SELECTION OF QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
DECEMBER 2015 PART 1
Many in Shaolin Wahnam train kungfu to be the best persons they could be
Question 1
I have been practicing Shaolin Cosmos Chi Kung for over 3 years now and I am amazed by it. It has helped me in ways that I couldn't believe.
I would love to become an instructor so I can help others.
The reason why I am asking a lot about being a Sifu is that it will help me move forward in life. I have had so many difficulties in life. I suffered 10 years of depression. I was stuck for a long time. I have many more problems.
Becoming a teacher will help me move forward. It will help me with income too. Don't get me wrong. I'm not wanting to make lots and lots of money. There is more to life than money, but it will help.
That's why I asked you if I could spend some time with you.
At this time I'm very happy and life is good and healthy but I need to move forward.
— Qasim, Ireland
Answer
Before becoming a chi kung instructor you must first be a good chi kung student. It is very important to realize that being an instructor in our school is like being a father to your students, and to preserve our arts for posterity by passing on to your students our arts so that they too will get the wonderful benefits we enjoy, like good health, vitality, longevity, mental clarity, peak performance and spiritual joys.
The main aim in becoming an instructor is not to overcome your own health problems, to move forward in life and to become rich, though interestingly all these results will be accomplished as bonuses if you are successful in teaching our chi kung.
You need to be healthy first before becoming a chi kung instructor. As a teacher of an elite art, your teaching which requires that you are a living example of the art, will move you forward in life. As the fees we charge are high when compared to what most other chi kung instructors charge but little when compared to the benefits our students get, you can become rich if you have a large class.
But all these results are bonuses, and not the reason why one becomes a chi kung instructor in our school. The aim is to pass on our arts to deserving students so as to preserve our arts for posterity.
This means that if an instructor in our school does not move forward in life and does not become rich, but succeeds in passing on our arts to deserving students, he has accomplished the aim of becoming an instructor. Becoming healthy is a prerequisite. We do not want an instructor who himself is sick.
Unlike in most other schools, a potential instructor does not have to spend a long time studying with me, though he (or she) has to spend a long time practicing the art on his own to be proficient in it. He needs to attend my Intensive Chi Kung Course as this course covers the whole range of chi kung skills ranging from a beginner's level, which he needs to teach his beginning students at the level of the students and not at the level the instructor himself practices, to a master's level, which the instructor is at or aspires to be. It is important that an instructor teaches at the level of his students, and not at his own practicing level. This is a teaching point many new instructors neglect.
It is our school policy to appoint instructors according to seniority and usually recommended by the Chief Instructor of the country. As there are many students more senior than you, it is unlikely that you will be appointed.
Question 2
My practice is going very well. I have been focusing more on chi kung lately, but taking that step back seems to have taken my Kungfu to a newer level.
— Name Removed as Requested
Answer
This is natural and logical for us in Shaolin Wahnam.
This was also natural and logical for past masters. In the past there was no separation between advanced kungfu training and chi kung training. Advance kungfu training was chi kung training.
In other words, when a master trained kungfu, called "lian gong" in Chinese, what he actually trained was chi kung, like developing his internal force. He had long past the stage of practicing kungfu forms.
Grandmaster Wong performing a Guan Dao
Question 3
Character development is for me personally the major change right now happening, and I think it's the most important for me also. Looking back I was very weak in daily life, in everything.
I am becoming harder -- in my ways, my doings. In taking decisions, speaking out to people, I am becoming very straight forward, and this is fusing completely with my combat ability.
Answer
This is wonderful. Indeed, this was a mark of great kungfu in the past. When master trained great kungfu, they became the best person they could be. Those who trained lower level kungfu became good fighters.
I am glad that many students in our school has made this their aim, to become the best person they can be.
Question 4
I had special experiences. At home, one evening outside of practice, all of a sudden I felt like holding two broadswords, and I could use them and apply them in such a fantastic way. I did a sequence with these swords.
I also had experiences applying a spear and Guan Dao, all the way to experiencing pushing my energy to the sharp blade of the Guan Dao. Even more amazing, I felt the difference between the weapons. The spear felt very light, and I could even sense the red cloth under the spearhead. I could basically hit any point of an opponent's body with the spear-point.
Dear Sifu, why is it that I can sense these weapons so well? I actually can still to this day sense the Tiger with me as well.
Answer
You were reliving your former life or lives
An effective way to spar is to employ a combat sequence to press into an opponent
Question 5
People would think I'm living in a fantasy world, but I'm very much down to earth about all of this, and of course I don't go telling people about all this, but I thought I had to share these experiences with Sifu.
Answer
Yes, many people would think you have gone crazy. It is not wise to share such experiences with them.
Many people do not even believe things like internal force and overcoming so-called incurable diseases, which are clearly recorded in kungfu and chi kumg classics. Either they do not believe such things are possible, or they do not believe we are capable of such abilities. They think we are crazy, or we are big liars.
Question 6
I asked a street fighter who won most fights about his fighting, and he told me it was very simple to be victorious. Go in and don't stop.
This brings me to our combat sequences and what Sifu has been advocating all this time. We go in with a pattern and immediately follow up with our other patterns from our sequence until the opponent is down.
Answer
There is one big difference. We follow the principle of "safety first", but they don't. We make sure we are safe by covering our opponents adequately.
Their opponents are not good at combat. As long as they move in relentlessly, they can easily beat their opponents, who are quite helpless.
An excellent strategy in combat is to press into an opponent with a combat sequence
Question 7
In the past, I couldn't apply this strategy, because I didn't have the correct mind state. And this is the most fantastic, the character development and life experience lead me to experiencing and understanding the mind state needed to fight, and use our Kungfu, which is just fantastic.
Answer
Yes, the mind set and internal force are actually more important than the fighting techniques. The street figher, for example, does not have the techniques and internal force. He only has the mind set. Yet he is quite successful in winning fights.
Question 8
I want to become a world's best fighter. What should I suppose to do?
— Name and country not stated
Answer
If you want to become a world's best fighter, you have come to a wrong school. Although we place much importance on combat efficiency in training a martial art, or else we shall make a mockery of ourselves, becoming a great fighter is low in our priority.
High in our priority is to have good health, vitality, longevity, mental clarity, peak performance and spiritual joys. In other words, we are dedicated in our daily training not because we want to be great fighters but because we want to be healthy, have zest in our daily life, live to a ripe old age, clear in our thinking, do well in our work and play, and be peaceful and happy.
If actual fighting is not high in our priority, why do we place much importance in combat efficiency? Isn't it a contradiction?
No, it is not a contradiction. We place much importance to combat efficieny because we practice a martial art. We do not want to fight if we have a choice, but if we have to fight for whatever reasons, we shall fight very well. More significantly, training a martial art enables us to gain the benefits mentioned above, like good health, vitality, and spiritual joys, more immediately and deeply.
Good health, for example, represent the climax of chi kung training, but the starting point of martial art practice. In other words, practitioners in chi kung consider their training completed when they have good health, but martial artists consider good health the beginning of their training.
Moreover some desirable qualities, like mental clarity, are more urgent in marital art training. For example, chi kung practitioners normally have more time to employ mental clarity to make wise decisions, but in martial art training when an opponent's punch or kick is coming at you, you need mental clarity instantly to make wise decisions.
Unfortunately, many martial artists today show a glaring lack of mental clarity. They do not realize that they are becoming more unhealthy the more they train, and their training does not enable them to defend themselves, otherwise they would not be routinely hit in free sparring!
There are many useful things you could do. For a start I would suggest, for your own benefit, that you learn to write a letter properly. You should at least have a salutation at the beginning of your letter, and a signature at the end.
You should start your letter with "Dear Mr Wong", "Dear Sifu Wong" or "Dear Sir or Madame". You should end your letter with "Yours faithfully" or "Yours truly", followed by your name or pen-name.
If you have any questions, please e-mail them to Grandmaster Wong via his Secretary at stating your name, country and e-mail address.
LINKS
Selected Reading
- Getting the Best Benefits from Your Training
- Is Wushu the Same as Kungfu?
- Changing Ones Life and Circumstances through Cleansing
- 16 Shaolin Combat Sequences
- Seven-Star against Pin-Downs and Shoots