Living Bagua - Deep Water Magazinedeepwatermagazine.weebly.com/.../deepwater_promo_winter2013.pdf · martial artist in White Crane Gongfu. Shifu Ron teaches White Crane Gongfu, Tai

Martial Arts Masters In Their Own Words

Winter 2013

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Be White CraneBecoming Your Art

Viewing The Mind Chinese Medicine and Martial Arts

Tea As A WayA Training Journal

Cultivating Yin In The Martial Arts

Living BaguaAn Interview With Shifu Dave Meikle

Now you don’t have to go to China to train full time.

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• Authentic Chinese Lineage• Real Combat Style• Deep Martial Theory• Chinese Weapons• Sticking Hands• Qigong and Neigong

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Table of ContentsVolume 1 Issue 4

In This IssueOur Contributors

Cold MountainEditorialWrapping Up The Year

Letters To The EditorScattered LightningViewing The MindChinese Medicine And Martial Arts

Spilled WineCultivating YinYin & Yang In The Martial Arts

Cloud Hidden...Active Vs. Latent SkillSeeking Principles

Animal InstinctsI Am White CraneBecoming Your Art

The Woodcut SchoolThe Danger Of PredictabilityThe Insidious Influence

Lost In TranslationTea As A WayA Training Journal

Heavy HandsWing ChunA pictorial look at a different technique every month

LegendsMasters that MatterChen Fa Ke (1887 - 1957)

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8

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10

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46

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Living BaguaInterview With Shifu Meikle

drunkenboxing.redjademartialarts.com

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4 Winter 2013

IN THIS ISSUE: OUR CONTRIBUTORS

Professor Kevin WallbridgeKevin has been training since 1985. While living and training in China, Kevin studied a

great deal of Chinese martial arts including - but not limited to -Northern Shaolin, Zhaquan, Taijiquan (Yang and Chen styles), Xingyiquan (Henan and Hebei styles), Baguazhang (Liang, Cheng, Fu, Yin Fu, and Ba Xian styles); Classical Chinese weaponry including straight sword, spear, single edged swords; Qigong including hard and soft martial styles, Daoist meditation and internal alchemy, medical Qigong and Emei sword Qigong. He is a co-founder of the prestigious Academy of Classical Oriental Sciences school of Chinese medicine. Kevin is a medical anthropologist who is also trained as an acupuncturist and Chinese herbalist.

Page 10

Sifu David MeikleCheng Style Bagua Shifu Dave Meikle (chinese name 米德卫）began his martial arts

career at the age of 12 in freestyle wrestling, where by age 15 he was Provincially ranked in his weight class. Over the years, Shifu Dave has studied Shaolin Gong Fu (aka kung fu), Xing Yi Quan, Taiji Quan, Qin Na, Bagua Zhang and Qi Gong. Shifu Dave was a top student of the famed Grandmaster, Dr. Yuan Shaoliang, previous Head of the Beijing Hospital of Chinese Medicine where he learned Shaolin, Taiji, Qin Na and Qi Gong. Later, Shifu Dave was personally introduced to Bagua Master, Mr. Yang Guotai, where he became a formal disciple of Bagua Zhang and the first student of Master Yang’s in Canada to be given formal permission to teach Cheng Style Bagua Zhang.

Page 20

Sifu Neil RipskiSifu Ripski has been training in Chinese Martial Arts since the mid 1980s and has attained

the rank of Sifu (instructor/teacher) in Ba ying quan (Eight Shadows Fist) Kung Fu, Ba ying jiu quan (Drunken Boxing), Wing Chun, Lohan and Taijiquan. Sifu Neil Ripski resides in Creston and has instructors currently teaching around the world, in Tel Aviv Israel, Aberdeen Scotland and Taipei Taiwan ROC. Sifu Ripski has judged and competed successfully in the Tiger Balm International Tournament and now focuses his attention on his students and their journeys through the world of Chinese martial arts. Sifu Ripski is a lineage holder in the Piercing Cloud Style.

Page 14


Jason DeatherageJason Deatherage has studied the major Asian religions and philosophies for over 30 years

in both academic and practical contexts. His experiences as a paramedic, professional musician, parent and life-long martial artist have given him the opportunity to live many of these philosophies deeply and richly in various ways from the mundane to the very edge of life and death. Jason has studied martial arts for almost 30 years beginning with Karate and Tae Kwon Do as a child. As a young adult, Jason studied Aikido and the Japanese sword later encountering the complexities of Kung Fu through the Ba Ying Quan system in which Jason holds a black sash under Sifu Neil Ripski. Concurrently with his ongoing Kung Fu studies, Jason returned to the study of Aikido, Kenjutsu and Iaido with Sensei Daniel Kempling. He is also a student in MataSaBagyo Serrada Escrima under Sig Nubla and NNG Balintawak under Sig Nubla and GM Nene Gaabucayan. Jason is a lineage holder in the Piercing Cloud Style.

Page 36

Shifu Ron Goninan Shifu Ron began his martial arts training at the age of 10 and is now Australia’s leading

martial artist in White Crane Gongfu. Shifu Ron teaches White Crane Gongfu, Tai Chi Dao, Chinese Gongfu Weapons, Qinna and the rare art of Dian Xue Dao (Chinese Pressure Point Hands). He has taught Police, Army & Correctional Services Individuals in aspects of personalised Life-Protection Skills based upon his 22 years within Front-Line Security.

Page 38

Photo by Kevin Wallbridge

Matthew Preston Matthew began his martial arts path with Karate as a kid, later getting into the Chinese

side of things with Gong Fu in his early 20’s. Now with nearly 20 years of martial arts under his belt, he’s had training and training partners in in all different flavors of martial stylings: kempo, taiji, qi gong, traditional muay thai, taekwondo, hapkido, wing chun, mantis, family style traditional gong fu, bagua zhang, xingyi quan, and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. He has lived in Korea, Thailand, and Taiwan, and travelled and trained all around Southeast and East Asia. For almost a decade, Matthew has been living in Taipei, Taiwan, where he trains ma jia quan, yizong bagua zhang, hebei xingyi quan, and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.

Page 46

6 Winter 2013

Welcome!Message From The Editor

Welcome to the winter issue of Deep Water Magazine. As this issue hits

the streets, Deep Water completes its first year of publication! It’s been a long and exciting path to this point; from the early ideas of Deep Water as a forum for sharing a higher level of martial arts discourse, to the start of one of the world’s most interesting martial arts magazines, to the successful Deep Water Convention, and so much more. We’ve been amazed at how universally positive the response has been to what we’re trying to accomplish here. We’ve brought together martial artists of Quality from all over the world and broken down barriers of style, geography, culture and language in our tireless quest for deeper inquiry into the principles of

We must thank Professor Kevin Wallbridge who, besides providing insightful articles and inspiration to Deep Water Magazine, is also responsible for many of the beautiful photographs that adorn our pages. Thank you Kevin!

Thanks to Shifu Neil Ripski, who provides much of the martial inspiration that drives this magazine. His love of the martial arts and his drive to teach, share, and learn have allowed Deep Water to coalesce into the truly great endeavor that is.

And, of course, thanks to all of our writers, past, present, and future! Without your unique insights and experiences, Deep Water would be a pale shadow of what it is. It is the breadth of knowledge and experience of our writers that makes Deep Water a true treasure trove of martial arts writing.

Finally, we must thank you, our readers! Without you, what’s the point of all of this? We hope that each issue brings you something that gives new perspectives to your training and study in the martial arts, whether you are a complete beginner or an accomplished Master.

Even as we celebrate our first year, we are already hard at work on the next issues of the magazine. Many more exciting features, notable masters, and insightful articles are coming soon! Thanks for swimming in the Deep Water with us!

Jason DeatherageEditor, Deep Water Magazine

COLD MOUNTAIN

“ It has been a true pleasure to be able to connect with so many great martial artists...”

the martial arts. It has been a true pleasure to be able to connect with so many great martial artists, and the floodgates are only beginning to open. It seems that this spirit of openness and friendship is contagious, and martial artists the world over are seeing the true benefits of looking around to see what else is going on.

All of this wouldn’t be possible without the tireless efforts of our Publisher, Warren Bruns. His publishing savvy allows us to have such a beautiful magazine, and his many hours of hard work are a critical ingredient in what makes Deep Water the successful endeavor it is. He also makes the annual Deep Water Convention possible with his organizational wizardry and unceasing effort. Thank you so much Warren!



8 Winter 2013

We welcome your letters to the editor, comments and article submissions. Feel free to email us at [email protected]. Any letters or articles we publish may be edited for clarity and space at the discretion of the Deep Water Magazine staff.

Old VS. NewEditor,

I had to write when I saw there was a forum to ask questions of the authors in

the magazine. I wanted to hear your opinion on the debate of whether something older or more traditional is better than something newer. I feel that both sides of the debate have validity: older is time tested but newer has evolved from others’ teachings. I feel that the newer the material the more sense it makes that it has become something more than its predecessors which is evidenced over and over by the poor showing traditional martial artists give in the octagon. What say you? I see that most, if not all the martial arts presented thus far in Deep Water are of traditional (older) origins.... MM8 Dear MM8, Thank you for your letter. As with most of these sorts of debates, we can find ourselves asking the wrong questions and thus find ourselves dissatisfied with the answers we find. When we ask which of two things is ‘better’, we assume that they are somehow separate. We also base this search for ‘better’ on a huge morass of other invisible assumptions that can mislead us in the search for truly useful information. To use your example of the octagon, if we had a 10 year old trained for 5

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

years in MMA and a 25 year old trained for 5 years in a ‘traditional’ art, who do you think would win in the ‘octagon’? So now to really search for answers, we must take into account the attributes of each practitioner. This adds complexity to the question of ‘better’. No art is absolutely better; their merit depends entirely upon who is practicing it. MMA training is aimed specifically at the rule set and conditions that are mandatory in the octagon. Traditional arts don’t follow these rules and are thus at an automatic disadvantage. MMA is excellent at producing tough, aggressive, strong sport fighters and there is naturally some carry-over to ‘the street’ in such a fighter, especially against similar or untrained fighters. However, the octagon doesn’t require a massive depth of training to be successful. We must remember that MMA is a multi-million dollar entertainment business that happens to have spawned a semi-distinct style of fighting. Conversely, traditional arts, while derived from killing arts, are not often practiced with combative purposes in mind, and are instead practiced as ‘arts’ for purposes other than pure combat. Those that retain their martial origins often hide their techniques for strategic reasons and are not the sort to engage in public contests for money. Traditional arts have the benefit of sometimes centuries of refinement and study. This depth of study and practice allows an art to pass a great deal of information to a practitioner. And don’t forget, even MMA is drawn from old arts: muay thai, jujitsu, and others are ‘traditional’ arts.


The real answer here is that no art is ‘better’ than any other except for how it accords with your expectations and interests. All arts have crappy practitioners and good ones; it is the person that should be examined rather than the art. For specific circumstances certain arts can have advantages: MMA is ‘best’ in the octagon, but wouldn’t likely be ‘best’ for a traditional sword duel.

Any Instructors?Deep Water Magazine, I wanted to write and ask about training with some of the authors in the magazine, do any of them have courses I could attend? Do you have contact information? Aspiring student Dear Aspiring Student, Thanks for your inquiry. Most of our authors, just by the very fact of their presence in this magazine, are likely open to sharing and teaching with our readers. Many of them teach seminars and regular classes and we will gladly forward any questions or requests to them that you may have. The annual Deep Water Convention is an excellent event to attend, as many of our regular contributors have workshops and demonstrations there. There is such a wonderful depth and breadth of martial expertise in the Deep Water family, and you, as a reader, are part of that family

Copyright © 2013 Deep Water Martial Arts Ltd. • Design & Layout by Bruns Illustration ~ www.bruns.ca

The Deep Water Magazine is produced quarterly. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited. Any advertisements or graphics designed in-house are property of Deep Water Martial Arts Ltd. and may not be used in any other medium without permission. Views expressed in the magazine do not necessarily reflect those of Deep Water Martial Arts Ltd.

Illustration by Lorna Foot

You know what I hate about Deepwater?

I hate that it is such an anomaly. Kids laughing their way through a sparring competition instead of being egged on with abusive language by coaches or parents displaying pathological aggression in pursuit of winning at all costs. A child and a teenager battling their own thighs in an epic 3 minute horse stance event instead of trying to dominate one another. The high comedy and epic laughter that marked the multiple opponent weapon sparring; which included an on-the-fly rules change so that complete novices could play too (Shuriken... you could throw rubber shuriken for a half point if it hit! Genius). Can you imagine that happening at a bureaucratic tight-anus sausage-fest more concerned with liability that laughter?

Here is to hoping that Deepwater’s vibe becomes more common in the world of the strong defeating the weak, and the quick beating the slow.

- The Cranky Taoist

THE CRANKY TAOIST

10 Winter 2013

SCATTERED LIGHTNING



The Mind In Chinese Medicine And Martial ArtsProfessor Kevin Wallbridge

A common model of the mind in Chinese culture and medicine is the 五志 wŭzhì or 5 “wills.” This is derived from the section of the 黄帝内经 Yellow Emperor’s Inner Classic (Neijing) that looks at the storage qualities of the solid organs. Each of the solid organs “stores” an aspect of the mind: heart-神 shen/spirit, spleen-yi/意 mind, lung-po/魄 yin “soul,” kidney-zhi/志 will, liver-hun/魂 yang “soul.” This works nicely on many levels. Seeing the heart as the integration of thoughts feeling and being,the kidneys as the will to strive and survive/adrenal responses, and so on.

One of the things that causes problems is the inclusion of the 魂魄 hun-po, which are pre-Heaven substrates, on this list. One of the key metaphysical assumptions of Chinese medicine is that we are defined by a dynamic interaction of primordial substrate and acquired psycho-biological traits (nature and nurture to use other terms). This list mixes and matches both these systems. I would argue there are much clearer ways of understanding the mind within the Neijing, but that this one fits the 5-phase/Wuxing model of nice clean five-point associations and so has been gravitated towards for centuries. If we consider the celestial organization of the Wuxing (earth at the center of cross-roads as opposed to cyclical circle and pentagram), this model works a little better. Then we can see an axis of spirit-mind-will, which places the emotions down in the will, the reasoning in the spleen and the spiritual things like enlightenment or wisdom in the heart. In this way the pre-Heaven aspects sit to either side.

The association of the liver and the 魂 Hun is a pretty good one. It goes like this: the blood is where the spirit is stored by the heart, blood pools in the liver in sleep, the Hun influences

the spirit through dreams in sleep, hence the Hun is stored by the liver. If that is all the Hun did then it would be fine, but there is much more to it. When we look at the lung storing the 魄 Po, the wheels really start to come off the bus and the Wuxing associations start to look profoundly arbitrary and strained. The Po underlies our physical substrate; nowadays we could consider genetics as part of this. As well, it plays a key role in our ability to have senses and sense experience. Not much to do with the lungs in Chinese medicine.

One of the key issues is that the Po has almost nothing to do with the mind other than providing the ability to have senses. Discussing

it as part of the mind is like worrying about where you park as part of fight tactics in a martial arts competition. Sure you are going to need somewhere to put your car, but is it really directly involved in the problem? If there is a parking lot, it’s taken care of. Yes, senses are necessary for thought, but only if one is taken away is it worth mentioning.

Hun and Po are much better seen in the Yin-Yang of pre-Heaven and post-Heaven development; where Po is the Yin of pre-Heaven and Hun is the Yang of pre-Heaven. In this way 精 Jing is seen as the Yin of post-Heaven and 神 Shen is seen as the Yang of post-Heaven. So in terms of pre/post-Heaven Hun is Yin to Shen’s Yang (because Hun is the Yang of the Yin and Shen is Yang of the Yang) In this way Po is the Yin to Jing’s Yang (because Po is the Yin of the Yin and Jing is the Yin of the Yang). Because each one is a Yin-Yang relationship between each one is a particular Qi, follow?

“The association of the liver and the 魂 Hun is a pretty good one. “

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A complete version of all articles are available inthe full version. Thank you!

Continue to the next article...

14 Winter 2013

The male aspect of Martial Arts is generally overplayed as great

masculine heroes go about their movie plots saving everyone and defeating the bad guys. However, if we are to truly study the arts then we must look to the Taoist principal of yin/yang as an underlying part of everything we study. Without the feminine we can have no masculine aspect. Now because this is Deep Water and skimming the surface of any subject is frowned upon we should take a look at the yin/yang theory found in the Taiji diagram before looking at the feminine side of the Martial practices.

The Taiji diagram (太極) referred to generally in the West (mistakenly) as the Yin and Yang diagram is familiar to us all and its concept of polar opposites defining one another is also something most martial artists have studied or start to take for granted as ‘obvious’. However,

if we first look at the definition of what the individual characters Tai 太 and Ji 極 mean, we can start to delve into their meaning more deeply. Tai 太 can be defined as 1) highest; grandest, or 2) more or most senior. The second character Ji 極 is translated as meaning 1) the utmost point; extremity, 2) pole (as in polar), 3) utmost, 4) extreme of the highest degree. So in essence the meaning of 太極 is different than what is generally assumed in the west, instead it becomes the Great Moment or point of transformation from yin to yang or vice versa. So the study of Taiji (the martial art or the philosophical concept) becomes the great study of these points of transformation in the aspects and relationships of all things. This transformation is continuous and simultaneous and can and does take place even within a single thing’s various aspects. There can be no yin without yang as they define and transform into one another. Just as there is no masculine

Shifu Neil Ripski

SPILLED WINE

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without feminine in a single person. The key to this study is the understanding of balance between the two being the most sought after way of becoming a whole person (or martial artist). So if we look at the cultural context of Martial Arts evolving in China (as is the case for most Asian arts) then the integration of the yin/yang theory is a foundational principle and must be understood to achieve balance in our practice.

Once we really start to try and understand how proper definition of yin/yang in our practice becomes important then we can start to seek out a balance between the two. There are few martial arts students that have not had a Master tell them to relax, even when they thought they were already in a relaxed and ready state. This is due to the common misunderstandings of what martial ability stems from. Most martial artists in the modern day look at harder, faster, stronger bodies as the only way to achieve martial ability, and yet older, weaker, softer practitioners are the ones to be the most feared. The elder teachers are the ones demonstrating an understanding or balance of masculine and feminine, soft and hard in the body and movement and become the highest practitioners of their chosen arts. The lack of balance is easily seen in today’s martial arts students as they bring more and more tightness, stiffness and rigidity to their bodies in an effort to become ‘better’, throwing themselves farther from yin/yang balance than they were than when they began training! Of course fitness, strength and so on are important parts of the martial artist’s path, but when these things are sought after at the expense of softness and relaxation into the tissue then balance is easily lost. This is most obvious today in the bigger, bulkier students of the martial arts confusing strength with power; real power comes from good training, correct thinking and is water-like and unstoppable, not hard, brittle and easily broken.

If you look into the poetry of Martial Arts you will find all kinds of feminine imagery from small birds flying through the branches

of the forest to the wind blowing leaves on the forest floor. Soft, subtle, gentle, feminine imagery; in fact one generally finds this type of poetry more often through study of the names of movements than overly masculine names and images. These poetic phrases contain many aspects of the arts being passed down from ancient times, and encoded in them, among other things, is the topic of yin/yang balance. If you are to dive down like a swallow skimming the still water of a pond should your shoulders be rigid? Your abdomen clenched? Your biceps bulging? Of course not. Look at some of the most reputedly violent styles in the world, things like the Shamanic Xinyiliuhe, Xingyiquan or Erhuquan (Hungry Tiger Boxing); their poetry leans heavily on the side of the feminine. Swallow skims the water, Leopard Climbs the Branch, Empty the Basket of Flowers, Beauty looks in a Mirror, Butterfly bores the Bush. No mention of

ripping and tearing, breaking or killing, though each of these movements are meant for such things. Their secret is in their adaptability and softness, their yin aspects. Anyone can think themselves into being too hard and rigid and thinking strength is the answer to any situation, but subtlety and intelligence always wins out in the end. Look at all the high school Jocks that are now working for the Nerds they beat up in School

To understand the usefulness of femininity we still have to look deeper into the idea of yin/yang reversal. The highest levels of martial arts are defined by softness and an attitude of harmonization with the opponent. In my training I have had the great privilege to train under many great teachers and all of them,

“There can be no yin without yang as they define and transform into one another.”




20 Winter 2013

Living Bagua: With Shifu David MeikleInterview by Shifu Neil Ripski

Q: Shifu Dave, would you please provide us with some background about your training, and specifically your training with Yang Guo Tai (lineage).

Sure, Neil. I started with wrestling back in Junior High when I was 12 years old and a dripping wet 90 pounds. By the time I finished High School, I was around 165 pounds and provincially ranked. After High School I took a year off from anything and it was during that time that I essentially had my ass handed to me at a party late one night – that fight separated my retina which left me blind for 2 days (and took about 6 months before I could properly read with that eye) However it was less than 2 weeks after the incident that I found myself in karate classes close to my home for the next 6 months. I was training karate 3 nights a week and aikido for 2 nights a week at the same location - yes, I was single, haha. But I didn’t want [a fight like the one that injured my eye] to happen again and if it did I wanted to have a better chance of success. So after 6 months of training 5 nights a week like it was the only thing that mattered, I met up with

FLOW LIKE DEEP WATER


a guy that trained kungfu for many years. We got together to spar one day and I was pretty amazed how my ‘left-right-left’ methods of karate (albeit beginner’s stuff) was of little use to the one hand he was using against me to both defend and attack. Basically I dropped karate and jumped into kungfu, and I never looked back.

From that point I was training 4 hours a day, 6 days a week for the next 2 years until my shifu and I had a bit of a fallout. I bounced around with a few styles of kungfu, running away from schools that displayed many trophies for their forms or their kickboxing - at one point I found a terrific school of hung gar that practiced very traditional methods of excruciating stances and conditioning, followed up with fighting practices that were NOT simply kickboxing - their methods of application were expressed through a solid understanding of their form (not that I am a huge fan of forms - let me get that on the table right away). Finally I found a man from Beijing that taught out of his basement. I was learning shaolin gong fu from him for a couple of years and despite the fact it was extremely principle oriented, I still felt there was something missing. After training shaolin with him for 2 years we began Yang style taiji which I took a liking to and eventually would practice the Yang 108 form for about 10 repetitions daily - it would take just over 3 hours and I’d be drenched in sweat, but I was loving it, and having very profound experiences from it. Eventually I felt it was time for me to move on, I still hadn’t found something that really clicked with what I was looking for in my martial arts training - I think having trained wrestling for so many years as my first ‘style’ had too much of an impact on me and I simply couldn’t get away from wanting to grab my opponent and make balloon animals out of him rather than simply duking things out.

Finally back in the mid 90s I found myself working as a part time security guard at the fair - I noticed an elderly Chinese woman working at a booth and I came up to say hello

to her and speak some of my rudimentary Chinese I had picked up over the years. “Oh, you speak chinese! Where did you learn that?” she asked. I explained that I practiced Chinese martial arts and that I was a Shaolin instructor. “You should come to the park that I practice qi gong at every morning, there is a bagua master there teaching many people qi gong” she said, to which my initial inner thought was “yea, everybody that gets off the plane and buys a yellow pages ad is a kungfu master these days” but when she continued on saying “he is 73 and

“...he is 73 and been practicing only bagua since he was a child...”

22 Winter 2013

been practicing only bagua since he was a child” I thought “Oh... he’s one of THOSE masters!” (meaning before the revolution in China). So I went to the park the following week to see what he was about. I arrived at the park early one morning in East Vancouver and there he was - a rather unassuming looking Chinese man with a bit of a round tummy, a missing thumb, a rubber mallet tucked into 1 side of his belt and a polished bull’s horn tucked into the other side. It was bit intimidating to see him like that, to say the least.

He looked at me and said in very broken English “uhh...you...Deiwei?” (are you David).

“yes” I answered. “uhh...you..before...learn bagua?” “yes”“mm. me look..” and he motioned for me to

show me one of my bagua forms. I promptly began to display the bagua that I had been practicing - he watched me finish the first palm change (out of 8) then turned his back on me to talk to other old Chinese men in the park that were learning qi gong from him.

this man was the definition of sheer power. I had only seen one other kungfu teacher move like that in the past and he had flat out refused to teach me that stuff because I wasn’t Chinese.

Just as quickly as he started he came to a stop, measuring my level of recognition of what I had just witnessed.

“You... uhh... you wan learn dis wan?” (do you want to learn this one?)

“yes!”“ok... walk” And that was essentially what I did for the

next few years - walk. Hours upon hours per day. I would arrive at the park at 4:30am and begin walking for an hour before he arrived. He couldn’t speak much English so he would place my hands on his stomach and lower back to show me how he was connecting inside, talking about various Jin (I usually translate that as ‘connective force’) and how everything harmonizes so the complete body works together. Often we would ask Chinese people walking by to translate words for him, or he’d draw images in the dirt. He would do crazy

“I felt I learned more in my first 3 weeks with him than I had in the last 6 years.”Finally I finished my 8 palms and stood there patiently waiting for him to turn back to me - finally after quite a few minutes one of the old guys prodded him and reminded him I was standing there.

He turned to me and asked “oh!..uhh...da wan...bagua?” (that one bagua?)

“yes” I answered sheepishly.“noooo..... da wan no bagua...dis....dis

bagua...” (that one no bagua, this bagua) and he proceeded to display his bagua to me (at age 73) and I watched in amazement his display of sheer power, watching him move was like witnessing thunder rolling in front of me. One moment he moved with the power of a bear, the next the ferocity of a lion. The one thing that stood out the whole way through was that

things, often hitting me so hard I had to fight not to lose my bowels from it. When he saw how amazed I was by what he showed he’d look surprised and ask “What..? You can’t do that? No problem. Every day, practice this one” and he’d teach me another conditioning exercise to develop what he had just displayed.

He wasn’t big on forms - we would practice tons of bagua specific conditioning exercises and soft/hard qi gong, the single palm change and the twin palms change, and for the most part lots of circle walking. He would little by little add more principles to how to walk, how to connect, and the whole time I thought to myself “this is the stuff that books allude to but no one seems to know” - I felt I learned more in my first 3 weeks with him than I had




36 Winter 2013

Active Vs. Latent Skill Jason Deatherage

It is always said that if one doesn’t practice, one’s skills get rusty. The subconscious

assumption is that if enough time were allowed to pass, one might lose all of their skill. While this is inevitable, as we all will age and die, there are different types of skill that can be kept for longer or shorter periods of time. These types of skill will be referred to as ‘active’ and ‘latent’ skill for the purposes of this article.

Active skills are those ‘sharp’ skills that constant practice keeps honed and ready. They are the finer movements, the carefully choreographed vocabulary of our art, and the clean, clear techniques that are mistakenly used to define various martial arts. These are the skills that require us to be the fittest and most in shape. Our level of fitness itself is an active skill. If we don’t constantly maintain these types of skills, they get rusty and fade. If your art has forms or kata, usually they

CLOUD HIDDEN...must be practiced to be remembered. Time begins to erase the complex techniques and choreography. Our bodies, if not constantly exposed to the feelings that an art gives rise to, can start to forget them, and our art begins to suffer. Active skill is built relatively quickly, but requires effort to maintain, and fades quickly if that effort is not present. Active skill depends on the operation of the intellectual mind to function well. A flustered or distracted martial artist will seem to lose much of his finer skill.

Latent skills are those that build more slowly but aren’t so dependent on constant practice. What remains of your art in times of extreme stress and panic are your latent skills. We’ve all seen students of traditional arts who look great on the mats, but in a more stressful situation such as full speed sparring or even a real fight, they lose all of their fancy moves and techniques, looking instead like generic kickboxers (which is ok if they study kickboxing). They were showing the level of their latent skill, which hasn’t yet begun to include the martial art they practice. Besides the forms and techniques of one’s art, latent skills might be one’s posture, body structure, themes of body movement, or even the way they think about their art. These things are often built alongside the more obvious skills in a martial art, and perhaps even without the knowledge of the student. Once these things are built, they don’t fade nearly as fast, even if one ceases practice altogether. Latent skill is what the body itself has learned, and operates even when the mind is distracted. Latent skill is also built by long training. Some of the types of skills that were once active skills can become latent skills by the process of ‘driving them into your bones’ through diligent training. It is this mode of learning that is most common in the traditional martial arts, and it is assumed by most that this is the only way to build latent skill.

Each art is different, but most seem to rely on constantly practiced active skills, and hope that ‘one day’ those skills become internalized





38 Winter 2013

ANIMAL INSTINCTS

Don’t Do White Crane, Become White Crane.”Ron Goninan


I was once asked by a student why the way I did White Crane Boxing was entirely

different to the way it was taught and the way he had learned it.

My reply was simple and direct: “You are doing White Crane, I am not”. He look at me with a puzzled look, you could see him trying to make some form of sense about my statement.

He said he did not get it. What did I mean? I replied that he should look at all the others students and instructors of our White Crane and learn from them when he could then to come back to me and tell me if he understood what I meant.

Upon his return he said that many of the others seemed like it was a great effort when they moved and I looked as if I was taking in the local scenery and not trying very hard if at all when taking the students through the forms and other aspects.

I asked him “Why is this?”. He said he did not know.

I put him out of his misery and finally answered his original question: “You see I am not doing White Crane Boxing. I am not striving for the art. I am not doing an exhibition for the gratification of others or my own ego. Simply put, I am White Crane Boxing!”

I explained that if one simply continues to ‘do’ White Crane Boxing then they will only ever grasp the most base levels of the art. They will become proficient but never really embody the art itself. They will not understand the fighting nor energetic aspects of the art. The expression of the essence 精, energy 氣, and spirit 神 of the White Crane Boxing art.

Forced action is not “natural action” and what is more natural than the White Crane within nature? When does one see a magnificent White Crane move in a static manner?

The movements of Zhenlan Gongfu are beautiful, graceful soft, smooth and natural. They look elegant and they continuously change from one to another. The movements can be big or small, high or low and fast or slow. It depends on what is natural for individuals. The body is held straight and upright movements are even, circular, light, quick, soft and lively. The Zhenlan Gongfu practitioner should move like a river flowing smoothly or a cloud drifting lightly.

I explained to the student that “Zhenlan White Crane Gongfu is circular, and therein lies much of its grace and energy. The circles generate energy. Trying to punch into those circles and your arm feels as though it has been caught in a powerful cyclone of energy. It has unrelenting and non-retracting hand techniques. At the same time Zhenlan has an economy of motion that makes it’s applications unique, neat, discreet and lethal - perfect for dispatching would be attackers”

I told the student that in order to embody this natural action that he “should strive to understand Qiujin 球勁 a physical sensitivity and sensorial mind awareness sometimes known as a full and circular form of Qi 渾圓一氣which and is natural, penetrative and rapid and can be manifested at any time. Qiujin is most distinguished by being without the need to retract body or limbs. Its full and penetrating force is freely and fully transmitted through simple arm and leg movements. Connecting one’s bodily movements with the internal thus acquiring the ability to act through intuitive “feeling”.

Through the learning process, (which is to recognize and realize, not to accumulate or imitate) the he should begin to understand how “mental and physical” affect each other and starts to develop the skill to unify and coordinate them. You train through the process of understanding your muscular movement, body structure (skeletal, ligaments and tendons, incorporating Qi (energy) and your mental process. Relaxation is an essential




42 Winter 2013

The Danger of PredictabilityArrow Mountain Tengu

It has been already been written in previous discourses that one must have some form of danger present in one’s training in order to have a chance at true learning and improvement with the sword. Without the conditions that give rise to true fear, we cannot hope to properly accord our Minds to fear and learn its true role in our use of the sword. Fear must be lightly grasped in our mind and allowed to combine with all of the other aspects of our training to create spontaneous expression with the sword, both in the realm of the actual clash of blades, and also in one’s larger strategies and approaches to conflict itself. But danger in our practice is not enough, because it is usually limited to direct physical use of the sword, and can easily be neutered by the insidious influence of predictability.

Predictability is a deeply human pursuit. Nearly all of our activities seek to increase the predictability of our surroundings. We eat at certain times of day, live and work on flat floors, navigate, keep time, record history, speak languages, reproduce, ad infinitum. Each of these activities understandably

THE WOODCUT SCHOOL

attempts to ensure the continuation of past or present events into the future but, while many are unavoidably necessary, they are in fact resistances to Change itself. We carry on thinking that we know what is going to happen based on guesses drawn from our memories of past events, and if we are perceptive and diligent we can often make very accurate predictions. However, in many cases we are not acting on the basis of the actual reality in front of us; rather we are acting based on suppositions and inferences. We begin to operate on wishful thinking rather than actual circumstance. While this type of prediction allows for powerful organizations of human effort, it does not truly prepare one for the reality and inseparability of life and death. Sadly, predictability is most often used as a way to pretend that we are not in fact impermanent, that we have control over the future, that we are somehow separate from everything else. In the realm of the sword as in a full life, this type of self-delusion is dangerous and counterproductive.

When training the sword, one must take seriously the spirit of the discipline they study. They must realize that they study the art of killing people who will do all they can to kill in turn. As any serious student knows, this






Chinese Swordsmanship

Living, combat effective sword instruction is vanishingly rare in these days of YouTube Masters and rule-bound tournaments. Most Chinese straight sword instruction is now derived from Taiji forms or recently created ‘traditional styles’ that are more anthropological than combatively expedient. Their forms are traditional and very beautiful, but their fighting looks like formless hack and slash, devoid of the techniques they work so hard to cultivate.

For the first time, the Piercing Cloud Method is available to motivated students of the Chinese Straight Sword in the form of an ongoing full-time program, running in up to 3 month blocks throughout the year.Don’t miss this opportunity to intensively train in a truly complete sword system that has deep relevance to other sword traditions and provides the student with a firm basis from which to learn the use of any weapon.

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Piercing Cloud Spear training is also available to select students who meet the necessary requirements.Accommodations are available on a first- come-first-served basis.

Piercing Cloud

“When pierced, we are untouchable like clouds; when clouded, we pierce to the center without hesitation.”

46 Winter 2013

Tea As A Way Matthew Preston

As the weather in Taiwan is highly variable, tea quality may differ from season to season. Although the island is not particularly large, it is geographically varied, with high, steep mountains rising abruptly from low-lying coastal plains. (Source: Wikipedia)

Tea. There is so much more to it. (Source: Me).

The first time I ever tried Oolong Tea was years ago when I ended up in a

health foods supermarket in suburban Canada and was offered a sample. I believe I was told the name meant “health tea” by the well-meaning attendant. While packaged and sold as teabags, I remember it having a distinctly different flavor than any other teas I’d tried before. What began in the aisles of a grocery store I now trace back as the moment that started a tea lifestyle.

Chinese populations are everywhere, and along with their ubiquitous presence comes the preservation of their cultural artifacts in various forms: martial arts, clothing, food, music, script and tea. My first exposure to high quality Chinese teas was through a Korean Buddhist friend I’d met in Seoul who worked at a tea shop. Pre-GPS, I still managed to make my way to the correct address despite the best attempts of the sprawling metropolis to thwart me. The moment I entered the shop, the aromas of various teas were

LOST IN TRANSLATIONunmistakable. Also, there was an abundance of wood fixtures all around. Wooden tables, wooden chairs, carvings of various colors and sizes around, and of course wooden tea trays and implements. Wood vibrates in a different way. Wood is good.

My friend’s job was to learn about the various teas in stock, preparation methods and history, and to pour samples for the customers. As a ‘customer’, I was treated to some tremendous hospitality, and was poured some amazing teas to broaden my cha (tea) horizons. As a friend, I was treated to the inside knowledge and deeper understanding of this new environment. I’m thankful for people who have patience for those of us who are rank amateurs. That was the first time I’d ever drunk tea that priced on par with gold. I hadn’t realized what an expensive hobby/habit it could be. I hadn’t realized it was more than a simple drink. I hadn’t realized that it was only a simple drink, too. I hadn’t realized how integral it was to culture, and how much it paralleled the martial arts we’re all in love with. That having been said, it’s like anything: you can take it as far or study it as deep as you want to. There are multiple layers, levels of knowledge and understanding, and skills to be developed. There’s a lot to learn from tea, and it’s worth the time to invest in such a lifestyle.

Tea is more than a drink and more than an art, it is integrated in the culture and the mind. (Wikipedia)

STEEPING TEA: A TRAINING JOURNALThe night before, rains drummed hard on

the tin roofs of the city, the cadence of the thundering white noise gradually lulling me off to sleep. Getting up early is the easy part; it’s the waking up part that’s the challenge. That transition from slumber to consciousness became more tangible with three deep breaths and the elongation of every joint right down to the toes, mimicking my neighbor’s cat. There are always 1000 reasons not to train, yet it’s the few key reasons we keep polished in our minds that outweigh these excuses and keep us

“Tea is more than a drink and more than an art, it is integrated in the culture and the mind.” (Wikipedia)




詠春拳Here we see a demonstration of Qin Na 擒拿 (Sieze and Control Methods) doe from the style of Wing Chun. (1.) Warren (On the left) intercepts a punch with a right Tan Sau 攤手 (dispersing hand) block followed by a (2.) Lap Sau 拉手 (pulling hand) to pull the attack closer. At this stage Warren executes an elbow attack to the opponents (Jason) arm and follows up with a (3.) back hand strike to distract him following the Chinese saying “Hit to grab, Grab to hit.” (4.) Pulling Jasons elbow into his chest he begis the qin na method of (5.) “Break the Gooses Neck” folding his wrist palm down and pulling explosively towards his chest. This would dislocate the wrist and cause a neurological event for the opponent, giving another heartbeat to continue the attack. Warren then follows up with a (6.) Man Sau 問手(seeking hand) reaching towards the throat which leads to a (7.) straight line punch to Jasons head.

Qin Na is a method of siezing control of an opponents body and therefore his mind, it consists of different methods and dozens of techniques and when used opportunistically is a great part of a fighters arsenal.

*Please practice responsibly with all due care and attention and with appropriate training partners.

HEAVY HANDS

Wing Chun Kuen

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50 Summer 2013

• Ba Ying Quan (Eight Shadows Fist Style)• Online Distance Drunken Boxing Course• Drunken Boxing Full Time Programs• International Workshop Tours• Tai Ji Quan (Tai Chi Chuan) • Qigong (Chi Kung)• Meditation Creston, BC Canada

www.redjademartialarts.com

Photos by Neil Ripski

Chen Fa KeChen Fa Ke (1887-1957) was born and

raised in the Chen Village, birthplace of Taijiquan (Tai Chi Chuan). He was the 17th generation lineage holder (standard bearer or ultimate authority) of Chen Taiji and fought many challenges privately and in public Lei Tai matches throughout his life, never losing. After moving to Beijing in 1928 he took disciples and public students and brought Taiji to the public at large.

At a Yang Style Taiji event in Beijing during this time (Chen style was almost unheard of) Chen Fake demonstrated at the event, performing the second set of the style known as Pao Chui (Cannon Fist) breaking every floor tile he stepped on in the demonstration. Chen Fake was the most respected Taiji Master of the last 100 years, if not all time, and everyone who trains Chen Style Taiji looks to trace their lineage to him through one of his closest disciples.

LEGENDS - Masters That Matter

Living, combat-effective Chinese Swordsmanship

Email: [email protected]: @PiercingCloud

Documents

Living Bagua - Deep Water Magazinedeepwatermagazine.weebly.com/.../deepwater_promo_winter2013.pdf · martial artist in White Crane Gongfu. Shifu Ron teaches White Crane Gongfu, Tai