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Why should someone choose to study the Chinese system of Martial Science
know as
Kung Fu? In the world of
Martial and Fighting Arts one could choose from a myriad of
styles from various
lands across the entire globe. How
is one to know what system is the
best, or what is more important is what system
is best for himself, if he has no means for
comparison. We often believe what we see in the movies to be beautiful
and then assume
their potential haphazardly.
Or we watch the growing popular fighting competitions,
which all create
specific rules which give certain systems an advantage or help to make
a good
show, by creating a wonderland reality. Whatever
the means we are unable
to find the truth about Martial Arts without personal
experience. It is said in Chinese
philosophy that no one can show you the way.
A wise man once said I can show you
the door but you must walk through
it. So as a mentor who lives,
speaks, and breaths
the Chinese world of Martial Science I will try to help you
find the key to the hidden
world of magic and treasure.
The
Diamond
Why Kung Fu? Isn’t it more
difficult and doesn’t it take much longer to learn than
other Fighting Arts.
This is very true and is the reason why numerous students give up
from
frustration in the first month or two of training.
If there are so many other styles
that I can put to good use quickly why
bother myself to go through all the hardship to
progress.
The answer is that Kung Fu is a Diamond.
However to become a diamond like
all others it must be pressed with the
weight of a mountain for eons before it changes
from the grime of coal to a
beautiful gem. And for you to
become a diamond you must
go through a natural period of time and pressure.
In the world of gems though we can
bypass nature’s long hardship and
grow cubit zirconium in our modern Chemistry labs.
And if measured by the standards of diamonds “The fire of
the diamond,” which is always
more valuable when there is more fire, then the
cubit zirconium will always be more
valuable as it has more fire and therefore
also more beautiful. As well as
with modern
technology and media we believe we have found more powerful and
beautiful forms of
martial arts. But
tell me this do you think your girlfriend would marry you if you proposed
with a
cubit zirconium ring. Well then you
say, show me the diamond and let me appraise it.
Ask and it will be given to you.
Soft
vs. Hard
First you must understand what most of us have forgotten in this modern
era of sports
technology, training aids, and supplements, that Kung Fu was not
invented for 250lb.
American Football players so that they could use their brute
force to conquer the little
Chinese people.
No actually it was the other way around so as the little Chinese could
defend themselves from the much larger foreign invaders. So in our first thoughts of
Kung Fu the movies we see present
themselves. Here we see men
chiseled from stone using
their incredible physiques to punish their
adversaries. This could be no
farther from the
original intent of Kung Fu. In Kung Fu a soft and gentle punch or other variety of technique
is much more effective and even deadly. I
didn’t say a punch with no energy. I
said a punch
with no muscle. Kung
Fu uses many different forms of energy for their techniques which
take time to
master. How can a punch with no
muscle work. Isn’t a whip soft
yet lightning
fast, and it’s strike is furiously powerful.
Our arms and legs can also become whips.
And why tie a knot in between two sticks to make a weapon(nunchaku),
rather than have
one longer stick. Because
it is the rope which creates a softness and the ability for the speed
of a whip.
Now imagine trying to grab one side of the nunchaku from the rope end,
not the
rope, and try to use it as a hammer or club with it.
There is no longer any speed and no
longer any power. And Actually if you stiffen your muscles it is like grabbing
the nuncahku
and using it as a short baton rather than a nunchaku. When your muscles are tight they
cannot act as a whip or rope. So within the softness of a whip there is speed and power as
there is in
our bodies. So because the
techniques do not use muscle power, then any body
of any shape or size can
become formidable through the art of Kung Fu.
Animals
Why are there so many different Animal Styles of Kung Fu? There is Tiger, Leopard,
Monkey, and even Preying Mantis to
name a few. What is the purpose of
having animal
styles when our bodies are not built like these animals.
This is the greatness of humanity
that is of our intelligence and wisdom.
The Chinese chose animals not merely for physical
attributes, but
moreover for their personalities. The
Kung Fu artists of all styles have been
trying to understand how animals can
defend themselves or kill others who are much larger
and appear much more
dangerous. For example would you
rather be a King Cobra or a
Mongoose? Why
Mongoose you say? Everyone knows
how deadly Cobras are and yet
a small rodent like animal who should be the prey
of a large snake destroys the powerful
snake with speed, technique, and finesse. So all Chinese Martial Artists try to understand
not just the
techniques of animals, but moreover their personal “Art of War” or
strategies for
attack and retreating motions as well as techniques.
One great Kung Fu Master said he had
a student who came to him and said
he wanted to be a leopard. He told
his student you
shouldn’t strive to be a leopard you are a man, all you need
to do is have the attitude
or personal will that the leopard has and you are a
leopard. To explain this principle
a lion roars to scare off any
opponents, a Kung Fu artist rather shows a kind of war face
like a tiger as he
attacks to use fear against his enemy. Most
Kung Fu Styles also teach
many different animal forms, they are not only limited
to one. In the end the main focus
of this is using your intellect to determine which animals are afraid of others
and what kind
of animal does your opponent fight like.
And this is not limited to Kung Fu only, usually
a big Football Player
will fight like a bear, but a boxer may fight like a leopard.
So Kung Fu practitioners try to understand why a larger animal like a
leopard is frightened
of a baboon. Then
they try to understand what the baboon is afraid of, then what a tiger
is scared
of, then what frightens a crane. And
more importantly why. Eventually
you will
realize although a leopard is scared of a baboon a baboon can also be
scared of a leopard.
Why?
In this case, but not in all, its about timing.
At night baboons can’t see and leopards
are night hunters.
So in Kung Fu all the subtleties can make the difference, and a large man
should be scared of an intelligent small man.
“Energy
- Borrowing”
One of Kung Fu’s main focuses, particularly the Preying Mantis Style,
is to use energy
efficiently and if you have no energy how to tap into another
source or borrow it from
somewhere else. Probably
the simplest form of this borrowing of energy is not yet used
in a punch.
It is to simply place your foot out in a stable position as a kick is
incoming so
the attacker’s shin kicks the bottom of your foot.
The harder he kicks the harder in effect
he has just kicked himself in
the shin. A little more complicated
form of this energy
borrowing is to use the Preying Mantis hand over an incoming
punch. You would lock
your hand
down on his and as he retracts is arm after missing his target he pulls your
hand
toward his body and you can use that energy to couple your own for a
strike. There are
so many different
forms of energy to borrow. You can
hit or push off your own body
if there is no energy to borrow.
You can even grab the wind with your fingers to give you
a boost of
power. And in the end probably the best method is the simplest.
As a fight
begins you try to learn your opponents accustomed habits with
fake or punches intended
to be blocked. As
you see how his head moves you can figure out where you need
just to place your
fist and he can actually slam his head against your fist violently,
to dodge a
fake punch, and render himself unconscious without using an ounce of your
own
power. This is the wisdom of the
ancient masters.
Chi
Power
Every westerner who tries to follow a martial path hears about chi power, but no one
can even conceive what it is. The
Shaolin form of Kung Fu was actually founded by a
Buddhist monk from India who
meditated in front of a wall at the Shaolin Temple for nine
years with no food
or water. He created his arts to
strengthen the monks of the temple and
all throughout his main focus was
understanding the nature of enlightenment.
And one of
the immediate focuses of Martial Training was not technique
only, but the health of the
body and the power in our body known as Chi. In Chinese the word Chi can have many
different uses but originally it
means air. And the main focus of
studying how to use Chi
is how to breath combined with movements that will allow
the Chi energy to move
effectively along its channels. Chi can be used for attack and defensive techniques.
We cannot see Chi so most skeptics believe it to be some fraud and
actually doesn’t exist.
But we
cannot see wind and yet we feel its presence and make use of its existence.
We even use wind to travel around the world on sailboats.
After you are trained to use chi
by a true master of Kung Fu, not some
charlatan who plays magic tricks, you can realize
the potential of what is still
unknown about the human body. But
this, the highest form of
Martial Science, takes time and dedication even to
begin to use.
In the end you will come to a realization that studying Martial Science
is not merely
a study of quick strikes and kicks.
Within Kung Fu there is science not only in one form;
there is military
science and strategy as well as medical science, geometry, and physics.
There is philosophy and wisdom, Zen is the main reason the Shaolin Temple
exists.
And there is religion and
god, and an understanding with nature yourself and your enemy.
This is why Kung Fu is the Diamond, it has taken thousands of years to
evolve to its level
of knowledge and is still being improved by modern
practitioners and masters.
And just
as when a diamond comes from under the mountain it lacks luster and needs
to be
polished, within everyone there are special skills and talents, your own
individual
Kung Fu which just needs a good hard polishing to proliferate.
This article is not the words of a Kung Fu Master, but by a Kung Fu
student of merely
half a year. If
this is just a small portion of half a year’s study, imagine what a Kung Fu
Master with decades of knowledge can help you accomplish. I have traveled from the other
side of the globe, from Miami Florida to
Taipei in search of true Chinese Martial Science
and I’ve been overwhelmed by
the unexpected depth of Kung Fu’s wisdom.
Now that you
have the key try to unlock the magical door to Kung Fu and
explore its vastness.
Written
by
Timothy
A. Drouillard
in Taipei 2002.6.25 |
