Legacy of Ho Fatt Nam - 10 Questions to Grandmaster Wong Kiew Kit

[Andrew]

So many great questions. But we have more than 10 now! Sifu has agreed to answer 10, but maybe (if we are lucky and ask nicely) Sifu will agree to answer some of the additional questions too. Let's see

Now sit back and wait for some fantastic answers!

[Andrew]

I just arrived in England where I am running some healing sessions this weekend. It'll be a great weekend. And what better way to start it than with Sifu's answer (part 1) to the first question:

Question 1:

What are the different levels of skills that derive from One Finger Shooting Zen, Taming Tiger and Thirty Punches? How long does it take Shaolin Wahnam students to reach the skills (assumed they practice as they are supposed to)? How to test the skills? And how is each one of them useful in combat and daily life?

Sifu Anton Schmick


Answer:

If I were asked to name the one exercise that led to my kungfu “enlightenment”, including in combat application, it would be “One-Finger Shooting Zen”.

By itself, “One-Finger Shooting Zen” is for force development, and not for combat application. But, of course, the internal force developed in “One-Finger Shooting Zen” is excellent for combat. Moreover, the two arts trained in “One-Finger Shooting Zen”, namely One-Finger Zen and Tiger Claw, are employed in the two of the highest combative arts, namely dim-mak and chin-na.

More importantly, the techniques required to apply One-Finger Zen and Tiger Claw for dim-mak and chin-na are actually very simple.; it is the skills that are crucial in implementing dim-mak and chin-na, the two highest levels of combat. This kungfu “enlightenment” opened up “enlightenment” in many areas of daily living. Whether a salesman earns 2,000 euros a month or 20,00 euros a month depends on his skills, not on his techniques, which are probably the same in both cases.

The skills acquired in the three different arts -- One-Finger Shooting Zen, Taming Tiger and Thirty Puches – are quite different.

In One-Finger Shooting Zen, the skills are letting energy to flow and consolidating energy into internal force. In Taming Tiger the skill is to strengthen the fingers, in a more physical way, to use as tiger-claws in chin-na. In Thirty Punches the skill is to explode force from the dan tian.

For most people, it will take a few years for them to acquire the respective skills – if they even do. Only a few of them will succeed. Even when they have the skills, they may not realize it. In Thirty Punches, for example, they only know that their punches are powerful with internal force. They may not know that they have the skill of channeling their internal force to flow form their dan tian to their fists. Many would not acquire the skills and therefore do not have the result of internal force when they punch.

I took a much shorter time to acquire the skill because I was a good student and my sifu was an excellent teacher. I took only a few months to acquire the skills. This was also due to my earlier kungfu training with Uncle Righteousness before I met Sifu Ho Fatt Nam.

But at the time I did not realize I had the skills. I only knew from direct experience that my One-Finger Zen, tiger-claws and punches were powerful with internal force. It was much later after I had taught for many years that I realized with hindsight that I had the skills to let energy flow, to consolidate energy, and to explode force from my dan tian.

(Part 2 follows)

.... anyone keen to read part 2 (he asks knowingly)?

[Daniel]

Dear Andrew and Sifu,

Thank you for this opportunity (I think I´m late as you have already the 10 questions)....

[Andrew]

Better late than never, Daniel. Welcome to the party

Question 1:

What are the different levels of skills that derive from One Finger Shooting Zen, Taming Tiger and Thirty Punches? How long does it take Shaolin Wahnam students to reach the skills (assumed they practice as they are supposed to)? How to test the skills? And how is each one of them useful in combat and daily life?

Sifu Anton Schmick


Answer: (Continued from Part 1)

The result of having strong fingers for tiger-claws from training Taming Tiger was quite obvious. It was not so much as skills in the case of One-Finger Shooting Zen and Thirty Punches; it was more of conditioning. Anyway, I did not spend a lot of time in Taming Tiger because soon my sifu taught me “Fierce Tiger Cleanses Claws”, which was internal and more powerful.

As I benefited much from my sifu’s teaching methodology, our students in Shaolin Wahnam also need only a few months to develop the desired skills. Moreover, our students have the advantage that the underlying philosophy is explained to them – a privilege I did not have in my own student’s days. It is like having a map. Obviously one can reach his destination faster when he has a map.

An excellent way to test whether one has a skill is to experience it. To test whether you have the skill to drive a car competently is to drive a car competently. To test whether you can let energy flow along your arm and consolidate it at your finger is to do it –- using One-Finger Shooting Zen or any suitable movements. To test whether you have strong fingers for a grip, or whether you can explode force from your dan tian in a punch, is to do it.

Our Shaolin Wahnam students can understand the explanation and perform the test, and they can know whether they succeed. But for many other people, not only they cannot perform the test, they may not understand what we are talking about here. The reason is that they do not differentiate between skills and techniques.

They may, for example, perform One-Finger Shooting Zen or Thirty Punches, but they may not be able to tell whether they have the skills to let energy flow, to consolidate energy, or to explode force from their dan tian. Many of them may not even have the philosophical knowledge in the first place. If they have read about such knowledge before, they may persuade themselves to believe they have the skills or ability – sometimes in glaring contrast to obvious facts. For examples, it is a fact that those who only practice kungfu forms for demonstration will be unable to use their kungfu forms for combat, but they may persuade themselves to believe that they can.

These skills are very useful in combat and in daily life. If you can generate an energy flow and consolidate it into internal force, you can handle any opponent irrespective of age, size and gender. You can also be forceful and fast, and will not be panting for breath or become tired easily. When you have strong fingers, your grip on your opponent will be firm and decisive. When you can explode force from your dan tian, you strikes can cause much damage to your opponent.

In daily life, your skills of generating an energy flow and consolidating it into internal force will give you good health, vitality and longevity. If you are in pain or sick, you can generate an energy flow to overcome the pain or sickness. You will be able to carry on physical as well as mental activities more competently, without painting for breadths and without becoming tired easily. Your grip on physical objects will be firm, and by extension your grip on mental concepts will be sure. Your skill to explode force from your dan tian will enable you to be assertive when necessary, yet be calm and relaxed at the same time.

It is worthwhile to bear in mind that we are able to have such benefits in daily life not because of the techniques we practice in our kungfu training, but because of the skills we have developed from our practice.

< End>

[Anton S.]

Dear Sigung,

thank you very much for your insightful answer!

Andrew Sisook, thanks for posting it

With kind regards,
Anton.

[Andrew]

I find the following quote from Sifu's answer above to be key for many of our students to understand:

It is worthwhile to bear in mind that we are able to have such benefits in daily life not because of the techniques we practice in our kungfu training, but because of the skills we have developed from our practice.

[Andrew]

Here comes question (and answer ) number 2....

Question 2

Taming Tiger, Art of 30 Punches and One-Finger Shooting Zen have formidable combat benefits. Many would not believe the internal depths. Please can you tell us about any "A-ha!" moments you had when Sigung transmitted these practices to you? and also how the benefits of these practices transcend combat application?

Sifu Andy Cusick


Answer


Many martial artists may not be aware of the formidable combat benefits in these three arts –- Taming Tiger, Art of 30 Punches, and One-Finger Shooting Zen. Many people think, wrongly, that the only issue in combat is techniques.

The irony is that techniques are probably the least important factor to decide victory in combat. This does not mean that techniques are not important, but they are not as important as skills, being relaxed and calm, and fighting experience. Yang Lu Chan, the great Taijiquan master, used only a few techniques from Grasping Sparrow’s Tail in all his fights, and he was always victorious. In the Xingyiquan course at the UK Summer Camp 2013, I explained to students that one could use only one technique from Xingyiquan, pi-guan, to handle any attack!

The great contribution to combat efficiency of these arts – Taming Tiger, Art of 30 Punches, and One-Finger Shooting Zen – lies not in techniques but in skills, and in enabling practitioners to be calm and relaxed. Not many people, understandably, could understand such depths.

Of the three arts, the Art of 30 Punches and One-Finger Shooting Zen develop speed and internal force, which are two of the three basic skills in combat, the other being picture-perfect form. They also contribute much to combatants being calm and relaxed during combat.

How do the Art of 30 Punches and One-Finger Shooting Zen attain these combat benefits? They do so because of their internal training, especially in chi flow and Zen mind. Applying combat techniques in chi flow enable us to be very fast. Consolidating chi flow into internal force enable us to be very powerful, yet not tiring and not panting for breaths. Being in Zen mind enables us to be calm and relaxed.

Taming Tiger is basically an external art, though we in Shaolin Wahnam may train it internally because of our general skills and understanding. It gives us powerful grip, which enhances our combat efficiency. As the physical and the mental are closely related, though not many people may know this fact, a powerful physical grip also enahances our mental grip of any intellectual concepts.

My “aha” experiences occurred not at the time my sifu transmitted these practices to me, but later during my own training and realization.

My first “aha” experience in Taming Tiger was my realization that performing Taming Tiger with tiger-claws was more difficult than I thought than performing push-up with open palms. I could perform push-up quite well, easily performing more than a hundred times when many untrained young men had to struggle to 20. This training was a continuation of my scouting days in school, where performing push-up was part of the Tenderfoot Test, the first test of a boy scout. For a requirement of physical exercise.

So when my sifu showed me how to perform Taming Tiger, I thought it was easy. But it was not, yet my sifu, who was more than twice my age then, could perform it effortlessly.

(Part 2 follows)

[Andy]

Fascinating! Looking forward to part 2.

[Andrew]

Looking forward to part 2.

.... it is worth waiting for, Andy . But I won't make you wait tooooooo long

[Matt F.]

.... it is worth waiting for, Andy . But I won't make you wait tooooooo long

Also looking forward to part 2! And looking forward to not waiting tooooooo long!

-Matt

[Karol]

I check this thread for updates every single day. And it is getting more and more interesting... Thank You so much Sigung!

[Tim]

Just in case the importance and relevance of the following passed you by, here it is again:

Of the three arts, the Art of 30 Punches and One-Finger Shooting Zen develop speed and internal force, which are two of the three basic skills in combat, the other being picture-perfect form. They also contribute much to combatants being calm and relaxed during combat.

[Andrew]

Thanks for highlighting that, Tim. Indeed a very important passage.

[Andrew]

The waiting for part 2 of this answer is over

(Continued from Part 1)

I had two “aha” experiences with the Art of 30 Punches. The first one occurred when I was surprised I could develop so much internal force using this external method. The second “aha’ experience was when I dropped my stone-locks, which were similar to but less elegant than modern-day dumb-bells, to perform kungfu sets, I could perform a sequence of many patterns forcefully and fast in just one breadth – a basic requirement for combat efficiency, though not many people may know it.

I had many “aha” experiences with One-Finger Shooting Zen. One was my discovery that not only I had internal force at my index fingers, but may palms and punches were also forceful. Another “aha” experience was my discovery that I became fast and agile with my One-Finger Shooting Zen training. I did not know the reason then. It was much later that I discovered it was because of chi flow.

Another “aha” experience was when a Shaolin master of another school who boasted of his Iron Arm, could not last 3 hits when perform 3-Star Arm Knocking with me. But my most memorable “aha” experience was when I could break a brick, and a few after that, when earlier I could not break one with my more than 2 years of Iron Palm training.

The benefits of these arts transcend combat application. My mental grip of concepts derived from the physical grip of Taming Tiger enables me to attain peak performance in intellectual activities.

Those who follow our three golden rules of practice doggedly may wrongly think that intellectualization is bad. No , it isn’t. In many situations, intellectualization and conceptualization are not only good but necessary. When you want to plan a marketing project, for example, you need to conceptualize, then intellectualize your concepts into statements that can be easily read and understood. But during our kungfu and chi kung training, we do not intellectualize, or do not intellectualize unnecessarily.

Developing internal force and performing a sequence of patterns in one breadth can be readily transferred to benefit our daily life. Internal force enables us to perform our tasks with energy and mental clarity. Amongst many other benefits, when it is necessary internal force enables us to be assertive.

Translated into our daily life, performing a sequence of patterns in one breadth inspires us to perform a complete series of actions in one go instead of performing its parts, often with lengthy intervals between the parts. This principle has enabled me to achieve many things in daily life, and provides an answer to those who wonder how I could accomplish so many things in a relatively short time.

For example, I have uploaded many videos to Vimeo. I do not upload a video, rest for a while, then upload another video. I upload all videos of a course,, which may range from 30 to more than 100 videos in one go. In this way, not only I save time, I become more effective as I progress.

One-Finger Shooting Zen provides a lot of opportunities to enrich our daily life. In general, it generates energy flow and consolidates energy into internal force, besides enhancing mental clarity. These three most important ingredients can enable us to perform better no matter what we do.

If we wish to perform any physical or mental tasks, like running a company or presenting a proposal, mental clarity enables us to be clear in our aims and procedure, energy flow enables us to work the various processes smoothly, and consolidating energy enables us to to perform our work with zest.

These arts -- Taming Tiger, Art of 30 Punches, and One-Finger Shooting Zen – not only improve our combat efficiency but also enrich our daily life.

< End>

[Andrew]

Now on to question number 3 of this most interesting series .....

Question 3

I believe Sigung Ho was formerly a professional Muay Thai fighter. I wonder if there are any records of how many fights he had and so forth, I wonder if this paid well enough to be his livelihood though this is not the question, and would have had Muay Thai fighters as his students when he started teaching kungfu.

My question is did he learned kungfu after he fought Muay Thai, or had he already started learning kungfu before that? If the latter, did he find the kungfu assisted him in Muay Thai, and if the former, how did the transition occur, did he meet a great kungfu master and get a demonstration of his skills, or hear about this master through reputation.

And then finally the crux of the question, I wonder how long Sigung Ho had to practise kungfu before he could reach and surpass his Muay Thai level with his kungfu level, and how long it would have taken one of his students to do the same?

I am thinking, perhaps Sifu would have to speculate or guess part of the answer above, he may not have specifically ever asked Sigung Ho these questions, I would like to hear what Sifu would speculate, but if Sifu feels it better to answer other questions to which he has more concrete answers I would completely understand.

Also, and I have added this as an edit after re-reading everything, perhaps these questions do not apply so much to chi kung aspects taught in this course specifically, so again if there are more appropriate questions I would completely understand if Sifu answered those instead.

To try to make my question into a more chi kung aspect related question, I would ask the same thing except I would ask in terms of chi flow and internal force, how long did Sigung Ho take before the internal force derived from his chi kung made him a more powerful fighter than he had been as a Muay Thai fighter?

Paul (Drunken Boxer)


Answer

I have no doubt that my sifu, Sifu Ho Fatt Nam, was a professional Muay Thai fighter. But I have no records of this belief. I don’t have any evidence, not even a photograph, though my sifu liked photography as a hobby.

Probably photography was his hobby when he was young, or much younger. He was also a professional Muay Thai fighter when he was young, probably in his teens or early twenties. He did not tell him when he took photography as his hobby, or when he was a professional Muay Thai fighter. I first met my sifu when he was in his early forties.

I guess at these facts or opinions (if the events really happened, they were facts; if they did not happen but I thought they did, they were opinions) from circumstantial evidence. He told me that he had many cameras in his young days, that his cameras were sophisticated and expensive, and that he loved photography.

Like wushu artists, professional Muay Thai fighters were, and still are, in their teens or early twenties. By twenty five they would have retired due to injury. The difference between professional Muay Thai fighters and wushu artists was, and still is, that the former fought for money and usually did not like their art, whereas the latter perform for free and usually like what they did.

My sifu, even when he was beyond forty, was very good and fast at Muay Thai, far better than what I expected amateur Muay Thai practitioners were. Our students are quite proficient in countering Muay Thai attacks because I taught them so. And, of course, I learned the counters from my sifu.

My sifu also told me aspects of Muay Thai fighters’ life that amateur Muay Thai practitioners might not know, like many matches were fixed, Muay Thai fighters were ill-treated by their managers, often being slapped and kicked at, Thailand’s national Muay Thai champions were far more combat efficient than world’s international Muay Thai champions, and that fighting was more vigorous and therefore injury more serious at preliminary rounds of professional Muay Thai tournaments than at semi-finals and finals.

But the most important reason I believe my sifu was a professional Muay Thai fighter was because he told me so. My sifu never lied.

Muay Thai fighters were not well paid. But their pay was enough for them to feed themselves and their father’s families. Thailand was poor, and professional Muay Thai fighters came from the very poor. Their lives were also very harsh.

(Part 2 follows)