HUATO 5 ANIMAL PLAY - 10 Questions to Grandmaster Wong

[Daniel]

5-Animal Play Question 4 - Part 2

(Continued from Part 1)

These external chi flow movements developed independently before I read about Five-Animal Play. At that time I had no idea chi flow was the ingredient that overcame pain and illness. Like most chi kung masters, I thought my students overcame their illness because of the chi kung exercises I taught them.

Around this time there was talk about self-manifested chi movement from China. A world famous chi kung master, Sifu Yan Xin from China, transmitted chi to hundreds of students by merely talking in lectures, with the result that the audience went into self-manifested chi flow movement, and later recovered from various diseases. I could relate this self-manifested chi movement to the external chi flow movement of my students in my early chi kung classes.

Then I read more about Five-Animal Play and came to a conclusion that what was called Five-Animal Play in the past was called self-manifested chi movement in the present. Years ago, I had read about Five-Animal Play by Hua Tuo, but at that time I thought Hua Tuo imitated the movements of five different animals and taught the animal movements to his patients. The concept of Five-Animal Play from what I read was low level chi kung at a physical level.

Five-Animal Play and self-manifested chi movement were given a boost in my teaching when a chi kung master from Alor Star worked for Advanced Service in Sungai Petani founded by me and two other partners. He taught Soaring Crane Chi Kung which led to self-manifested chi movement. Later this master betrayed me and left, but vigorous external chi flow movement became increasingly important in my teaching. The emphasis of my chi kung teaching also gradually changed from enhancing martial arts to overcoming illness and contributing to good health, vitality and longevity.

At first I called these vigorous external chi flow movements induced chi flow. But when Douglas, my most senior student in the West, commented that other types of our chi kung, like Eighteen Lohan Hands and One-finger Shooting Zen, also induced chiu flow, I changed the term to self-manifested chi movement.

Hence, it can be seen that Five-Animal Play has played a vital role in the development of our chi kung, including our concept and practice of chi flow. In the process, it has contributed greatly to both the philosophy and practice of our chi kung training, including in our various kungfu styles.

At the beginning our chi kung was hard and martial, and we called our chi flow internal force. With the influence of Five-Animal Play and its modern equivalent of self-manifested chi movement, while maintaining its hard and martial features, our chi kung has become more flowing, even in our kungfu training, to the extent that some people wonder why our Shaolin Kungfu is not hard and external.

We also have gradually shifted our emphasis from combat efficiency to first overcoming illness and maintaining good health, next to vitality and longevity, and eventually to peak performance and spiritual joys.

Our chi flow, much influenced by Five-Animal Play and self-manifested chi movement, has made us ridiculously cost-effective. We can achieve in months what even past masters took years to achieve.

Our development led us to our understanding that it is chi flow, and not the chi kung exercises, that enables practitioners to overcome pain and illness, and to contribute to good health, vitality, longevity, mental freshness and spiritual joys. In kungfu training, we also understand that it is chi flow, not the exercises themselves, that enables us to develop internal force, which in turn maintains life, enhances life and enables us to have better results no matter what we do!

Chi flow has become a hallmark of our school. As Tim Franklin rightly pointed out, people in future would identify our school by our unique characteristic of chi flow. Five-Animal Play has contributed much to these wonderful benefits of the chi kung practiced in our school.

[Daniel]

5-Animal Play Question 5 - Part 1

Question 5


What made you decide to teach the Five Animal Play now?

What are the typical movements and sounds of the specific animals?

Evelyn


Answer


Like many other interesting courses, I decided teach the Five-Animal Play because the organizer, Adalia, suggested it to me. She said that the Five-Animal Play was interesting, and many people would be interested in it, and asked me whether I would teach a course on it. I relied that I agreed with what she had suggested, and so the Five-Animal Play would be added to our list of courses, starting in Barcelona in May 2014. Students who liked the Five-Animal Play would have to thank Adalia.

Daniel from Barcelona then asked me whether I would be ready to answer questions on the Five-Animal Play. Again I agreed. So, we have to thank Daniel for our increased understanding of the Five-Animal Play.

This trend is the same with the other interesting courses, which greatly increased our repertoire, making our school a treasure hours of important arts in chi kung, kungfu and Zen.

In 2010 Adalia also asked me whether I would teach Bone-Marrow Cleansing. Markus from Finland also asked me independently whether I could conduct a series of courses on the Legacy of Bodhidharma, which included the 18 Lohan Hands, Sinew Metamorphosis and Bone-Marrow Cleansing. He also suggested a course on Iron Wire.. I said, “Very good, carry on>” So these wonderful arts have become a part of our rich repertoire.

In the same year, Roland suggested Praying Mantis Kungfu to be taught in a regional kungfu course in Bern. I chose the Eighteen Collection to be the basic set in the Praying Mantis Course as this set incorporated the best 18 techniques of the time Wang Lang, the inventor of Praying Mantis c=Kungfu, collected from his friendly sparring with many masters all over China. I also taught the 18-Lohan Art which Northern Shaolin masters employed for their internal force training.

The first introduction of other kungfu styles, besides Taijiquan, into our school which was established to preserve mainly Southern Shaolin, was Tantui, the fundamental of Northern Shaolin in 2007. I can’t remember whether it was Emiko who first proposed it, or it was introduced by myself, seeing that many practitioners in Toronto were Tantui practitioners.

Emiko proposed that I taught Wing Choon. So the first Special Wing Choon Course was held in Penang in 2010.

Robin came up with a brilliant idea of the Drunken Eight Immortals. So we had a Drunken Eight Immortal Course at the UK Summer Camp in 2011 too. Following this brilliant idea, Robin continued to propose Baguazhang and Xingyiquan, to complete the trilogy of the internal arts of Taijiquan, Baguazhang and Xingyiquan. So Baguazhang was conducted at the UK Summer Camp in 2012 and Xingyiquan in 2013.

Andrew proposed Wuzuquan, the one remain art of my four sifus that I have not taught in our school. For some reason, this course was not held in Switzerland, but I conducted a Special Wuzuquan Course in Penang in 2012.

Innovation is a key factor for growth and success. It is no surprise that our school has successfully grown to be the largest martial art and chi kung school in the world in all history. We have a lot of innovative people.

As its name reveals, there are five animals in the Five-Animal Play. They are the bird, the deer, the monkey, the tiger and the bear. They relate to the heart, the liver, the spleen, the lungs and the kidneys.

The movements of the bird are characterized by opening the heart and moving the arms like flapping of wings. There is no specific sound related to the bird, but the feelings are associated with joyfulness.

The movements of the deer are characterized by running about vigorously and wildly, often with fingers pointed like antlers. There is also no specific sound, but the feelings are associated with excitement.

The movements of the monkey are characterized by making faces and arms dropping down, sometimes moving about with bent legs or on all four. Sounds like “chi” and “ho” are sometimes heard. The feelings are associated with curiosity.

The movements of the tiger are characterized by fierce looks and angry eyes, with the chest pointing forward. The hands are sometimes held in claws. “Ah” and “Ya” sounds are common. The feelings are associated with anger.

The movements of the bear are characterized by upright posture with eyes rounded, sometimes with palms bent at right angle to the arms. There is no specific sound. The feelings are associated with righteousness.

[Evelyn B]

Dear Sigung,

thank you so much for this and all the other answers!

We are truly blessed that you offer so many incredible courses and that you share so much with us!

Thank you for teaching the Five-Animal Play and all the other wonderful courses and thanks to Adalia Sikuma for suggesting the Five-Animal Play.
Also thanks to Daniel Sipak for organizing this Q&A.

Best regards,
Evelyn

[Jacek Kaleta]

Wow, very impressive!

Sigung's answer is a good reminder of the importance of using one's initiative and being an active student.

With Shaolin Salute
Jacek

[sancrica]

Thank you :-)

Dear Shaolin Wahnam Family,

I would like to thank Sifu one more time for the immense inspiration that he radiates and shares. As I mentioned in other post, thousands of decisions (if not millions) have been made using his teachings. Since I started applying his teachings I started having a better life.

The simple but profound sentence "Follow Instructions" define it all. It was not easy for me to follow Sifu's instructions. Not because I did not want to but because I wasn't able to do so due to the lack of mental clarity. I just couldn't see the difference.

I still remember the story where Sifu shared with us on how Immortal Li helped him in the founding Shaolin Wahnam:

At one time while studying in my sifu's house which also served as a temple, I was in financial difficulty and was contemplating to leave my job as a school teacher to enter business. I asked Immortal Li for advice and guidance. In his typical poetic way he replied, “You have a jade in your house, wherefore search outside?”

I remember that some time ago I wasn't fully focused in what Sifu was teaching. I remember also practicing other arts outside the school and searching my answers there. I don't mean to be disrespectful with other arts as I know that they have made enormous contributions to human kind but what Sifu teaches is honestly the best that I have ever found.

Since the moment that I fully opened my heart to Sifu's teachings everything started to improve. Why was I searching outside when I had jade in my house? I soon understood that complementing Sifu's teachings with other arts was accepting that the Arts Sifu was teaching were not complete. Searching outside stopped the results that these amazing arts could offer me as the Heart of Confidence wasn't strong enough. Searching outside was meaning that Sifu and the great masters of the past were wrong and didn't know what they were doing.

Actually, dropping out all the other things that I was doing in order to improve my health was the best thing that I could do to improve my health. To be honest, what Sifu has taught me has been the only thing that has truly helped me. Where the other things failed Sifu succeeded.

Dropping out all the other things was a big release. It was a big release because I could focus on learning instead of searching. There is a big difference in these two ways. When I was searching I was getting more and more confused. When I dropped out the search and I dedicated myself to learn from Sifu I became less and less confused.

The search was necessary because I needed to find Sifu. There is a proverb that says: "When the student is ready the master appears." I was ready and my search was truly honest so Sifu came to my life. The only thing that I had to do was to use this golden opportunity and learn from him.

My heart is more confident than ever to my commitment with Sifu. I don't need to have another master as Sifu provides me not only everything that I need but also what is the best for my life and I yet don't see. Thank you Sifu for that.

Thank you Daniel Sifu for starting what is another wonderful modern classic and to all that formulated questions. :-)

With Love, Care and Shaolin Salute,

Santiago

[Daniel]

images.jpg
5-Amimal Play Question 7 - Part 1

Question 7

Can you talk about the importance of the 5 Animal Play and its context in the history of (worldwide) medicine?
Why do you think that Hua Tuo was the person to discover, or crystallize this method?

Sifu Andy, Scotland



Answer

The Five-Animal Play could provide the philosophical framework for overcoming diseases in world medicine, but it doesn’t. Two questions we should address ourselves are why in theory it could provide the philosophical framework, and why in practice it doesn’t.

Five-Animal Play touches on the core of health and medicine. The core of health and medicine is maintaining life, including overcoming pain and illness that threaten life. Life, in all forms and at all levels, is a meaningful flow of energy, a fact verified by both traditional Chinese doctors and modern scientists. Obviously, if this flow of energy is insufficient or blocked, the quality of life would be affected, manifested as lack of vitality or illness.

Five-Animal Play indicates this condition of energy flow, and rectifies it if the flow is insufficient or blocked. Hence, it provides an excellent philosophical framework to maintain health and overcome illness.

However, in real life this is not so. Very few professionals trained in mainstream health care and medicine know of this excellent philosophical concept, least to practice it. The reasons for this theoretical abnormality, though most people of the world accept this abnormality as normal, are political and economic.

Today, conventional Western medical thought provides the philosophical framework for mainstream health care and medicine. This is due to Western political and economic might. It started in the18th century with the industrial revolution, followed by the great exploration to find markets. This led to colonization of almost the whole world by Western powers. It was logical that the world followed, and still follows, Western culture, including health care and medical thought and practice. It is, therefore, no surprise that Five-Animal Play, despite its excellent philosophical framework, is not in mainstream health care and medicine.

On the other hand, Five-Animal Play was also not the mainstream medical practice, though its philosophy was in mainstream medical thought, during the time Chinese culture held sway in many countries, like China itself, Japan, Korea and Vietnam. This was because of two main reasons. Five-Animal Play was usually performed at a form level of chi kung, and therefore was not powerful enough to overcome serious health problems. Secondly, there were other effective methods of Chinese medicine, like herbalism, acupuncture and external medicine.

[Daniel]

5-Amimal Play Question 7 - Part 2


However, the first of these two reasons is no longer valid in our school. Drawing inspiration from the Five-Animal Play, our Self-Manifested Chi Movement has become very powerful, and is capable of overcoming any illness, including so-called incurable diseases. But we still face other powerful reasons, like the efficiency of other Chinese healing methods, and the dominance of conventional Western medical thought and practice due to Western political and economic might, that hampers the application of Five-Animal Play or Self-Manifested Chi Movement to overcome illness.

I believe in the future, perhaps 300 years from now, Self-Manifested Chi Movement, pioneered by our school, will be the norm in mainstream medicine to overcome illness. Paradoxically, this will be due not to its effectiveness, which is true, but to the inadequacy of conventional Western medicine in dealing with so many so-called incurable diseases. This does not mean that the future world will abandon Western medicine. Western medical technology is very advanced and aid future world medicine in many ways, like producing pills that generate chi flow instead of performing chi kung exercises.

Hua Tuo was the person who discovered or crystalized Five-Animal Play because he was a genus. He had an excellent understanding of chi kung philosophy and practice, besides being an expert in herbalism, acupuncture and surgery. Hua Tuo successfully operated on the brain more than 15 centuries before the West started on surgery!

If Chinese surgery was already so advanced in the past, why isn’t surgery an outstanding feature of Chinese medicine today? It was because Hua Tuo and other Chinese doctors found better methods to overcome illness where surgery was needed! Indeed, the Chinese people in the past considered surgery barbaric, like the people in the West as resent as 300 years ago who regarded surgeons the same status as butchers and barbers!

It may be difficult for many people today, when surgery is highly regarded, to believe that other forms of Chinese healing methods, which they often consider primitive, could overcome diseases where many people think, wrongly, that surgery is the only option. In other words, instead of undergoing surgery, patients could overcome their diseases like kidney stones, ulcers and cancer by treatment with herbs and acupuncture.

Indeed, empirical evidence shows that our chi kung healing produces better results than surgery. Surgery removes symptoms of the illness, but our chi kung healing removes the root cause. A patient who underwent surgery for a heart problem or a tumour, for example, would have to undergo future surgery when the symptoms recur. But a patient with the same diseases can recover completely with chi kung healing without the need for further treatment.

In my opinion, because Hua Tuo was also an expert with herbs and acupuncture, which could overcome diseases treated by Five-Animal Play, that he did not face the need to develop his chi kung healing to a very high degree. This could be a reason why Five-Animal Play remained, as far as I know from my research, at a form level. He also did not have the rare opportunity as I do of teaching more than 100 chi kung classes a year, which would give him the opportunity to raise his chi kung healing to a level beyond recognition.

This is the incredible level our chi kung healing is at at present. It is, I believe, unprecedented in the history of medicine. Our chi kung healing is capable of helping patients overcome so-called incurable diseases like cancer, cardiovascular disorders, inability to walk, depression and many others, and our results are unbelievable. But, as mentioned in an earlier answer, most people, including conventional Western doctors and those who suffered from so-called incurable diseases, do not believe in our ability in helping patients overcome so-called incurable diseases.

[Daniel]

5animales.jpg
5-Animal Play Question 8 - Part 1

Question 8

Today there are many versions of the 5 Animal Play, most of them include movements and established patterns that imitate the five animals.
What do you think of this popular versions when compared with the self-manifested chi movement approach?

Sifu Daniel


Answer

The many versions of the Five-Animal Play today can be classified into two categories, which for convenience we may call the form approach and the manifestation approach.

In the form approach, a teacher teaches chi kung forms that resembles the movements of five animals, namely the bird, the deer, the monkey, the tiger and the bear.

When performing bird forms, for example, students may move about cheerfully like birds and flap their arms like wings. When performing deer forms, students run about excitedly and raise their hands like antlers. When performing monkey forms, students drop their arms loosely at their sides and round their body. When performing tiger forms, students move about ferociously, often with claw-like hands. When performing bear forms, student are upright with open chest.

The movements mentioned above are examples. As you have rightly said, there are many versions with different forms, but the examples above give an idea of their typical movements.

This form approach is what most people think Five-Animal Play was practiced in the past. It is believed the great Chinese physician, Hua Tuo, imitated the movements of the bird, the deer, the monkey, the tiger and the bear, and taught these movements to patients and students. It is also what many schools practicing Five-Animal Play nowadays do.

However, recent archaeological finds in the 20th century suggested that Hua Tuo did not imitate the movements of the five animals, but the chi flow movements resulting from the exercises he taught could be classified into the movements of these five animals. This was the manifestation approach, and the art was called Five-Animal Play.

Hence, there is a debate as to which approach was what Hua Tuo taught. Most people favour the form approach, but personally I think Hua Tuo used the manifestation approach. But, in the spirit of Zen, which was Hua Tua’s original method is not so important, what is more important is that it works.

Of the two approaches, the manifestation approach is more effective in curing illness and maintaining health.

The form approach, as its name indicates, operates at the form level. By imitating the movements of certain animals, which have a direct relationship with certain organs and meridians, practitioners attempt to influence the respective organs and meridians to overcome illness and maintain health. For example, by opening their arms like a bird flapping its wings, practitioners attempt to open their heart and generate energy flow along the heart meridian.

In the manifestation approach, the physical movements are a manifestation of energy flow. When practitioners spontaneously open their arms like a bird flapping its wings, it is the result of energy opening their heart and generating energy flow along the heart meridian. The manifestation approach represents the result of a healing process, whereas the form result represents an attempt to cause the healing process.

Following a rough estimate of the proportion of benefit according to the operational level of chi kung, the form level gives 1 unit of benefit, the energy level gives 3 units, and the mind level 6 units. If all other things were equal, the manifestation approach is 3 times more effective than the form approach.

[Daniel]

5-Amimal Play Question 8 - Part 2

(Continued from Part 1)

In the coming Five-Animal Play course in Barcelona between 6th and 11th May 2014, I shall unify the form approach and the manifestation approach. In other words, basing on my understanding and practice of chi kung over many years, I shall devise chi kung techniques resembling the movements of the bird, the deer, the monkey, the tiger and the bear, and transmit to students to manifest chi flow movements resembling these animals.

Our benefit will not just be 4 times better than the form approach and slightly better than the manifestation approach, but respectively 10 times and more than 3 times better. It is because we shall operate at the mind level, which include the form level and the energy level. What we shall do is an upgrade of our Self-Manifested Chi Movement.

Self-manifested chi movement, or “zi-fa-dong-gong” in Chinese, is a modern chi kung term coined in the 20th century. It was, I believe, Five-Animal Play in the manifestation approach in the past, except that its manifested chi flow movements are not as clearly defined into the five animals. In our self-manifested chi movement, for example, we have practitioners wriggling on the floor like a snake, or hopping about like a kangaroo.

It is worthy of note that the five animals in Five-Animal Play are different from the five animals in Shaolin Kungfu, which are the dragon, the snake, the tiger, the leopard and the crane. In these two groups of five animals, only the tiger is common, but the significance of the tiger manifestation is different in the two groups.

The significance of the five animals in Shaolin Kungfu is quite different. The form or manifestation of the dragon trains mind; of the snake trains energy, of the tiger trains internal force, of the leopard trains speed and strength, of the crane trains elegance and essence.

In the Five-Animal Play, the bird relates to the heart, which expresses joy. The deer relates to the liver, which expresses anger. The monkey relates to the spleen, which expresses anxiety. The tiger relates to the lungs, which express grief. The bear relates to the kidneys, which express fear.

Please not that the organs mentioned above include their counterparts and their meridians. For example, in Chinese medical philosophy, the counterpart of the heart is the intestine. Hence, the bird relates not just to the heart, but also to the intestines, the heart meridian and the intestine meridian. In this case of the heart, the pericardium, the triple-warmer, the pericardium meridian and the triple-warmer meridian are also included.

There are the positive aspect and the negative aspect of emotions. Manifesting the bear movements, for example, not only eliminate fear, but also build up confidence.

[Daniel]

Dear all,

Sorry, I missed answer to question 6:

5-Animal Play Question 6 - Part 1

Question 6

If all things are equal, how does Shaolin Wahnam Self Manifested Chi Flow induced by combining 3 dynamic patterns ( i.e Lifting the Sky , Push Mountain , Carry the Moon as taught in Intensive Chi Kung Courses ) compare to 5-Animal Play in efficacy to cure illnesses?

Dr Damian

Answer

At the risk of being branded egoistic or boastful, I would say with conviction and confidence, and backed by empirical evidence, that our Shaolin Wahnam Self-Manifest Chi Movement induced by combining 3 dynamic patterns, like Lifting the Sky, Pushing Mountain, and Carrying the Moon, is more effective than the traditional Five-Animal Play in overcoming illness, including so-called incurable diseases and health problems that are considered impossible by the general public. If the Five-Animal Play were better, I would certainly have used it instead of our Self-Manifested Chi Movement in chi kung healing.

From what I have read, the Five-Animal Play was generally chi kung at a form level, which is the lowest level of operating chi kung. Five-Animal Play practitioners have to perform chi kung exercises many times, between 30 to 50 times, before there is some slight chi flow.

We operate at the mind level. We need to perform an exercise about 10 to 15 times, and our chi flow is very vigorous. Our advanced practitioners can perform an exercise just 3 to 5 times to have a vigorous chi flow.

Chi kung can operate at three progressive levels, namely form, energy and mind. As a rough guide, the proportion of chi flow due to operating chi kung at the form, energy and mind levels is about 1, 3 and 6. In other words, our Self-Manifested Chi Flow is 10 times, not 6 times, more powerful than Five-Animal Play.

Why is it 10 times and not 6 times? It is because our Self-Manifested Chi Movement operates at all the physical, energy and mind levels, whereas the Five-Animal Play operates only at the form level.

Some students have a misconception that operating at the mind level means the use of visualization. No, this isn’t correct. Operating at the mind level means operating in a chi kung state of mind. Often there is no visualization involved, although in some types of chi kung, like Bone Marrow Cleansing, visualization is needed. Visualization here is not intellectualization; it is performed intuitively.

As entering into a chi kung state of mind is an essential requirement for performing chi kung, otherwise it would just be gentle exercise using chi kung patterns, don’t Five-Animal Play practitioners enter into a chi kung state of mind too. Yes, they do, otherwise they would be doing gentle exercise instead of chi kung, but this occurs only infrequently. Most of the time they would be perform chi kung form as gentle physical exercise, but one a while they have become so involved in their performance that they enter into a chi kung state of mind without their realizing. Only on such infrequent occasions, which may happen once awhile, that they practice chi kung, on other days they practice gentle physical exercise.

Indeed, the great majority of chi kung practitioners, including masters, are in this situation, except that for masters being in a chi kung state of mind happened more frequently than ordinary practitioners. This is a main reason why masters take a many years to attain what we can attain in a few months! This is also a main reason why the chi kung level of most other practitioners is at a relatively low level even when they may have practiced from a long time.

[Daniel]

5-Animal Play Question 6 - Part 2

(Continued from Part 1)


In our case we purposely enter into a chi kung state of mind every time we practice chi kung. Moreover, because we understand the underlying philosophy, we enter into a deeper level of mind that other practitioners. The deeper the mind level, the more powerful will be the result.

When I first practiced chi kung, I also operated at the form level like what most practitioners do. But over the ways, especially when I taught as many as over a hundred classes a year whereas other master taught only two or three, I had good opportunities to reflect on the underlying philosophy of chi kung training and improve my teaching methodology, I gradually moved from operating at the form level to operating at the mind level.

In other words, when I first taught 18 Lohan Hands about 30 years ago, my own chi kung attainment as well as that of my early students were at the form level, which was similar to that of Five-Animal Play. But now my own chi kung attainment as well as that of our students are at the mind level which makes our Seof-Manifested Chi Movement induced from combining 3 dynamic patterns more effective than Five-Animal Play in overcoming pain and illness.

There are two dimensions of our effectiveness over Five-Animal Play. The traditional approach of Five-Animal Play was thematic. A healer prescribed specific techniques to patients according to the types of illness they suffered from. Our Self-Manifested Chi Movement is holistic. It does not matter what types of illness patients suffer from. If they have sufficient chi flow in amount and time, they will recover from their illness.

Secondly, our more powerful chi flow results in more powerful healing effects. As the chi flow of Five-Animal Play is not as powerful as ours, its healing effects are less, and may not be powerful enough to help patients overcome drastic illness, like caner, heart discords and deep emotional problems. Our Self-Manifested Chi Movement can overcome any health problems.

Our Self-Manifested Chi Movement is not only more effective than Five-Animal Play in healing, but also in other aspects. Although Self-Manifested Chi Movement is best used for healing, for which it is known in our school as the platinum chi kung for overcoming diseases, because of our high level skills, we can also use this genre of chi kung for other purposes, like developing internal force, improving mental clarity and even for spiritual cultivation. Five-Animal Play does not have this facility.

If all other things were equal, Self-Manifested Chi Movement is not as effective as Golden Bridge for developing internal force, as Cosmic Shower for improving mental clarity, or as Cosmic Breathing for spiritual cultivation. But all other things are not equal. Because of the higher level skills and better philosophical understanding, our students may use Self-Manifested Chi Movement to develop internal force, improve mental clarity and cultivate spiritually more effectively than other students use Golden Bridge, Cosmic Shower and Cosmic Breathing.

The comparison of Self-Manifested Chi Movement is made here with traditional Five-Animal Play. But the Five-Animal Play that I shall teach in Barcelona will be different. Because of my improved methodology, which was not available to traditional Five-Animal Play in the past, the Five-Animal Play that I shall teach may (or may not) be more effective than Self-Manifested Chi Movement in the various aspects explained above. But it is certain that the Five-Animal Play I shall teach in Barcelona will be more effective in healing and other functions than the Self-Manifested Chi Movement I taught 30 years ago.

[Daniel]

images.jpg
5-Animal Play Question 9 - Part 1

Question 9

Where does the 5 Animal Play rank compared to other Chi Kung arts and skills in our syllabus (i.e. 18 Jewels, 18 Lohan Hands, Self-Manifested Chi-Movement, Cosmic Shower, Bone Marrow Cleansing, …)?

Sifu Leonard Lackinger


Answer

If all other things were equal, with techniques as the deciding factor, the ranking of the chi kung arts or skills practiced in our school from the lowest to the most advanced are as follows.

18 Jewels
Self-Manifested Chi Movement
5-Animal Play
18-Lohan Hands
18 Shaolin Wahnam Chi Kung Techniques
Grasping Sparrow’s Tail
Lifting Water
Abdominal Breathing
18-Lohan Art
Three-Circle Stance
Golden Bridge
One-Finger Shooting Zen
Bone Marrow Cleansing
Cosmic Shower
Sinew Metamorphosis
Small Universe
Phenomenal Big Universe
Cosmic Breathing (Transcendental Big Universe)
Merging with the Cosmos (Transcendental Big Universe)

It is important to take note that the list is arbitrary and there can be changes due to changing conditions.

The phrase, “if all other things were equal”, is a philosophical premiss. In real life, all other things are not equal. Even if we presume all other things were equal, a change of conditions or perspective may result in a change of the order of the list.

For example, in the list above the Three-Circle Stance is considered a step more advanced than the 18-Lohan Art. The condition here is that a practitioner practices all the exercises in the 18-Lohan Art quite evenly, compared to practicing the Three-Circle Stance for an equal length of time, say 5 minutes.

But if we have a different condition, while keeping all other things being equal, like practicing all the remaining 17 exercises of the 18-Lohan Art quickly in 1 minute, and practice a powerful exercise like Reverse Hanging of Double Hooks for 4 minutes, then the 19-Lohan Art will be many steps more powerful, or more advanced, than the Three-Circle Stance. In this case the 18-Lohan Art will be about the same level as Sinew Metamorphosis.

As another example, if we practice Sinew Metamorphosis at the form level, and also practice Golden Bridge at the form level for the same length of time, and all other things were equal, Golden Bridge would be more powerful, or more advanced, than Sinew Metamorphosis. This, in fact, is the condition of most people who practice Sinew Metamorphosis and Golden Bridge. But for us operating at the mind level for both arts, 3 minutes of Flicking Fingers after 2 minutes of going over all the other 11 exercises, is more powerful than 5 minutes of Golden Bridge.

The criterion for listing the arts in the order from the lowest to the most advanced is the amount of energy generated from the arts in an appropriate equal period of time. This corresponds closely to the classification of chi kung into five levels as follows.

1. Medical chi kung.
2. Health chi kung.
3. Intellectual chi kung.
4. Martial chi kung.
5. Spiritual chi kung.

[Andy]

I believe in the future, perhaps 300 years from now, Self-Manifested Chi Movement, pioneered by our school, will be the norm in mainstream medicine to overcome illness. Paradoxically, this will be due not to its effectiveness, which is true, but to the inadequacy of conventional Western medicine in dealing with so many so-called incurable diseases. This does not mean that the future world will abandon Western medicine. Western medical technology is very advanced and aid future world medicine in many ways, like producing pills that generate chi flow instead of performing chi kung exercises.


This is the incredible level our chi kung healing is at at present. It is, I believe, unprecedented in the history of medicine. Our chi kung healing is capable of helping patients overcome so-called incurable diseases like cancer, cardiovascular disorders, inability to walk, depression and many others, and our results are unbelievable. But, as mentioned in an earlier answer, most people, including conventional Western doctors and those who suffered from so-called incurable diseases, do not believe in our ability in helping patients overcome so-called incurable diseases.

Thank you, Sifu, for this enlightening answer!

It is truly a privilege to be a member of this school and to be able to play a part in this transformation.

[Daniel]

5-Animal Play Question 9 - Part 2

(Continued from Part 1)

Why is chi kung classified in this order? It is because this is the logical order for development.

When a person is sick, practicing medical chi kung to get well is his top priority. If he sick and tries to practice intellectual chi kung to improve his mind, or martial chi kung to improve his combat efficiency, is being silly.

When he is free from pain and illness, he should practice health chi kung to promote good health, vitality and longevity so that we can do well in his work, which is a duty to himself and to society. If he neglects his work to practice martial chi kung to excel in sports, or spiritual chi kung to see God, he is being irresponsible. God will ask him to go home to fulfill his duty.

Only after he has done his work well, should be think of enjoying his hobbies, which may be intellectual like composing poetry and playing chess, or marital like sports and games. Intellectual chi kung and martial chi kung will be excellent at this stage. The focus is on mental clarity and a lot of energy. Martial chi kung is of a higher level because the demand for mental clarity and a lot of energy for a warrior is more than that for a scholar.

Having done his work well and enjoyed his intellectual or martial hobbies, he is now ready to return to God. Spiritual chi kung serves his need the best at this highest developmental stage.

This classification – from medical to health to intellectual to martial and to spiritual – is a guideline for special emphasis at different developmental stages. All chi kung, even at the lowest level, is spiritual, i.e. it is a cultivation of the spiritual, not just the physical body and energy.

Indeed, the spiritual aspect is very important in medical chi kung. All healing starts from the heart, the spiritual heart.

Chi kung may also be classified into three levels:

1. Chi kung for health
2. Chi kung for peak performance
3. Chi kung for spiritual attainment1.

This three-level classification corresponds to the five-level classification described earlier.

Chi kung for health, includes medical chi kung.

Chi kung for peak performance includes intellectual chi kung and martial chi kung.

Chi kung for spiritual attainment is spiritual chi kung.

In our list, 18 Jewels, Self-Manifested Chi Movement, 5-Animal Play belong to medical chi kung as their main function is to overcome pain and illness. 18-Lohan Hands and 18 Shaolin Wahnam Chi Kung Techniques are health chi kung, enabling practitioners to have good health, vitality and longevity. In the three-level classification, all of these chi kung arts are health chi kung.

Abdominal Breathing, Bone Marrow Cleansing, and Cosmic Shower are intellectual chi kung, with special emphasis on enhancing mental clarity. Grasping Sparrow’s Tail, Lifting Water, 18-Lohan Art, Three-Circle Stance, Golden Bridge, One-Finger Shooting Zen, Sinew Metamorphosis are martial chi kung, with emphasis on providing a lot of energy.

Grasping Sparrow’s Tail, Lifting Water, and Three-Circle Stance are arts from Taijiquan, which is a scholar’s martial art. Thus, these chi kung arts are also excellent for scholars.

Please bear in mind that saying intellectual chi kung like Abdominal Breathing and Cosmic Shower enhances mental clarity, and martial chi kung like Golden Bridge and Sinew Metamorphosis generates a lot of energy is speaking relatively. All types of intellectual chi kung and martial chi kung enhances mental claity and generate a lot of energy. They are excellent for peak performance.

Small Universe, Phenomenal Big Universe, Cosmic Breathing (Transcendental Big Universe), and Merging with the Cosmos (Transcendental Big Universe) are spiritual chi kung, excellent for spiritual cultivation to the highest level.

Please remember that saying the Small Universe is for spiritual cultivation, and the 18 Jewels for overcoming illness, is speaking relatively, especially in our school where we are so skillful that we may employ a low-level chi kung for some high-level needs, or vice versa. In other words, because of our skills and philosophical understanding, we can use the 18 Jewels, which is regarded as low-level chi kung in terms of techniques, for spiritual cultivation, which is a high-level need. Reversely, we can use the Small Universe, which is high-level chi kung, to overcome illness, which is a low-level need.

The Small Universe is a fantastic art. It is regarded by some chi kung practitioners, though not quite correctly, as the chi kung. Many of our students who had taken a Small Universe course from me, reported that all aspects of their life improved noticeably. This is no surprise if we know that in Chinese to be lucky is known as “hao yun qi”, which literally means “good circulation of chi”. The Small Universe ensures good circulation of chi.

[Guest]

Dear Siheng, thank you very much for these opportunities and sharing Sifu's wisdom with us.

That was a great read, I very much liked this:

"so that we can do well in his work, which is a duty to himself and to society. If he neglects his work to practice martial chi kung to excel in sports, or spiritual chi kung to see God, he is being irresponsible. God will ask him to go home to fulfill his duty."

Golden.

Best regards,
Tim