Like Hannibal from the A-Team .... I love it when a plan comes together.

There are times when Kung-Fu is frustrating. When you are on what I like to call "The plateau of despair". It is when for some reason you are plodding along in your training and can't really see any improvement. Normally experts say this is when you should switch your workout and try something new like different excercises. I have felt that way about my sparring and my ability to perform techniques instantaneously. As an Engineer and an avowed geek, I analyze my sparring matches. Pouring over them with detail. I keep a log of all the techniques I try.

I have a top 10 list of techniques I know I can throw automatically without thinking. My instructor recommended getting a sparring diary and doing this and I have tried to maintain it to the best of my ability. What frustrates me about my log is I can never seem to log that many successful attempts and I always end up trying to refine a move and the student I am training with is kicking my ass. I always try and usually fail to get all the moves I am working on...usually no more than 3 moves from a form per class work. I don't know how or why but for some reason during the last class, I was in the zone. Everything I threw seemed to land. I had laser like focus, I saw the openings that the people I was sparring with gave me. I pulled off every sweep I have been working on in the same round. Iron broom, Drop kicks and scissor take downs. I pulled off combinations and followed through. I completely landed a cart-wheel kick without telegraphing it. I usually telegraph my sweeps but for some reason, I didn't that day.



The junior students I was sparring with were asking me what I threw and how I landed it. I was able to explain my reactions even though I wasn't consciously thinking about it. It felt good to make progress and see the one glimpse of light at the end of the tunnel. I guess because I always have people in my school whose skills I admire. My instructor especially, he makes complex moves look easy. When he performs forms it is graceful and powerful. Sometimes it is good to see that I indeed have made progress and the hours that I put in the Kwoon have indeed been paying off.

The Scholar Warrior....the ultimate badass

In the west, we prefer our fighters to be short on words and long on ass kicking. We appreciate a guy who will dismiss the chit chat and civility and get right to the face smashing. Look at most action movies, the protagonist says one line before he starts unleashing holy hell on a lot of bad guys. Stallone, Seagal, Schwarzenegger, Eastwood and many others have all played that role.

In traditional eastern martial arts the exact opposite is true. A fighter who only fight is considered a brute. Most martial arts masters were men and women of meny talents. They wrote books, practiced medicine, wrote poetry, created art and studied philosophy. Shaolin monks and nuns didn't just learn how to fight. They studied zen buddhism, art, science and medicine. A Shaolin monastery was like an institute of higher learning and martial arts was but one part of it. Throughout history there have been many masters who were as talented in other areas as they were in martial arts. Wong fei hong, Sun LuTang, Chen Man Ching, Bruce Lee, and many other martial artists had great intellects that matched their fighting abilities. It is something I have always admired. I'll examine some of these masters in future detail and make it a series.

Nothing like pain to make you humble....

Today I spent the day in the park trying to learn a form from the drunken system. Lan Tsai He - one of the Eight Drunken Immortals and it kicked my ass. I am sore everywhere, my back , legs and muscles that I never thought useful. The drunken system is taught in our system right before disciples become masters and I am pretty far off. It was good to see how hard it was, catterpillar rolls, sinking one legged squats and many other physically challenging moves, some of which I couldn't do. It was good because I realized I have a very long way to go before I get there. It gave me a goal to strive for: When I test over it, I will perform all the moves in it. I also realized how much harder I have to train in order to get there.

Someone needs to turn this book into a movie....

Chronicles of the Tao

With some of the Chinese classics that already become turned into TV series' or movies; Journey to the West and The Three Kingdoms. I am surprised that no one has turned this book into a movie. It has got everything you would want in an epic martial arts film. Philosophy, martial arts, war, drama and intrigue. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon was based off the Iron pentalogy. This story in my opinion is just as good.

It is the tale of Kwan Sai Hung who is born at the beginning of the 20th century in china. He is born into a wealthy aristocratic family. At the age of 11 he joins a Taoist hermitage on Huashan mountain. He learns many different aspects of taoism in the monastery: Meditation, Astral Projection, Philosophy and Martial arts. While Kwan Saihung is growing up in the Monastery, China experiences a lot of upheaval. He decides to leave the monastery to fight with the nationalists in a war against Japan. He later returns to the monastery when he realizes that war only causes more death and destruction.

There are many interesting subplots throughout the book that are in classic Kung Fu movies. There is the 'Our secret kung fu manuals that would give someone unbeatable techniques were stolen and we need to get them back' subplot. There is the 'renegade student who used to be the prize pupil leaves the monastery and causes all types of havoc' subplot. There is the 'student who is disillusioned with his studies and decides to go see the world but realizes the grass isn't necessarily greener on the other side' subplot. The ' encountering supernatural phenomena while entering uncharted areas during meditation' subplot. Add in a mix of philosophy, encounters with the martial underworld (jiang hu) and some epic martial arts battles and you have a great novel.

He is forced to leave the monastery when the communists take over the country and crack down on religious organizations. He comes to america where he tries to adapt to american culture. He goes to New York, gets a job in a kitchen, learns western boxing and eventually ends up in San Francisco. He eventually ends up teaching some students of his own which is where the book ends.

There are martial arts battles sprinkled throughout the book that are awesome. Some of the epic battles are between the Grand Master of Hua Shan and a Dwarf, between Kwan Sai Hung and 'the Tigress'. There is a lot of insight into life in a taoist monastery, the history and philosophies of taoism and martial arts.

I say if it does end up as a movie, Zhang Zhiyi plays the tigress. Gordon Liu or Chao Yun Fat play the Grand Master and you get Tony Leung to play Kwan Sai Hung and Donny Chen to play butterfly. I will accept casting credit and maybe an extra or consulting role if any producers are thinking about making this. That or a date with Zhang Zhiyi, whichever works.

Politics in the Training Hall ......

When I picture the ideal martial arts school in my mind, I see a montage of images. The opening scene starts with students sitting in meditation postures looking serene. Then it cuts to them all training in unison, doing forms and kicks in unison. No talking, just training with the instructor giving an intense stare. My montage comes from all the martial arts movies I watched over the years.

A real martial arts school is a little different. Martial arts school are simply groups of people who study martial arts. As with all things that involve people, you are eventually going to come across the negative aspects of human behavior in groups. Human beings are communal creatures and so individuals will always be influenced by their group. This can be both positive and negative depending on the group that an individual belongs to. Clicks within the school, backbiting, dissension between students can quickly poison the atmosphere in a school. All it takes is a click of a few students to give off this negative energy and they begin to attract like minded negative people until slowly but surely the attitudes of a majority of students are negative.

It can be something as simple as not liking they way your instructor teaches certain things. Or not liking a fellow student. Whatever it is, if left unchecked it can undermine an instructor's ability to teach effectively. Usually the students who cause this kind of problem never stay in their prospective art very long. Eventually, their own ego gets the better of them and they leave but not before trying to take a few students with them.

The point that we have to remember as students is that we chose to study martial arts. No one is forcing us to study and practice. It is always about choice. You can choose to study a different art, or not study at all. At some time you have to divorce the martial art from the students who study it. Students will come and go, but the art is a living catalogue of techniques created by individuals over many generations. The art will continue in some form long after we all are dead and buried. We as students are part of this legacy, we continuously contribute by practicing and in some cases teaching it to new students so that it continues to thrive.

Focusing on the art and why you study it will always help you when you feel like your negative feelings overwhelm your positive ones when belonging to a particular school. I am not saying to ignore those feelings altogether. Examine them and really see if the way you feel is due to internal school politics or because the reasons you began studying the art no longer apply. If the atmosphere in a school is so intolerable to the point you feel it makes you want to quit then maybe finding a different school may be your best option. Usually though all the discord can be traced back to a few individuals and by helping them adjust their attitude will definitely improve the overall attitude in the school.