from within by our own negative thoughts and attitudes towards ourselves; conflicts arise between people who love each other; fear exists between people who work together; people, whether consciously or unconsciously, send negative thoughts or ‘vibes’; and there is always a possibility of physical intimidation which, while relatively rare in most people's lives, is increasing in all our lives all the time. If you embrace the fact that attack in some form is integral to our lives, then you will start to see our training from a much wider perspective. By the time you have finished reading this book you should have gained an understanding of the nature and effects of fear in your life. Moreover, you will have a good understanding of the strategies that could be employed to overcome the debilitating effects of fear and aggression.
If I appear to repeat myself during the course of this book, it is because some points need to be reiterated before their significance can be realized. The process of conscious repetition is essential to Martial Art, for it is only by repeating carefully (practising) a particular move or aspect, that your body, mind and spirit can begin to embody the underlying principles. It is because of this that delving deeply into the spiritual ramifications of this kind of work is beyond the scope of this book. It can take you to that door, but it will not open it very far. This is primarily because a very thorough grounding in the physical and practical aspects is needed before we can truly experience the spiritual benefits of Martial Art.
You are reading these words now for a reason; perhaps this book caught your eye on a bookshop’s shelf, perhaps somebody gave it to you because they felt that it could help you with particular situations that you are experiencing. Whatever the reason, it is important that before you start grappling with the ideas and concepts in this book, you are clear, as much as possible, why you are interested in the martial path and what you wish to gain from studying it. The true martial path is not a particularly easy one since it will ask you to face things in yourself that you would perhaps wish to keep in the dark, and it demands that you slowly bring your ego into perspective and allow a more ‘human’ being to take control of your life. This process requires you to be open to the relationship that exists in you with the things that part of you would most like to avoid, namely areas where pain and fear operate. Because of this fact, there will be times when you meet great resistance in yourself to forging ahead and keeping the process going. Remember that you are investing your energy and attention back into yourself and by so doing strengthening yourself at the very core of your being, thereby becoming more effective, stronger and able to meet all that life demands of you. This is the real meaning and purpose of Kung Fu: to provide a tool that you can use to deal with your daily battles, whether they be against violent attacks of a criminal nature, abusive bosses, partners, strangers, or negative thoughts and attitudes within you, or perhaps just to fight for what you want out of life and to deal with the many failures it takes to make a success. Nothing that is worth anything in life comes cheaply or easily. Conflict is an inescapable part of life and always carries with it a good helping of fear and pain; it arises in our life in many different places, some suspected, some unsuspected, and awareness of the possibility of conflict is your first line of defence. If we can keep our original motivations and wishes alive, we can return to the source of our enquiry into Martial Art and strengthen once again our wish to evolve by facing our fears.
Some Preliminary Information
A Brief History of Kung Fu
As this book aims to interpret some of the original Martial Art precepts into contemporary life it would serve us well to briefly look at the roots of Kung Fu (a modern term generally describing Martial Art), for it is only by looking at its origins that we can begin to understand what its original purpose may have been. The Kung Fu tradition has a Chinese background and is inextricably linked with the spiritual teachings of Taoism. Central to the teaching of Taoism is the concept of the individual practitioner evolving a gradual harmonization with nature and the Tao (the life force that animates all things and can be found everywhere in the universe), and this is important because since its conception it has been clear that Kung Fu is about harmonization rather than domination.
The roots of Kung Fu are very difficult to trace through history, primarily because the practice dates back thousands of years, but the first writings on Chi Kung (a form of exercise that was the precursor to modern Kung Fu) date back to 3000 BC and have been subsequently added to and developed by a succession of extraordinary individuals. The Northern Shaolin Temple in China’s Honan Province existed in approximately AD 580 and was the birthplace of modern Kung Fu. Legend dictates that Bodidharma, a Buddhist monk from India, travelled to China where he had been summoned to the court at Nanking. After a brief and not very successful trip, Bodidharma started his journey home, but before reaching his destination, he came upon the Shaolin Temple. The temple at that time was being used for scholarly Buddhist studies, and the monks were engaged in translating Buddhist scriptures from Sanskrit into Chinese. On meeting Bodidharma, the head monk refused him entry because his progressive Buddhist teachings placed less emphasis on scholarly pursuits than they did on more energetic forms of teaching. Bodidharma decided to wait outside in order to try to gain entry, and he is rumoured to have spent this time in intensive meditation. (There is some speculation as to how long he stayed there – some say 40 days, others say nine years, but I have it on fairly good authority that it was, in fact, three months.) During this time, many local people came to him for guidance, and word of Bodidharma’s wisdom spread and finally found its way back to the temple. The head monk then conceded Bodidharma’s superior knowledge and allowed him to enter the monastery (more fanciful accounts will say that Bodidharma drilled a hole in the wall with his stare). What Bodidharma saw upon his entrance disturbed him greatly: the monks were lethargic and depressed and their bodies were emaciated; the prolonged mental activity of translation was an imbalance and, as with all imbalances, was beginning to destroy them. Bodidharma explained to them that as the mind and body are inextricably linked, the relationship between them must be continually rejuvenated and rebalanced otherwise disease (dis-ease) would follow. After much meditation, Bodidharma designed a set of exercises to bring about the rejuvenation of the Shaolin monks’ body–mind relationship. These exercises formed the basis of what is now Chi Kung and Kung Fu. The Chi Kung exercises presented in this book are scaled-down versions of Bodidhama’s original series and have been adapted for modern life.
During his time at the monastery, Bodidharma also wrote several classic texts, introduced the monks to Indian Martial Art and reintroduced the concept of Chi (the ancient art of extracting energy from the air via the breath) into Kung Fu. As time went by, the monks developed a deeper connection with their body movement and so began to understand the natural laws inherent in the human body and its machinations. However, this dynamic connection to their own bodies soon lent itself to meditating on nature itself and the movements contained therein, and hence they began to experience themselves as part of nature. This had a profound effect on the development of Kung Fu, as the monks allowed themselves to be ‘taught’ by nature directly. For example, by meditating upon animals they came to understand the most natural methods of adapting to their environment and defending themselves against predators; and by meditating upon water they learned how to change the shape of their body in a continuous, ‘flowing’ manner. We can see both of these examples embodied in the original animal forms (a form is a long series of movements used for practising Kung Fu techniques), which were movements based on the animals (such as the tiger, monkey, snake and white crane) that they were mimicking. As time went on and the monks got stronger, their life dictated that they develop a direct martial application to their movements, as they were being attacked and robbed on their travels to nearby markets.
This direct connection with nature went hand in hand with the spiritual teachings of Taoism, the dominant religion in China between AD 310 and AD 580. The teachings of Taoism were well documented by Confucius (born: 551 BC) and Lao Tzu (born: circa 6th century BC), both great philosophers who preached about the evolution of man to such a level that he becomes one with the Tao, again emphasizing the importance of harmonization.
This, I admit, is a condensed history lesson, but it illustrates a few fundamental points about Kung Fu:
1 Kung
