INTERNAL MARTIAL ARTS

Martial Arts can be classified into Internal and External martial arts. Martial arts is the art of combat either with or without any weapons (excluding guns and etc). External martial arts can be classified as overcoming your opponents with your aggression, speed, techniques and tactics. Internal martial arts can be classified as overcoming your opponent through maneuvering, balance, momentum, techniques and tactics. Of-course there is the spiritual martial arts where the master invoke a spirit (as in a trance). In many cases the master will be able to access to martial arts abilities even if he had never learn or practice martial arts. I had the privilege to see my housemate with no martial art background invoking a spirit to help him do some demonstrations.

You can be good in external martial inside 2 years of painful training like the Shaolin and Muay Thai students. Of course there is Silat (the Malay and Indonesian martial art), Taekwondo, Karate and etc. Please look out for my next article on external martial art. Internal martial arts is harder to master. It take around 20 years for someone to be good at it. To really reached the top level it might have to take more than a life time. Knowing the moves is one thing. Using Yi to move Qi and visualization is another. To be able to go another level up the spiritual path is yet another. It required lots of focusing, concentration, visualization and meditation. You cannot hurry up things.

The Taoists Priests have been practicing internal martial arts even before the legendary Chang San Feng founded Wudang around the end of the Sung Dynasty (around 1200 AD). There were Chuan Chern Pai under Grandmaster Wang Chung Yang and other lesser known Taoist sects. Later they were integrated into Wudang Pai. Even today you still find martial arts in the Youtube aligning to Chuan Chern Pai and Chung Yang Pai under Wudang. There is also claims from Emei Pai to be the earliest form of Chinese Martial Arts. Contrary to previously known sources such Jin Yong (author of many well accepted Wu Hiash /martial arts tales) always depicting Emei Pai as being a female/amazon Taoist sect which is opposite to Wudang Pai. Recent sources however have changed such perception as we are now able to see there are female as well as male Taoist priests in both Wudang and Emei Pai. Wudang Pai is currently led by Grandmaster You Xuan De with lineage directly link to the founder GM Chang San Feng.. The Emei Pai is currently led my a male grandmaster.

Previously you need martial arts for self defense and also for military purposes. With the invention of modern weapons such as guns, the importance of martial arts for military purposes has diminished though still important at close range encounter. The military of many countries still use martial arts training for the soldiers. Likewise it can be useful for the police too.

The legendary Huo Yuan Jia (Fok Yeen Kap in Cantonese), the father of modern Wushu started Chin Woo Physical Training School in Shanghai in 1909 (with the help of Nong Jin Sun) as the first registered martial arts school in China, to allow all Chinese the opportunity to learn Chinese martial arts and strengthen themselves in order to defend the country (against foreign oppression). China was labeled "the Sick Man of Asia" and there were many places for foreigners with signs such as "Chinese and Dogs not allowed". The foreigners came with their western boxing and Japanese martial arts such as karate and judo. They tried to challenge the traditional Chinese Wushu Schools which were declining in quality and quantity. This was not helped by the traditions among Wushu masters to teach their skills to a selected few. These students may then pass their skills to one or two students. Wushu was therefore limited to a selected few. The skills would be lost if the selected ones did not pass their skills down to anyone. On top of that, many do not teach the weak and female (Hou Yuan Jia was not allowed to learn Wushu because he was often sick). Some masters would keep some secret techniques for themselves as protection just in case the next in line were to rebel. He realized that If each master were to keep a few moves to themselves very soon there would be not much left to learn. Hence, the standard of Wushu skills in China were steadily deteriorating over the years.

He named his school "Chin Woo" - "Chin" meaning "high spirit" and "Woo" meaning "martial art". His objective was to provide the people of China with the essence of Chinese martial arts with the aim of cultivating knowledge, benevolence and courage and improving the health of the people, in addition to continuing the spread and preservation of Wushu skills. He encourage the masters from other schools to teach at Chin Woo where they contributed to make it great again. It become a melting pot for all kinds of Chinese martial arts.

So the real aim of Wushu is not to pick a fight. All martial arts have their own code of conducts. The Japanese and Westerners normally have a gung-ho attitude and love to pick a fight with others. The Japanese would commit harakiri (suicide) whenever they lose. That was the warrior (samurai) spirit which many Japanese were proud of. Now you do not need to take it that seriously. Martial arts is not for showing off. It is an art of self defense. We respect all human beings regardless of creed, race or religion. We respect all martial arts and masters. We have no need to prove ourselves since sooner or later we will all grow old and die. Sooner or later there is bound to be someone better than us. We should admire Grandmaster Huo Yuan Jia for without him wushu would be restricted to a selected few and with each passing year, more and more secrets would be lost until it become a totally lost and useless art. For instance Bruce Lee had influence from being western educated and having 2 instructors and friends who were Japanese which explain his arrogance and love for fighting.

It is well known in Chinese Martial Arts that Shaolin is the leader of External Wushu and Wudang is the master of Internal Wushu. It has always been that way since Chang San Feng (or Cheong Sam Foong in Cantonese) established Wudang Pai. This is not to say that Shaolin monks learn only external martial arts. There is Northern Shaolin Nei Gong, Southern Shaolin Iron Shirt Qigong, Shaolin Wu Chu Chuan (Five Ancestors) Qigong and etc. Grandmaster Anthony Wee's root is more on the Shaolin Wushu, Shaolin Nei Gong and Qigong plus other systems. Therefore he was able to go under the wheel of a 9.3 ton bus at the age of 45. Master James Chee is a son of the late Grandmaster Chee Kim Thong of Shaolin Wu Chu Chuan Malaysia.

When a person get older he obviously cannot be as fast or powerful as before. He need to refine his techniques where he uses less physical/muscular movements and conserve energy. Notice most good soccer players would be in excellent form from late teen to early thirties. The same hold for tennis and badminton. Not everyone can be like Bruce Lee who was awesome at 32years old. Even Bruce Lee succumbed to taking pain killers to withstand the pain of "over training" (or how else could he had the body of an eighteen years old as confirmed by his doctor when he was actually in his thirties?).

Tai Chi Chuan is quite a sly martial art. The master conserve his energy and use it in the most efficient way. Some of them are plain common sense. Internal martial arts like Tai Chi Chuan is about momentum and balance. You try to follow the Taoist idea of be like water or cloud. Water is soft yet able to break through rocks while cloud floats around slowly. When someone rushes at a Tai Chi Chuan master, the master just side step and follow the momentum by pushing him (off balance) toward the direction he was heading. Since he is already heading toward that direction (off balanced), a simple push would be enough to send him flying. Of course there are many variations such as stepping on the opponent's front leg and push him to the ground and etc. He can also just hit him at the private parts, throat and etc. In my Youtube channel is a video of Grandmaster Anthony Wee accepting a chop from a former world heavyweight champion. There is also some Ki masters taking kicks from an American Football player at the private parts. So if these masters are prepared for the attacks, it might not harm them. They somehow managed to cut off the pain (which is very real). However under normal circumstances it can easily kill most people so please do not try it.

In lot of videos in the Youtube regarding rooting, Grandmaster Chen Xiao Wang's rooting is certainly on a very high level. He stand on one leg and drink water while being pushed by Master Shi Jia Ke (Taekwondo 6th dan black belt). Then 8 taekwondo black belts experts tried to push him to the ground but were instead themselves pushed to the floor. This is no ordinary task. You need to stand like a big tree (in a good stance) by grounding your qi. A sudden jerk from the master would be able to send the people to the ground since everyone is leaning forward (off balanced). Of course masters like Grandmaster Huang Hsin Shyan, Grandmaster Chern Man Ching, Grandmaster You Xuande and Lama Dondrup Dorje (Dr. Yeong) are all very good in their Tai Chi Chuan.

Do not think everyone who practice Tai Chi Chuan can do such things. They might have learn the techniques but because Tai Chi Chuan is an art not science, each individual reach different levels of abilities. For instance there are many people learning around 20 to 30 years of Tai Chi Chuan but can barely even feel qi. There are some people who can feel qi within hours of training. The late grandmaster Chern Man Ching of Yang Tai Chi was reported as saying that it would be difficult to bring your qi to the Baihui (crown chakra). My late yoga master Swarmi Maharishi just took several hours to initiate me and the energy went straight up to the third eye and then to the crown about 25 years ago.

Grandmaster Chern also said that it would be easy to bring the energy down from the baihui (crown). Apparently, it was not the case for me as I spend the next few years trying to bring the energy down. I had frequent nose bleedings, migraine, fever and the feeling like my head was going to burst. I cannot even eat creamy cake as I was prone to feeling unwell after consuming peanut cream cake. If given the chance I would have gladly not learn Kundalini Yoga and reversed the process (if it was possible). Fortunately, I did not follow my idol Bruce Lee. Each individual is differently constituted and has different reactions and achievements. My spiritual master helped me to stabilized the energy. Of-course years of meditations has enabled me to learn qigong faster than most people. Most people can only talk about soong (loose/relax) and using Yi to direct the Qi. But it is easy for people who have done lots of meditation.

Internal Martial art beside being used for fighting can also be use for health purposes. For instance qigong is normally structured to produce certain desired results. You can strengthened your immune system and help your internal organs function more effectively. Internal martial arts is also about proper breathing to strengthening your diaphragm. Many Wudang, Tai Chi and Qigong Masters have pot bellies as a result. They are different from the normal pot bellies. Try poking your finger into a master's belly and you will be able to feel the softness of the belly on the outside. When you really push your finger in, you will be able to feel the tissue the resistance from within without any effort from the master. It is normal for grandmaster to be as soft as cotton and yet as hard as steel. This is like someone punching into a bag of cotton and if the master so wish, he can make it as hard as steel. Obviously a lots of things  are pure logic. When you punch a Shaolin monk he use hard qigong to withstand  and cut off the pain. When you punch an internal martial artist, you will see him suck in his belly and which will caused the attack to be several inches short and off target (making the punch not as deadly as intended like hitting a bag of cotton). By the time your fist reached him, it is already waning and he can counter by pushing out his belly (with Yi and qi) sending the fist flying backward and the person off balanced thrown backward. Everything is about perfect timing (split seconds sucking and releasing the belly) and plain common sense. Just like if someone were to punch my palm  very hard, definitely I will feel the pain. But if I move along same timing (by slowly withdrawing my hands which look like being hit) but as I move my hands several inches backward, the momentum of the hit is lost and I can simply pushed him backward with my palm since he will be off balanced leaning forward.
Manipulation of qi is the domains of advanced qi practitioners. First you must be able to feel qi very strongly and use yi (mind/intent/will). It is no magic. Quantum theory talk about the electro-magnetic, strong and weak forces/waves. Qigong promotes 5 flows such as electromagnetic, vibratory, neuro chemical, heat and blood. The weak and strong forces are the Yin and Yang. Actually there are much things in common. Maybe they are talking about the same things from different perspectives. The history of yesteryears would need to be rewrite since new discoveries and clues have produced different results. This goes to prove that what is fact today might turn out to be false sometime in the future. The Earth was once thought to be flat. The atom was once considered the smallest indivisible item like a ball bearing until they discovered the sub atomic particles such as proton, neutron and electron. Now they are talking about vibrating strings so small that normal people cannot see them. Ancient technologies such as the Pyramids have baffled scientists for ages. They do not have any clue how such big monuments could be build to such precision. Similarly science cannot prove the existence of a soul and qi. Scientists have no answer to what happen when a person die.

Theoretically, all Tai Chi Chuan practitioners should be using yi to move their qi and visualization of the desired outcome. Apparently many people just conveniently ignore the qi and yi part (as they cannot feel the qi) and the visualization is even harder. They just concentrate on their movements. Many instructors do not even bother to correct the mistakes of students under their care. Sometimes it becomes the blind leading the blind. Even in qigong, different people practice differently. Some really follow the breathing while others don't. Sometimes even instructors are doing it wrongly. Therefore there is always the disparity between practitioners. Most people would always assume someone who has practiced 20-30 years of Tai Chi Chuan / Qigong would be better than someone only with 2-3 years of training. In reality it does not always have to be the case. If someone is dedicated and put lots of efforts into learning and practicing there is no reason why he cannot progress faster. For instance I only started Qigong in November 2007, Theoretically, I might not be as well inform about certain things but what is most important is the ability to use Yi to move Qi and visualization. My training in Yoga meditation became really useful in aiding my progress. As I adhere strictly to the breathings methods used, I was able to heal myself of dermatitis induced psoriasis (which specialists say there is no cure), sweaty and cold limbs, nasal blockage and running nose (doctor propose minor surgery) and a host of other health problems. Please refer to my earlier articles on "How I heal myself of incurable diseases & Part 2".

Martial arts has nothing to do with race or religion. It does not matter whether you are Chinese, Asian or Westerner. It does not matter whether you are Buddhist, Christian, Muslim or Taoist. Of-course being Taoist and being Chinese does have its advantages in understanding Yin Yang and the Chinese Medical sciences. There are some westerners who are more Chinese than most Chinese. They dressed in uniforms found only in Wudang and Shaolin. Their behaviors are affected by Taoist and Buddhist teachings. They have lots of knowledge of Chinese cultures and martial arts. Some of them can even do Chinese Calligraphy. Among them are disciples of Grandmaster You Xuande such as Master You Li Tai from Italy and Master You Li Han from Germany. Many of their students are like them.

There are many Chinese who would like to follow the modern ways and discard the ancient ways due to inferiority complex. They are afraid of people calling them old fashion or conservative. They have no interest in things Chinese but how to make more money and have fun. There are many Chinese who have no abilities in martial arts and yet have the nerve to show up in Youtube making malicious comments on subjects they have no idea about. They become more westernized than the westerners. It has nothing to do with race, creed or religion. If you do not understand something it would be appropriate for you to ask and abstain from commenting. Similarly if I know nothing about Tennis, how would I be able to understand the spins of the tennis ball and appreciate the excellent skills of Roger Federer and Rafa Nadal? If I do not understand abc how would I be able to read or write in English? Civilized people must act like civilized people not barbarians.

I am only asking everyone to be open-minded and look at possibilities. Part of becoming a good master is to remain humble and try to learn from others (even those who might not look likely to have more abilities than ourselves). Learning martial arts also involve cultivating the mind. According to many masters, half of the time in martial arts should be used to cultivate the mind so that the students become better persons. Unfortunately, many masters who went over to the western countries are more westernized and money motivated. They have to prove their abilities by accepting challenges from other martial artists to get famous and therefore more students and income. Please refer to my article on Bruce Lee. They charge more than a thousand USD for 3-4 days Qigong seminars. They would spread the rumors that only they are genuine and that those under the communist rules are the fake masters and etc. There are real and fake masters all over the world.

In Youtube there are lots of videos for everyone to view. Some of these are from well known masters who are already famous and have no need to promote themselves. Wudang's Chief Priest Grandmaster You Xuande is indeed a powerful man and does not have problem throwing anyone 30-50 feet away. He is not a normal master, but the head of Wudang. As explained above, most of the time he is only following the momentum and pushing someone who is already off-balance. Grandmaster Chen Xiao Wang rooting against the Taekwondo masters is exceptional. There is no point for the Grandmaster to use everything he know on someone very low in skill. A tiny finger should be sufficient to kill an ant why bother using an atom bomb? Everything is only a tip of the iceberg. They only revealed what is sufficient to get you interested.

When it come to manipulating qi, there are many people using their qi to burn newspapers as in John Chang, Yin Yang Kung and Gathering Qi. The main point here is the masters had to do meditations to enable them to make use of the Yin energy at Hui Yin-perineum (between the anus and sex organ) and Yang energy at the Tan Tien (2-3 inches below the belly). The fusion of these two energies can possibly be used to create fire as claimed by John Chang. Obviously it is not something easy and need lots of meditations. The Mo Pai system  supposedly teach by John Chang is misinterpreted by most westerners. Mo (no) pai (sect or group) means no alignment to any faction. Traditionally all the good martial arts would be from sect or martial arts organizations such as Wudang Pai, Shaolin Pai, Emei Pai, Kunlun Pai and etc. Mo Pai mean it does not have a brand name. For instance Rolex watches are well known and so is Shaolin and Wudang Pai (for martial arts). This means it is not originated directly from any known sect or martial art organization. This is common as many masters take something from here and there to be their martial art such as Jeet Kune Do (the art of the intercepting fist) by Bruce Lee.
Then there is Master James Chee of Shaolin Wu Chu Chuan (Five Ancestors Fist) Australia with his Qi manipulations. I have personally witnessed his abilities. Next is Master Shi Ming with his amazing abilities as shown in "Qigong Master Projecting his Qi energy".

This Qi Projection thing is very misleading. I do not think any qi is being projected. He said, "My thinking (Yi Nen) is over there. See how it affects him". He visualizes in his mind of the outcome. He use his Yi (mind/intent/will) to direct his energy to affect his student's back or anywhere he wish to direct it to. As the qi is visualized and directed at the back of the student, the student become affected by it according to his visualization. So where is the qi projection? He can place his hand at your hand but his Yi (mind/intent/will) is on the leg and visualizing it being affected by the qi. So you see him jumping like a monkey because the Yi (direct the qi) to the leg not his hand. Similarly, when Master Shi placed his hand on top of the reporter's, his Yi is on his student's leg not the reporter's hand. That is why it affects the student's leg and not the reporter's hand. It is not easy to follow the logic. Previously, I couldn't understand how it was being done then. It doesn't make sense at all. Anybody would have thought it is fake. It took me quite awhile to figure it out. My abilities are nowhere near the master's. I have actually tried it on myself and found out it works. This is advanced stuff. Pertaining to Master Shi practicing in the park in Beijing, it clearly shows he have nothing to hide. People like me can easily get free lessons by having a few glances at what he did. He was gracious enough to allow people to film him. This show he is still not a money motivated or westernized master. Of course I expect him to teach the more advanced techniques at another location or he is a really selfless man. The American student clearly knows what he want and is willing to learn patiently. Learning to master Yi to direct Qi is not for people with no patience. Previously I used to get caned by my spiritual master for trivial mistakes. It is all part of character building. The opportunity cost of four years with Master Shi is time lost and can be used to learn Muay Thai, Shao Lin etc. He would have reached a very high level and have more measurable results. Apparently he chooses to study under Master Shi. If Master Shi is after money like some of the other masters, he would not train in the public. He would charged the westerner thousand of USD for several days classes and market it as secret qigong seminars. At the more advanced level you might have to even pay double that. They always claim they are teaching some ancient secrets techniques known to very few.

More advanced user can even get you to hop around as if there is something in your pant or you have the kangaroo's genes. Please check out "Discourse with the Heart Sutra with Qigong Part 1-4" for a better explanations on what actually happened. This time Lama Dondrup Dorje (Dr. Yeong) invited some karate instructors from a local dojo to be his "monkeys". These karate instructors (among them a 3rd dan black belt) would explain what happened. Lama Dondrup Dorje was the former Dr. Yeong a martial arts expert before he became a Tibetan monk. He is well versed with most version of Tai Chi Chuan, Eagle Claws and etc. He is talking about merging his qi with his opponent and make his opponent unwittingly cooperate with him. He also talk about compassion and some Buddhist teachings on the Heart Sutra. This is even more unbelievable but it is achievable considering how long Dr. Yeong has been practicing Tai Chi Chuan.

Of course everyone know about the Kial master vs MMA. Ki/qi masters must be aware of their opponent's abilities. You can't accept the challenge from everyone. After a number of challenges, he could have depleted his ki/qi. Anyway you can't beat everyone by manipulating ki/qi alone. Surely there is someone more powerful than you in term of ki/qi. You wouldn't want to be on the receiving end of masters like Grandmaster You Xuande of Wudang. Beside this Japanese Kial master is not that exceptional. Any amateur martial art student would have the ability to block some punches or kicks of a karate man. Apparently this Kial master is more a ki master only and has no martial art ability (as he can neither block a simple punch or kick). If it was Grandmaster Chen Xiao Wang or Grandmaster You Xuande or just Master Chen Shixing, the karate chap could most easily be injured. Then there is Malaysian Faith Healer exposed. The famous Ustaz Arif used to demonstrate his "extraordinary" power on many TV shows. He used to show how a 4 feet long fluorescent light can be lighted up and off as he so wishes. Randy, a magician who became famous for exposing famous psychic/magician Uri Geller and lots of other celebrities explained that Ustaz Arif was wearing a slipper with an electrical switch inserted. He can trigger the switch to send a low voltage current flowing into his body to light up the lamp and later off it. Another trick is the use off eggs to roll over the patient body and when he opened it there seemed to be blood in it. Color dye can be injected in the egg before hand and when he open the egg there will be either red or black dye in the egg. Another trick is the use of test pen with battery inserted, it only cost US 30 cents. Normal test pen will not light up when on contact with any part of your body. I have no doubt that Ustaz Arif is very good at some types of Yoga and martial arts. But trying to use some magic tricks to hoodwinked some unsuspecting victims who have incurable diseases is shameless and unforgivable. He not only cheat his victims of their money but also their valuable time to find a cure.

The intention of this article is to dispel uncertainty and give a balanced view of internal martial arts and qigong. Most people have not reached the level to know what exactly happened.