COMPARISON, ESSENCE AND SECRETS OF DRAGON STRENGTH AND FLOWER SET
Grandmaster Wong demonstrating a pattern from the Dragon Strength Set
Question
I would like to respectfully ask how the Dragon Strength and the Flower Set compare to one another, what their essence is, and if there are any secret aspects to them that can be mentioned or revealed here.
Sifu Emiko Hsuen
Answer
A good way to compare the two sets is under the headings of form, skills, application and philosophy. These four aspects give a comprehensive description of any kungfu set or kungfu style.
These four dimensions of kungfu in general can also be applied in particular to a kungfu set, or to any one aspect in kungfu training, like combat sequences and force development. In other words, any kungfu set, combat sequence, force development method or any aspect of kungfu training has four dimensions -- form, skills, application and philosophy.
A kungfu set, like the Dragon Strength Set for example, has form, i.e. the arrangement of patterns in a routine that make up the set. It has skills, and in the case of the Dragon Strength Set, the two special skills of Dragon force and lighting speed. It has application, i.e. how the patterns in the set can be used for combat. In our school we also consider non-combat application, like how the practice of the set can enrich our daily life. The set also has philosophy, which is a collective explanation or description of its history, principles and other aspects of the set.
Classifying kungfu, its whole style or any one aspect of it like a kungfu set, into these four dimensions of form, skills, application and philosophy is my own innovation. Other people may use different classifications, or no classification at all. My classification is comprehensive and useful, and has enabled me to learn and benefit from kungfu training systematically and effectively.
This classification into the four dimensions of form, skills, application and philosophy is not due to whims and fancies. It is based on my understanding of how kungfu was practiced and used by generations of kungfu practitioners, and it has made my kungfu training cost effective and has given me a lot of benefits.
Today most kungfu practitioners focus only on form, which is manifested as kungfu sets. They start their kungfu career by learning a kungfu set, and continue to learn kungfu sets through their kungfu career. They do not develop skills, do not know the combat application of their kungfu, and do not learn any kungfu philosophy. Some of them attempt combat application, but they do not apply the kungfu techniques they practice. They mainly use Boxing or Kick-Boxing.
Because these practitioners lack an understanding of the various dimensions of their kungfu training, they miss a lot of benefits. If we were to give equal weight to the four dimensions, these practitioners would get only 25% of their potential benefits at their best.
In many ways, form is the least important of the four dimensions, though by itself it is important as it constitutes the vehicle of our training. More important are skills, like being relaxed even in combat situations, and having mental clarity to make fast and wise decisions. More practical in benefit is application, not just for combat but how to apply kungfu skills and other aspects to enrich our daily life. Philosophy provides us with guidance to get these benefits extensively and effectively.
Using these four dimensions of form, skills, application and philosophy enables us to compare the Dragon Strength Set and the Flower Set comprehensively.
In terms of form, the Dragon Strength Set and the Flower Set have the same structural arrangement. Both sets are made up of two main parts -- force training on stance followed by techniques for combat application. These two parts correspond to the two pillars of any kungfu training, namely force development and combat application. In other words the two important requirements for any successful kungfu training are to develop force and to use this force for combat.
In most other sets, force training is performed separately and is not incorporated into the set. In both the Dragon Strength Set and the Flower Set, force training is incorporated into the sets. In other words, practitioners of the Dragon Strength Set and the Flower Set need not practice force training separately using other training methods. By practicing their sets they can develop internal force for effective combat as well as better performance in daily life.
Both the Dragon Strength Set and the Flower Set use typical Southern Shaolin techniques, with a noticeable difference that in the Dragon Strength Set force training is performing on a Horse-Riding Stance whereas in the Flower Set it is performed on a Goat Stance. Relatively, the Horse-Riding Stance, while more demanding, is more stable, thus more suitable for consolidating force, whereas the Goat Stance is more fluid, being more suitable for flowing force.
Both sets employ “cheong kiew tai ma”, or “long bridge big stance”. The hand techniques are far-reaching, and the stances are wide. This is in contrast with “thun kiew sai ma”, or “short bridge small stance”, like in Wuzuquan and Wing Choon Kungfu. Both sets use the vertical fist instead of the level fist, indicating that internal force instead of muscular strength is employed in their strikes. Both sets also use the dragon-hand form. Not many practitioners may be aware that the dragon-hand form is employed in both sets for dim mark, or dotting vital points.
The form of the Dragon Strength Set and the Flower Set indicates that both sets represent an advanced stage of Shaolin Kungfu development. Their advanced nature, however, is different in the two sets. In the Dragon Strength Set it is simplicity, whereas in the Flower Set it is sophistication. This will be explained under the headings of skills and application below.
The general skills of both Dragon Strength and flower Set are the same. They provide combat efficiency, good health, vitality, longevity, mental clarity and spiritual joys. Their special skills are different. The special skills of Dragon Strength are Dragon force and lighting speed, whereas those of Flower Set are deceptive moves and overwhelming attack.
Dragon force is very special to Dragon Strength. It is soft and flowing, but it is very powerful. It is like a hurricane. While it is flowing, it can also be converted to consolidated force at will. Hence, it is not necessary to depend on momentum, like a hurricane, to generate the tremendous force. It can ram into an opponent at very close quarters like a tank.
Dragon force can also be manifested at any part of the body, or the whole body. A Dragon Strength practitioner does not need to specifically train his fist, his palm, his elbow, his arm or his leg, like Iron Palm or Iron Leg practitioners do. He can manifest his force at any of these places at will, yet his palm or his leg can cause more damage to opponents than Iron Palm or Iron Leg exponents do. Dragon force is therefore very versatile, manifested at any place, and can be flowing or consolidated.
The internal force from Flower Set is also flowing, but by comparison it is not as flowing as that in Dragon Strength. Flower Set force is relatively more consolidated. It is also not as versatile as Dragon force.
In another answer elsewhere I mentioned that the proportion of flowing force to consolidated force was higher in the Flower Set than in the Dragon Strength Set. Now I say that Dragon force is more flowing than Flower Set force.
Superficially this may appear to be a contradiction. But examining the situation deeper with mental clarity, which can be derived from practicing the Dragon Strength Set or the Flower Set, we can see that proportions of flowing force to consolidated force, and which set is more flowing are different issues.
While the proportion of flowing force to consolidated force in the Flower Set may be higher, which is about 70:30, while that in the Dragon Strength Set is about 60:40, Dragon force can be more flowing than Flower Set force. In other words the 60% of flowing force in Dragon Strength can be more flowing than the 70% of flowing force in the Flower Set.
As an analogy, you may use 60% of your income for expenses, and 40% for saving, spending $6000 for various things, and putting $4000 into your bank. Your friend may use 70% of his income for expenses, and 30% for saving, spending $700 for various things, and putting $300 into his bank. But your expenses, $6000, which constitute 60% of your income, are more than your friend’s expenses of $700 which constitute 70% of his income.
The combat applications of both Dragon Strength and Flower Set are advanced, but their nature is different. Flower Set combat application is advanced because it is sophisticated, whereas Dragon Strength combat application is advanced because it is simple! Though the fact that the combat application of Dragon Strength is advanced due to its simplicity can be meaningful to our Shaolin Wahnam members, it may be puzzling to many other people.
How can the simple techniques of Dragon Strength be advanced in combat? This is possible because being simple and being advanced are two different issues. In other words, simple techniques can be elementary or advanced. An example can illustrate this interesting point. Suppose an opponent attacks you with a thrust punch. You can first ward of his attack with a Single Tiger, then strike him with a Black Tiger. This is applying two simple techniques in an elementary manner.
Now you apply a different response. As your opponent’s thrust punch approaches you, you thrust out your dragon-hand form in the pattern "Swimming Dragon Plays with Water" from Dragon Strength. You brush off his coming attack and simultaneously strike him with your dragon-hand form. This is applying a simple technique in an advanced manner.
Your technique is simple because you just thrust out your dragon-hand form. It is advanced because not only you brush off his attack but strike him at the same time when he thinks his attack has reached you.
A typical response from the Flower Set is quite different. As your opponent’s thrust punch approaches, you ward off his attack with one hand and simultaneously strike him with another. This counter can be feint or real. If your opponent is slow, your attack becomes real, striking him at the same time you ward off his attack. If your opponent is fast enough to neutralize your counter-attack, your response becomes feint. You brush off his defence and horizontally chop his neck with your palm.
If he is fast enough to avoid it, you follow up immediately with your other hand to strike his head, really striking him if he fails to respond correctly but acting as a distraction if he tries to defend, while you drive a phoenix-eye fist to his solar plexus. You use a series of attacks to overwhelm him.
The same principles are applied in daily life. A Dragon Strength practitioner uses versatile force and lighting speed, whereas a Flower Set practitioner uses deception and overwhelming attack. If you are a salesman using the Dragon Strength approach, you move in to your client swiftly, convince him that your product is superior and close the sale fast.
Using the Flower Set approach, you offer your client a product. If he buys it, you offer him another product. If he does not buy your first product, you tell him that it is meant as a comparison as you offer him a second product. You repeat the procedure until he buys at lease one or preferably many of your products.
The philosophy of both the Dragon Strength Set and the Flower Set is the same. Fundamentally both sets are meant for combat efficiency. They also contribute to good health, vitality, longevity, mental clarity and spiritual joys, though we are not afraid to honestly state that many practitioners today, even when they have a chance to practice these wonderful sets, due to their missing the essence of the sets, also miss many of their benefits. For us there is a special, and unprecedented, benefit. Practicing either set, or both, enriches our daily life.
What is their essence? Why do most other people miss their essence even when they practice the two sets?
The essence is developing skills and applying them, together with their techniques and other aspects of the training, to combat, and in our case to our daily life. Most other people who practice these two sets practice only their form. They miss the skills and the application, and also they do not know their philosophy.
For example, many practitioners of Dragon Strength do not have Dragon force, and many practitioners of Flower Set are unable to apply sophisticated techniques to overwhelm their opponents. An important reason why they miss these benefits, and probably may not even realize it, is that they do not know the philosophy of these two sets. They do not know, for example, that Dragon Strength can develop Dragon force, or that the techniques in the Flower Set can be applied to overwhelm opponents.
A philosophical understanding of their essence is a first step. More importantly, and it takes much more time and effort, is to acquire the essence and apply it in combat and our daily life. Acquiring Dragon force and lighting speed, and applying them in combat will be taught at the Dragon Strength course in December 2014 in Penang. Acquiring sophisticated techniques and deceptive attack, and applying them in combat were taught in the Flower Set course in 2011 in Finland.
The following are some examples of their application in daily life, after having acquired the necessary skills at their respective courses.
You are a certified Shaolin Wahnam instructor or healer. You immediately set up a class or a healing centre according to your current resources, and start teaching or healing. This is applying the skills derived from Dragon Strength in daily life.
You set up a class or a centre, but if you fail to get it working, immediately you apply another method of marketing, and if you fail again, you change to yet another method until you eventually succeed. This is applying the skills of the Flower Set.
If you think about setting up a class or a centre, and talk about it, but never actually do it, or only do it whenever it suits you once a while, you apply methods that are common in the West but are non-Dragon Strength and non-Flower Set.
If you think you are incapable of the task though you have been properly trained to do so, and grab the first easy job that comes your way because you need some income to survive, you use methods that are common in the East, but they are non-Dragon Strength and non-Flower Set.
There are secrets in Dragon Strength and Flower Set. In the past these secrets were revealed only to specially selected disciples. Today these secrets are generally lost. Even rare masters who have benefited from these secrets may not consciously know the secrets. They obtain the benefits through years of dedicated practice.
But our school is elite, or ridiculous. We share many of these secrets openly. We not only teach these secrets in their respective courses but also ensure students practice according to the secrets and derived the expected results.
In Dragon Strength we openly reveal that the special skills are Dragon force and lighting speed, and openly explain how to develop these special skills, like generating flowing energy and consolidating it at will, and using mind to move energy to move form. Of course, those who lack fundamental skills, like generating an energy flow, will be unable to accomplish the skills even though the secrets are revealed to them.
In Flower Set we openly reveal that the special features are deceptive movements and pressing attack, and openly explain how to accomplish these features, like “sounding east striking west” and applying combat sequences relentlessly on opponents but maintaining safety first. Of course, those who cannot even use basic kungfu techniques in their sparring will be unable to accomplish these features even though the secrets are revealed to them.
It is unbelievable that we have such a great variety of choice for specialization in our school. Such an opportunity is unprecedented in all kungfu history. The Dragon Strength course is excellent for fulfilling this great advantage of breadth and depth. The special skills of Dragon force and lighting speed can be applied to any kungfu styles or any aspect in daily life. If one is specialized in the Flower Set, for example, Dragon force and lighting speed will enhance deceptive movement and pressing attack.
Grandmaster Wong performing the Flower Set
Dragon Strength in Video
Old Version of Dragon Strength
Treasure House of Kungfu Sets
Treasure House of Combat Application
The questions and answers are reproduced from the thread 10 Questions on Dragon Strength in the Shaolin Wahnam Discussion Forum.
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