FORTY YEARS OF TAI CHI

CHUAN

FIVE WINDS TAI CHI CHUAN

IAN CAMERON

Come January 2011, it will be forty years since

I began my practice of Tai Chi Chuan. It has

been quite an adventure in one way or an-

other.

CHAPTER 1

FORTY YEARS.

FORTY YEARS.

Come January 2011, it will be forty years since I began my practice of Tai Chi Chuan. It has been quite an adventure in one way or an-other. Along side me through all the many trials and tribulations, has been my wife Moira. She has supported me all the way, given the amount of time spent training, it has not been easy. Thanks are due to her and my son Craig.

I remember when I was around sixteen picking up a book by Alan Watts called, The Spirit of Zen. Trying to read it at that time was diffi-cult because, I didn’t understand a word of it. Never the less, some-thing about it has stayed with me ever since. My interest in Eastern arts and philosophies grew from that time.

The first book on Chinese martial arts that I came across was Pa Gua by R. W. Smith, I still have that book to this day. This stuff was a puz-zle ,walking in circles doing extremely complex moves, was so far from what I had, up to that point, been exposed to. There was no way of pursuing this art at that time, or any other of the Chinese mar-tial arts. Then I picked up another book, Tai Chi by the same author and Cheng Man Ching. Cheng’s beautiful postures and his obvious ability captured me immediately. Again impossible to follow up.

Up to this time I had practiced Judo, the only martial art around at the time, boxing for a while, then Karate. I had a keen interest in mu-sic too, and this led me eventually to joining the army as a musician. I joined a regiment that was going to be stationed in HK. Right up my street. At last, the opportunity to try and learn Tai Chi Chuan. I en-quired at a sports shop if they knew where I could learn Tai Chi Chuan (Tai Kik Kune). They could have sent me to anyone, but fortu-nately they gave me Sifu Cheng Tin Hung’s details, saying “this guy’s

Section 1

1971-2011

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the best” and so off I went. His gym was situated in Argyle St in the district of Mongkok, just around the corner from the shop.

Going up in the lift to the 10th floor I was a bit apprehensive, not knowing what kind of reception to expect. Being a Sun-day there was no activity at the gym, but two gentlemen were sitting having tea.

Looking up, one said “What do you want?”

“I would like to learn Tai Chi”

“Why?”

“Eh, I have always wanted to learn this art”.

I think they were both surprised that a westerner should want to

learn Tai Chi and that made them a little wary. This con-versation went on for a while until I finally convinced them that I was genuinely interested in Tai Chi.

At the time I didn’t realize that one of the gentlemen was Cheng Tin Hung, he looked nothing like Cheng Man Ching. Slacks and a short sleeved shirt, not resembling the archetypal Tai Chi master that I had in my head. We eventually made arrangements that I would start the fol-lowing Saturday morning at 10 o’clock. That was the be-ginning of my Tai Chi life.

Training took place on the roof of Sifu’s house. Again, not the image expected from a Tai Chi master, shorts, singlet and a pair of plastic sandals. The classes were quite informal, in the sense that we never lined up to go through the form, no, everyone practiced forms indi-

vidually, then got together for partner work. Very different from the lineup in the Karate classes. I was taught what might be called an in-termediate form, although termed square, it had more flow than the teaching method used now, but harder to learn. A short example of

this form can be seen in Cheng Tin Hung’s intro to the movie Shadow Boxer.

Once through this form I then pro-gressed onto the round form , mean-while I had been introduced to pushing hands and some basic San Shou. I couldn’t get enough. My family were with me in HK and had to put up with my absence from home. When not working, I would be up at the gym. When I was working, I would squeeze in practice before going home for tea, then out to work. Moira and Craig were always included in everything that went on, such as Cheng Sam Feng’s birthday celebration and got to know many of Sifu’s students.

Just a word about Cheng Tin Hung. It would be wrong to think of him only in

a fighting context. He was extremely well read and had broad knowl-edge of the Chinese Classics and history. Although he had a broad knowledge, he never felt the need to shower you just how much he did know. This was an endearing quality. This is something we in the West could take note of.

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One of my favorite anecdotes was when he asked me “do you know who taught me all of this stuff”. When I said “no” he gave me the an-swer that I suspected was coming. “Me” he said. And, he was right, it

ultimately would be him, just as it will always come down to each individual. To become your own person. Tai Chi Chuan, as I have said often, is an exercise in self reli-ance, no-one can do it for you.

I had no thought at the time the direction or how popular Tai Chi would become. I was only inter-ested in practice and learning. Tha t ha sn ’ t f undamen ta l l y changed over the years. Anyhow, the atmosphere at the class was relaxed, but don’t get the idea that it was easy or lax in any way. Sifu was always around watching. I re-member one evening when think-ing that I had completed the train-ing, getting a tap on the shoulder and being informed that “you haven’t done the rolls” ( a stamina building exercise). So getting

changed back into soggy shorts and T-shirt I had to go and get a mat out to finish my evenings workout.

Sifu, after getting to know me, asked me if I would like to lean the Internal Strength of Tai Chi. Not knowing what it was, but realizing

that it was an integral part of Tai Chi training immediately said “yes”. This was hard work, but what a privilege to be taught and become an “behind the curtain student” with a great Sifu.

At one point during my training my weight went down to nine and a half stone, this was two stones lighter than normal. Not only was it the training, but the heat and the humidity were, for a rather pale red headed Scot, quite a challenge. I remember when training indoors, the internals were never done outside, putting newspaper under our feet to absorb the sweat that was running off us onto the floor, mak-ing it very slippery.

We did a fair bit of sparring as part of the training, this opened my eyes up to the practicalities of fighting (boxing came in handy at this point). As much as we practiced forms and applications, the opportu-nities to put them into practice, and everything changes when some-one is trying to hit. It is the whole of the training that comes into play when in this type of situation, and it is the principle that adapts. That is why it is so difficult to absorb the principle to the point that it can be used in self defense and not take too literally specific postures. One aspect of training was learning to take a punch. This required you to bend over with hands on knees and face the ground. A part-ner then proceeded to punch you in the face, not too hard but enough to know he was there. At one point I used to “ride” the punches by moving my head, only to be told by Sifu to “keep your head still”. Something else he used to get up to, was taking bets, with his mates, on how many punches, or rolls, a student could do in three minutes. I think we won a few and lost a few. He has and al-ways will be my only Tai Chi Chuan influence. I worked a lot with George Liew and Hong Kong Wo, two of Sifu’s senior students.

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George is now in California and is well known for his contributions on YouTube.

The time in HK went in very quickly but it was a period that would shape my life. Over the years my appreciation of the teaching of Sifu

Cheng Tin Hung has deepened, and I have always striven to keep as close as possible to the spirit of it. I do believe that I don’t own the Tai Chi that I was taught, I believe it is something that I have a respon-sibility to pass on. To be truthful, far too often have I seen Tai Chi pulled and pushed around to suit what some call their “interpreta-tion” when in fact it has just gotten out of shape. What is it that they think missing, that they have to “develop” something “new”? It is too easy for this to happen in Tai Chi, when the general public do not know, they can be fooled into believing anything. Or, teacher train-ing courses. Pay a lot of money and become a teacher. Bizarre. Teach-ers emerge through practice and time spent, not the amount of money spent. No amount of money can buy ability.

On arriving back from HK I spent another couple of years in England practicing on my own. Even the applications were done solo for a while, going up and down the gym which was close to where I was living. There was an “anxiety” to not forget what I had been taught, and that supplied the drive for me to practice.

On arriving back in Edinburgh, I began to teach, on Cheng Tin Hung’s advice, only a couple of close friends, this carried on for quite a long time. Eventually, word got round and a few more people began to show an interest. In time the interest grew and I began to teach on a more formal basis.

Since that time I have taught regularly in Edinburgh, and have in the past taught in Spain, Manchester, London, Leeds, Bradford and in Scotland. It was never really on the cards that I would teach Tai Chi full time. This never had any appeal. The thought of running around teaching umpteen classes a week, filled me with dread. I much pre-ferred practicing a lot and teaching a little. I worked in the Post Of-

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fice for many years, this gave me the time to train and at the same time, I didn’t have to rely on Tai Chi for a living. I could concentrate fully on Tai Chi training and not have the worry or thought about making it my job.

Practice has always been my “raison d’etre”, I firmly believe that why you do TC determines how you do it. I have never had to compro-mise my teaching to suit any kind of commercialism. Although TCC is enjoyable it is not entertainment, nor is it for me a commodity. My greatest joy is having good students that come along week after week, and to see them practice and develop. That is reward in itself.

Over the years some of my students have entered competitions. Something that has never been a priority for me. I have somehow al-ways felt dissatisfied or uncomfortable watching competitions. Forms competitions in particular as they are far too subjective. Who judges the judges? Pushing Hands too often descend into trails of strength. I remember during a seminar, there was a forum. When I said that Tai Chi should “look right” (especially if you teach) there were murmurs of “it is not about appearance”. They then proceeded to have two people demonstrate their forms and wanted the panel to say who was best. Crazy. The students that have gone in for competitions have all done really well. I have always said to them “ just do what you do in an ordinary class and you will be fine”. They may train a little harder than normal, but that is all.

It is inevitable that over the years you will meet a great many “charac-ters”. I remember Harvey Keitel in a movie saying to someone, “ just because you have character, doesn’t mean you are one”. One that springs to mind, was an Australian/ Scott. At the time I was just recov-ering from a slipped disc. Having been out for a year, I was just get-

ting back into some kind of practice, going to the park on a Sunday morning with a few friends to practice. When along comes this guy. We talked and compared notes as it were, we did a little free push-ing, he was easy to deal with. He then said “ we use this to go into other things” proceeding to go behind me and put on a Nelson hold. Softly at first as we were just looking at different aspects of our train-ing, or so I thought. Suddenly he put it on, I then swept his foot throwing him backwards with me on top. Unfortunately my elbow hit the ground, dislocating my shoulder. It was a particularly mean spirited attack as he knew my situation at the time. A few years later, in HK for a competition, a couple of acquaintances of his asked me what really happened. His version when he went back to Australia, apparently was that “he beat up Cameron”. Talk about investing in loss, a valuable but painful les-son. Never again have I taken anyone at face value.

I went back to HK and stayed with Sifu Cheng for a month. This was a bit of a turning point for me. It gave me the oppor-tunity to see that what I had been doing on my own or with a couple of

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friends was what I should be doing. To my delight I was not too far off the mark, and this gave me a great deal of confidence. Following this visit, Sifu Cheng accepted an invitation to come and teach over here. Everybody loved to see him and he was always a joy to have around. The first time he came he taught at a college in Edinburgh. He demonstrated a little of the form for us. When he finished, every-one just smiled. There was no show, just his form. He looked at us as if to say”well what did you expect”. While we were practicing what he told us, he would take a walk through the corridors. It must have been a strange sight, a Chinese, dressed in a traditional suit wander-ing around, smiling and saying “hello” to everyone.

He was accompanied by Tong Chi Kin and Dan Docherty. Kin and Dan were a very good competition fighters, and one of my younger students was asked to go a couple of rounds with Kin. Kin threw so many punches that the student said “it was if the room was filled with leather”. Kin now lives and teaches in Guatemala, South Amer-ica. Dan now teaches in London and travels widely teaching semi-nars.

In 1991 a team from Edinburgh went to HK for a competition, it was an opportunity for my students who hadn’t seen Sifu Cheng to meet him. On the way to HK our plane had engine failure and we had to land in Delhi. We spent a day and a night there. We asked if we could hire a taxi to see some of the sights. “Will it be air condi-tioned?” we asked, “of course” came the assurance. Air conditioning meant the windows would be open. Off we went, to every relation of the drivers who had a business, trying to sell us all sorts, from trinkets to works of art. When all we wanted was to buy some leather bags, we never quite managed to find any shop with leather bags. We did however, see some interesting sights driving around in our “air condi-

tioned” taxi. I literally fell out of the taxi, looking well cooked.We were put up in the rather posh Delhi Hyatt. My room overlooked a house with no roof on it. It felt somewhat wrong to be living in a luxurious hotel as a visitor, and looking at poverty just outside the window.

The competition went well and it was good to see teams from all over the world. The demonstrations by the Chinese team were par-ticularly good. In the end we came away with first and second in the

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open weight category. Arrangements had been made for us all to go up to China and visit Sifu’s house, aptly named Tai Chi Heights. On arrival we were met by greeted by an official of the town who wel-comed us as honored guests, and we were treated to the best ban-quet I have ever had. This gentleman was one of the most self con-tained men that I have ever met. You got the impression that nothing would phase him. While we were all tucking in to the wonderful food, he sat calmly just watching with a little smile, happy that we were having a good time. A very impressive man.

We spent a few days at Tai Chi Heights relaxing and enjoying the company. Tai Chi Heights is a beautiful place, with the main house, extensive gardens, a swimming pool which is supplied by a natural spring and a tower which is dedicated to Chang San Feng. On the top story there is a room with a large portrait of the founder and high on the walls there are portraits of all the teachers that trained under Cheng Tin Hung. After this visit everyone had to leave and return home having had a lovely experience. I remained for a few days and stayed with Tong Chi Kin at his apartment which was up in Shatin about an hour by bus from HK. It was quite funny,as Kin had just fit-ted a new air conditioning system. His brother was visiting too, so I had the bedroom and they slept in the sitting room. The air condition-ing was so effective that in the morning when I went through, both were shivering with the cold .His brother said “it was so cold I thought it would snow”.

In 2000 six of us visited Wudang Mountain. As a Tai Chi enthusiast it was an ambition fulfilled. We visited many of the monasteries that are dotted all over the mountain. Wudang mountain is actually in the middle of a range of seventy two peaks ,and is not just a single moun-tain. The Imperial Palace in Beijing is said to resemble Wudang, in as

much as the Heavenly Palace is at the centre of all the surrounding buildings. The only disappointment was that my Tai Chi did not im-prove one little bit. I always was under the impression that it would get better when I got my visa. The “I’ve been to China” scenario, al-ways impresses, as if that in itself actually meant anything. Sounds good though.

Tai Chi Chuan has grown immensely over these forty years, and I al-ways said that if it got to be really too big, that I would back away and concentrate purely on my regular classes. This is essentially what I have done. I felt that with greater popularity came a dilution of the art. Although things are getting better, at least one hopes so, there is still a great deal of work to be done regarding what Tai Chi really is. Is it a martial art, a philosophy, a health exercise, a meditation etc?Or, is it all of the above? I firmly believe that everything you need will be in a complete system of Tai Chi Chuan. If practiced diligently for a long time, many other aspects will become apparent , such as, not only a deeper understanding of the art, but of ourselves. That what is important, is not the ability to knock someone over, but ab-sorbing the Tai Chi principle into our everyday lives. Making our-selves one with it, then self defense simply becomes another aspect of the whole art.

It is my hope that Tai Chi Chuan will become a part of peoples lives, just “something” they do. It may take a long time for this to happen as it is still seen as somewhat “exotic”. I do think that sometimes there is far too much expectations and assumptions, attached to Tai Chi. That somehow you will be endowed with some sort of special ability if you practice this art. The “magic” of Chi will work wonders, no stress and that everything will be “cool”. Won’t happen. To get anything from Tai Chi, and it is a fair deal, you get out what you put

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in. It took me many years to feel that I had a little understanding of the art. What keeps me going is, not how much I know, or do right, but how little I do know, and how much I get wrong.

I was extremely fortunate to find what I had been looking for forty years ago. I have always been grateful for that, and that is why, keeping the art true has been an important part of my practice and teaching. We all develop in our own ways that is inevitable and right. However, we must be careful and be conscious not to damage the art, with wrong idea’s or “interpretations”. Humility is something we should keep close.

My own way is to learn from TCC and not think that I have something to teach the art. That is the reason that I have never felt the need to practice any other art. Had a look at Pa Kua and found it interesting, but again felt that all I would ever need is in TCC.It is always interesting to look at and ap-preciate other arts, but no one can practice them all, better to try and do justice to one.

I find myself looking back and thinking that what a wonder-ful time I have had. Even with the ups and downs, and a few strong disagreements along the way, there is nothing (well, a couple of things) much I would do differently. Looking at things that happen as the rough and tumble of life lets them bounce off you. Even when you disagree with others, it is just another part of this process. What I have learned over the past few years, is, what is and isn’t important. Things that appeared to have meaning, when really looked at, have in fact, very little.

I try and teach straight ahead Tai Chi Chuan, with no frills attached.

With none of the phony “mystique” around it. Saying that, Tai Chi is a mystery. Who can truly understand the vastness of the Tao? All we can do is practice/study and carry on down the path that is Tai Chi Chuan. Sifu Cheng Tin Hung had only two teachers. He never felt he

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had to do the running around that seems to be the fashion nowadays. Perhaps, because he practiced and developed what he had, was the reason he became the master that he was.

I have had only one influence, and that was Cheng Tin Hung. Many of my other influences have not been martial artists. There are those whom I greatly respect, martial artists like Hamish Adam, Karate 8th Dan, and Rick Young, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, Escrima, Kali etc, who are amongst the best in their respective arts. I find most of my inspiration comes from outside the martial field, from artists, authors, poets, mu-sicians and old Zen masters. Individuals who have stuck with a prac-tice and not tried to influence others but just got on with what they do. I find a real depth within that kind of approach that appeals to me. Keeping on the same path no matter what. That for me, is where the point of any practice lies.

Someone, recently said to me “you must have done everything you have wanted to do in Tai Chi”. For the life of me, I have no idea what this means. How can you ever do everything within an art that is al-ways evolving? How can you ever even think that you have done eve-rything.? People do say the dumbest things. As long as you are prac-ticing, it is always opening up. As I said before, you must remain humble and scratch along, as Chuangtzu said, “dragging my tail in the mud”.

I’m older now, maybe not any the wiser, but Tai Chi has led me to the point where I am happy to just be practicing and teaching. It really is as simple as that. I have never had any interest in reputation. My only interest has been Tai Chi Chuan and that standards be main-tained and that the art is passed on in the best way possible. You do what you do and leave it at that. As long as you do it to with integ-

rity, to the best of your ability and take nothing for granted. Teachers are in a position of trust and my belief is, that they are there to help students reach their potential, and have a duty to pass on TCC to the next generation.

I have been fortunate to have had students that have become friends. This is the most rewarding aspect, in a sense we grow together over the years. We don’t always agree, like any family, but we are one.

Nowadays,thanks to my son Craig and my daughter- in- law Lisa, I now have two wonderful grandchildren, Emma and Lewis who bring joy, energy, life and love, even if they do make me feel old. They add another dimension to all our lives. It is a bit of a cliche these days, but I am truly blessed to have such a family around me.

Ian Cameron

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