A famous painting by Liang Kai of the Six Patriarch Hui Neng cutting bamboo. This image is culled from http://oaks.nvg.org/hui-neng.html

Ten Years Old

Our Question-Answer Series is now 10 years old. We wish to thank all our readers for their continued support and encouragement. Our first issue can be accessed here and an Overview of all our issues can be found here.

Question 1

Answer

I am glad of your realization that the purpose of purifying the mind is to attain Enlightenment. This is the supreme attainment. But even far before this supreme attainment, we can have many benefits from purifying the mind, like having right understanding, having mental clarity and freshness, and being peaceful and happy.

The Venerable Hui Neng, whose teaching is distilled in the Platform Sutra, is the 6th Patriarch. The lineage of Zen transmission is as follows:

1. Bodhidharma
2. Hui Ke
3. Seng Ca
4. Dao Yin
5. Hong Jen
6. Hui Neng.

The first three patriarchs stayed at the Shaolin Temple in Henan Province. The 4th Patriarch, Dao Yin, moved south to the Dongshan Temple in Hubei Province. Hui Neng moved further south to Guangdong Province and taught in nemerous famous temples, but his main base was the Baolin Temple.

From Bodhidharma to Hui Neng, the master designated his successor. Hence, there were designated patriarchs. But Hui Neng did not designate a particular successor. He had thousands of students, 47 of whom were masters. Hui Neng asked them to spread Zen. Hence there were no designated patriarchs after him.

The first three Zen patriarchs used the Lankavatara Sutra as the main text in their teachings. But the 4th Patriarch used the Diamond Sutra because it was already popular in the district where he taught. Both the Lankavatara Sutra and the Diamond Sutra were the direct oral teaching of the Buddha, and later written down in words by great masters. The Platform Sutra was the direct oral teaching of Hui Neng, and writtern down in words by his disciples.

Question 2

Answer

Yes, many of my students have overcome problems like yours. I shall describe just two case-histories, which were more serious than yours, one case many years ago when I first started teaching chi kung publicly, and the other more recently when I taught chi kung overseas.

Mr Chua from Malaysia, about 70 years old, had a spine injury that made him look pathetic. He was doubly bent. If you looked at him from one side, he was constantly bent forward at an angle of about 30 degrees at his upper back. He could never stand upright. If you look at him from the front, his body was constantly shifted to the right at the chest level.

At that time I taught chi kung in regular classes, i.e. once a week for a course of six months. My teaching then was vastly different from what and how I am teaching now. I taught many patterns, the Eighteen Lohan Hands, mainly at the physcial level, and students had to repeat each pattern many times. After repeating a few patterns many times for about four or five months, students were able to generate a chi flow.

To get the best benefit from my teaching, Mr Chua attended both my classes at Georgetown and Bukit Mertajam, though I taught the same material at these two towns. After completing one course, he would repeat the same course. He also practiced twice a day at home, as advised by me. His diligent practice paid off well. About a year later, his deformities disappeared. He became pain free and was able to happily stand upright.

This happened about 20 years ago, but I can remember his case very well. He is an inspiration. Not only he overcame his problems but he demonstrated great faith in the ability of chi kung to overcome what modern medicine considers an impossible task.

The second case was more recent, when my teaching methodology had improved tremendously. Over the years I improved from teaching 18 patterns in 6 months to teaching just 3 patterns in 8 hours, and students could generate a chi flow within the 8 hours instead of after 4 or 5 months as before! The speed-up was in the teaching. Students still needed to practice daily for a few months before their illness was overcome.

Many students overcame back and spine problems. One such student was Vincente from Servilla, Spain. His vertebrae were fused, and he could not turn nor bend his body. He moved like a robot.

Vintente attended my one-day chi kung course and went into vigorous chi flow movements that could have shocked his specialist doctor. While in chi flow he would bend forward and backward with sounds as if bones were crashing. Nevertheless he felt fine during the chi flows. After about 9 months his vertebra problem disappeared. He could move about like a normal person!

His doctor was surprised. She said that this could not happen, but it did, so she herself took a course from me to find out, and was much impressed. Needless to say, many of Vincente's friends who had similar problems took my courses too.

Question 3

Answer

It is not a matter of right or wrong here, but a matter of choosing the best method for the purpose. If you are practicing a physical exercise, the way you punch is not wrong. Indeed, many martial artists, especially those who practice external arts, favor to punch the way you described because it gives them more reach and body weight.

But for internal force training, the method you described is not suitable because it obstructs smooth energy flow. The method we use in Shaolin Wahnam is like what I described in my books on "Thrity Punches" and "One-Finger Shooting Zen" where we do not move our body and do not raise our shoulder. This method enables internal force to flow smoothly from our "dan tian" to our punch or finger where we wish to explode force.