Photo of the Good Luck Man, Li Qing Yun

[Omar]

I was originally going to post this under the other thread I created about master Lu Zijian as it is slightly related, but I think it qualifies to a thread of its own.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Li_Qing_Yuen

This wikipedia article, with a provided photo tells the tale of a man who suposedly lived to be over 250 years old!

Although we can never know for sure, I personally believe this could be possible with the right conditions and methods. He lived in the same area as Lu Zijian does now, Szechuan province and was apparently trained in the same arts; Taoism, qigong and bagua kungfu as well as being a accomplished herbalist.

Seems the Wudang and Emei mountain practitioners of internal arts placed greater value on longevity then Shaolin, as the number of people living longer then 110 seems noticeably larger among the taoists then the shaolin buddhists. This offcourse only based on the limited souces I've been able to deem as somewhat credible.

I do recall reading something similar long ago in a mid 1980s Guinness world records book, suposedly a 250-something year old man had passed away in China, but since no proper western "verificator" was present the claim was offcourse deemed unserious..

True or not, its inspiring what can(?) be accomplished with dedication.

[Omar]

I cannot any longer edit my posts is seems.

A webpage that has a copy of the original New York Times article the day his death was reaported.

http://plantcures.com/Lichingyun.htm

I'll stop the "grand old men" spamming now

[Martin Do]

Thanks for sharing the information Omar. Master Li Chung Yun looks like a very healthy handsome middle aged man in the photo .

[Rab]

Very interesting! I believe that such longevity is possible Infact it annoys me when scientists criticise paranormal phenomena by referring to laws of physics and such because these laws are not concrete and anomalies are always being discovered thus breaking the existing laws.

[Irina]

Longevity

Hi all

This is an interesting thread. Thank you for sharing the article Omar.
I believe that there are few men and women in the world who may be even older but who do not care to let the world know how old they are in fact and who may even not count their age because it is either irrelevant to them or to the societies where they live.

I remember Sifu saying that each individual has been "designed" to live a certain number of years. By practicing Shaolin arts one cannot actually extend the "pre-designed" age. However, by practicing Shaolin arts one can live the full amount of years that had been designated to an individual. However, one can live them with more vitality and health.

Have a good chi flow :-)

[KungFuMän]

Yes i have seen that this longevity thing is important for taoists, you can also see that in taoist texts. So this has lead to many people making up their age, going as far as forging their birth certificate, to get more credibility. It's not that hard when you live to an old age and all your close ones pass away before you so no one knows how old you really are. This is not that rare in China.

But it is amazing how fit these old internal martial artists seem to be in their later years, that is something to strive for.

[Martin Do]

Hello Miika and nice to see your happy face .

Best wishes

Martin

[JoseFreitas]

But it is amazing how fit these old internal martial artists seem to be in their later years, that is something to strive for.

It is not only internal martial artists who live to be that old. I think a combination of being physically active, AND mentally active and alert which is required for attaining old age, while remaining functional and active. As a good friend of mine said (and he is in amazing good shape for someone in his mid-60's), the first goal is to reach old age and still be able to tie your shoelaces without embarassing yourself! Then you take it from there, one kungfu movement at a time.

I am becoming more and more dissatisfied with the distinctions between internal and external, although I do admit that there are differences in training between the two "families" so to speak.

Here is a non-internal guy who is pretty good for his age. Heck, he'd be pretty good at most ages! Tohyama Seiko, an 80 year old karate practitioner.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EdVd4sYcXOE

Also, Wang Ziping, demoing the Jian in his mid-80's, with his daughter:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Reb9e13TDDY

[Andrea]

I am becoming more and more dissatisfied with the distinctions between internal and external, although I do admit that there are differences in training between the two "families" so to speak.

Here is a non-internal guy who is pretty good for his age. Heck, he'd be pretty good at most ages! Tohyama Seiko, an 80 year old karate practitioner.

My father who will celebrate his 75 birthday in a month has been practicing "external" sports his whole life. He enjoys them very much and is still going out with his bike every morning for a 1-2hours ride. He doing extremly well - both mentally and physically for his age. I also know others between 70-92 doing equally well. So yes I would agree - "external" practice can make you healthier at a higher age, especially if you enjoy the practice.




However based on observation there seems to be some major differences between external practioners and internal masters of a higher age (to make this point really valuable one would have to do a study and see if it is true with a larger group ofc ) ....

• In terms of physical moments practioners of internal arts are not only able to move till a very high age, they also stay souple, flexible and elegant.
• Their movements can be extremly fast.
• Their thoughts are surprisingly sharp and clear.
• Their mind stays souple. They can easily focus and concentrate.
• They are less vulnerable to illness and disease and if they get them can overcome them faster.
• Their eyes are sparkling, their faces are happy. And to the people around them they are like a refresing well of joy and hapiness.

May we all reach a very high age to see and enjoy the benefits of our arts!

Andrea

PS: BTW one of the interesting things I find is that the older you get the "older" gets your definition of what old means - I remember as a teeny 40 was very old, then it became 50, 60 ... now its after 75 ...

[Martin Do]

Hello everyone,

On the topic of external and internal arts I think this is why we are so very lucky at Shaolin Wahnam because our training involves both internal and external elements . Again I can only speak from my own limited personal experience. To separate both the internal and the external elements as examples, with my daily chi kung practice I am cultivating internal energy and cleansing my internal system and benefiting from the wonderful things that an internal art has to offer. When I practice my kung fu forms, combat sequences and weapons I am therefore also cultivating my physical essence/body.

To unseparate the two elements ie internal and external arts. During my Golden Bridge practice I guess I am merging the two elements together through relaxing (and sometimes being in a meditative state of mind) in a physically demanding stance.

Similarly, when I perform my hand/weapon forms and my combat sequences in solo with good force (external or internal ?? ) in a chi kung state of mind, gently focusing and learning to move my energy during my strikes, I guess I am again merging the two elements.

When I perform Lifting the Sky or Pushing Mountains not only am I cultivating internal force but I also believe I am strenghening my physical body too somehow through the practice. Indirectly, having accumulated more energy through ie Lifting the Sky, I am able to do physical activities for longer ie playing sports etc and so my external essence is cultivated too.

I don't know if I am misinterpreting or misunderstanding our practice at Shaolin Wahnam. It would be helpful to be advised if I am misinterpreting here but it is how I feel with my own practice.

Either way, isn't it wonderful. I never realized kung fu can be so beautiful .

Kindest regards

Martin