaolin monks teach traditional sets as wushu. Although the forms are different, they know that both are the same as both are wushu, and not traditional kungfu, but they cannot define what actually is the same. The answer is that both are sports, and not really fighting arts.

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June 2004 (Part 2)

Huo Yuan Jia

The possibility of these arts disappearing from the earth is real. Today, world known Shaolin masters whom the world look up to as authority, teach Boxing and Kickboxing for combat, and world known Taijiquan masters publicly declare that there is no such a thing as internal force, and they advocate fighting like animals. One can easily confirm these facts by surfing the internet. The great majority of the leaders as well as ordinary members of national and international organizations of these arts practice them as external exercises devoid of their essence. When governmental bodies or the interested public wish to have information of these arts, they will understandably approach these organizations for advice and direction.

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June 2004 (Part 3)

Baguazhang Combat Applications

Although there are similarities, the objectives of my Intensive Chi Kung (Qigong) Course and of my Intensive Kungfu (Gongfu) Courses are different. The chi kung course provides participants with fundamental skills and techniques to relax, attain a one-pointed mind, and generate energy flow for health and vitality. The kungfu course provides participants with fundamental skills to develop internal force and to use typical kungfu patterns for combat.

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