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

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  • #46
    Thanks Sifu, thanks Andrew Siheng.

    “Mind thinks, events materialize” is the greatest lessons I have had from my sifu, Sifu Ho Fatt Nam.
    We have just done the Xingyiquan course, and Sifu gave us many chances to ask questions, and plenty of warning to have our questions ready, yet I have only just now thought of one which seems linked to this. I have heard or read from other Xingyiquan sources, interviews with other Masters etc that Xingyiquan means mind-intention boxing, mind-body boxing, or something like that but what it actually means is that the mind can become so powerful that when it pictures or imagines events or things happening, those events can be made to materialize.

    I've been told that first of all this means in fighting, ie the Xingyiquan master imagines himself going through his opponent, imagines the opponent being felled easily and so forth, but that later on this ability can be used in everyday life, to conjure up job opportunities and so forth.

    I would have liked to ask Sifu about that on Xingyiquan and whether we have an equivalent saying and phenomenon in the Shaolin arts, but I think the answer is probably succinctly contained within this answer to Question 5.

    So thanks again.

    Comment


    • #47
      It's nice when Sifu answers question you didn't even ask isn't it, Paul?

      (Continued from Part 1)


      The breadth of this cosmic truth is very wide. It includes whatever a person thinks.

      This greatest of lessons, heart thinks events materialize, has benefited me very much. I shall mention just one example here that concerns us.

      When I first established our school, I had two noble thoughts. I wanted to preserve our arts for posterity. I wanted to share the wonderful benefits of our arts with deserving students all over the world irrespective of race, culture and religion.

      I did not make any plans or preparation to attain these two noble thoughts. Yet heart thinks events materialize. I am happy to say that even if I were to retire tomorrow, our arts have been preserved for posterity. Our school has grown on its own to become the widest spread in all kungfu and chi kung history, with over 60,000 students in more than 35 countries irrespective of race, culture and religion.

      There were a few betrayals in the history of our school. But without a single exception, each betrayal was a blessing in disguise. It set our school to greater heights.

      The recent betrayal where a chief instructor left our school also confirmed the truth of this great teaching that heart thinks events materialize. He thought, but without any confirmation, that a former instructor raped some female students. This thought led to events of him severing relationship with our school. Had he thought differently, that these accusations were not true or at least not proven, events would have materialize different.

      Similarly, other instructors and students influenced by the chief instructor thought of the accused as a rapist, and that I condoned his rapist behavior when in reality I honored the noble principle of regarding a person innocent until proven guilty. Their thinking led to events materializing, which resulted in their distancing from our school and family members which and whom by their own admission have given them great joy and benefit.

      Heart thinks events materialize is a cosmic truth. Events will materialize regardless of how small or how great your heart thinks. Some instructors and students, for example, sought my help as they suddenly found their boss or colleagues unfriendly to them. I told them to have good thoughts. Soon they reported to me that their boss or colleagues miraculously changed.

      When they start some project, some people are in the habit of thinking that they hope their project will be successful Worse, some of them think of problems and difficulties that impede their project. They should change their thinking. They should learn from the great cosmic truth of heart thinks events materialize. They have to think that their project will be successful.

      We must always use this great cosmic truth for good – for others’ good and our own good, or both.

      < End>
      Sifu Andrew Barnett
      Shaolin Wahnam Switzerland - www.shaolin-wahnam.ch

      Flowing Health GmbH www.flowing-health.ch (Facebook: www.facebook.com/sifuandrew)
      Healing Sessions with Sifu Andrew Barnett - in Switzerland and internationally
      Heilbehandlungen mit Sifu Andrew Barnett - in der Schweiz und International

      Comment


      • #48
        Thank you Sipak for your weekend's gift :-). Thank you Sigung for your answers and for being an inspiring example of "Heart thinks, events materialize". Thank you Sitaigung for passing on that precious teaching.

        I trust you all enjoy and benefit from these wonderful Questions/Answers series as much as I do.

        Happy training to all!
        Binia
        Last edited by Binia; 18 April 2015, 10:12 PM.

        Comment


        • #49
          Originally posted by Andrew View Post
          It's nice when Sifu answers question you didn't even ask isn't it, Paul?
          Yes it is Siheng. Or sometimes on a course, I will have questions in mind, but Sifu will answer them as part of his teaching automatically, then at dinner he will say "Any questions?" and I think "Well I did have loads, but they are already answered!"

          Comment


          • #50
            This thread is a treasure.

            Thank you Sifu for the profound answers and spreading the teachings to benefit us all.

            Thank you Andrew Siheng for the posts and thank you brothers and sisters for your questions.

            Time for One Finger Shooting Zen and Smiling from the Heart 😄
            “So I say to you –
            This is how to contemplate our conditioned existence in this fleeting world:”

            “Like a tiny drop of dew, or a bubble floating in a stream;
            Like a flash of lightning in a summer cloud,
            Or a flickering lamp, an illusion, a phantom, or a dream.”

            “So is all conditioned existence to be seen.”

            Thus spoke Buddha.

            Comment


            • #51
              With the course on 5th and 6th September 2015 rapidly approaching and the early registration discount expiring soon (31st July), it is now time to continue with this enthraling series of Questions and Answers.....
              Question 6

              Can Sifu please tell us more about how training in Sigung’s school was? How many students did Sigung teach and how many people trained together in a class?

When I met Sisook, Sigungs’s eldest son, recently in Penang he told us that a minimum requirement for beginners was to sit in the Horse-Riding Stance for a whole hour. Can Sifu please tell us more about the training procedure and the progression of the students during this initial phase? How does the outcome of this approach compare to our comparatively short, but powerful stance training sessions in regards to immediate and long-term effects?

We also learned about a technique that Sisook called “sleeping” which is lying between two chairs. Can Sifu tell us more about this technique?

              Sifu Leonard Lackinger



              Answer

              Recalling my days training under my sifu, Sifu Ho Fatt Nam, is both nostalgic and memorable. They were some of the happiest days of my life, and I am eternally grateful to my sifu for his kindness and teaching.

              Much of the time at my initial stage of training, I trained alone. There were no other students, and my sifu was often not present. I went to my sifu’s house, which also acted as a temple, every afternoon to train. These were sessions of training, not learning.

              Sometimes when my sifu was at home, he would watched me, nodded and then walked away. Sometimes he would say, “Very good, carry on!” Occasionally he would teach me a technique or two, and I would practice and practice it to become skilful.

              At my sifu’s house there was a big altar where many statues of Buddhas, Bodhisattvas and Taoist gods were worshipped. Students voluntarily offered a joss stick — just one joss stick — at a main incense burner. Initially, due to my ignorance and arrogance, I never did that. I remember telling myself that I went there to learn kungfu, not religion. But after an intimate conversation with Immortal Li, for whom I am also eternally grateful, I always offered a joss stick before I started training.

              Later I requested to train at my sifu’s house at night where some of my seniors also trained. There were not many of them, usually just three or four. My sifu was very selective in accepting students, though I was quite surprised that he accepted me quite readily. I was not only the youngest in kungfu age but also the weakest. My seniors literally handled me in sparring like a small boy, though later due to my dedicated training I could put up some semblance of defence.

              It may be of interest to note that before I joined my sifu’s class I could beat all other martial artists in free sparring. But then I chose my sparring partners carefully, and I did a lot of homework before I sparred. With hindsight, this was the seed of my 30-opponent programme.

              With foresight, this may inspire our family members in Shaolin Wahnam of the tremendous depth of kungfu. It was not without good reasons, and certainly not due to vanity but with much frustration, when I said that it was not difficult to beat other martial artists in free sparring — if our family members confidently used kungfu, and put in a bit of free sparring practice.

              (Part 2 follows)
              Sifu Andrew Barnett
              Shaolin Wahnam Switzerland - www.shaolin-wahnam.ch

              Flowing Health GmbH www.flowing-health.ch (Facebook: www.facebook.com/sifuandrew)
              Healing Sessions with Sifu Andrew Barnett - in Switzerland and internationally
              Heilbehandlungen mit Sifu Andrew Barnett - in der Schweiz und International

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              • #52
                The answer to question 6 is extensive. Here is part 2....
                (continued from part 1)
                All my four sifus, who were patriarchs in their arts, placed a lot of importance on the Horse-Riding Stance. Some of my seniors came to class just to practice the stance. Indeed, most of the time of training of my seniors was either force training or combat application. There was not much time spent on set practice.

                However, I did not have to spend much time on stance training with Sifu Ho Fatt Nam. This was probably because my stances were already good. My sifu asked me to show him the stances. He said they were good, and he moved on to other aspects of kungfu training. In fact he taught me Lifting the Sky before even asking me to show him the stances. After seeing my stances, he taught me One-Finger Shooting Zen. I still remember very well what he told me right at the start.

                “One-Finger Shooting Zen is very important in Shaolin training,” he said. “It developed two of the most important of the Shaolin arts, dim mak and tiger-claw. Here we teach the best right at the beginning so that you have sufficient time to practice. Practice it every day. “

                Right at the beginning of my kungfu career with Uncle Righteousness, I knew the Horse-Riding Stance was very important. “People in the past practiced only the Horse-riding Stance for at least a year or two,” I was often told, even by people who themselves did not know kungfu. But I did not know in details why was stance training so important. I only knew that the stances formed the foundation of kungfu, but did not know why.

                Later I discovered that stance training sunk our chi to our dan tian. All kungfu movements were built upon stances. It developed internal force. Much later I discovered that it also developed mental clarity.

                The Horse-Riding Stance in Sifu Ho Fatt Nam’s school was different from that in most other kungfu schools, like the one I learned from Uncle Righteousness. Sifu Ho Fatt Nam’s Horse-Riding Stance was higher and narrower, and was pyramid shaped. Uncle Righteousness’ Horse-Riding Stance was lower and wider, and was box-shaped.

                Interestingly, the Horse-Riding Stance I learned from my other two sifus, Sifu Chee Kim Thong and Sifu Choy Hoong Choy, was also high and narrow. But at that time I thought of them as a particular Horse-Riding Stance for Wuzuquan and a particular Horse-Riding Stance for Wing Choon Kungfu, and not as Horse-Riding Stance in general. I associate the Horse-Riding Stance in general with the one I learned from Uncle Righteousness, as most other kungfu schools, especially Hoong Ka, also performed the stance in this way.

                Thus, I was initially surprised why Sifu Ho Fatt Nam’s Horse-Riding Stance was quite high. But as a good student, I just followed what my sifu taught me.


                The higher and narrower Horse-Riding Stance was certainly more comfortable. It was later after I had started teaching that I discovered that the higher and narrow Horse-Riding Stance, which gave it a pyramid-shape, better facilitated cosmic energy to be accumulated at the dan tian, thus building internal force.

                (part 3 follows)
                Sifu Andrew Barnett
                Shaolin Wahnam Switzerland - www.shaolin-wahnam.ch

                Flowing Health GmbH www.flowing-health.ch (Facebook: www.facebook.com/sifuandrew)
                Healing Sessions with Sifu Andrew Barnett - in Switzerland and internationally
                Heilbehandlungen mit Sifu Andrew Barnett - in der Schweiz und International

                Comment


                • #53
                  Absolutely fascinating to hear about the variations in Horse-Riding Stance. I have seen quite a few variations in other schools and always wondered about this, ranging from the low and wide ones to ones that are almost as close to our goat stance as to our horse stance. I've had a lot of variation in my own, I have turned up to courses and had it corrected to widen and lower it from what I've been doing, and then in future courses had it correct to narrow and raise it slightly. Maybe someone should run an annual "Horse Stance Clinic"!

                  Comment


                  • #54
                    An annual Horse Riding (Stance) Clinic sounds like a good idea, Paul.

                    But first, here is part 3 of Sifu's answer....
                    (continued from part 2)
                    Students at Sifu Ho Fatt Nam’s school practiced individually, not in a group, i.e. each student practiced his kungfu on his own, though often they paired for sequence training or free sparring. They also arrived at and left the school at their own convenience, though they might leave at the same time to end the night session.

                    Students usually started their training with stances and One-Finger Shooting Zen. This was how I usually started my practice too, though my sifu did not spent time formally teaching me the stances. Next they practiced their own kungfu set, or part of it. Often they started with Four Gates, the fundamental set, or part of it. Then they got a partner to practice combat sequences or free sparring, or practiced force training on their own, like rubbing their arms against hard edges of pillars and Iron Palm.

                    Students seldom practiced a whole kungfu set, but go over again and again some sequences in the set. Hence, sequence sparring came naturally to us. Weapon training was seldom. The weapon most frequently practiced as the Ho Family Flowing Water Staff.

                    The training procedure I went through was “ku lian”, or “bitter-training”. Ku-lian i.e. enduring long hours of training before one could get a little benefit, is also the approach of most kungfu practitioners in the past as well as today, including those who practice kungfu forms for demonstration or bounce about in free exchange of blows. But my ku-lian certainly gave me more benefits than to most other practitioners.

                    In contrast, the training procedure of our students in Shaolin Wahnam is a big joke. We tell our students not to train too hard, least they over-train. We tell our students that achieving just 30% of what they achieved while learning in courses taught by me is sufficient to meet their needs. We tell our students to enjoy themselves — and we really mean it.

                    Yet, despite such enjoyment and less time in training, our students get more benefit than I got when I was a student. And by extension, as I was a very good student with a high level of attainment, our students have more benefits in less time than most other practitioners. Indeed, as some of our instructors have rightly commented, many of our students do not realise how very lucky they are.

                    Our approach is simply ridiculous in regard to both immediate and long-term effects. Students who practice stance training in my courses experienced internal force discernibly immediately after the training session. In my student’s days in Sifu Ho Fatt Nam’s school I would need about 3 months to experience similar internal force. With Uncle Righteousness who was famous for his fighting, and with Sifu Chee Kim Thong who was famous for his internal force, I did not feel any internal force after training the Horse-Riding Stance for many years!

                    Students who attended my courses would experience a chi flow on the very first day of their training. It took me more than a year training with Sifu Ho Fatt Nam for me to experience a chi flow, and it was nothing like what our typical students now experience. I did not have any chi flow training with my other sighs.

                    Internal force is the essence of good kungfu. Chi flow is the essence of any chi kung.
                    (part 4 follows)
                    Sifu Andrew Barnett
                    Shaolin Wahnam Switzerland - www.shaolin-wahnam.ch

                    Flowing Health GmbH www.flowing-health.ch (Facebook: www.facebook.com/sifuandrew)
                    Healing Sessions with Sifu Andrew Barnett - in Switzerland and internationally
                    Heilbehandlungen mit Sifu Andrew Barnett - in der Schweiz und International

                    Comment


                    • #55
                      ... and now the final part of this wonderful answer.
                      (continued from part 3)
                      The long-term effects of our students are marvellous. After training in our school for a year, internal force enables our students to attain peak performance, chi flow enables our students to overcome illness, and to have good health, vitality and longevity.

                      Until I trained with Sifu Ho Fatt Nam, I did not experience any internal force earlier although I underwent stance training delicately. Hence, I cannot say that internal force contributed to my peak performance in my earlier years.

                      When I was sick in my earlier years, which was actually seldom, I had to take medication. I did not know that chi flow could overcome illness. More importantly I did not know that chi flow could prevent illness.

                      Once when I was injured by my siheng in free sparring, my sifu, Sifu Ho Fatt Nam, who was an excellent traumatologist, applied medication on me for six months. If I had a chi flow immediately, I could have flushed out the injury in less than half an hour!

                      More significantly, chi flow gives our students good health, vitality and longevity. I have no doubt that my kungfu training, despite without chi flow in my earlier years, has contributed greatly to my good health, vitality and longevity, but I did not know the philosophy of how it worked as our students know it now. I also did not know in my student’s days how to transfer the benefits of my kungfu training to enrich my daily life, although it must have done so unknowingly, as our students now do.

                      The technique of lying between two chairs is called “tit pan kiew” in Cantonese or “tie ban jiao” in Mandarin, which means “iron-plank-bridge” in English. It is a very powerful internal force training method. My sifu taught me this method secretly. I don’t know whether he also taught other students.

                      When I accidentally placed my arm or leg on my wife, she complained that it was very heavy though I did not intentionally apply any force. This gave an idea how powerful “iron-plank-bridge” was.

                      Actually I almost forgot about this training method, though at the time when I learned from my sifu, I practiced it diligently every night. One reason is that we now have so many effective force training methods which are certainly more comfortable.

                      (End)
                      Sifu Andrew Barnett
                      Shaolin Wahnam Switzerland - www.shaolin-wahnam.ch

                      Flowing Health GmbH www.flowing-health.ch (Facebook: www.facebook.com/sifuandrew)
                      Healing Sessions with Sifu Andrew Barnett - in Switzerland and internationally
                      Heilbehandlungen mit Sifu Andrew Barnett - in der Schweiz und International

                      Comment


                      • #56
                        Thank you, Sifu, for your wonderful answers to my questions.

                        In recent times of course upgrades (7 Star + One Finger Shooting Zen; Ireland + Wudang Sword) Andrew Siheng might want to have some chairs available at the course. Maybe they come in handy...

                        Best wishes,

                        Leo
                        Sifu Leonard Lackinger

                        Shaolin Treasure House

                        Shaolin Wahnam Wien & Shaolin Treasure House

                        Comment


                        • #57
                          Originally posted by Leo Shaolin View Post
                          Andrew Siheng might want to have some chairs available at the course. Maybe they come in handy...
                          There are plenty of chairs, but participants also need other equipment, which I have to buy before the course. Considering that and the early registration and payment discount that expires next week (31st July), anyone considering taking this special course needs to act fast. It's like in our Kung Fu - fast decisions
                          Sifu Andrew Barnett
                          Shaolin Wahnam Switzerland - www.shaolin-wahnam.ch

                          Flowing Health GmbH www.flowing-health.ch (Facebook: www.facebook.com/sifuandrew)
                          Healing Sessions with Sifu Andrew Barnett - in Switzerland and internationally
                          Heilbehandlungen mit Sifu Andrew Barnett - in der Schweiz und International

                          Comment


                          • #58
                            We are lucky to be given so many great choices this year in August and September.
                            No wrong choice possible, unless of course you do not choose .

                            I am very much enjoying this Q&A and I am looking forward to experiencing these different methods and skills.

                            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


                            • #59
                              .... and now to an interesting question from Finland
                              Question 7

                              Can you share with us what Sigung Ho Fatt Nam himself practiced and how he practiced, both as a young man with Sitaigung Yang Fatt Khun and later in his life?

                              Sifu Markus Kahila


                              Answer

                              I don’t know in details what had how he practiced as a young man with my signup or later in his life, but I shall answer to the best of my ability based on what he told me.

                              My sifu practiced many types of kungfu as well Muay Thai and Silat. I am not sure whether he practiced other martial arts like Karate, Taekwondo, Boxing and Wrestling, but I don’t think so.

                              My sifu had seven teachers, but I don’t know how many were kungfu masters and how many were masters of other styles. I also don’t know whether he practiced kungfu, Muay Thai or Silat first, but I know he was a professional Muay Thai champion.

                              There was, and still is, a big difference in fighting skills between a professional and an amateur. Being a professional champion, my sifu's fighting skills in Muay Thai must be very good. He depended on fighting in a Muay Thai ring for his livelihood.

                              I don’t think my sifu’s attainment in Silat was high. He hardly talked about it.

                              My sifu told me that he wanted to learn Shaolin Kungfu from my sigung, Yang Fatt Khun, the second generation successor from the southern Shaolin Monastery at Quanzhou of South China, so as to improve his Muay Thai fighting skills. But he found Shaolin Kungfu so far superior to Muay Thai that he gave up Muay Thai and focused on Shaolin Kungfu.

                              I don’t know much of my sifu’s other teachers except the one who had mastered the Art of Lightness. To compensate for missing the chance to continue learning

                              the Art of Lightness due to his youthful ignorance, his simu, i.e. the wife of the master of the Art of Lightness, taught my sifu the Seven-Star set.

                              My sifu’s training was the traditional “ku-lian” or “bitter-training” type. When he was an apendice to the master of the Art of Lightness, he had to carry his master’s luggage and walked for miles from town to town as his master was a traveling medicine man. Every morning when he brushed his teeth, he had to sit at the Horse-Riding Stance with a basin of water on his thigh. If he dropped the basin, he would have to go some distance to fetch water for his washing.

                              My sifu told me that at that time he did not realize the essence of kungfu traioning was internal force and combat application. Like most other practitioners, he thought, wrongly, that kungfu learning was a process of learning more and more kungfu sets.

                              (part 2 follows)
                              Sifu Andrew Barnett
                              Shaolin Wahnam Switzerland - www.shaolin-wahnam.ch

                              Flowing Health GmbH www.flowing-health.ch (Facebook: www.facebook.com/sifuandrew)
                              Healing Sessions with Sifu Andrew Barnett - in Switzerland and internationally
                              Heilbehandlungen mit Sifu Andrew Barnett - in der Schweiz und International

                              Comment


                              • #60
                                Dear Sifu, dear Marcus,
                                Thank you for this question and answer! I am very happy that Sifu shares stories about Sigung.

                                Best wishes,
                                Roeland
                                www.shaolinwahnam.nl
                                www.shaolinholland.com

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