SELECTION OF QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
JANUARY 2018 PART 3
The traditional Shaolin Kungfu that we practice is very different from the modern wushu of the Shaolin monks today
Question 1
Do the modern Shaolin monks not arrive at the same destination with the pursuit of chi kung as your students? If so how does it differ?
— Lee, USA
Answer
Yes, the modern Shaolin monks do not arrive at the same destination with the pursuit of chi kung as my students do.
The aims as well as the practice of the modern Shaoiin monks and our aims and practice are different..
The modern Shaolin monks teach modern wushu and aim at their students displaying magnificent demonstration and winning trophies. We teach traditional Shaolin Kungfu and aim at our students having combat efficiency, good health, vitality, longevity, peak performance and spiritual joys.
Question 2
In my early correspondences with you years ago, you said that I should practice any kungfu I could because it was better than nothing. Also, you said that your school was what you recommended but if I didn't have access to it, I just got what I could.
Answer
That was what I said many years ago.
But I have discovered that most students cannot tell the difference between wushu and kungfu, and between kungfu where students generously exchange blows and kungfu that gives good health, vitality, and longevity. Hence, now I advise students to learn from my books and videos.
The kungfu practiced in our school is also different from that practiced in most other kungfu schools
Question 3
Is it detrimental to practice their kungfu and practice your style of chi kung?
Answer
Yes, it is detrimental.
In their kungfu, you tense your muscles which causes energy blockage. When you spar you exchange blows freely, which causes you injury and it is often unattended to. You grimace your face which is damaging to your emotional health. On the other hand, our chi kung clears blockage, promotes physical and emotional health.
Question 4
How has kung fu changed?
Answer
Kungfu has now been debased beyond recognition. Most kungfu practitioners cannot use their kungfu techniques for combat, and they frequently injure themselves in generous exchange of blows.
On the other hand, we use our kungfu techniques for combat, we do not hurt ourselves in sparring, and there is a lot of laughter and fun in our lessons.
Although we placed much importance on combat application, our priorities in kunggu training are good health, vitality and longevity
Question 5
How is wushu different than kung fu? How is it different from your school?
Answer
There is no combat application, no internal force development and no spiritual cultivation in modern wushu. A lot of kungfu toady is like modern wushu.
However, the kungfu practiced in our school is very different. We pay much importance to combat application, internal force and spiritual cultivation.
Question 6
Where is each style leading to if not the same goal?
Answer
The goals are very different. Many people may be angry at what I say, but I want to state the truth. Most kungfu practitioners today cannot use their kungfu for combat, and are getting unhealthier the more they train. In our school, we use our kungfu for combat, and our kungfu training contributes to good health, vitality and longevity.
Actually all the questions you have asked are well answered in my website. You should read it.
Editorial Note: Lee's other questions can be found in January 2018 Part 1 and January 2018 Part 2 of the Question-Answer Series.
We can make the best of our pre-natal chi as well as greatly improve our post-natal chi by practicing chi kung
Question 7
Would I be right in thinking the father's sperm is also pre-natal chi, therefore the ancestral energy? Then mother's and father's pre and post natal chi go to make the energy of the child.
— Sifu Tim Franklin, Shaolin Wahnam UK
Answer
You are right to say that the father's sperm is also pre-natal chi. Pre-natal chi is the energy a baby has before it is born. The father's chi will include ancestral information.
In Western terms, a child's DNA will include all the information of his father and mother, and all the ancestors before them.
The father's chi and the mother's chi, and all the ancestral information of the parents constitute pre-natal energy. All the energy after a child is born is considered his post-natal energy.
Post-natal energy consists of two main types of energy, heaven energy or cosmic energy, i.e. energy from the air he breaths in, and grain energy, i.e. energy from all the food and drinks he takes.
Heaven energy and grain energy with the help of fire and water produce vital energy. This is a chi kung jargon meaning that the energy from the air a person breathes in, and the energy from the food and drinks he takes, with the processes of his heart and his kidneys, produce the force that makes life go on.
It has been discovered by chi kung masters that the energy from the air constitutes 80% of a person's life force, the energy from food and drinks constitutes only 20%. But he must have healthy heart and kidneys. If his heart and kidneys are weak, even when the energy from the air, food and drinks is good, his life force will not be strong.
The father's energy and the mother's energy contribute to a child's pre-natal energy, but not his post-natal energy. But the contribution is indirect. If the father and the mother provide good heaven energy and good grain energy, and because of his good pre-natal energy the child's heart and kidneys are strong, his post-natal energy will be good.
Question 8
Does heaven chi also play its part in the process, if heavenly chi is something outside of the parents' influence? It appears that despite some of the parents' information being passed on, some children are born with or go on to develop certain skills beyond those of their parents. I cannot say if this is beyond their ancestors though, or if what I think is heavenly chi is actually ancestral?
Answer
Heaven chi is energy from the air a person breathes in. He improves his heaven chi tremendously by practicing good chi kung. Heaven chi plays a very important part in the process of generating vital energy, or life force.
Parents can influence a person's heaven chi, especially when the person is young. The parents, for example, can live at a place where the air is fresh. They can also encourage the person to practice chi kung.
The parents' and ancestors' information is passed onto a person through pre-natal energy. Pre-natal energy is stored in the kidneys, and constitutes a person's potential. If his pre-natal energy determines that he has black eyes, for example, he cannot change the colour of his eyes with post-natal energy.
Many skills, or their potential, are determined by pre-natal energy. Many skills are also developed through post-natal energy. Hence, a person may develop skills for poetry after birth, though these poetic skills may not be present in his parents and ancestors.
Question 9
Can a person change the ancestral chi passed onto their children?
Answer
The answer is yes and no.
The person cannot change his pre-natal chi. If he is born a Caucasian, for example, he cannot change himself to be a Negro.
He can change his post-natal energy. His ancestors may not have any skills or abilities in science, but he can be a scientist.
Although he cannot change his pre-natal energy, he can improve on it. For example, he may be born with a dull mind, but by practicing chi kung he can have much mental clarity. He may be born weak, but by practicing chi kung he can be energetic.
However, he cannot improve beyond the potential set by his pre-natal energy. But people operate far below their potential. If a person can use just 11% of his IQ, or intelligence quotient, he will be a genius.
Editorial Note: Sifu Tim's other questions can be found in January 2018 Part 1 and January 2018 Part 2 of the Question-Answer Series.
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
- The Wonderful Intensive Shaolin Kungfu Course
- Is Wushu the Same as Kungfu?
- What a Glorious Journey
- Shaolin 36 Leg Techniques
- North to Chicago