CRITERIA IN LEARNING THE GREATEST ART
Dragon Strength
Question
Assuming pre-requisites are met for all the courses, if a person was given a choice of learning any one of the following: Dragon Strength, Weapons Course, Cosmos Palm, Cotton Palm, and Essence of Shaolin, and nothing else in addition, on which criteria would you recommend a specific opportunity to the person?
Olli
Answer
So far I offered two once-in-a-life-time courses, which were Dragon Strength and Cosmos Palm. The third once-in-a-life-time course I shall offer is Essence of Shaolin. I won’t offer these courses again. Those who miss them, just miss them.
It is incredible that I offer these courses. These are arts that masters only teach to their very special disciples. Some masters didn’t even teach to their very special disciples, their arts just left the world with them.
Dragon Strength is my specialty. It includes three very rare and privileged arts, that many people think have been lost. These three arts are dragon force, dragon speed and dim mark (or the art of dotting energy points). It is simply ridiculous that course participants succeeded in learning these three very rare and prestigious arts in just five days of the course. But then we in Shaolin Wahnam are used to being ridiculous.
If a master could learn any one of these three arts in five years, he would jump with joy. But our course participants, many of them are masters in their own right, learn three rare and prestigious arts in five days! It was true that our course participants had prior kungfu experience. But it was also true that masters did not become masters over night; they also had prior kungfu experience.
The Cosmos Palm course was quite an accident. Matt asked me, in my very relaxing mood, whether I would teach Cosmos Palm. As I always agreed to the suggested courses put forward by our course organizers, I casually answered “yes”, without actually realizing it was Cosmos Palm. Matt was very fast in making full use of the opportunity. He quickly post an announcement on our Discussion Forum, giving me no chance to change my mind.
Not only I did not regret the decision to teach Cosmos Palm, but I am actually grateful to Matt for organizing this wonderful course. All those who attended the course were deserving students (including many masters), and I am happy that I passed on a rare art so that it would not be lost to posterity.
The Special Weapon Course which I taught in Kuala Lumpur this year (2016) and the Cotton Palm Course which I shall teach at the UK Summer Camp next year (2017) are also very special. But I did not explicitly say that they were once-in-a-life-time opportunities. I may, or may not, teach them again.
In the Special Weapon Course we learned eight weapons in five days. The big trident and crescent-moon spear are weapons rarely practiced today. The guan dao, or the Big Knife of Guan Yu, is prestigious. The Ho Family Flowing Staff is one of the four famous staff sets in all kungfu. The soft-whip must be learned from a master; students learning it from books or videos will hurt themselves.
The Cotton Palm was a specialty of my second sifu, Sifu Chee Kim Thong, who was known as a living treasure of the Peoples’ Republic of China. Sifu Chee Kim Thong was famous for his internal force, which many martial artists today think is a myth. The Cotton Palm is an excellent manifestation of internal force, as the master applying it seems to ordinary people that he leisurely moves his palms.
Different masters, understandably, will choose different arts to specialize in. Many of the masters might not have a choice. They just had to practice, and later specialize, in what their teachers had taught them, often determined by environmental conditions. A particular master, for example, might want to specialize in Cotton Palm, if he had a wide knowledge of kungfu philosophy, but he might have to specialize in Iron Palm, which in my opinion is far inferior to Cotton Palm, if that was what he had been taught.
Of the arts you have mentioned -- Dragon Strength, Weapons Course, Cosmos Palm, Cotton Palm, and Essence of Shaolin -- being able to specialize in any one of them in their essence is already a rare accomplishment. Most people just learn the external form; they miss the essence. If they ever specialize, they will perform “flowery fists and embroidery kicks” to please spectators.
How many martial artists outside our school you know who can use dragon force to damage an opponent, capture an opponent’s weapon with their crescent-moon spear, cause severe injury with Cosmos Palm or Cotton Palm without leaving an external mark, or overcome a seemingly impossible attack using a sophisticated kungfu technique like one from Essence of Shaolin? A generous estimate is less than 10%. It means more than 90% of martial artists have no chance to specialize in what you have mentioned.
If a participant to any one of the above courses has met all the pre-requisites, he can attend the course. But I still can recommend the criteria he can focus on.
The most important criterion for learning any one of the courses mentioned above, is to practice the Ten Shaolin Laws. This is the requirement not only to learn any of the courses mentioned above, but also to learn any art taught in our school.
It is important to emphasize that the Ten Shaolin Laws are not restrictive or punitive, but to enable practitioners to get the best benefits from their training and to live a meaningful life. If they practice the Ten Shaolin Laws in their daily life, they are deserving students.
Practitioners should also know quite well the prescribed set for the course so that time at the course can be more rewardingly used to learn other things, like developing skills. For example, if a practitioner is to attend the Essence of Shaolin course, he should know before attending the course, the Essence of Shaolin set.
Many people think that certain sets are top secrets. I had this idea in my earlier years. But as my knowledge and experience of kungfu improved, I realize that the secrets lie not in the set, which you can learn from the internet, but in combat application and skills, including various types of internal force.
Another important criterion is that course participants must be willing to learn. This criterion may appear odd to many people, but a lot of participants, luckily not in our school, attend courses with preconceived ideas or, worse still, they think they are smarter than their teacher. If they come with pre-conceived ideas or think they are smarter than the teacher, the course participants place a huge handicap on themselves.
Although this criterion is not common in our school, I still like to mention it. Some of our students, without their own realization, think they know more than the master. If the master asks them to perform a certain combat sequence every day for a period of time so as to develop the necessary skills, they perform it whenever they like.
It is only logical to follow the advice of the master if course participants want the best results, after making sure that the master is genuine and produces the results they want. If they do not want to follow the master’s advice, they should not learn from him.
Although all our family members will like to attend all the courses mentioned, different people will have different choice if they have to choose only one. Personally I would choose Dragon Strength. This is quite obvious because Dragon Strength is my favorite, and dragon force and dragon speed are my specialty. Although dim mark may not be my specialty, as I prefer chin-na, practicing Dragon Strength can enable me to perform dim mark well.
Attending the Dragon Strength Course would enable course participants to develop dragon force, dragon speed and dim mark. There are wonderful skills. But they still need techniques to implement the skills.
In today’s low level of combat, when practitioners have advanced skills, they can use ordinary techniques. But if their opponents are advanced too, the practitioners will need advanced techniques.
The best techniques are found in Essence of Shaolin. As Shaolin Kungfu is the greatest martial art, by extension the best techniques of all martial arts are found in the Essence of Shaolin.
As mentioned earlier, this Essence of Shaolin course is once-in-a-life-time course. Those invited to attend the course should not miss it.
Flowing Water Staff
This question and answer are reproduced from the thread 10 Questions on Essence of Shaolin in the Shaolin Wahnam Discussion Forum.
LINKS