SELECTION OF QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
APRIL 2022 PART 1
Entering into a "Chi Kung State of Mind"
Question 1
You have mentioned many times that to enter into a qigong state of mind, one must be relaxed and be focused, or else he cannot overcome his illness and attain good health. How do I know whether I have been relaxed and focused sufficiently to enjoy the benefits of qigong?
— Luis, France
Answer
If a practitioner has not entered into a chi kung (qigong) state of mind, i.e. be relaxed and focused, he cannot enjoy the benefits of chi kung, and therefore cannot overcome his illness and attain good health. In high level chi kung, he will also attain vitality, longevity, peak performance and spiritual joys irrespective of religion. He will be peaceful and happy every day.Being relaxed and focused is a skill, and being a skill you have to learn it from a master who is willing to teach you. You can't learn entering into a chi kung state of mind from books or videos. A practitioner may not be relaxed, but he thinks he is relaxed; and he may not be focused, but he thinks he is focused. For most people, it is easy to be stressful and to have myriad thoughts coming to their head.
One main reason why I travel the world teaching others is because my sifu, or master, asked me to. I was also concerned that most "chi kung" partitioners merely practice physical exercise, missing the energy and mind aspects, and most "kungfu" practitioners cannot use their kungfu techniques for defence, although genuine chi kung is a mind and energy art, and genuine kungfu is an art of combat.
I have travelled the world for more than 20 years, and I wish to spend more time with my grandchildren. At present I offer intensive courses. It is best that you attend an Intensive Chi Kung Course in Penang, Malaysia.
One special factor of my intensive courses is that I transfer the skills from heart to heart of entering into a chi kung state of mind. Once you have the skills, they are yours already. A practitioner can enter into a chi kung state of mind within half an hour during the course itself. I really don't know any master who can transfer the skills from heart to heart in such a short time.
With the present world lockdown, I don't know when I shall offer the intensive courses. Please check my website for available dates.
Question 2
The restrictions here in Finland have gotten stricter. I have been able to teach a small chi kung class and I feel teaching looses a lot when you cannot see the students face to face.
— Sifu Nessa Kahila, Shaolin Wahnam Finland
Answer
Teaching chi kung and kungfu should be face to face.
Soon I shall offer new intensive courses on Shaolin chi kung and kungfu. The world will then be open again.
We in Shaolin Wahnam will be free of the virus and we will not be a carrier of any disease as any virus will be destroyed immediately. There will be new interest in my intensive courses. The intensive courses will give good health, vitality, longevity, peak performance and spiritual joys irrespective of religion.
Shaolin Kungfu
Question 3
I was wondering if we could view the action of Western medication from a chi kung perspective and vice versa? For example I find that my psychiatric medication prevents wet dreams.
— Bala, India
Answer
While Western medicine is prevalent, there are many weaknesses. One of which is that there are many so-called incurable diseases.
Pharmaceutical companies can produce sugar-coated medical pills instead of practicing chi kung so that people may like them, and Western trained doctors, who command great respect from their patients, can market these medical pills. In this way both pharmaceutical companies and Western trained doctors can have spiritual as well as financial joys.
Western science has alienated the mind from the body. Western psychology is an example. The mind is now brain functions. In modern societies, intrapersonal relationship is now a serious problem.
There is much that Western medicine can benefit from chi kung healing. Chi kung healing is very rare today, and there is no such a thing as an incurable disease.
Many healers say they perform chi kung healing, but what they perform is actually gentle physical exercise, and gentle physcial exercise cannot heal patients. They have lost the essence of chi kung healing along the way.
If a person's glands, tissues, organs and systems are working the ways they are meant to work, the person will be healthy. Practicing chi kung and undergoing chi kung healing will give good health as they ensure that a person's glands, tissues, organs and systems are working properly.
Question 4
What do you do if a mosquito sits on one of your dim mark points?
Answer
If a mosquito sits on your dim mark point, you hit the mosquito or chase it away.
Only a dim mark master has the ability to hit a dim mark point. It needs special ability. Other people would not be able to hit it.
"Dim mark" needs special ability
Question 5
I will teach Shaolin Chi Kung and Eighteen Lohan Hands.
— John, Ireland
Answer
You will do well in Shaolin chi kung and Wudang Kungfu. I know you will make a great Shaolin master. It is just a matter of time.
Question 6
During the lockdown I thought about the old sages on Huashan and Wutaishan and on Songshan before the great Bodhidharma's 9 years of wall-contemplation. As we are told, human contact is necessary and releases oxytocin which is good for our immune-system and mental-health.
Answer
I don't know how old sages spent their time on Huashan, Wutaishan and Songshan before Bodhidharma came to China. They probably spent their time like old sages, such as Lao Tzu, Zhang Tzu and Confucius. Other people would spend their time in their normal lives.
Kungfu was first institutionalized at the Shaolin Monastery at Songshan, or Song Mountain, i.e. practiced at the monastery at Songshan as an institution. Before this kungfu was practiced individually.
I also don't know how oxytocin was released, and whether it was good for mental health. For you, spending time alone and in depression was a thing in the past. You will be practicing and teaching kungfu and chi kung.
As far as I know, only people who join Shaolin Wahnam practice chi kung and kungfu as an art of triple-cultivation. Some elite schools may practice their arts as they really are. Other people, which means the great majority, practice their arts as gentle, physical exercise.
Most other people carry on their lives as ordinary people. They do their ordinary work and spend their time with their family, with themselves or just loiter away their time. Most people are full of myriad thoughts and are stressful.
Only elite people can relax, free their mind of myriad thoughts, have mental clarity and internal force. Only elite people can transcend their physical needs, have health-benefits, vitality, longevity, peak performance and spiritual joys irrespective of religion, and great compassion. But other people have human contact.
Triple-ciltivation in chi kung
Question 7
It seems that building a lot of force or power before one has overcome arrogance, cynicism and negativities in the mind, can lead one to stall or even retrogress as those negativities are amplified.
Answer
I believe that if we assume teaching as a Shaolin Wahnam instructor, as a teacher we have to place ourselves many levels above our students, we shall achieve picture-perfect form, internal force and speed. We shall also achieve tolerance, perseverance, effort and mental clarity. Teaching, therefore, is a good way to achieve these desirable results.
But before we teach, we must ensure that our arts are genuine. It is just ridiculous that "chi kung" instructors have no experience of chi, and "kungfu" instructors cannot use their arts for combat, as genuine chi kung is an art of energy, and genuine kungfu is a fighting art.
If we persist to train every day to be exemplary instructors, we shall achieve these desirable qualities the Shaolin arts will give. Hence, I believe that those instructors who train every day have not followed my instructions. Arts are so debased today that many "instructors" outside of Shaolin Wahnam just "ng jen ji tai" (Cantonese Chinese pronunciation) or "waste their students' time".
Question 8
Sifu, considering triple-cultivation and how powerful our arts are, in terms of over-training, is it ideally better to clear the mind of all negativities before building force?
Answer
Our arts are very powerful and are triple-cultivation. Chi kung and kungfu takes years, but our Shaolin Wahnam students take only hours or days in my regional and intensive courses. It is because our arts are genuine, whereas most other people just practice their outward physical forms, missing the energy and the mind aspects.
When I was a student, I trained physical kungfu, energy cultivation and spiritual cultivation separately. But now Shaolin Wahnam family members train the arts all at once. They cultivate "jing", "qi" and "shen", or physically, mentally and energetically at the same time, as can be observed in our chi kung students, and also in our kungfu students.
Not only we train our chi kung and kungfu every day, we must train "jing", "qi" and "shen", or in Western terms, we must train physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually at the same time. In Western terms, there is a difference between "mentally" and "spiritually", but in the arts we train, "mentally" concerns the intellect, and "spiritually" does not concern the intellect. There is a clear difference between mental cultivation and spiritual cultivation; one concerns the intellect or consciousness, and the other concerns the spirit.
In other words, it is not just clearing all negativities in general, but we ensure that our training involves "jing", "qi", "shen", or in Western terms, physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually.
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
- Entering into a Chi Kung State of Mind
- How to Prevent Over-Training
- Aims and Objectives of Practicing Kungfu
- Like Magic Dreams
- From New York to Amish Country