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The Martial Cocoon Expeditions on Wudang Mountain
CHAPTER ONE- PERPUTUAL MOTION
There are no guarantees in life and even fewer things come with a warrantee. I found that out early in my life while working like an indentured slave; earning just enough money to come back to the old factory on Monday and repeat the viscous-laborious cycle all over again. On an average weekend night my life would change forever, and the tides of fate decided to bring treasures to my seashore.
My grandfather had just passed away and before I could properly absorb the whole ordeal—I had received a phone call that I was to inherit 150,000 dollars. Consequently I would tell AMES Hardware Company that they could kiss my royal backside, as I slipped my last measly paycheck for 350 dollars into the back pocket of my Timberland blue-jeans. I recall the electric like air of excitement and anticipation of a most needed change of settings in my life. I would no longer be a rat on a running wheel—circling only due to the survivalist instinct.
Which direction should I take, I sat thinking to myself. Most people in my situation would remain capitalistically correct-- keeping their job, buying a new car, stereo system, and possibly a new humble abode. My inquiries and imagination were spinning out of control, and the only acceptable outcome for my future was to get the hell out of the U. S. of A. as soon as humanly possible.
I was never much of a clutter bug so consolidating my belongings left me with two suite-cases and a computer bag. I sold my satellite dish, receiver and TV to the old Indian man living across the hall to my two bed room flat.
I decided to fly into Beijing China and take the train to Hebei while finding some temporary accommodations. Then I would hope to find bus transportation and head to the infamous Wudang Mountains. This would be my first step on a long excursion to help me clear my head and to shake off the old’ work blues.
What I would come to find out on those mountain ranges very few readers might believe. I promise full disclosure, but for now, back to the story. I informed my family and what few good friends I had, after the funeral proceedings; that I would be traveling to the far- east. I booked my flight and spend the last night at my mother’s house eating split pea soup with pita bread and hummus.
Since the age of 15 I had become infatuated with working out and martial arts. As a kid I followed the likes of Bruce Lee, Chuck Norris etc. from an early age, and would soon develop a deep interest in the internal Chinese martial arts. Nei Gong, Taiji, Bagua etc. There was a book by Robert W. Smith called, CHINESE BOXING that propelled me to investigate the internal arts and work out as much as possible.
I sat on a 747 to Beijing thinking about the details of my travel itinerary. “Sir! would you like the chicken or beef dinner” chirped a cute flight attendant. My flight arrived late in the night, so I took a taxi cab from the Airport to Wangjing and stayed at a Hostel called, Jade.
Then next morning after breakfast I decided to spend a few days in Beijing and frequent a few parks that I knew some noteworthy masters & virtuosos would be working out at. My Taiji really seemed to be coming along according to Master Wang, Vice President of the Chen Tai Chi association, after besting a few masters at Ritan Lu Park.
I would make the full circuit and visited almost every major park within Beijing. This not being the central focus of my trip, I was pulled into the centrifugal force of meeting so many nice masters and learning new exercises and techniques from them; so I decided to pack my bags after one week and head for the train station—my destination Zheng Zhou, Hebei.
I nestled myself into a nice little affordable hostel in Zheng Zhou; it wasn’t that I was short on cash to be so reserved—seeing the recent 150,000 dollar deposit in my savings account, but I didn’t like prancing around superfluously like some deranged aristocrat.
Mean while I was drinking grandiose amounts of exotic flavored tea. I don’t know if the stuff was artificially flavored or grew like that naturally but the habit of drinking tea had become overtly addictive. As I sat in a cozy little tea house, I began to think precautiously of the moves I would have to make if I was to begin to position myself around some real Doaist Monks.
As such, my inquiries began to bring me into the circles of many quasi-miracle workers and medicine men. My goal was to gain access to rare internal martial arts and longevity techniques. I was already aware of Mo Pai, Chi circulation, Kundalini yoga arts, fasting to rid the body of the 3 intestinal worms, refraining from grains, exotic herbs, holistic methodologies etc.
I was looking for a real life guru in Nei Gong that knew how to manipulate chi and create electrical discharges. I could live with out the fantasy land chi development programs that the many zany Beijing Taiji practitioners were preoccupied with.
Most were sufficient enough to employ exercises in their routines to see some form of ‘internal grounding’ but none so far had displayed abilities such as the ones shown by John Cheng, the famed Mo Pai practitioner from the Thunder Sect of Doaism. Such abilities might be beyond the scope of my common reality, but I knew that anything could be possible out in the no man lands of Wudang.
The next morning I sat inside a small restaurant watching the locals ride by on their bicycles and motor bikes. I had to down size from two suitcases to a single back pack before leaving Beijing, and left my stuff in a lock up safe room at the Jade hostel. The local men moved about minding their business in an almost zen-like unconsciousness. As I would find out, the best restaurants in China were Muslim ones.
I walked past a few non-Muslim Chinese girls and was given the usual verbal greeting “Massage” “Sexy-Sexy.” “Oh, no thanks” I would say to them, “I’m feeling just fine” I would say, at which I would receive a half smile and strong rebuttal to go through with the invitation at a discount price. (“with a more beautiful girl?” one added.)
It seemed in China that this was the apex of their decadence, since most common Chinese seemed, warm, welcoming, and drug free. I made my way through an ancient corridor unto a street littered with paper lamps and gift shops. I opted to buy a few gifts for a possible bribe or two while roaming the Wudang Mountain Range.
I decided to buy a few gifts for any Sifu’s that I might need to persuade on Mount Wudang. I picked up a few packets of exotic incense and the most expensive aged ginseng root in the store—it wound up costing me almost 2000 Yuen.
As I walked down a small ally back unto the main street that led to my hotel I noticed a large group of people in a near by park area practicing what looked like Yang Style Taiji. I entered the park and confirmed my suspicions—they were practicing the Yang 108 Long Form of Yang Chengfu.
A small group of some of the better players gathered around in a circle for push hands (Tai tui) practice with their master who was easily to identify as such due to his flowing robes and black Daoist Priest hat.
I nudged my way past a few fellows and into the inner circle, and as soon as a student player stepped away, the master waved for another to step in. I didn’t hesitate to step to the center and offer my arm.
The master looked a little shocked and caught off guard by my forgivable intrusion. I faked a push with light tension and waited for the master’s natural response. He immediately fell into my trap as he lunged into me full force, anxious to impress his students – I stepped back using roll back, turned my axis “rooted”, and almost knocked him over horizontally, diagonally uprooting him.
I received a few oohs and ahh’s from the peanut gallery, and they seemed ecstatic that a Gui-Lo such as me could step in and do what most of them might deem as impossible.
The master wouldn’t fall for the same trick twice and with in 30 seconds he was pulling and pushing me around the park convincingly. I still felt proud that I held my ground and never really lost control or complete balance of myself at any point during the push hands expedition. After a few laughs and an exchange of a few pointers, I headed back to the hotel full of enthusiasm and optimism.
The next day I rode the train from Zhengzhou to Wuhan (wuchang) and had plenty of time to let my imagination run free, as the train ride was some tiring 11 hour trip. I dropped asleep in the closest hotel available, and woke up early to catch the 8:05 am train to Wudang Town, that arrived at around 1 pm. I took the first taxi to Tian Lu, the nicest hotel on the mountain that is within walking distance from Purple Cloud Temple.
I visited the Purple Cloud nunnery, The Golden Palace, The Monkey Sanctuary, and Tai zi Po (the prince temple) in my first week, taking in all the scenery. Most of the monks I ran into spoke almost perfect broken English, so I was able to gauge my next move based on their opinions and ideas of the surrounding areas.
The monks were dressed in mostly all white garments and rectangular pointy hats. The elders seemed to don black robes with white interior dresses and leggings. While monk eying around The Monkey Sanctuary, I bumped into an exquisite man named Wang Pi, who would meet me every morning to teach me the Wudang Taiji Long form. The moves where familiar with me due to my working knowledge in Yang and Wu style Taiji, but the Wudang version paid more attention to exotic hand movements & formations.
Wang had lived in Wudang Shan all his life and knew these stomping grounds like the back of his hand. As it had turned out, his Master Ho-You wasn’t interested to taking on any new Western Cadets. He commented that they didn’t hang around long enough to learn anything of real use. Master You lived close to Tai Zi Po, The Prince Temple, and decided to meet us for a late night shin dig. His flowing Taiji was an exceptional display of full body mastery.
He lectured Wang Pi and I for a good hour or so on how Taiji and Qigong build the foundation and power. His explanation was that one must master “raising” and “sinking” in order to have any kind of operational striking power. His Xingyi and Baguazhang style strikes exhibited an excellent display of mind dazzling power punches and piercing palms.
His body seemed to wind up, or almost spiral from inside out—as one shake of his body seemed to generate sufficient thrust power to knock over an opponent or paralyze them with a lighting strike. We are talking about a man in his mid 60’s demonstrating movements with the dexterity of a 15 year old ballerina. Wang seemed to be taking it all in, while at the same time going over his own version of the 5 connecting fists in Xingyi Quan.
Finally Master Ho-You extended his warm greetings and told me that if I ever needed a private lesson to just say the word and Wang could arrange it for me. I told him that I was interested in studying the inner workings of Nei-Gong and Qigong, and that I would be most humbled if he could spend 1 hour a day with me dissecting Baguazhang and all its various applications.
Master You seemed to hesitate, but finally gave in after I presented him with the Incense and Ginseng I had stuffed in my backpack. I felt a little cheap to offer gifts in exchange for priceless knowledge, but he seemed to be gratified by my offer and sincerity in the arts.
On the way back to The Monkey Sanctuary, Wang told me not to get too caught up in the mumbo jumbo Qigong. I asked him what he was talking about and he said that only hard work and practice could accommodate high level skill. He said that the foreigners were always looking for secret techniques and meditations.
The Chinese played into this big time, since it was an easy set up for making lots of sideways cash. One old monk showed up one day around a bunch of tourists and claimed to be 100, when he was actually about 60. After performing a fluid 8 Palms Bagua Set, he proceeded to sit on a rock and light up a cigarette.
The foreigners were stunned by this and asked him how he was able to smoke and maintain such great health. He told them of a secret Qigong technique that could protect the organs from damage. A few hundred dollars later he was twirling his hands and arms around in mind boggling positions—promising them that this was indeed the technique that produced such rare results. I guess it could be hard to separate the Quacks and Quasi’s from the legitimate; but where does one draw the line between reality and fantasy?
Wang explained to me that the foundation of power is build through slow muscle stretching movements, and to become fast, one must first learn to be slow. This was the cornerstone of Daoist teachings and philosophies. This is something most novices didn’t understand, and while they were punching stiff hard and rushing through their techniques, their Masters were practicing static, non-moving, positions through out the night, breathing in Qi, early in the morning when the dew was most prominent.
The next day I moved out from my Hotel lodgings to move in with Wang. I told him I would give him 700 RMB a month if he threw in a couple of meals a day, to go along with my modest sleeping quarters. This way I could have a more in-depth look at this former Wudang Monks lifestyle.
Although Wang was only 44, he had Mastered almost every Wudang form and technique taught on the Mountain. We trained together for weeks and my understanding of Taiji, Xingyi, and Baguazhang seemed to reach its summit. I was digging for something deeper, when Wang aroused my interest one day after lunch while drinking a cup of plain green tea.
He told me of a recluse monk that used to be the best in Wudang named Zhang Hsiang. Zhang disappeared for many years and hadn’t been spotted until a few months back when Wang was hiking on a outback trail and noticed a small hut that had been erected, with smoke billowing out of a make shift chimney. Zhang evidently changed his name to Ma Hsiang according to Wang. I begged him for days to take me to see the old monk, but Wang refused.
We trudged through our lessons and the mechanical sets seemed to be chaining down my free spirit. Once in a while I would break into a free style Bagua session and do what felt fun and explorative.
The days were moving slower than molasses in January and I was determined to convince Wang that we needed to visit the old monk. I kept pushing Wang to make me privy to some inside workings or secret teachings, and he claimed that all this kind of stuff was fantasy and merely illusion.
He himself questioned whether or not immortality was really a possible feat. He told me that he used to believe it could happen, but after seeing 100’s of people pass away before even reaching 90, he seriously doubted whether or not it was actually obtainable.
He told me many old stories and said that all the secrets he was ever led into seemed to be common sense. Such things as getting plenty of sleep and sunlight, reducing food intake, fasting, and exercising were common sense, and hardly something someone could consider as secretive.
The old elixirs of immortality he mentioned had actually killed many monks, making any sensible person question the authenticity of the alchemy being performed. The new wave of monks since the early 1900’s was more focused on physical cultivation and fasting.
Wang was no priest and I felt his inner explorations came from yearning to sit every morning next to a spring and commit to one hour of meditation. What he would meditate on—I have no idea, but it seemed his glance was fixed on a tree whose opulence was not to be easily overlooked. I would also sit and take heed to his advice of clearing my mind and gaining focus.
He taught me to hold me my consciousness/mind within myself and to feel deep inside my body from head to feet. Then he would tell me to project my mind outward toward an object and focus on it using Wu Wei, or no-mind.
He said the correct way to breath was mentioned in the Yellow Court Cannon and it was dubbed as Primordial Breathing, or the Embryonic Breathing Technique. The Tao Te Ching of Lao Tzu states that, "the epitome of virtue is to acquire immortality.” Whether this refers to spiritual or physical immortality is open to free interpretation.
The body's breathing function has always been regarded, in the most ancient esoteric teachings, as the very handle to be used to get hold of, or obtain the control of, one's mind and body.
“The breathing of the true man comes (even) from his heels, while men generally breathe (only) from their throats- Chuang Tzu.
It seems that deep slow breathing from the stomach through the nose and mouth is the most natural form of breathing. Wang told me to steer clear of strange breathing techniques and altered states of being. He told me of a few monks that had lost their minds trying to obtain Kundalini Qi or Fiery Qi.
“Qi exists in the human body without form, color or substance. The ancient Chinese likened it to fire, and early Chinese pictographic characters depicted it as "sun" and "fire." Within Daoist literature qi was seen as a form of vital heat akin to sunlight, without which life could not exist.
Today, the most widely used character for qi depicts steam rising from cooking rice." - Davidine Sim and David Gaffney.
His explanation was that this technique was mastered and past on by Daoist devoted to the Thunder Sect. According to him, many of the priests are involved with dark demons and so called entities from another dimension in our space time.
Master Ho-You had told him that the mastery of Yin and Yang in the body would enable a practitioner to generate intense heat and electric charges stemming from the Dan Tien or Lower Naval region of the body. The mind would direct this energy through the body’s nervous system and could release it from any point of the body, but was more efficiently released from the hands.
I think as kids at elementary school we all used to rub our feet on the carpet and then walk around releasing electric shocks to unprepared class mates. From the research I have seen of late from books like The Body Electric; electric treatments seems to stimulate the healing and regenerating process in the body.
Breathing, Semen retention, exercising to nourish Yin and Yang, and Righteous living he said were the 4 pillars to reaching this art. Anyone that practices internal martial arts after a period of time starts to feel the heat generated in the hands during a work out. Those depleted in Qi from over sexual exertion could develop cold hands and cause stagnation to their Qi flow. Proper diet coupled with exercise and proper breathing can help reestablish Qi after sexual depletion. “As you go on breathing in this frame of mind, with these associations,
alternating between movement and stillness, it is important that the focus of your mind does not shift. Let the
true breath come and go, a subtle continuum on the brink of existence. Tune the breathing until you get breath
without breathing; become one with it, and then the spirit can be solidified and the elixir can be made." "Viruses and microbes live best in low
oxygen environments. They are anaerobic. That means raise the oxygen environment around them and they die." "Breathing is the first place, not the last; one
should look when fatigue, disease, or other evidence of disordered energy presents itself." "Fear is excitement without the
breath."
Wang looked over at me and this usually meant our meditation session has come to a close. To my satisfaction, it was time for lunch and Wang shocked me by asking me if I would like to go visit Ma Hsiang at nightfall. We sat in his small wooden chamber nestled in the trees eating vegetable soup and hot bread rolls. Wang told me that Ma had spoke of a new Qi that he had called Light-Qi. This Qi he only found in the submitted state, but told me that he would let Ma tell me about it from his own mouth. Before the night covered the sky in a blanket of darkness Ho-yue stopped by to remind us to come to the Tai Zi Po Temple. I had been intentionally avoiding their daily services and prayers due to the fact that bowing down to idols seemed ungodly and blasphemous to me. Praying to ancestors, invoking spirits etc. was something that I felt inertly convicted not to partake in. Maybe it was the Jewish blood in me, but I felt some of these priests were breaking at least two of the Ten Commandments, and if I have a doubt about something I have to follow my gut feeling and intuition. I still respect their beliefs and right to practice them, so I felt it was better I remained silent, and not to make much of a fuss over my uneasiness around idols and spirit mediums. I wasn’t aware that the gathering was a funeral service and things fell out between Master Ho-You and I after casually walked out of the proceedings. They say that each man has to follow his Dao (way), so I was only exercising that right of free will, just as they were by staying. A little after nightfall Wang and I set out on a trek to locate the old monk’s hermitage. It took us a good 2 hours of hiking before Wang located the a small path along side a stream nestled deep along side a thick green wooded area. Finally we reached a small opening within the small trail that revealed a small make shift house built out of wood and stones. Wang knocked at the wooden hinged door and motioned me to move in closer. My heart was racing like a young horse at the thought of some horrific ghoulish looking man opening the door—but instead a smiling six foot looking elderly man with a shinny forehead and long beard offered us a few king words and a jovial disposition. He immediately invited us in as Wang broke into a long winded rendition about how we walked for ours from The Prince Temple to visit him, and to excuse our unexpected intrusion. The old man smirked looking up at me and extending his hand saying, “Hello my name- Ma Yi” Evidently he was no longer going by Ma Hsiang. I first thought the correct interpretation of his name was “intended horse,” but later found out that Ma was Chinese for Muhammad, the Last Prophet of God. Maybe I should have guessed it by his flowing white robes and white cap, but I have seen Daoist monks wearing similar attire, but with black rectangular caps. The inside of his house was impressive to say the least—seeing that we were in a stone hut alongside Wudang Mountain. The walls inside were draped with white sheets. No signs of pictures, a sanctuary, or anything of the sort—just a large oriental style rug in the middle of the floor with a big black circle in the middle. I wasn’t the eight trigram circle you usually see being walked around in baguazhang practice, but this one was the same size—only it was solid black with no lettering or extravagant designs. Monk Ma-Yi insisted that we stay the night and have dinner with him. Wang was probing the old monk with razor sharp questions, as he would occasionally look over at me and translate what had been said verbatim. It turned out that Ma-Yi was 85 years old at the time of our visit. He told us a story of how he used to study the I-Ching intensively and follow the Daoist Priest-hood rites to the letter; until one day he came across a wondering monk that was a Muslim Medicine Man. The Muslim Monk’s Gong-fu had far excelled Ma’s at the time Ma was 67, and the Muslim Monk was an astonishing 125 years old. After a few days of seeing each other by a near by stream, the two established a friendship, as Ma would help him collect herbs and roots from a spot that was plentiful in botanicals and vast foliage. Ma dreadfully wanted to learn a certain kind of BaguaZhang the old Muslim-Monk knew called White Dragon Palm. The Muslim Monk handed him a few manuals that were translations of Islamic texts and told Ma he would teach him Dragon Palm, if he would promise to read from them from “The time the cock crows, till the sun rises.” The Muslim-M. taught him a three tiered system of Dragon Palm that consisted of Nei Gong, form practice and tree striking. A vital piece of information that the M-M gave Ma was a hand written recipe of an ancient anti- aging elixir. Ma claims that after his final lesson the M-M disappeared behind a row of trees—never to be seen or heard from again. Ma said he dressed in all dark green and carried all his belongings with him in a dark brown leather bag. Wang handed me the recipe that was hand written in Chinese, and asked Ma if he minded us making a copy of it. Wang replied that we could have his copy since he had committed the ingredients to long term memory. Wang and I sat on a straw mat and thumbed through my Chinese- English dictionary until we had translated all twelve items. Most of items Wang had no clue about, but due to my background in alternative medicines, I was easily able to make out the contents. The recipe came with a foot note that the ingredients should be ground up and mixed together with goat milk—taken 1 time a day after any meal.
THE DYNAMIC CHI RECIPE
1. 2 crushed wolfberries 2. Chlorophyll oil, cooked green leaves 3. 1 leaf Aloe Vera 4. 5 crushed cannabis seeds 5. 2 leaf Gingko Biloba 6. pinch of sea salt 7. thumb size Ginger Root 8. 2 leaf Echinacea 9. 20 seeds Nigella Sativa ( Black Seed ) 10. mouth full of Pure Honey 11. 2 Dates 12.thumb size Ginseng root
Ma excused himself after his third cup of tea and retired to a small cot behind a black curtain in the back corner of his house. He lay there for a few minutes before asking Wang if he would like to have a look at his Dragon Palm Baguazhang in the morning. “I would love to, I would be most honored,” replied Wang.
Wang had dollar signs in his eyes, as I handed him the original scroll and tucked the English translation into my backpack. Wang and I smiled at our recent good fortunes and speculated on how good the old mans bagua might be in the morning. It was to be better than the best. We woke up to Ma reciting scripture of what sounded like broken Arabic, a few minutes before sunrise, as he prostrated his head unto a red floor mat.
CHAPTER TWO – CIRCULAR ILLUMINATION
I had many questions for Ma and I couldn’t wait to crack the chestnut, so to speak. His Bagua was graceful and full of intent. You could really see the potential for power strikes in his movements. White Dragon Baguazhang was really different from other classical forms that I was used to seeing, like: Jiang Roa, Cheng style, Yin Style etc.
The White Dragon Bagua starts off twisting and turning before the first palm change. The second palm change is a mirror image of the first reversed. The third is complete with piercing palms to twisting Dragon Chops Leg, to a double reverse strike; spiraling rapidly close wise from the hand momentum, and central torque from his waist.
The fourth change uses a step back reverse strike ( rapidly both arms shoot back and up, as if carrying to tea pots at head level, arms fully extended.) Ma was whirling through the set at a slow meditated pace, using ferocious strikes and movements at key points in the routine.
His hands turning, blocking and piercing as again both hands dart out at chest level with a double palm strike. Again he circled in the San Ti position executing exacting chopping strikes.
The 5th palm change he reversed stepping backwards with a single reverse back kick and two swinging arms swinging behind the body for momentum and repelling any would be attacker. Again the arms swing forward and up into a double piercing palm position and front kick.
Now ones arms swings downward as the body drops with one arm raised high into the snake creeps upward position or single whip style position in Taiji. Both arms swing around like holding a barrel, as he twists with the momentum and ends up in a single palm Dragon strike. Back into the set San Ti position he again walked around the circle for the 6th Palm change which starts off with double chopping strikes, mid gate block to midsection, again double strikes, a twisting whirlwind like palm that sent Ma into a cyclone like Tasmanian devil spinning around twice.
The 7th Palm change is the double arch with the two piercing palms facing outward walking the circle with the two arms looking like as though an open jaw. Ma changing directions swings his arms around and contorts his body bending back, and then spinning like a top with astounding centrifugal force landing with his feet far apart in a horse stance position. Two shaolin like strikes proceed, with leg grabs, from both sides as he moves for a step back reverse strike, again walking the circle until finishing the set.
He told me the 8th palm was a hidden Palm, but was actually just a figure 8 striking technique that he excluded from the set, and practiced as more of a drill. Ma’s push-hands was even more impressive. He was knocking me off balance continuously as we played and was encouraging me by saying the last guy that tested him in this had lost his footing and took a spill headfirst into a tree firmly planted next our practice area.
After our workout I huddled next to Wang who was sitting on a boulder of a rock. I told him I needed his help to see if Ma would accept me as his student for a few months. Wang used his charismatic flare, and Ma-Yi accepted on the conditions that I was already semi trained in Taiji and Bagua.
Ma agreed to let me stay with him for three months, three training sessions daily, and only ask that at the end of my stay period I escort him back to his village; a one day walk from his head quarters here in the woods.
Ma has a 45 year old wife, 6 kids and 2 grand children that he would like to meet at the summation of our journey. And yes, at the old age of 85 Ma is potent and fertile. His youngest son is also named Ma that was only two years of age. Incredible I though to myself as I sipped from an old tea cup sitting in Indian style next to Wang. Wang would stay around for a few days to translate abundant advice and wisdom.
Ma claimed that the human blood flowed more condensed in the morning time around the head region, (to balance this he said we would train the legs, early in the morning as prescribed by his Master. At noon we would practice White Dragon Style Bagua Zhang in efforts to unify Yin and Yang energies from the Dan Tien (naval region).
The set varies from very slow to very fast at striking points in the set. The key his teacher had described was to expand both Yin and Yang potentialities by this exercise; thus giving the practitioner a wider polarization of unified energy. Masturbation and excessive nocturnal emissions were out, claimed Ma.
There are many variables that come into play while investigating the Chi business. He claimed that advanced Yin and Yang abilities only came to him after praying to the creator—this spirit force, though subtle, can not be felt otherwise. A practitioner should strive for righteousness and good conduct in hopes of cleaning the heart-energy field aura. He said that there are three components to this: Heart, Mind and Sexual-Psychic Energy.
When these three energies are unified the body has great immunity and resistance to disease; while shining with illumined brilliance. The mind-energy he claims is a vessel that moves the heart-energy, and naval-sexual energy as chi. Deep breathing and relaxation enable the mind-energy to magnify the ability to move naval-sex energy, and heart energies.
He taught us that the Heart-Compassion energy creates great Yin, and the naval-sexual energy can create great resources of Yang. The mind simply steers both of these, he said. We questioned him about the concept of Wu-Wei and we were shocked as to what he said next.
“Wu Wei exercises are not needed because no-mind comes naturally during training while focusing. It is the minds natural and child like disposition. Rather it is better to train your Will’—this can be done by becoming conscientious during all activities and having wholesome and good intentions.” “ Visualization is also not needed, only positive discipline.
By practicing daily: snow, rain or shine, three times daily; we start to discipline ourselves and when we get lazy it is the use of “our will” that allows use to continue and thus emboldening our “will power.” Master Ma continued to wash and pray five times a day at fixed times; he smiled asking us, “Don’t you guys worship your creator?”
Wang said that he wasn’t sure and needed more proof of such things. I told him that I did indeed believe and he asked me to join him in sharing appreciation gratitude and repentance. I waved him off and he told Wang, “What more proof of a creator do you need than all that is in existence around us, including your own existence.” Wang sat almost dumbfounded by this response and devoured a bowl of noodles as if aloof to what Ma was trying to convey.
In the night we practiced almost every variation of strike ever invented against matted-together tree leaves that had been woven together and slung around an old tree.
Ma’s strikes seemed to shake the tree from its roots as I fancied their imaginations and begin to pepper the matt Muhammad Ali style with jabs, hooks, uppercuts and overhands.
Strikes he stressed “Must be connected whole body—foot to hand, or feet to hands.” “If you strike something with your hand that originated from the feet then you are gaining chi force ability.”
My strikes seemed about novice average, but Ma kept telling me to relax and root the feet into the ground and imagine that in a split second a force from my feet shoots upward spiraling, like energy transferred through a whip, and then CRACK! It’s released.
Another good analogy he said was, “imagine you’re behind a door and you plant your foot at the bottom of it to stop someone from opening it, pushing from the door handle in the middle of the door. If you relax and plant your foot (full body weight) the person won’t be able to open the door.
Another words, set your center of gravity into your foot, and express this firmness with relaxed fast hands, whip like. I started to catch on to this idea and my push hands, deflecting ability and stabilization increased drastically.
The nei-gong drills we did stretched the muscles deeply and usually stressed balance control. Holding weight on a single foot and then swinging the other like a pendulum horizontally, back and forth in front of the planted legs knee, swinging vertically, on one leg, while standing on the other.
Wide squats, dips, horse stances, toe ups, calf raises, and shin stretches. Variation toe stretches, side bends, bob and weave drills, parrying drills, circle walking, light calisthenics included, push ups, holding front dog position (yoga) variations, isometric tensions using opposing force for neck, shoulders, chest, arms and legs. Arm circle swings, across the body swings, behind the head swings etc. we practiced to stay limber and agile.
The Qigong was basic but expressed his theory of heavy and light. Exhale and become rooted/heavy and inhale while becoming nimble/light for movement. Moving, dodging, and using agility was to be light, (breathing in deeply); deflections, strikes, blocks etc. are to be done while heavy (exhaling deeply.)
Simple exercises we did included raising the arms above the head; breathing naturally and deep through the nose from a shoulder width stance. Sometimes we would breathe in as the arms were raised, other times we would breathe outward.
Ma stressed doing Taiji very slowly while holding key positions statically, ( to the feel the deep root and balance while the axis-waist remains loose, as well as the upper body, arms and hands. Ma’s trademark Qigong was to raise the arms, palms down, in front of the body up and outward (like a grizzly bear) while breathing in deeply, stretching the spine and abdomen.
Then he would exhale bringing the arms down slowly ( sinking- rooting his feet) until his hands would form an upside down triangle, thumbs touching and pointer fingers with the naval in the middle of the triangle, made by the hands. The three middle fingers of the hands would push into his stomach just below his naval cavity, as he would flex his sphincter—like doing a Kegel exercise drill done in the West.
Another secret drill is called the pop-sickle and was used by Master Chen Mancheng to increase his rooting ability according to writer Robert W. Smith. This drill is done by standing on one leg, arms down by your side, and head up straight – use the elevated leg’s knee to push downward on the balanced leg’s knee. You should be able to feel the weighted leg pushing harder downward into the ground.
After three days of grueling fun Wang said his fair wells as we sat around a small wooden table drinking copious amounts of green tea and honey. I promised to come back and visit him with in three months time, and Ma gave him his word that he would take care of me out in these wild outback of the Wudang mountain range.
CHAPTER THREE- THE RENISANCE DISCIPLE
The next morning Ma and I watched Wang strut down a long wavy path that served as the entry exit point of Ma’s hermitage. Ma looked over at me and told me that today we would take another day off. Good news! I would use the day walking around and writing in my journal. The break was highly needed in my opinion.
The night approached as Ma made of his daily elixir drinks that were composed of the 12 super ingredients given to him by the old Muslim Monk. I sat holding a small jade cup of the super tonic that tasted quite disgusting, and If it wasn’t for the miracle like benefits, I would take no part in such consumption of something that tasted so putrid.
Ma had a big laugh at my reaction to the taste of the drink. He told me that one day I would acquire a taste for it and yearn for its daily intake. That day would be long off but he would end up being correct. I guess the mind conditions us to eventually like things that at first are unpleasant.
I was surprised that Ma actually spoke better English than Wang. The first day we arrived on site he gave me no indications of being a person that could speak English with such precision. Sitting back against a wooden bench, Ma told me if I want Qi then I have to pay the price. At this we had a big laugh, and I told him that if most Americans knew what it takes to be chi-energized, they would pass on the experience just due to the unorthodox fashion of it being obtained.
Ma looked up at me smiling and started to explain about the highest level of Qi—Light-Qi. This he said was obtained when a person observed 3 things. Firstly- sexual emissions must be kept to a minimum of twice a week.
Secondly-the person must exercise and workout with proper deep breathing in mind. Thirdly-the person must eat in a manner conducive to natural things and moderation. “Most people consumed way to much bread,” Ma would say. “Bread and sugar are the two downfalls of the western diet,” he calculated.
“If these three requirements are met, and he wishes to increase he Qi further, he must observe strict Monotheism to the Creator and become a righteous soul. Then the Qi will break the through the crown of the head, and the whole head will glow with light. “Beware of the light from the face that originates from darkness,” he added.
We sat comfortably in his little make-shift home in the back corner of his house that he had segmented off from the rest of the house by hanging a curtain with rope around the corner space for sitting. It was furnished with a nice rug, a few pillows, blankets and a little wooden table that had a hole cut out of the middle for a small furnish that would heat his favorite black tea pot.
Ma kept telling me that it would be wise to get married soon, and I was wondering why he would kept mentioning this to me again and again. I ask him why he put so much importance on this matter, and he responded that the woman was what balanced the man’s energy and psyche.
A person with too much seminal re-tension, or yang energy, would become over ambitious and unbalanced mentally. A woman would help warm the heart and give man a greater peace of mind. The joy of having kids, he said, was like no other joy to the eyes.
I took his advice seriously and told him that first chance I had to fall in love I would consider marriage. He nodded jovially and told me that this would be best for my health and well-being. “Look,” he said, “ Always follow a bad deed with a good deed, and never give praise to anything other than God, nor seek power through anything other than God.
The only way to avoid superstitions and ignorance was through knowledge by the creator, and this can only be found untainted in the Quran.” “ There is much for you to learn about desires, ambitions, emotional unbalances, mental struggles, and things that you can not see, but seek correct knowledge and you will correct your ways.”
I thanked him for this advice as he again began to speak, “Watch out for things that bring you pride and wild ambitions, for those things are highs that will soon cause the lows and break ones peace and equilibrium.”
He told me to never prize fight, or to fight someone for money or esteem. He explained that this was a great wrong, and how many teachers show off to their students by throwing them around and hitting them, but this was also a mistake he admonished. “There will always be a better fighter out there, but this game of pride and competition only brings upon the soul the weight of false esteem and greatness.”
He explained that I should train for self discipline and health, and if I was ever confronted or attacked, that my skills would prove to be sufficient to dissolve the matter with out anyone getting seriously hurt.
He again warned me that If I seek the way of showing off and testing other fighters, that I would live a life ignorance rather than service to other people. “This pride and ego game is an ugly matter- do you know that there is no greatness accept in the one that created you from nothing?”
In saying all this he told me that all the training we did would create positive self esteem if done for good health and discipline. There are a few more matters he spoke on about combat.
He claimed that all these systems were watered down and that anyone that learned them all would be over whelmed with techniques and have a hard time using them in a real life situation. For this reason he said he would give me a special training tool that should be practiced daily for 15 minutes. This he claimed were the only tools one really needed if confronted in a physical manner.
The basis of this is that there are only so many ways an attacker can attack the body. We stood up and he showed me a drill of blocks and waist-head movements that he created in response to the 7 paths of striking the head.
He showed me the angles of punches that started off as a downward hammer strike or chop, a diagonal strike downward, a hook shot horizontally, an uppercut diagonal shot, a straight uppercut, and finally a straight punch, palm or thrust.
These trajectories were the summation of possibilities when being attacked. “Most people are only sufficient in about 3 of these striking methods, thus I have created a blocking method, and head movement practice that addresses all these angles,” Ma said.
As for kicks and grappling, Ma told me that a few easy techniques could render any wrestlers ambitions useless, and kickers should always be rushed in on as they kick and toppled. The center line should always be unhittable if one moves and blocks correctly, he added on.
Ma went through each block with me one by one, and showed how they divert and block the 7 trajectory strikes to the head. Protecting the torso and kidney consisted of mastering 3 blocking techniques and correct body movement. Protecting the head consist of 5 main blocks with correct body movement.
Suffice to say I was surprised as to what Ma told me next. All of these blocks are hidden in the Yang 108 Long form, but are not all apparent.
FULL BOOK AVAILABLE APRIL 1, 2010 |
