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bone marrow cleansing & 18 lohan arts: 10 questions to Grandmaster Wong
bone marrow cleansing & 18 lohan arts: 10 questions to Grandmaster Wong
10 QUESTIONS TO GRANDMASTER WONG ON BONE MARROW CLEANSING & 18 LOHAN ARTS
Hi all,
As a preparation for the next Barcelona courses, Grand Master Wong has kindly offered to answer 10 questions on any of this two wonderful Chikung methods.
So you are all welcome to submit any interesting questions on Lohan Arts or Bone Marrow Cleansing and Sifu would select some of them.
What are the general and particular martial benefits of patterns from The Eighteen Lohan Art? and what is the best way for a Shaolin Kung Fu practitioner to integrate the practice into his/her daily routine, assuming a force training method like Golden Bridge is already practiced?
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?
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 relationshipo between this story and the Bone Marrow Qigong skill?
Is Bone Marrow Cleansing a skill or a technique or both?
I believe Bone Marrow Cleansing belongs to the highest level of Chi Kung training. Why is this so?
Sifu Andrew Barnett
Answer 1:
Bone Marrow Cleansing is a skill. This skill can be attained using different techniques. This was a main reason why there were no records of how Bone Marrow Cleansing could be performed, which in turn set a long debate whether Bodhidhara actually taught Bone Marrow Cleansing.
Bodhidharma taught three arts at the Shaolin Temple, namely Eighteen Lohan Hands, Sinew Metamorphosis and Bone Marrow Cleansing. There was no debate on whether Eighteen Lohan Hands and Sinew Metamorphosis were taught by Bodhidharma. This was because as Eighteen Lohan Hands and Sinew Metamorphosis refer to techniques which have form, there are records of how these arts were practiced.
Let us take as an example “Lifting the Sky”, which is the first technique of Eighteen Lohan Hands. We can show in pictures or words how “Lifting the Sky” is performed. Similarly, as “Flicking Fingers”, which is the first of the twelve exercises in Sinew Metamorphosis, is a technique and has form, we can show how it is practiced. But Bone Marrow Cleansing, being a skill, has no definite form. Hence, we cannot show how it is practiced.
An analogy will make this clearer. Executing a punch using the technique “Black Tiger Steals Heart” can be recorded in a picture because “Black Tiger Steals Heart” has form. But executing a punch using internal force cannot be shown because using internal force is a skill and has no form.
We in Shaolin Wahnam are quite clear about the difference between techniques and skills. But most other chi kung and kungfu practitioners may not differentiate between techniques and skills.
The advantage, of course, goes beyond understanding why there were no records of how Bone Marrow Cleansing was practiced. Because we appreciate the difference, we are able to get a lot of benefits in a very short time. Others who are not aware of the difference may practice the techniques correctly but derive no benefit because they lack the necessary skills. This, in fact, is what happens to most chi kung and kungfu practitioners today.
There are five levels of energy flow: at the levels of the skin, the flesh, the meridians, the organs and the bone marrow. Bone Marrow Cleansing works at the highest level.
We should note that “bone marrow” in this context does not refer literally to bone marrow only. It includes the nervous system and the brain. Hence, Bone Marrow Cleansing is clean sing the whole nervous system.
Bone Marrow Cleansing belongs to the highest level because energy flowing along the bone marrow or nerves is the highest level of a practitioners normal energy flow development. When he first generates an energy flow, it flows at his skin level. He may feel as if insects crawling over his skin.
The the energy soaks into his flesh, making him charged with energy. Then he progresses to energy flowing in his meridians, overcoming illness and giving him good health. At the next level, energy flows into his organs, giving him vitality and longevity. At the highest level, energy flows in his bone marrows, giving him mental clarity and spiritual joys.
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Grandmaster Wong courses in Barcelona - May 2012: chikung.bcn@gmail.com
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?
"Then how could chi kung overcome diseases where the cause is unknown or when there is no cure? The question is actually incorrect. The expressions "the cause is unknown" and "there is no cure" are applicable only in the Western medical paradigm. The expressions no longer hold true in the chi kung paradigm. In the chi kung paradigm the cause is known, and there is a cure."
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?
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?
I like making silly videos (including kung fu ones!) every so often on YouTube and taking pictures of weird things on Instagram.
What are the general and particular martial benefits of patterns from The Eighteen Lohan Art? and what is the best way for a Shaolin Kung Fu practitioner to integrate the practice into his/her daily routine, assuming a force training method like Golden Bridge is already practiced?
Sifu Andy Cusick
Answer:
It was precisely for better martial performance that the Eighteen Lohan Hands called Shi Ba Luo Han Sou, gradually evolved into the Eighteen-Lohan Art, called Shi Ba Luo Han Gong.
Bodhidharma first taught the Eighteen Lohan Hands to the Shaolin monks to strengthen them physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually so as to better attain Enlightenment.
Later, over a period of centuries, the exercises in the Eighteen Lohan Hands were gradually modified by martial monks, many of whom were generals before, to suit their martial background.
Relatively speaking, the Eighteen Lohan Hands were more for developing and maintaining health, whereas the Eighteen-Lohan Art was more for developing internal force for martial purposes. This did not mean that the Eigheen Lohan Hands were not helpful to martial artists, or the Eighteen-Lohan Art not contributing to health. The difference of benefits between the two arts was that of emphasis and not of nature.
In general, the martial benefits of the Eighteen-Lohan Art can be classified into three groups. Patterns 1 to 6 are excellent for developing internal force, Patterns 7 to 12 for exploding force, and Patterns 13 to 16 for balance and agility. Again the classification is relative. Patterns 1 to 6, for example, are also helpful for exploding force and developing balance and agility, but if all other factors were equal, they are most cost-effective for developing internal force.
Apart from these holistic benefits, each pattern in the Eighteen-Lohan Art may be used for some particular combat situations. If an opponent grips both your hands, for example, you may release the grip and attack his throat by using the first pattern, “Lohan Worships B uddha”. In the hands of a master, “Old Monk Grinds Rice” found in Pattern 8 can be used to counter any attacks! The last pattern, “Swallow Flies through Clouds”, has many sophisticated combat applications, like simultaneously striking an opponent while he attempts to attack your lower body.
There are numerous ways to practice the Eighteem-Lohan Art to derive its best result. Which would be the best way depends on some factors, like a practitioner’s developmental stage, its needs and aspirations. Moreover, as there are 18 patterns in the art, there are also numerous ways to train them, like only one pattern per session, some of the patterns or all the patterns.
Most schools today as well as in the past do not have many force training methods to choose from. Hence, they have to practice the Eighteen-Lohan Art everyday, and they usually practice all the patterns cause the force they derive from the art is not very powerful.
But we in Shaolin Wahnam are very special. Other people will find it hard to believe and often accuse us of being boastful, but it is true that we can develop more internal force practice one pattern for 10 minutes than most other students practice all the patterns for one hour! Thus, we do not have to practice all the patterns in one training session; we practice just one or some patterns. Once a while we may practice all the patterns for review. Moreover, not only we have a wide choice of force training methods, we actually derive more benefits by practice different methods.
Hence, for a typical Shaolin Wahnam student who intends to use Eighteen-Lohan Art as his main force training method, he would get the best results by training the following way. His daily force training session is about 15 to 50 minutes. He should train one, two or three patterns from the Eighteen-Lohan Art about 6 or 7 out of 10 training sessions. For the remain 3 or 4 training sessions, he can train many other force-training methods, like Golden Bridge, One-Finger Shooting Zen or Triple Stretch. Generally he uses one force training method for one training session, but sometimes he may use two or even three different methods for the same session.
In this way he benefit most from accumulated effect as well as spread and depth. But the most important is that he follows the three golden rules of training, namely don’t worry, don’t intellectualize, and enjoy the practice.
Grandmaster Wong
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