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Shaolin Flower Set and Asking Bridges course discussion
Wow, this looks amazing and I am so psyched for this already=)!
I was planning on watching some video-clips of the Flower set anyway, so reading your installments as well will do me a boatload of good!
Thank you very much for posting this!
It is a great gift that this course is being taught. It really is a great part of our Shaolin history, two lineages one source - the Venerable Chee Seen. This course should not be missed. I of course will be there and very much looking forward to it.
Great to hear you're joining us! Like Tim said, the Flower Set is an important part of our Shaolin heritage, and being able to learn it is a great gift.
I hope as many as possible make the effort to come, so that we can work together to keep alive this fantastic art.
Since there are many Shaolin Kungfu legends who specialized in the Flower Set, I'd like to introduce some of them on this thread.
First up, probably the greatest fighter of her time, the Shaolin nun Ng Mui:
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The Shaolin nun Ng Mui (Wu Mei)
There were Five Shaolin Grandmasters in the Qing Dynasty. They were Wu Mei, Bai Mei, Zhi Shan, Feng Dao Te and Miao Xian in that order. The names given above are in Mandarin pronunciation; perhaps they are better known in the Cantonese pronunciation, which are Ng Mui, Pak Mei, Chee Seen, Foong Tou Tuck and Miu Hein respectively.
Of the five, Ng Mui was the best fighter. She was a Shaolin nun. Little is known of her early history. Some believe that she was a Ming princess, but renounced worldly life to become a nun.
Others believe that before she became a nun she was the famous female kungfu knight, Lu Si Liang, who single-handedly penetrated the Qing palace and killed the Qing Emperor who earlier ordered the burning of the southern Shaolin Temple at Quanzhou.
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Unfortunately differences arose between Ng Mui, Chee Seen and Mui Hein on one side, and Pak Mei and Fong Tou Tak on the other. Politically, Ng Mui, Chee Seen and Mui Hein wanted to overthrow the Qing, whereas Pak Mei and Fong Tou Tak supported the government.
Pak Mei's distinguished disciple, Kuo Chun Chong, was the military commander for the two provinces of Fujan and Guangdong. Led by Pak Mei and with the help of Fong Tou Tak and their followers, Kuo Chun Chong and the Qing army destroyed the second southern Shaolin Temple at Jiulian Shan.
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Because she was a nun, Ng Mui did not stay in the Shaolin Temple, which only accommodated monks. She travelled widely, especially in Yunnan Province, but also spent some time at the White Crane Temple in Guangxi (Kwangsi) Province.
Wu Mei's favourite disciples were Yan Yong Chun and Fang Shi Yi, who are certainly better known in their Cantonese pronunciation as Yim Wing Choon and Fong Sai Yoke. Yim Wing Choon, was of course the founder of Wing Choon Kungfu.
Ng Mui's Shaolin Kungfu was both extensive and deep, and she was renown for numerous Shaolin arts like chi kung, the no-shadow kick, snake characteristics, and fast, deceptive meovements.
There is a style of kungfu called Ng Mui Kungfu. Ng Mui did not consciously invent this kungfu style, but later generations of kungfu practitioners who inherrited Ng Mui's tradition named this particular style after the famous lady Shaolin grandmaster.
I'll continue the fascinating history around the Flower Set and its famous exponents by introducing a prominent kungfu legend, Fong Sai Yoke. Since I discovered such a wealth of interesting stories around Fong Sai Yoke, I decided to split this post in three parts, all of which will be posted within a week.
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The Shaolin Prodigy Fong Sai Yoke
Fong Sai Yoke, as portrayed by the famous actor Jet Li in the film "The Legend of Fong Sai Yuk" (1993)
" Fong Sai Yoke was one of the ten great disciples of the Venerable Chee Seen, the First Patriarch of Southern Shaolin Kungfu. His style was of course Souther Shaolin which he learned at the secret southern Shaolin Temple on the Nine Lotus Mountain in Fujian Province of China. He specialized in the Shaolin Fower Set, and his specialty was the Organ-Seeking Kick. He was often known as Len Chye Yoke, or "Handsome Yoke".
When Fong Sai Yoke was still an infant, his mother, Mui Chooi Fa (who was also one of the ten great disciples of the Venerable Chee Seen), conditioned him with a herbal concoction. She held the infant by his head and groin, and soaked him in a basin of the concoction. Hence, these were the two parts that were not conditioned, and later proved to be fatal to Fong Sai Yoke.
After soaking, his mother would hit him all over with a hard wooden stick, training him in an art called "Copper Skin and Iron Bones". Thus, Fong Sai yoke could take strikes on his body without sustaining injury.
Fong Sai Yoke became famous when he killed a kungfu master named Looi Tai Pang, who was nick-named "Tiger Looi". Tiger Looi set up a “Plume Flower Formation” in Guangzhou (Canton) to challenge any kungfu masters to fight with him. This “Plume Flower Formation” was made by poles driven into the ground in a pattern of plume flowers, and combatants would fight on top of the poles.
On both sides of the Formation was hung a poetic couplet to insult the martial art circles of Guangdong Province and the cities of SuZhou and Hangzhou as follows (in Cantonese):
khun ta kong tung yeit shang
kuoik thet su hong leong chow
which means:
Fist to whack the whole of Guangdong Province
Kick to sweep the cities of Suzhou and Hangzhou
But Tiger Looi was such a formidable fighter than no one could match him. Many were injured and some were killed by Tiger Looi in the challenges.
Fong Sai Yoke's father, Fong Tuck, knew that his son would take up the challenge. To avoid trouble, he locked his son up in a room, but Fong Sai Yoke broke loose and fought with Tiger Looi.
Although Tiger Looi was huge and muscular, he was killed by Fong Sai Yoke with a strike on the solar plexus using the pattern “Black Tiger Steals Heart”. Fong Sai Yoke was only 15 years old at that time. He instantly became famous.
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- Grandmaster Wong Kiew Kit
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Interestingly, Sifu Wong has told that the art of "Copper Skin and Iron Bones" is not actually very high level - a master with substantial internal force could pierce through this conditioning.
The story of Fong Sai Yoke will continue in a few days.
The lady kungfu master Miew Chooi Fa, portrayed by actress Josephine Siao
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Tiger Looi's wife was Li Siu Wan, the daughter of Li Pa San, who was the First Patriach of Li Family Kungfu. Li Siu Wan challenged Fong Sai Yoke to an open duel. Although Li Siu Wan was an elegant lady, she defeated Fong Sai Yoke using “chiun sam thoui”, or “through-the-heart-kick”.
Fong Sai Yoke could have been killed had his mother, Miew Chooi Fa (Miu Chui Fa), not insisted that he wore a “protection mirror” on his chest. The protection mirror, which was made from strong but light metal, was badly damaged by a kick from an elegant lady, and Fong Sai Yoke despite the protection was internally injured.
Miew Chooi Fa challenged Li Siu Wan, and defeated her with a No-Shadow Kick. Then Li Siu Wan's father, Li Pa San, challneged Miew Chooi Fa.
In kungfu herarchy, Li Pak San and Miew Chooi Fa were “kungfu cousins”, because Li Pak San's teacher, Pak Mei, and Miew Chooi Fa's teacher, Chee Seen, were “kungfu brothers”. But Li Pa San was much older, about the age of Miew Chooi Fa's father, and his kungfu ability was also much higher. Miew Chooi Fa would be no match against Li Pa San, and could be killed should the challenge go on.
This series of challenges and counter-challenges could go on and on. Happily, the famous Shaolin nun, the Venerable Ng Mui, who was highly respected in kungfu circles and who was also the best fighter at the time, stepped in to stop the continual fightings. Ng Mui was the senior kungfu sister of Pak Mei, therefore was the Sikujie of Li Pa San. Faced with the possibility of having to meet Ng Mooi in a duel where he knew fully well he would be easily defeated, Li Pa San wisely withdrew his challenge to Miew Chooi Fa.
As a punishment for Fong Sai Yoke, Ng Mui took him away to be “imprisoned” in her temple for three years where he had to meditate and repent. This turned out to be a blessing in disguise for him as he had a rare opportunity to be couched by Ng Mui in his kungfu training.
It is illuminating to note that in genuine kungfu, age, size and gender do not matter in combat. Tiger Looi was huge, and Fong Sai Yoke was small-sized and only 15, yet Fong Sai Yoke killed the Tiger with a single punch!
This tiger-killer was badly injured despite wearing a hidden armour from a kick by an elegant lady, Li Siu Wan. Yet, Miew Chooi Fa who defeated Li Siu Wan was no match against Li Pa San, a man her father's age. But the best fighter of all, one whom the First Patriarch of a kungfu style would choose not to face, was an elderly nun.
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- Grandmaster Wong Kiew Kit
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The concluding part of the Fong Sai Yoke story will be up soon!
"Then how could chi kung overcome diseases where the cause is unknown or when there is no cure? The question is actually incorrect. The expressions "the cause is unknown" and "there is no cure" are applicable only in the Western medical paradigm. The expressions no longer hold true in the chi kung paradigm. In the chi kung paradigm the cause is known, and there is a cure."
Pak Mei (right), portrayed by actor Lo Lieh in "Executioners from Shaolin" (1977)
" Pak Mei (Bai Mei) led the Qing army to burn the secret sothern Shaolin Temple at the Nine Lotus Mountain. The Abbot, Chee Seen, who was Fong Sai Yoke's kungfu teacher, was killed by Pak Mei. Fong Sai Yoke sought out Pak Mei in a duel hoping to avenge his teacher's death.
Fong Sai Yoke died relatively young, killed by Pak Mei, the second of the Five Shaolin Grandmasters, who with Feng Dao Te (Foong Tou Tuck) betrayed the Shaolin tradition.
Fong Sai Yoke knew that Pak Mei was an expert at Golden Bell. He thought he could break the Golden Bell with his no-shadow kick at Pak Mei's groin. But he didn't know that Pak Mei's Child's Art was so advanced that he could withdraw his genitals into his body and sucked Fong Sai Yoke's foot when the latter kicked.
Indeed, unknown to Fong Sai Yoke, his teacher, Chee Seen, used the same technique on Pak Mei, who countered with the same response killing him.
I have heard about accounts of Ng Mui killing Fong Sai Yoke. This is misinformation. Fong Sai Yoke was killed by Pak Mei, and not by Ng Mui.
Fong Sai Yoke was a favorite of Ng Mui. He also respected Ng Mui very much. There was no reason why Ng Mui would kill Fong Sai Yoke.
Besides learning the Flower Set from Chee Seen, Fong Sai Yoke also learned it from Ng Mui. But I think there was some difference between Chee Seen's Flower Set and Ng Mui's.
"
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