SELECTION OF QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
FEBRUARY 2020 PART 1
Chi flow is the essence of chi kung
Question 1
I am still doing about 15-minute swaying exercise you taught us Old Frees in 2012.
— Chew, Malaysia
Answer
The chi kung I taught the Old Frees (old boys of Penang Free School, Malaysia) is wonderful. It will give you and the Old Frees good health.
Question 2
I also play around with other types of chi kung.
Answer
For some reasons, what is practiced as chi kung is gentle physical exercise using chi kung forms. A good analogy is Tai Chi Chuan, often shortened to Tai Chi.
What most people practice today is Tai Chi external form, not Tai Chi Chuan. There is nothing internal, and nothing martial in what most people practice. The same situation exists in chi kung. What most people practice today is external chi kung forms, not genuine chi kung.
A good way to tell whether a person is practicing genuine chi kung or just external chi kung forms is from his result. If he practices genuine chi kung he should have good health, vitality, longevity, peak performance and spiritual joys irrespective of his religion or the lack of one.
Unfortunately, many people who say that they practice chi kung are still sick and weakly, just like many people who say they practice Tai Chi have no internal force and cannot defend themselves.
I shall conduct an Intensive Chi Kung Course in Penang from 4th to 8th December 2019. (The course was conducted earlier, but because of a long waiting list, the question is only released now. Chew attended the course.) Understandably, many people who wish to attend the course may wonder what they can learn in a few days. The answer is that they will learn a lot in just a few days, especially skills that they will not learn elsewhere.
If you are contented with good health, what I taught the Old Frees is quite sufficient, provided of course you practice correctly what I taught. If you want vitality, longevity, peak performance and spiritual joys, you should attend my course. Please apply to my secretary.
Internal Force is an important part of Tai Chi Chuan
Question 3
I am curious to know whether a person who has recovered from slip disc or prolapsed disc can do chi kung exercise safely without worries. What is your view on this?
Answer
According to chi kung philosophy, those who have recovered from slip disc or prolapsed disc should continue with his chi kung practice. It must be genuine chi kung, not just gentle physical exercise using chi kung techniques.
This is different from conventional medical practice. If a person has a slip disc or prolapsed disc, doctors usually advise him not to move his back for fear that it may endanger his spinal cord.
Of course one must not move his back unmethodologically. If a person can perform his chi kung exercise, it will be safe for him to move his back methodologically. In genuine chi kung, when a practitioner moves his back, it is like letting God or the Supreme Reality move his back for him. God or whatever term you call the Supreme will always do His best for the person.
This is expressed in a chi kung term called "wu-wei", often mistranslated as "don't do anything and everything will be done for you". The secret lies in "you-wei", which means "doing the right thing". In other words, one must perform "you-wei", then "wu-wei".
Question 4
As I continue with the Cosmos Palm training different joys start to reveal themselves. I cannot express my gratitude enough for your transmission of this amazing art to our school.
— Miguel, Netherlands
Answer
Cosmos Palm is a special art. I don't intend to teach it again. Those who missed the course, just missed it.
My sifu, Sifu Ho Fatt Nam, taught me this art specially. I don't think he taught it to anyone else, for which I am forever grateful.
Besides internal force which contributes greatly to our daily life, Cosmos Palm gives us much joy. It is just mind-boggling that I took many months to learn the art, whereas our students learned it in a few days!
"Pushing Mountain" in Cosmos Palm
Question 5
I have a fun and historical question on how you progressed in your Cosmos Palm training throughout the years?
Answer
Like most students in our school, I have many arts to practice, but Cosmos Palm is not one of the art I train every day.
Like most students in our school too, whatever I train will contribute to my Cosmos Palm; more significantly, it will enhance my good health, vitality, longevity, peak performance and spiritual joys.
I must mention that most other practitioners, including some masters, do not have this wonderful benefit. Many kungfu practitioners cannot use their kungfu to defend themselves, and some chi kung practitioners are still weak and sickly. Some masters have to train only one art at one time.
Question 6
Did Sigung Ho recommend any specific directions in how you should practice it throughout your years?
Answer
As you address me as "Sigung", my sifu should be addressed by you as "Sitaigung".
No, your Sitaigung Ho Fatt Nam didn't recommend any specific directions. He just taught me Pushing Mountains, and later Forceful Big Windmill, and left me on my own to practice.
I was a good student and diligently practiced what he had taught me. I am very grateful that he taught me Cosmos Palm.
"Precious Duck Swims through Lotus" in Four Gates
Question 7
Did you work back up to 300 Pushing Mountains ever so often? Or simply 30 Pushing Mountains a day with Forceful Big Windmill?
Answer
No, I don't perform 300 repetitions of Pushing Mountain so often, but I believe I can do so if I want to.
It is not just performing Pushing Mountain, but how you perform it that is important. All students in our school can do so correctly.
I don't perform 30 repetitions of Pushing Mountain with Forceful Big Windmill every day, but as I have said, I can perform 300 repetitions correctly if I want to.
Question 8
Did you practice it every day? Or did you concentrate on other arts too?
Answer
I practiced Cosmos Palm every day or every night when I learned it, but now I don't. The other arts I practice contribute to my progress in Cosmos Palm as well as other aspects of kungfu.
I practiced every day or every night the kungfu set or the kungfu aspect I was learning. When I was learning Dragon Strength form Uncle Righteousness, I practiced it every night. I also hit a wood dummy every night to strengthen my arms.
When I learned Four Gates as well as its combat application from Sifu Ho Fatt Nam, I practiced them every night. When I learned tiger-claw from my sifu, I practiced holding two iron balls every night. When he later taught me "Fierce Tiger Cleanses Claws", I practiced it every night.
Now, I usually practice Lifting the Sky and One-Finger Shooting Zen. Sometimes I practice the Small Universe and Sinew Metamorphosis. I also practice some kungfu sets in turn.
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
- Chi Kung: the Art of Developing Vital Energy
- My Direct Experience of Dim Mak
- Cuidad Encantada and the Ancient Town of Cuenca
- Plum for Peaches Sacrifices
- Junk Shop and Cowboy Town