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bone marrow cleansing & 18 lohan arts: 10 questions to Grandmaster Wong
If your main concern is combat efficiency, what would be the advantages and disadvantages of Bone Marrow Cleansing over One finger Shooting Zen or Golden Bridge?
is it possible to transfer the skill of Bone Marrow Cleansing into Kung Fu and healing? What would be the benefits?
Could you kindly explain the differences (in terms of aims, objectives and benefits) between our Chi Kung Sets in Shaolin Wahnam, especially those of 18 Lohan Hands and 18 Lohan Arts?
Sifu Anton Schmich
Answer 3
As both kungfu and chi kung healing will become better with an increase of internal force, and as Bone Marrow Cleansing is a powerful exercise to increase internal force, practicing Bone Marrow Cleansing will improve kungfu performance and healing result.
For example, before practicing Bone Marrow Cleansing, a kungfu exponent may lack power in his defence and attack. Practicing Bone Marrow Cleansing can give him the power to make his defence and attack effectice. Before practicing Bone Marrow Cleansing, a healer may become tired easily if he channels energy to help his patients. Practicing Bone Marrow Cleansing can give him the power to be more effective in his energy channelling.
With this background we can now look more specifically at the skills derived from Bone Marrow Cleansing than can directly transferred to kungfu and healing to improve their results.
The specific skills in Bone Marrow Cleansing are related to the five levels of energy flow, namely along the skin, the muscles, the meridians, the organs and the bones and bone marrow,
With the skill of generating energy flow along the skin, a kungfu exponent would be better able to sense an opponent when their arms are in contact. The skill of generating energy in his muscles makes the kungfu exponent powerful and makes his attack and defence movements more effective. The skill of generating energy along his meridians enables him to channel his energy more easily to various parts of his body, especially to his arms and hands, for combat as well as to clear internal injuries..
The skill of generating energy to his organs enables him to clear injuries at the organs as well as to strengthen them for general efficiency for combat. The skill to generate energy along his bones and bone marrow, which in Chinese medical paradigm includes the nervous system, is the most important. It provides him with a lot of internal force and mental clarity, and enhances his sensitivity and responses. It also gives him courage and moral integrity, which are very important to the development of a high-;level martial artists, though this may not be obvious to many ordinary people.
The beneficial transfer of skills from Bone Marrow Cleansing to healing is not so obvious and direct, but is nevertheless present. The skills of generating energy flow along the skin, the muscles and in the organs give a healer radiant health and vitality, thus enhancing the confidence of his patients. The skill of generating energy flow along the meridians enables him to understand better energy blockage in his patients. The skill of generating energy flow along the bones and bone marrow gives him a lot of internal force, mental clarity and enhanced sensitivity that enable him to have more power in his energy transmission when needed, and to have a better understanding of his patients’ problems and needs.
The general aims of the various types of chi kung are the same, namely for good health which includes overcoming pain and illness, for vitality, longevity, mental freshness and spiritual joys irrespective of religion. The detailed objectives and benefits, however, may be different.
Relatively, the Eighteen Lohan Hands are for health, whereas the Eighteen-Lohan Art is for combat efficiency. This does not mean that the Eighteen Lohan Hands do not contribute to combat efficiency, and the Eighteen-Lohan Art does not contribute to health. The difference is one of emphasis. Indeed, the health benefits of the Eighteen-Lohan Art are generally more powerful than those of the Eighteen Lohan Hands. This is because demand as well as the level of health for a martial artists are higher than those of ordinary people.
This does not necessary mean that for one to overcome illness and maintain good health, it is more cost-effective to practice the Eighteen-Lohan Art than the Eighteen Lohan Hands. It is because for many people who are not trained in martial arts, the Eighteen-Lohan Art may be too powerful, and thus less effective than the Eighteen Lohan Arts for this purpose.
It is pertinent to mention, though many other people may not be happy with my following statements, that these observations are applicable to us who practice the Eighteen Lohan Hands and the Eighteen-Lohan Art as high-level chi kung. The observations do not apply to many other people who practice these arts as gentle physical exercise, in which case it does not matter much which of the two arts they practice, as the gentle physical exercises only give them benefits like loosening their muscles and make them more relaxed, but without giving them genuine chi kung benefits like good health, internal force and mental clarity.
For other chi kung arts, the objectives are usually indicated in the name of the arts, and their benefits related to the objectives, like Generating Energy Flow, Massaging Internal Organs, Cosmic Shower and Merging with the Cosmos. Their benefits are respectively overcoming illness, strengthening organs, purification and spiritual expansion.
The objectives of stance training are to develop internal force and metnal clarity, and the benefits are to enhance combat efficiency as well as daily life. The objectives of the Small Universe and the Big Universe are to generate an energy flow around the ren and du meridians, and to let energy expands from the dan tian and beyond the body. The benefits are for longevity and spiritual expansion.
Please note that the names of some chi kung arts relate to techniques, like Eighteen Lohan Hands and Eighteen-Lohan Art, and some relate to skills, like Generating Energy Flow and Merging with the Cosmos. Hence, exercises from Eighteen Lohan Hands and Eighteen-Lohan Art, for example, can be used to generate an energy flow to overcome illness, or to merge with the Cosmos for spiritual expansion.
I remember reading somewhere in some of your answers that Bone Marrow Cleansing was related to the famous story of the second Patriarch of Zen in China, Hui Ke, receiving the transmission form Bodhidharma, which he described as "receiving the marrow" of his teaching.
In other words, it was more than just symbolic use of words when Bodhidharma said that Hui Ke had the Bone Marrow of his teaching...Can you please elaborate on this relationship between this story and the Bone Marrow Qigong skill?
Sifu Daniel Perez Answer 4
Before he returned home, which may be interpreted as Nirvana, Bodhidharma asked his students to tell him their understanding of his teaching.
One student said that Bodhidharma’s teaching was not bound by words. Bodhidharma replied that this student had received his skin.
Another student said that his teaching was like a majestic glimpse of the realm of Akshobhya Buddha. Bodhidharam replied that the student had received his flesh.
A third student mentioned that the four “greats” (earth, water, wind, air) are all empty, and the five sense organs are actually without existence. Bodhidharma said that this student had received his bone.
Hui Ke, the most senior student, bowed deeply but said nothing. Bodhidharma said Hui Ke had received his marrow. He then passed his robe and bowl to Hui Ke and named Hui Ke as the successor, becoming the Second Patriarch of Zen.
In chi kung philosophy, chi flows at five levels: the levels of skin, flesh, meridians, internal organs and bone marrow. In the traditional Chinese medical paradigm, “bone marrow” is not just bone marrow. It includes the nervous system.
When Bodhidharma said that Hui Ke had received his marrow, he meant that Hui Ke had received his deepest teaching. It was not that Bodhidharma taught his students at different levels. He taught them all the same way, but due to their different developmental stage, the different students received the same teaching at different levels.
This is a hallmark of great teachers, and we in Shaolin Wahnam have this experience. The same material is taught in a chi kung, Shaolin or Taijiquan class which often ranges from fresh beginners to masters. The students benefit a lot because of the masters’ presence, but the masters are the ones who benefit the most.
Let us examine the students’ answers above, and why Bodhidharma rated them the way he did.
Saying that Bodhidharma’s teaching was not bound by words showed only an intellectual understanding but not direct experience. He had just entered the path. A modern analogy is a Iron Wire practitioner saying that Iron Wire is a powerful internal art, but he has not developed substantial internal force yet.
Saying that Bodhidharma’s teaching was like a majestic glimpse of the realm of Akshobhya Buddha showed a Hinayana view, which Mahayana Buddhists regarded as only the preliminary teaching. Hinayana Buddhists knew that the self was an illusion but thought that dharma, or sub-atomic partic;es, were real, hence they had a glimpse of Akshobhya Buddha’s realm. It is analogous to an Iron Wire practitioner having internal force and using it well in combat but does not apply it to enrich his daily life.
Saying that the four “greats” or dharma that made up the phenomenal world are all empty, and the five sense organs are without existence showed a deeper Mahayana attainment that both self and phenomena are illusions. Yet this was not the deepest attainment because the student still used verbalizations, which would start the process of continuous thoughts resulting in the phenomenal world. As an analogy it is like an Iron Wire practitioner who enhances both his combat efficiency and daily life with internal force, but his internal force is dependent on his Iron Wire training.
By saying nothing Hui Ke showed his attainment of Bodhidharma’s deepest teaching, where even verbalization was eliminated, indicating that Cosmic Reality is all “empty”. It is analogous to a martial artist who having developed tremendous internal force from Iron Wire training applies it to enrich both his combat efficiency and daily life, but is not dependent on any form for further development and application of internal force.
Does adding some external training to go with our internal training add balance to our training and therefore improve our development?
For example, If we use some of the 18 Lohan Art exercises to develop internal force, will we get even more benefit if, on some of the days, we also practice external training such as punching with stone locks, gripping jars or rolling bamboo?
Sifu Mark Blohm
Answer 5
Yes, adding some external training to our internal training will add balance as well as improve our development.
I clearly remember my sifu, Sifu Ho Fatt Nam, saying that all great arts are both internal and external. They are also both hard and soft. At the highest level, it is internal and external, hard and soft at the same time, not first internal then external, or first hard then soft, and vice versa.
Practicing external training methods like punching with stone locks, gripping jars or rolling bamboo will enhance internal training methods like Eighteen-Lohan Art, Eighteen Lohan Hands, One Finger Shooting Zen and Iron Wire.
Besides adding external training methods like above, we may also consider the external and internal aspects of a particular internal training method.
Let us take as an example the first exercise of the Eighteen-Lohan Art, “Lohan Worships Buddha”. The physical form of the technique is external, whereas the energy flow which results in internal force is internal. We need the external form to work the internal energy flow.
Suppose we leave aside the external form. Because of our skills, we can still generate an energy flow without using external form. But the benefit will not be as good as if we use the external form. Not only we do not derive the benefit of the external form, like loosing leg muscles, the internal force derived may also not be as powerful.
On the other hand, because of our skills in internal force training when we perform an external training method like punching with stone locks, our benefit will be much more than practitioners who lack skills in internal force training.
The other practitioners use muscular strength in their punching, whereas we use chi flow. The others will be tired after the training because they expend energy, whereas we become more energetic after the training because cosmic energy flows into us. The others will be mentally stressful after the strenuous exercise, whereas we shall be mentally fresh because our chi flow does our work.
This is another good example of the great advantage of spread and depth.
What might be a good practice program for a Chi Kung practitioner who has the aim of achieving harmonious energy flow at all five levels of skin, flesh, meridians, organs, and bone marrow?
Will the consistent practice of Bone Marrow Cleansing alone enable a student to achieve this aim, or is it more of a specialized skill, with less holistic results than say, self manifested chi flow?
With this query in mind, how will an understanding of spread and depth enrich our practice of Bone Marrow Cleansing?
Max
Answer 6
If the practitioner knows only Bone Marrow Cleansing, he has no other choice but to practice Bone Marrow Cleansing everyday. However, he can operate at five different levels. Initially he should spend about 5 days a week focusing on the first level, the level of the skin, with the remaining 2 days on the other four levels. When he has attained a reasonably high standard on the first level, he would then spend about 5 days a week on the second level, the level of the fresh, with the remaining 2 days on the other four levels. In this way he progressively attains a reasonably high standard on all the five levels. After this, he can practice at any level he likes but with an emphasis on the level of bone marrow.
If he knows other types of chi kung, he should spend about 5 days a week on Bone Marrow Cleansing and the other 2 days on the other types of chi kung. For the 5 days on Bone Marrow Cleansing, he should spend about 4 days on the first level, and 1 day on the remaining four levels. In this way he progresses to all the five levels. When he has attained proficiency at all the five levels, he can practice Bone Marrow Cleansing at any level but with an emphasis on the level of bone marrow, or any other types of chi kung on any day he likes/
Yes, the consistent practice of Bone Marrow cleansing alone can enable a student to achieve the aim of achieving harmonious energy flow at all the five levels.
Relatively speaking, Bone Marrow Cleansing is more of a specialized skill with less holistic results than self manifested chi movement and generating chi flow.
An understanding of spread and depth can much enrich the practice of Bone Marrow Cleansing in an reactive as well as a proactive way. In the reactive way the practitioner does not have to do anything special. Just because of his understanding and practice of other types of chi kung, his Bone Marrow Cleansing would be better. For example, if he has practiced Iron Wire, the tremendous internal force of his Iron Wire training will give him better result in all the five levels of Bone Marrow Cleansing.
In the reactive way he has to apply the skills he has gained in other types of chi kung to enhance his Bone Marrow Cleansing. For example, he may employ the skill of consolidating force gained in Iron Wire training to direct his energy to flow in his flesh in Bone Marrow Cleansing.
Let´s continue enjoying Sifu´s answers: Chi Kung Question-Answer 7
Question 7
The Eighteen Lohan Arts, I have read, are generally divided into a section for generating internal force, exploding internal force, and developing agility. Would past practitioners have eventually learnt all eighteen exercises of this set, or perhaps just one or two exercises of each "section," or even just focused on one for their martial arts career?
Much has been said about the wonderful skill of Shaolin Wahnam to generate an energy flow as well as consolidate it into internal force. Do the Eighteen Lohan Arts mostly generate "flowing" force as in Taijiquan or "consolidated" force as in Hoong Ka?
Frederich Chu
Yes, the eighteen patterns in the Eighteen-Lohan Art can be divided into three groups. The emphasis of the first group of Patterns is for developing force, the second group of Patterns 7 to 12 for exploding force, and the third group of Patterns 13 to 18 for balance and agility. As an analogy with cash flow, first we learn how to make a lot of money, then we learn how to spend our money wisely, and thirdly we learn to have balance and agility with our money.
The exercises are usually taught as a set. Hence past practitioners would have learnt all the eighteen exercises instead of just a few. They might take a long time to learn all the exercises. I don’t mean to be presumptuous, but I believe we are more cost-effective than past practitioners in learning them. Our students could learn to develop force, explode force and attain balance and agility in just a day or two, but past practitioners, including Shaolin monks, would need at least a few months, though their attainment would be higher than ours. In other words, we learn faster, but eventually they attained more.
The ability of our Shaolin Wahnam instructors as well as students to generate an energy and consolidate it into internal force is unbelievable. I myself could not do as well in my early days of teaching. My early students, for example, took about 4 to 6 months of training before they could generate an energy flow. This itself was remarkable, considering that even masters took a year or two. Hence, when I first introduced chi kung to the public, teaching the Eighteen Lohan Hands in six months, many people, including masters, thought I was crazy. Learning chi kung took years, they said.
Now many people also think I am crazy, teaching Generating Energy Flow in one day. It is too outlandish that sceptics do not even bother to find out whether our claim is true.
Once I could generate an energy flow, consolidating it into internal force became easier for me. It took me a few months. But now, with my experience and understanding of underlying philosophy, I could help students achieve the same result in just one day, as in the Iron Wire course in Barcelona! No wonder many people call me a liar.
The Eighteen-Lohan Art is comprehensive. Some exercises generate flowing force as in Taijiquan, and some exercises generate consolidated force as in Hoong Ka Iron Wire. And still others generate force that lies somewhere in between, as in One-Finger Shooting Zen.
For example, Old Monk Grinds Rice Mill is an excellent pattern that not only develop flowing Taijiquan force, but also illustrates Taijiquan mechanics and typical Taijiq2uan combat application. It is amazing that one can get the essence of Taijiquan in just one pattern.
In contrast to Old Monk Grinds Rice Mill is Big Bird Flaps Wings, which exemplifies Shaolin methods of generating and exploding force. It is hard, yet flowing, whereas the force generated and exploded by Old Monk Grinds Rice Mill is soft and flowing.
On the other hand, Big Boss Lifts Bronze Vessels, using the triple-stretch approach, generates consolidated force like in Iron Wire. Reverse Hanging of Double Hooks, which uses the Sinew Metamorphosis approach, also generates hard, consolidated force like that of Iron Wire, but the approach is different.
To top it all, Green Dragon Charges at Face, which happens to be my favourite, exemplifies the summation and climax of all these force generating and exploding methods. It is soft and flowing, yet tremendously powerful.
Are there specific aims and objectives we should/could define when including Bone Marrow Cleansing in our practice schedules?
Sifu Andrew Barnett Answer 8
Normally we set our aims and objectives first, then choose the best skills and techniques to practice to achieve the best results. We can do this quite well because we have a sound understanding of chi kung philosophy.
Suppose a practitioner is sick and wants to overcome his sickness. The best skill will be self-manifested chi movement. He can use any three techniques from the Eighteen Lohan Hands and perform them vigorous and continuously to generate a vigorous chi flow. This is an excellent choice as he knows that vigorous chi flow is effective for breaking through energy blockage, which is the root cause of his sickness.
Now he is healthy, and he wants mental clarity and a lot of energy so as to attain peak performance in his work and play. The best skills will be building mental clarity and developing internal force. An excellent exercise will be Golden Dragon Taps on Ground, or Flicking Fingers, from Sinew Metamorphosis.
Next, he wants to expand into the Cosmos, or a glimpse into the Supreme. An excellent skill will be Cosmic Breathing, and an excellent technique will be Dan Tian Breathing.
The above three examples exemplifies the three main levels of chi kung training, namely the health level, which includes overcoming illness and attaining vitality and longevity, the energy level which develops mental clarity and internal force, and the spiritual level for spiritual expansion.
If a practitioner is very skilful, he can choose just one technique and employ different skills to operate at the three different levels. For example, he may choose Lifting the Sky to go into a vigorous chi flow, to build mental clarity and internal force, or to expand into the Cosmos.
If a practitioner lacks the necessary philosophy, skills and techniques to make wise choices, he should choose wu-wei. He can practice any technique or techniques, and let the Universe Chi guide him.
Now let us reverse the procedure. We have the skills of Bone Marrow Cleansing in our practice schedule. What aims and objectives we should or could define?
Bone Marrow Cleansing can be operated at five different levels of skills – the level of the skin, the flesh, the meridians, the internal organs and the bone marrow. We can select various techniques to operate these various skills. In theory, any techniques can be used to operate any skills, but in practical terms certain techniques because of the special way they are performed are better suited for particular skills. Let us base our choice of techniques from the Eighteen Lohan Hands.
For the skill level, Lifting the Sky and Carrying the Moon are excellent choices as they spread energy all over the body. Nourishing Kidneys and Three Levels to Ground are not so appropriate as the former focuses on the kidneys and the latter on the legs. Objectives for practicing this level are to overcome skin diseases, to enhance blood circulation on the skin, and to have rosy skin. As the skin is the largest organ to protect the body, aims include enhancing immunity and to have a radiant appearance.
For the flesh level, Pushing Mountain and Separating Water are excellent choices, whereas Turning Head and Merry-Go-Round are not so appropriate. Objectives include toughening arms and legs, and increasing strength. Aims include increasing physical capacity and imporoving combat efficiency.
For the meridian level, Pushing Mountain and Deep Knee Bending are excellent, whereas Punching with Rounded Eyes and Rotating Knees are not as appropriate. Objectives are to spread warmth and to clear internal injuries. Aims are to promote good heath, vitality and longevity, and to develop internal force.
For the internal organ level, Separating Water which affects the heart and lungs, and Merry-Go-Round which affects the spleen, stomach, kidney, gall-bladder, liver and kidneys, are excellent choices, whereas Drawing Knife and Dancing Crane are not as directly effective. Objectives include overcoming dysfunction of the respective organs and overcoming related emotional problems. Aims include promoting health and increasing vitality.
For the bone marrow level, Turning Head and Pushing Mountain are excellent, whereas Green Dragon and Nourishing Kidneys are not as effective. Objectives include cleansing nerves and generating a lot of internal heat. Aims include attain mental clarity, and sharpening physiological and psychological functions.
Please note that whether the choice of certain patterns for the respective skills is excellent or less appropriate is relative. For example, for the skill of channelling energy to flow along the skin level, Nourishing Kidneys and Three Levels to Ground are relatively not as effective as Lifting the Sky and Carrying the Moon if all other factors were equal. But themselves, Nourishing Kidneys and Three Levels to Ground can generate energy flow along the skin level even by beginners, and masters employing these techniques can generate more energy along the skin than students using Lifting the Sky and Carrying the Moon.
Lifting the Sky and Carrying the Moon are all-round techniques. They are not only excellent for channelling energy at the skin level, but also at all levels.
For us in Shaolin Wahnam, it is needless to say that by performing the right techniques alone without the appropriate skills, practitioners may have benefits of gentle physical exercise like loosening joints and being relaxed, but they will not have chi kung benefits like overcoming illness, developing internal force and experiencing spiritual joys irrespective of for how long they practice. This is a fact that most chi kung practitioners today do not realize.
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