Sifu Wong Kiew Kit's Home Page

Questions-Answers Series

June 2006 (Part 1)

SELECTION OF QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

Question 1

Answer

I am sorry to hear of your condition, but the good news is that practicing high level chi kung, like what is practiced in our school Shaolin Wahnam, not only overcomes your health problem but give your other wonderful benefits which you may not even have dreamt possible.

Actually your condition is not as bad as many of my students before they practiced our chi kung. Some of our students were told by their doctors that they were going to die (which is a cruel and shocking thing to tell any person), some couldn't walk on their own, and some considered committing suicide. But they all had one thing in common — they all wanted to get well and were ready to work hard for it. A few unfortunately died; their illness was beyond a threshold for recovery, but most of them not only recovered but are enjoying life. Even at the time before they were sick, they never imagined life could be so good.

I particularly remember an inspiring statement a student from Austria told me. He said other people would think him crazy but he really was grateful that he had cancer because it led him to learn chi kung from me, which in turn resulted in greatly enriching his life. He now found time to walk in the garden and admire the beauty of nature, and his family became very close to him — not that he did not love his family as much earlier but he spent most of his time attending conferences and meeting clients.

And he told me that, before he fully recovered from cancer. He told me at that time he was 80% cured and he knew complete recovery was a matter of course, but it really did not matter because life was already so beautiful.

You want to get well but you do not want to work for it. You want a master to come to your house and teach you for free, and preferably make you well by patting you on your shoulder.

Even the obviously low level chi kung you do, which you probably learned from books or an ordinary instructor, is giving you some result. Imagine how much learning high level chi kung from a master or a competent instructor can benefit you. There are many certified Shaolin Wahnam instructors in your country. Check up this List of Certified Instructors for their contact particulars. You have to go to them to learn. You can't expect them to do chi kung for you to help you recover while you remain in your house.

Your health problems are actually simple from the chi kung perspective, although conventional Western medicine may not have any solutions at present because the concept of energy is not found in its present stage of development. And energy flow is the core of your problems. You are sick, physically and psychologically, because there is much blockage in your energy flow. Once you clear your blockage, you will not only be healthy, but also happy and full of vitality for work and play. High level chi kung is excellent for clearing energy blockage.

Question 2

Answer

I do not know about the “Rubbing Palm”. The “Red Shot Palm” you mentioned is probably the “Red Sand Palm”, which is similar to the “Cosmos Palm”.

“Red Sand” is a literal translation of the Chinese term referring to cinnabar. It is called “Red Sand Palm” because the palms of a practitioner are red like the colour of cinnabar.

In our school, Shaolin Wahnam, “Iron Palm” is considered third-class kungfu whereas “Red Sand Palm” or “Cosmos Palm” is first-class.

This does not mean that “Iron Palm” is not useful or powerful. My siheng (elder kungfu brother), Xing Fook Heng, is an Iron Palm and Iron Fist expert. At the time when we were learning from Sifu Ho Fatt Nam, my siheng was an iron-smith (now he is a wealthy businessman), thus enabling him to train his Iron Palm and Iron Fist everyday as part of his job. My wife who often accompanied me when I trained at my sifu's house, was (and still is) totally convinced that my siheng could easily kill a person with just one punch.

I often went to my sifu's house early to chat with him before my few classmates arrived. When this siheng arrived, my sifu could hear him from a distance and would jokingly said, “The water-buffalo is coming.”

Once I commented how I admired my siheng's Iron Palm. Smilingly, my sifu said, “Iron Palm is third-class kungfu. But it is most suitable for Po Lok (a pet name for my siheng). He is not only a water-buffalo, he is an iron-smith. This means his work is his Iron Palm training. This saves him a lot of time. You are different. You are a scholar. Look at your soft hands. You train Cosmos Palm. It is first-class kungfu.”

Why is Iron Palm third-class and Cosmos Palm first-class? Third-class kungfu is only destructive, second-class contributes to health, and first-class can heal. In other words, third-class kungfu destroys life, second-class kungfu maintains life, first-class kungfu saves life. I am eternally grateful to my sifu for teaching me Cosmos Palm that enables me to help many people overcome so-called incurable diseases.

Question 3

Answer

If you can feel chi even though it is weak by learning on your own, your progress is quite good. Many students learning from instructors as well as many instructors teaching chi kung and Taiji for years do not feel chi at all.

However, if you learn from a good teacher, such as a certified Shaolin Wahnam instructor, you can feel chi within a few weeks, or even days, by just performing a kungfu (including Taijiquan) set or by practicing stance training (including Taiji zhuang).

There is no need to do special chi kung exercises for chi flow, because in Shaolin Wahnam, Shaolin Kungfu and Wahnam Taijiquan are practiced as chi kung as well as meditation. You may like to read Sifu Anthony Korahais' No Chi, No Fee policy.

Question 4

Answer

Yes, one can train Iron Palm and Cosmos Palm at the same time but it is not recommended because these two specialized arts employ opposing principles. It will be more effective to train one art at a time.

Unless you wish to break bricks for demonstrations, if you have attained Cosmos Palm, there is no need to train Iron Palm. The reverse is not true.

If you are referring to modern Shaolin monks, basing on their public performance, I am not sure if they have Cosmos Palm. While some of them have powerful Iron Palm, it seems to me that most of them use mechanical training, like weight lifting and rope skipping, in their force development, and Kick-Boxing in their sparring. Those trained in Cosmos Palm or even Iron Palm, normally avoid such training methods.

It was also not true that Shaolin monks in the past used Iron Palm for defence and Cosmos Palm for attack. Both Iron Palm and Cosmos Palm can be used for attack and defence. Cosmos Palm can be used for many other purposes, such as healing and enhancing daily life.

Question 5

Answer

While it is true that “One-Finger Shooting Zen” develops the internal force used in Dim Mak (“Dotting Vital Points”), and extinguishing a candle flame using a shooting finger is a useful technique to focus this force, it is misleading to think that they form the three steps in the training of this art.

The internal force developed from One-Finger Shoot Zen can be used for other martial and non-martial purposes, such as breaking a brick, withstanding punches without sustaining injury, having stamina to play games without being easily tired, and developing mental clarity for scholastic pursues.

Dim Mak can also employ internal force developed in other ways. One effective way is the art of “Yiet Zi Kam”, literally “one-finger-gold”. Some books describe the training of this art as follows.

Hang a piece of iron at your door-way. Each time you pass it, strike it with your “sword-finger” (formed by holding the fourth and little fingers with the the thumb and protruding the straightened second and middle fingers).

This is an example of “a little knowledge is a dangerous thing”. Practicing this method as described in some books may injure your lung and heart systems. What is described is only one part of the training, and it is the external part. The internal part, which is more important, involves chi kung, and is not explained.

One effective way to train Dim Mak is to practice “Single Dragon Emerges from Sea” or “Double Dragons Emerge from Sea”, “Five-Animal Set” or “Dragon-Tiger Set”, as in the Shaolin Wahnam. Grandmaster Kai Uwe Jetkhandt of Shaolin Wahnam Germany is an expert at this, though much of his internal force for his Dim Mak is derived from his training in “Golden Bridge” and “One-Finger Shooting Zen”.

Extinguishing a candle flame using a shooting finger is not a difficult art. In the 1980s before I traveled round the world to spread the Shaolin arts, extinguishing a candle flame with a shooting finger was part of a Level 1 test for Shaolin Wahnam students in Malaysia after they had practiced “One-Finger Shooting Zen” for three months.

Question 6

Answer

“Er-mei”, which means “swan's eyebrow”, is named after the Er-mei Mountain in China where a kungfu genius called Pak Mei cultivated. Pak Mei was a class-mate of Chee Seen and Jiang Nan, both of whom were the first patriarchs in our Shaolin Wahnam lineage. They escaped from the burning Shaolin Temple at Quanzhou in Fujian Province of South China. Chee Seen built another southern Shaolin Temple on the Nine-Lotus Mountain which is also in Fujian Province. Later, Pak Mei helped the Qing Army to burn this second southern Shaolin Temple.

The “Er-mei Sword” is another name for the “sword-finger”, formed by holding the thumb, fourth and little fingers together, and straightening the second and middle fingers. The middle finger is used for Dim Mak, or “dotting vital points”.

“Er-mei Sword” is the hand-form, while “Piercing Stones” is the art to develop internal force. One may use a different hand-form, such as a Phoenix-Eye Fist or One-Finger Zen, or use a different art to develop internal force, such as “One-Finger Shooting Zen” or “Double Dragons Emerge from Sea”.

As in the case of “One-Finger-Gold” described above, some books mention only the external mode of “Piercing Stones” training, leaving the internal part out. The external training method is as follows. Place some stones on a tray. Stand at a Horse-Riding Stance, a Goat Stance or any suitable stance. Strike the “Er-mei Sword” or any suitable finger-formation at a stone to move it.

At first there is physical contact in the strike. Gradually the finger is placed further away from the stone without physical contact. Yet a finger strike at the stone, without physically touching the stone, moves the stone.

This is only the visible part. The internal part involves energy and mind.

Question 7

Answer

While your condition is quite bad, don't worry as it can be overcome. Practice the following exercise twice a day, once in the morning and once at night. You may add one more session in the evening if you like. Each session will take about 20 to 30 minutes.

Stand upright and be relaxed. Listen to your breathing for a short while, then breathe out three times with your mouth wide open. Don't worry about breathing in. The breathing out, while voluminous, must be done in a gentle manner.

Then perform “Merry-go-Round” five times each side. Next perform “Hola-Hoop” about thirty times each side. Then perform “Rotating Knees” also about thirty times each side. Please refer to my chi kung books for details of performing the three exercises. You should perform one side first for a required number of times, then perform the other side. The exercises must be performed slowly and gently.

After performing the three exercises, stand upright and be totally relaxed. Don't worry about your breathing and don't think of anything. Just let go. If you let go enough, your chi will flow, and may move your body. Go along with the flow.

Usually your movement propelled by your chi flow is a gentle sway, but sometimes it may be vigorous or even comical, such as bending in awkward positions or rolling on the ground. Just go along with the flow. Remember to keep your mouth open. After about ten or twenty minutes of chi flow, complete the exercise.

This exercise should work well for you, and in my opinion is the best remedy for your health problem. But if for any reasons it does not work, you should see a good acupuncturist or a good herbalist of Chinese medicine.

Question 8

Answer

Your attempt to clear your energy blockage by moving your “jing” upward is not a good one. It may give some relief, but it can also cause more serious complications.

LINKS

Selected Reading

• The Shaolin Monkey Set with Pattern Names in Chinese
• Yielding, Deflecting and Countering in One Continuous Process
• Tapping Energy from the Cosmos
• Internal Force — the Unbendable Arm
• Free Sparring at the England Summer Camp of 2005
• Experiencing Satori at Intensive Shaolin Kungfu Course — Joshua Lawson
• Seeing the Diamond and Not the Rough — Michael Chow

Courses and Classes

• Intensive Chi Kung Course
• Intensive Shaolin Kungfu Course
• Intensive Taijiquan Course

• List of Certified Shaolin Wahnam Instructors

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