ACCEPTING CHALLENGES
Eagle Claw Combat Sequences
Question
Yet, I am reminded of the story you told in “The Complete Book of Shaolin”, of Sigung talking you out of a challenge. A passage that sticks out for me is, “Then the question of defending your honor does not arise. As the accusation is false, there is no need for you to defend.”
I know you oversee the discussion forum and approve of the actions of the seniors. I am just confused. I, too, feel a strong desire to defend my Sifu when visitors directly toss insults, but it is due to the words in your book that I am reminded that these insults are hollow because they are based on false ideas and not the truth.
-- Sifu Matt Fenton
Answer
It is indeed a pity that instead of benefiting from our video presentation and be grateful for it, WongYing chose to attack and insult us.
Our position is very clear. We have great respect for Eagle Claw Kungfu. That is why we intend to have a special course on Eagle Claw at the UK Summer Camp. If WongYing or anybody interprets this as an insult to Eagle Claw practitioners, which was never intended to be in the first place, that is his problem, not ours.
Despite his having 26 years of Eagle Claw training, it is obvious to us that WongYing knows little, or nothing, about Eagle Claw combat application. He also knows little about Eagle Claw philosophy and could not answer your very appropriate and reasonable question as to why, according to his understanding, Sequence 1 is important in Eagle Claw Kungfu. Sadly, WongYing's case is typical of many kungfu practitioners today.
I do not like to use the word “stupid”, but it aptly describes WongYing's action in publicly calling my performance of Eagle Claw Sequences 1 and 2 “fa khuen sau thui”, which means “flowery fists and embroidery kicks” in Cantonese. In kungfu culture it is the worst of insults.
It is unthinkable for anyone to use it on a grandmaster of a school because it is issuing a challenge to the whole school. Personally, if someone calls my kungfu “fa khuen sau thui”, I would be amused, but when it applies to our whole school it becomes a serious matter. It is no surprise that so many of our instructors and students rise to the occasion and accept WongYing's challenge.
Our position on challenges is also very clear. We do not challenge others but if others challenge us, we take it seriously. We study the challenger and his challenge carefully and respond accordingly. So far, we have accepted every one of the challenges our distractors throw at us, and we are glad that without a single exception every challenger withdrew his challenge.
Mahmood issuing a challenge to Sanda Warrior, whom Mahmood rightly calls a Keyboard Warrior, is an exception, which we approve. Mahmood's action is due to his sense of righteousness and loyalty to our school. Not many people know that Mahmood was already a national Taekwondo champion before he learned from me, and since learning from me his combat efficiency has improved remarkably. I believe Mahmood would easily beat a keyboard warrior who dared not even give his real name.
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