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  • #31
    Wonderful
    Sifu Andy Cusick

    Shaolin Wahnam Thailand
    Shaolin Qigong

    sigpic

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    "a trained mind brings health and happiness"
    - ancient wisdom

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    • #32
      Hi there,

      Another chapter which I would like to share first as I think most of us will be very interested, where this chapter explain in details how Shaolin Kungfu was transmitted to our school. This chapter describe the history of Shaolin Temple, various Shaolin Kungfu, our school linkage and many more. Can't stop reading this chapter! Chapter 17 - How Shaolin Kungfu was Transmitted from the Shaolin Temple to our School, right after Sifu describe the learning process with Sigung Ho Fatt Nam in past few chapters, begins with some stories about Shaolin Temple.......

      The Shaolin Temple

      Although I was the last of my sifu’s disciples, over time I had become quite close to him, and we often spent time together over tea or meals. It was over tea and meals that I learned some of the best lessons from my sifu, Sifu Ho Fatt Nam. Besides kungfu lessons, which were practical as well as philosophical, I also heard many interesting real-life stories.

      Some of the most interesting stories were about how Shaolin Kungfu spread from the Shaolin Temple to us. The Shaolin Temple was first built on Song Mountain in Henan Province in North China in the year 377. It was not built by Bodhidharma, as it is sometimes mistaken to be, but built by Batuo (佛陀), spelled as Fotuo in Romanized Chinese, which means the Buddha. As a form of deep respect for him, the Chinese called him the Buddha.

      Batuo came from India and was a Hinayana Buddhist monk. Hence, initially Hinayana Buddhism was practiced in the Shaolin Temple. It changed to Manayana Buddhism when Bodhidharma (菩提达摩) arrived to teach at the temple in the year 527. Throughout its long history, the tradition of Buddhism taught in the Shaolin Temple changed from one to the other between Hinayana and Mahayana, but mainly it was Mahayana.

      It is significant to point out that the terms “Hinayana” and “Mahayana” and even “Buddhism” were not used by the Shaolin monks or by Chinese in general to describe the type of their spiritual cultivation. It was other people, especially people from the West, who used these terms to differentiate them.

      In other words, the Shaolin monks as well as the Chinese people in general did not call themselves Buddhists, Taoists or Confucians. It was other people who used these terms on them. Hence, in the Shaolin Temple, besides Buddhists there were also Taoists, Confucians, Christians, Muslims and people of other religion or of no official religion.

      In the Chinese language, the Shaolin Temple (少林寺) is written as “Shao Lin Si”, which means “Shaolin Temple”. These three Chinese characters, Shao Lin Si, are displayed at the top of the Mountain Gate, which means the main gate. On the temple wall, the four Chinese characters, Shao Lin Chan Si (少林禅寺), are written, and they mean “Shaolin Chan Temple”. “Chan” (禅) is the Chinese word for “Zen”, which means meditation. It was called a Chan temple because the main method of spiritual cultivation was meditation. The word “Buddhist” (佛) was never mentioned.

      The two words “Shao Lin” (少林) literally mean “young forest”, but that was not what the two words in the term “Shaolin Temple” meant. In other words, Shaolin Temple does not mean “Young Forest Temple” as some people thought it was. Then how did the term “Shaolin” come about?

      When Emperor Xiao Wen Di (孝文帝) was requested to give a name to the newly built temple, he thought for a while, looked around and saw two sturdy cypress trees in front of the temple main gate.

      “The two trees form the character lin (林),” he said. “The temple is situated on the Shao Shi (少室) range of the Song Mountain (嵩山). Let us call this temple Shaolin (少林).”

      ...to be continued...

      Comment


      • #33
        Thank you :-)

        Dear Chun Yian Siheng,

        Thank you so much for sharing with us these parts of Sifu's autobiography. They are truly amazing.

        I could not avoid coming into tears when reading Sigung Ho part. I am still trying to understand why that happened but I guess that heart is many times difficult to understand by intellect. I feel a really strong connection with Sigung Ho though I have never met him.

        This path is truly amazing. What an adventure! Thank you Sifu for being part of my life. :-)

        With Love, Care and Shaolin Salute,

        Santiago

        Comment


        • #34
          Dear Chun Yian Sipak

          Thank you for these wonderful and inspiring extracts.
          I love reading them and I am looking forward to the publication of Sigung's autobiography.

          I guess I will have to take a holiday then .

          Best regards
          Andrea
          Enjoy some Wahnam Tai Chi Chuan & Qi Gong!

          Evening Classes in Zürich
          Weekend Classes in other Swiss locations


          Website: www.taichichuan-wahnam.ch
          Facebook: www.facebook.com/Taichichuan.Wahnam.ch

          Comment


          • #35
            Dear Chun Yian Siheng,

            Thank you for sharing some of Sifu's autobiography. I love reading it.

            Thank you Sifu for yet another gem, priceless.

            I can't wait to get a copy and hopefully a chance of the special edition if possible.

            Shaolin Salute,

            Brendan

            Comment


            • #36
              I have never anticipating the launch of a book so much! Among other things, Sifu is a master of suspense.
              .

              Comment


              • #37
                Hi there,

                Santiago you will have the chance to meet with Sigung Ho when the book is published and you will enjoy it very much. Yes Andrea I think we need to take a holiday then, as the book is so long and comprehensive...

                Sifu has finally finish his writing and the manuscript is ready for proof reading very soon. I'm very sure that this book will surprise and inspire all of us!!!

                Let's continue with some interesting stories and various styles of Shaolin Kungfu in chapter 17, before the book is publish......


                When Bodhidharma taught the Shaolin monks meditation, he found them weak and sickly. So he taught them two sets of chi kung exercises in order to strengthen them, namely Eighteen Lohan Hands (十八罗汉手) and Sinew Metamorphosis (易筋). There is a long debate whether Bodhidharma taught the Shaolin monks Bone Marrow Cleansing (洗髄经).

                There were records of Eighteen Lohan Hands patterns and Sinew Metamorphosis patterns, but no records of Bone Marrow Cleansing patterns. I did some research and eventually found the answer. There were no Bone Marrow Cleansing patterns because Bone Marrow Cleansing referred to skills and not to techniques. In other words, the Shaolin monks practiced Eighteen Lohan Hands patterns or Sinew Metamorphosis, and when they attained a high level, chi flowed in their bone marrow, and this skill was called Bone Marrow Cleansing.

                There were many retired generals in the Shaolin Temple, and the Eighteen Lohan Hands practiced by them eventually evolved into Eighteen Lohan Kungfu (十八罗汉拳), which became the prototype of Shaolin Kungfu. Bodhidharma did not invent Shaolin Kungfu as some people mistakenly think. On the other hand, Sinew Metamorphosis became the base of advanced Shaolin Chi Kung (气功), more widely called nei kung (内功) at that time. To honour him Shaolin practitioners regard Bodhidharma as the first patriarch of Zen, Shaolin Chi Kung and Shaolin Kungfu.

                By the Tang Dynasty, Shaolin Kungfu had become very famous. There was a saying that “Shaolin Kungfu was the best beneath heaven and earth”, or “shao lin quan yong ming tian xia” (少林拳勇名天下). By the Song Dynasty, Shaolin Kungfu had expanded so extensively and had many derivative styles like Taizuquan, White Crane and Huaquan, that a Shaolin master and kungfu genius, Bai Yu Feng (白玉峰) was concerned that Shaolin Kungfu might lost its original flavor. So, with the co-operation of the abbot, the Venerable Fu Yu (福裕和尚), Bai Yu Feng invited the best Shaolin masters of the time to return to the temple for many days to demonstrate their arts.

                Various Styles of Shaolin Kungfu

                It was a marvelous demonstration of a great variety of Shaolin Kungu. Bai Yu Feng selected five of the best of the arts and composed them into a style, which came to be called Wuzuquan (五祖拳), or Five-Ancestor Kungfu. The five styles which formed Wuzuquan were White Crane, Taizuquan or First Emperor Style, Lohan, Bodhidharma Style and Monkey.

                Another Shaolin master and marshal of the Song Dynasty, YueFei (岳飞), invented Xingyiquan (形意拳) and Eagle Claw Kungfu (鹰爪拳). YueFei taught his generals Xingyiquan and ordinary soldiers Eagle Claw Kungfu, and his army was undefeated in over 200 battles! Yuejiaquan (岳家拳), or Yue Family Kungfu, was also attributed to YueFei.

                Towards the end of the Song Dynasty, a Taoist master, Zhang San Feng (张三峰), after accomplishing the highest level of Shaolin Kungfu at the Shaolin Temple retreated to spend his hermit days on the Wudang Mountain. He integrated the three aspects of kungfu, namely form, energy and spirit, into one unity and invented WudangKungfu (武当拳), which later evolved into Taijiquan (太极拳). Zhang San Feng is honoured as the First Patriarch of the internal arts.

                During the Ming Dynasty a Shaolin disciple, Wang Lang (王朗) invented Praying Mantis Kungfu (堂蜋拳).

                A Ming emperor built another Shaolin Temple in the city of Quanzhou (泉洲) in Fujian Province in the south. He also moved the status of imperial temple from the northern Shaolin Temple at Henan to this southern Shaolin Temple at Quanzhou.

                But the southern Shaolin Temple was burnt by the Qing army led by the Manchurian crown prince Yong Zheng (雍正), who himself infiltrated into the Shaolin Temple as a monk for many years to find out its secret. In the burning of the Shaolin Temple, he sought the help of Lama kungfu experts from Tibet with their infamous flying guillotines.


                ......to be continued......

                * Attach picture shows Sifu perform Wudang Kungfu of Zhang San Feng

                Shaolin Salute,
                Chun Yian
                Attached Files

                Comment


                • #38
                  Love it

                  The book will be out in no time yipee, can't wait

                  Thank you Sifu,

                  Thank you Chun Yian Siheng,

                  Shaolin Salute,
                  Brendan

                  Comment


                  • #39
                    Dear Chun Yian Siheng,

                    Please let us know the launch date of the book, and whether there is a special venue for a pre-launch of the book. Thank you!

                    Gratitude to Sifu, Sigung Ho, Sigung Lai, Sigung Choe, Sigung Chee and all past masters!

                    With Shaolin Salute,
                    Lee Wei Joo
                    Last edited by LeeWeiJoo; 17 March 2014, 05:07 AM.
                    http://shaolinwahnammalaysia.com/

                    Comment


                    • #40

                      Comment


                      • #41
                        Hi there,

                        Thank you Wei Joo for raising up the question of book launching. Indeed, we do not set a specific date to launch the book yet but we expect the book to be published and available around August/September this year if everything goes on smooth manner. I will update the progress of the book from time to time. Certainly, we will only produce an amount of books which I will discuss and confirm with Sifu again for the special and limited edition and no re-print will take place after that. The special and limited edition is available in conjunction to Sifu's 70 years old birthday in the year 2014.

                        The book is in the progress of editing now and it takes a long time as it's really long. Well let us dig more in Chapter 17 to know more about the burning of Shaolin Temple......

                        Southern Shaolin

                        A few Shaolin masters escaped from the inferno. One of them, the Venerable Chee Seen (至善禅师), built a secretive Shaolin Temple on the Nine-Lotus Mountain (九莲山), with the aim of overthrowing the Qing Dynasty. He had many famous secular disciples, like Hoong Hei Koon (洪熙官), Fong Sai Yoke (方世玉), and Lok Ah Choy (陆亚采). Chee Seen’s two most senior disciples, who were monks, were the Venerable Harng Yen (杏隐禅师) and the Venerable Sam Tuck (三德和尚).

                        Another Shaolin monk who escaped was the Venerable Jiang Nan (江南和尚). He was not as famous as the other Shaolin masters because knowing that the Qing army would be tracing him, he left China. But he was very important in the history of our school, Shaolin Wahnam, which will be described later.

                        This second southern Shaolin Temple on Nine-Lotus Mountain was also burnt by the Qing army led by Pak Mei (白眉) and Fong Tou Tuck (冯道德). Pak Mei and Fong Tou Tuck were classmates of Chee Seen at the southern Shaolin Temple in Quanzhou. Ng Mui (五梅), a Shaolin nun, Pak Mei, Chee Seen, Fong Tou Tuck and Miu Hien (苗显), a secular Shaolin master, were known as the Five Shaolin Elders (少林五老).

                        After the first burning of the southern Shaolin Temple at Quanzhou, Pak Mei escaped to Ermei Mountain (峨眉山), where he founded Pai Mei Kungfu (白眉拳) and Dragon Style Kungfu (龙形拳), and Fong Tou Tuck escaped to Wudang Mountain (武当山) where he founded Wudang Kungfu (武当拳), which was different from the Wudang Kungfu of Zhang San Feng about 5 centuries earlier.

                        Political difference between Chee Seen on one hand, and Pak Mei and Fong Tou Tuck on the other led to the second burning of the southern Shaolin Temple on Nine-Lotus Mountain by the Qing army, commanded by Ko Chun Chong (高进忠), a senior disciple of Pak Mei and military governor of the two provinces of Guangdong and Guangxi.

                        Many secular Shaolin disciples escaped to Guangdong resulting in the numerous Southern Shaolin styles like Hoong Ka (洪家), Wing Choon (詠春), Choy-Li-Fatt (蔡李佛), Lau Ka (刘家), Choy Ka (蔡家), Mok Ka (莫家) and Chow Ka (周家).

                        The burning of the Shaolin Temple during the Qing Dynasty was a historical event in kungfu. But not many people realize that the Shaolin Temple here referred to the southern Shaolin Temple in the Fujian Province of South China, and not to the northern Shaolin Temple in Henan Province of North China.


                        The Northern Shaolin Temple Was Not Burned!

                        The northern Shaolin Temple was not burnt during the Qing Dynasty. It remained throughout the Qing Dynasty. In fact the words “Shaolin Temple” in Chinese hang on the main entrance of the temple were written by a Qing emperor. The temple was burnt in 1928, eleven years after the Qing Dynasty had been overthrown.

                        Its burning had nothing to do with kungfu. The northern Shaolin Temple was long deserted, and a warlord occupied it as a military camp. A rival warlord attacked it with guns and cannons in 1928. Hence, to claim that lineage of one’s Shaolin Kungfu is traced back to the Shaolin Temple in Henan is historically flawed.
                        .
                        In kungfu context, the burning of the Shaolin Temple by the Qing army referred to the southern Shaolin Temple. Not many people realize that there were two southern Shaolin Temples, one at Quanzhou and the other at Nine-Lotus Mountain, and both were burnt by the Qing army.

                        The southern Shaolin Temple at Quanzhou was an open temple. The public knew about its existence. It was burnt by the Qing Army with the help of Lama kungfu experts from Tibet with their infamous flying guillotines. Chee Seen, Jiang Nan, Pak Mei and Fong Tou Tuck escaped from this Temple. The kungfu practiced and taught by all these four grandmasters were Southern Shaolin Kungfu from the southern Shaolin Temple, not Northern Shaolin Kungfu from the northern Shaolin Temple.

                        Chee Seen built a secretive southern Shaolin Temple on Nine-Lotus Mountain. The public did not know about this temple. Its existence was betrayed to the Qing government by one of the ten great disciples of Chee Seen named Ma Ling Yi (马龄兒). Ma Ling Yi bore a grudge against his teacher, Chee Seen, and his classmates because he was spanked for being drunk and breaking a gigantic oil lamp hung in the training hall. The temple was burnt by the Qing army led by Pak Mei. Many of Chee Seen’s disciples escaped and spread Shaolin Kungfu in the south.

                        Both burnings of the two southern Shaolin Temples were closely connected to our school. Our school is called Shaolin Wahnam in honour of my two sifus, Sifu Lai Chin Wah and Sifu Ho Fatt Nam. The lineage of Sifu Lai Chin Wah is traced directly to the Venerable Chee Seen, and the lineage of Sifu Ho Fatt Nam to the Venerable Jiang Nan.

                        With Shaolin Salute,
                        Chun Yian

                        Comment


                        • #42
                          Excellent, thank you. I hope that the book will contain the Chinese characters as well - a gem for us fans and researchers.
                          Pavel Macek Sifu

                          Practical Hung Kyun 實用洪拳

                          sigpic

                          Comment


                          • #43
                            Hi brothers and sisters,

                            Yes PM certainly the book will contain the Chinese characters as well, in simplified Chinese version.

                            At the later part of Chapter 17, Sifu explain the lineage of Sigung Lai and Sigung Ho in details, which is as below:


                            The Venerable Chee Seen and the Venerable Jiang Nan

                            The Venerable Chee Seen’s most senior disciple was the Venerable Harng Yen. The kungfu set, Essence of Shaolin (少林拳术精华), which I cherish very much, was transmitted by the Venerable Harng Yen. The following poetic couplet which was painted on the wall of the training hall when I first established Shaolin Wahnam Association in Sungai Petani, and which summed up the techniques and the skill of Shaolin Kungfu succinctly, was attributed to the Venerable Harng Yen.

                            Miu fatt fatt chong sang miu fatt
                            Kai kung kung seong kein kai kung

                            妙法法中生妙法
                            奇功功上见奇功

                            Amidst marvelous techniques are born marvelous techniques
                            Upon wondrous skills can be seen wondrous skills

                            At the Shaolin Temple the Venerable Harng Yen taught Chan Fook (陈福). It was the same Chan Fook who later taught Beggar Su (苏乞丐), one of the Ten Tigers of Guangdong known for his Drunken Kungfu. Chan Fook had left the southern Shaolin Temple before it was razed. Chan Fook also taught Ng Yew Loong (伍耀隆).

                            Ng Yew Loong migrated from China to Malaysia and was a very well known kungfu master in Penang. Ng Yew Loong taught my sifu, Sifu Lai Chin Wah, better known by his honorable nick-name as Uncle Righteousness. I learned from my sifu, Uncle Righteousness, in 1954.

                            The other lineage in our school was from the Venerable Jiang Nan. I know the lineage stories very well because my sifu, Sifu Ho Fatt Nam, told them to me himself.

                            When the southern Shaolin Temple at Quanzhou was razed to the ground, the Venerable Jiang Nan escape and ran out of China, as he knew the Qing army was after him. His name at the Shaolin Temple was not Jiang Nan. But after crossing a big river, which was probably Zhu Jiang or the Pearl River, he adopted the name Jiang Nan, which meant South of the River.


                            From Jiang Nan to Yang Fatt Khun

                            The Venerable Jiang Nan fled south, crossed the Chinese border into Thailand, and kept going south. He had only one mission in life, that was to pass on the Shaolin arts to just one trusted disciple. He was very strict in selecting his successor. He was about 30 of age when he escaped from the burning temple, and after about 50 years of searching, when he was about 80, he met my sigung, Yang Fatt Khun (杨法坤).

                            Yang Fatt Khun was about 30 then, and was a traveling medicine man in what was then southern Thailand. But in a treaty in the early 1900s, the Thai ceded it to the British in what is now Kelantan in Peninsula Malaysia. To attract crowd, Yang Fatt Khun would first performed some kungfu and demonstrated some feats like piercing a potato with a straw or having a slab of granite broken on his chest. These are actually stuntman shows to attract crowd, and not real kungfu.

                            I remember once I politely asked my sifu whether I could learn some of these stuntman shows. I knew my sifu had a lot of these tricks as some of his sifus, i.e. my sigungs, were traveling medicine men, and my sifu often had to perform these stuntman shows to attract crowd.

                            “Why do you want to learn these feats?” My sifu asked me.

                            “It’ll be interesting for demonstration,” I replied.

                            “These are stuntman shows,” he said. “Don’t waste your time on them. Spend your time to practice genuine kungfu,” he reprimanded.

                            Although my sigung, Yang Fatt Khun, performed stuntman shows, I had no doubt that his kungfu was genuine and effective. Where he operated were Muay Thai fighters, and Muay Thai fighters would not let a medicine man demonstrating kungfu go unchallenged. Many Muay Thai fighters had challenged my sigung, and he had defeated them readily. The type of kungfu my sigung practiced was Fengyang Kungfu (凤杨拳), which was famous for its phoenix-eye fist.

                            For seven nights the Venerable Jiang Nan watched Yang Fatt Khun performed his kungfu, demonstrated his feats and sold his medicine. Then on the seventh night, after the crowd had dispersed and Yang Fatt Khun was packing his apparatus to prepare to leave, the Shaolin monk walked towards the young man and said.

                            “Young man. The crowd applauded your performance of kungfu. But it was no good. It was only good for demonstration!”

                            Yang Fatt Khun was very surprised. The monk was about 80 with long white beard, but upright like a stature, a voice like ringing bell, eyes sparkling and vitality of a young man.

                            Before Yang Fatt Khun could say anything, the monk continued.

                            “Don’t take my words for granted. The test of kungfu is fighting. Let us have some friendly free sparring to see if your kungfu is good. I shall wait for you to pack your things. Then we find a suitable place to spar.”

                            So Yang Fatt Khun packed his things and led the monk back to his hotel. At the back of the hotel where nobody watched, they sparred.

                            At first Yang Fatt Khun hesitated to use force or speed, out of respect for the monk’s old age.

                            “Fight your best,” the monk commanded.

                            They spared, and sparred and sparred. But all the time Yang Fatt Khun found himself simply overwhelmed. He did not actually know what happened. The old monk just handled him like a child.

                            Yang Fatt Khun knew that there was no doubt the old monk was a rare kungfu master. He knelt down, kowtowed, and begged, “Sifu, please accept me as your student.” It was only later that my sigung found out the Venerable Jiang Nan was the last of real Shaolin monks from the legendary Shaolin Temple.

                            The old monk gently touched the young man’s head. “There’s one condition,” the monk said. “Wind up your medicine business, follow me up a mountain, and start afresh.”

                            There were actually three conditions in one. The last condition, start afresh, has become standard in our lineage. No matter how accomplished a student may be, he starts afresh when learning from us.

                            My sigung, Yang Fatt Khun, was already an accomplished fighter when he learned from the Venerable Jiang Nan, but he started afresh when he learned the Shaolin arts. My sifu was already an accomplished fighter, being a professional Muay Thai champion, but started afresh when he learned the Shaolin arts from my sigung. I was already quite accomplished in kungfu, being called a kungfu genius, but I started afresh when I learned from my sifu.

                            My sifu, Sifu Ho Fatt Nam, told me that starting afresh had many benefits. A big benefit was that a student would not miss out anything important, especially at the beginning when the fundamentals were taught. Another big benefit was that the teaching and the learning would be systematic and progressive. Of course a student who already had much prior experience would progress much faster than other students.

                            The statement made by our first patriarch, the Venerable Jiang Nan, that the test of kungfu is fighting, has also become a cornerstone in our lineage. Because times have changed, fighting may not be the top priority in our kungfu training. We may pay more emphasis on good health, vitality, longevity, mental freshness, spiritual joys and peak performance, but there is no uncertainty that when we train kungfu we must be able to fight if the need arises.

                            We do not just talk about kungfu, we do not learn kungfu for demonstration to please spectators, we do not submit ourselves to being punched and kicked at in free sparring, we know how to fight well if we have to, though we would prefer not to if we can.


                            From Yang Fatt Khun to Ho Fatt Nam

                            When my sigung, Yang Fatt Khun, learned Shaolin Kungfu from the Venerable Jiang Nan, my sigung was about 30. When my sifu, Ho Fatt Nam, learned from my sigung, my sigung was about 70. My sifu was the last of my sigung’s disciple, but eventually rose in rank to become his successor.

                            Before he learned Shaolin Kungfu from my sigung, my sifu was already very accomplished in kungfu, having learnt from six other masters, and was a professional Muay Thai fighter, earning his living by fighting in the ring.

                            My sifu heard of a famous old Shaolin master, and wanted to learn from the old master in order to improve his fighting in the ring. But each time he approached the master, my sifu was rejected. But my sifu was very determined, and kept on begging the master to teach him.

                            In order to stop this young nuisance, the old master said, “You don’t have to beg me further. I don’t teach anymore.” When a master declared that he was no longer teaching, intending students had no reason to beg further. My sifu thought he had lost the chance to learn form the old Shaolin master.

                            But a senior disciple of the old Shaolin master, who was almost as old as the master himself, took pity on my sifu. He knew my sifu was dedicated and talented, and thought that it would be a waste if the Shaolin arts were not passed on to succeeding generations.

                            So he told my sifu, “It’s true my sifu is no longer teaching publicly. But he still teaches us in private.”

                            He told my sifu the secret training place. “All doors are close when we train. But tonight I shall secretly leave the back door open so that you can come in.”

                            My sifu was overjoyed. He bought the traditional gifts of a cockerel, two bottles of the best Chinese wine, and big oranges. Sure enough he found the back door unlocked. He sneaked in and found some people practicing in a hall, while the old master was seated on a chair at the altar sipping tea watching his students practice.

                            My sifu quickly but quietly went towards the master, knelt down and with both hands offered the basket of traditional gifts above his head to the master. The master took the basket and placed it on the altar. My sifu was very happy. Placing the gifts on the altar meant that the master accepted him as a student.

                            “This rascal. It’s destiny,” the old master said.

                            When my sifu told me the story, I was ignorant enough to ask, “Why did sigung call sifu a rascal? And why did sigung say it was destiny?”

                            “I was a rascal because my sifu could not retire as he had planned. It was destiny that he had to teach me.”


                            That's the end of Chapter 17.

                            Best regards,
                            Chun Yian

                            Comment


                            • #44
                              Wonderful, thank you!
                              Pavel Macek Sifu

                              Practical Hung Kyun 實用洪拳

                              sigpic

                              Comment


                              • #45
                                Dear Chun Yian Sipak,

                                Thank you for sharing these beautiful stories. It is very inspiring to read of Sitaigung Ho Fatt Nam’s determination and success in learning from Sichanggung Yang Fatt Khun.

                                Thank you Sigung for the opportunity to read them.

                                Can’t wait for this book

                                Shaolin Salute,
                                Dominic.

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