Dear Shaolin Family,
At the end of my practice I give thanks to my Sifu, Sigung and all the Past Masters. Sending sincere and genuine offerings of thanks to Sifu and Sigung is easy: it just flows from me like a river.
I struggle somewhat when it comes to offering thanks to all the Past Masters. I send out sincere offerings of thanks but it feels as if I am thanking a chair on which no one is sitting. The essence of the Past Masters is like a void to me.
I have a small measure of success with thanking Sigung’s Sifus (Sitaigung Ho, Sitaigung Lai, Sitaigung Chee and Sitaigung Choe) as I have some sense of who these people were through the many wonderful stories which Sigung has related to us and through the small number of photographs of them that are freely available. But all the masters further up the lineage, right up to Bodhidharma, feel like characters from a fiction novel. The Shaolin Temple could be from Middle Earth!
I am very aware of our school’s lineage and know its history well. On an intellectual level I’m quite the scholar. But in the Chi Kung state of mind, after a marvellous training session, when offering thanks to the Past Masters, it feels like the thoughts I am sending out are going nowhere.
This issue has not in anyway affected my training or acted as a constraint to the many benefits I have received since I started practicing these arts everyday. But, looking ahead, as I take my practice to a deeper level, I have a sense that paying respect to the Past Masters and developing an awareness of their essence within myself is important. It is something I would very much like to address (while not worrying about it of course!).
This issue came to mind a few months back and I parked it. This week however, the week in which I have started practicing taiqiquan combat sequences for the first time (I started Level 3 last weekend), it has resurfaced and so I find myself here talking about it.
I would very much welcome any comments or advice on the matter. I would also very much welcome any stories people might like to share on their own experiences of connection with the Past Masters.
Best wishes,
Kevin
At the end of my practice I give thanks to my Sifu, Sigung and all the Past Masters. Sending sincere and genuine offerings of thanks to Sifu and Sigung is easy: it just flows from me like a river.
I struggle somewhat when it comes to offering thanks to all the Past Masters. I send out sincere offerings of thanks but it feels as if I am thanking a chair on which no one is sitting. The essence of the Past Masters is like a void to me.
I have a small measure of success with thanking Sigung’s Sifus (Sitaigung Ho, Sitaigung Lai, Sitaigung Chee and Sitaigung Choe) as I have some sense of who these people were through the many wonderful stories which Sigung has related to us and through the small number of photographs of them that are freely available. But all the masters further up the lineage, right up to Bodhidharma, feel like characters from a fiction novel. The Shaolin Temple could be from Middle Earth!
I am very aware of our school’s lineage and know its history well. On an intellectual level I’m quite the scholar. But in the Chi Kung state of mind, after a marvellous training session, when offering thanks to the Past Masters, it feels like the thoughts I am sending out are going nowhere.
This issue has not in anyway affected my training or acted as a constraint to the many benefits I have received since I started practicing these arts everyday. But, looking ahead, as I take my practice to a deeper level, I have a sense that paying respect to the Past Masters and developing an awareness of their essence within myself is important. It is something I would very much like to address (while not worrying about it of course!).
This issue came to mind a few months back and I parked it. This week however, the week in which I have started practicing taiqiquan combat sequences for the first time (I started Level 3 last weekend), it has resurfaced and so I find myself here talking about it.
I would very much welcome any comments or advice on the matter. I would also very much welcome any stories people might like to share on their own experiences of connection with the Past Masters.
Best wishes,
Kevin
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