I lost the magic of kung fu
I think I lost something along the way
People have read my less than flattering accounts of studying Kung Fu at the Shaolin Temple, as well as my humorus stories about studying and fighting in Taiwan.
It is clear that I have dedicated myself to fighting, rather than to art. I trained and fought in thailand, which is just a huge gladiator academy.
now i am making kung fu movies in cambodia. in addition to my training for the movies, i just signed to fight (boxing) profesionally here in cambodia. there is a new foreign trainer here who is arranging title fights with WBC or one of the big leagues in USA. and i will probaly have a big televised fight in september (78 kg).
now that i am boxing again, the first good (fighting) training i have had since coming to asia, i think my opinion on fighting and kung fu is changing.
i love the boxing and fighting.
but maybe there is a place for the art as well.
when i was elevn or twelve years old, i believed in the magic of kung fu. i believed in the art. i thought it was something sacred and holy, and every night i said a prayer of thanks that i was being blessed with an opportuinity to learn these secrets, which had been passed down through teh ages, by generations of masters.
today, when i was supposed to be writing an article, I stumbled on to a website devoted to the TV show, KUNG FU.
Cain to his master: Old man, how is it that you can hear so much?
Master: Young student, how is it that you cannot?
re-reading all of those great philosophical quotes, i remembered why i began studying kung fu in the first place.
for the hour or so that it took me to read everything on the site, it was as if i had become a small kid again, and my belief in the mystery of kung fu was there. It reminded me why i began studying kung fu, and why I continued even when I showed no real aptitude for sports in general. It reminded me why I used to believe that every day of training brought me closer to enlightenment, and why I couldn't sleep at night, dreaming of my next training session, and of some day going to the shaolin temple, for real.
But why have I never found that in asia, not even for a second? was it because I was too proud? was I punching when I should have been listening?
But if it is me, why do I not know a single foreigner who ever found that wonder and magic in China and Taiwan?
I found the Thais and Cambodians refreshing, because at least they didn't pretend to have magic.
i'm not sure what that is worth. but i wanted to share. and if anyone has a constructive comment or even an insult, I'd be glad to listen.
did anyone else watch that show religiously as a kid? and, if so, did you experience disalusionment when you found that real Kung fu did not match Quai Chang Cains experience?
I lost something along the way
Wow! I want to thank all of you folks for writing in. I really appreciate it. Is anyone else writing from over seas? Or has anyone else studied over seas?
I guess the answer is, as many of you said, we each have to find our path, for ourselves. our unique path will be different from someone else's path. and only we can know when we have found it.
if i knew what the end result was supposed to be like, I would fidn it easier to work toward that goal.
my movie friends came down to my boxing training today. they trained about two and a half minutes and then quit. once again, my opinion of kung fu dropped about a hundred points. these guys can all jump in the air, spin,a nd kick three times before landing. but they can't complete a single round of boxing training. that tells me they have no heart. if that is the case, how could I respect them? and how could they ever win a fight?
I have lived in monasteries in china and thailand. I am seriously considering going to live in a monastery here, in cambodia. i like the buddhism here quite a lot. and my other friends, the ones who are or have been monks, are very peaceful. I would like to find that kind of peace. but at the same time i fight....
My movie friends will be going to train in beijing for several month, and i am considering going with them, and giving china another shot, or maybe going some place in chian where few people go, like Wu Dong, which has much less commercialism than henan.
copuld some of you folks tell me why you study kung fu?
does anyone get peace from kung fu?
have any of you been able to reconcile fighting and peace? (please, when you answer, answer from experience, not from a book. I've also read the books.)
I lost somethig along the way
Thanks again, ten tigers, gene, everyone had excellent points.
Gene mentioned about meditation. In shaolin, my Sifu was Xi Hung Fu, and we were responsible for the first stupa, on the left hand side, as you entered through the main gate. you walked past that silly theater, where they did the shaolin show, (which i have never seen), through the second big gate, and it was the next little building on the left. my training brother miao hai and i used to go there in the morning, sweep the floor, do our prayers, and then he would have me hold stances, for hours, while he rang the gong for the tourists who came to pray.
while i was hoilding stances, of course, i would meditate. but i often got distracted by the fact that miao hai would steal the money from the offering bowl.
in thailand, my monk, Pra Kru Ba, made us meditate for hours and hours. but he always instructed us to meditate on fighting. he said that ancient muay thai masters from the past would come and train him while he meditated.
I never found any peaec in either of those meditations.
my friends in taiwan who were monks were very peaceful. but they had very little martial arts training. and my friends in here in cambodia who are or were monks are the most peaceful people i have ever seen. they too have had very little martial arts training. one of their chriticisms of thailand is that the monks meditate about fighting. i dont think the practice of meditating about fighting is very wide spread in thailand. but the monks here see that as contrary to achiving peace.
for those of you who meditate, what do you meditate on? how does that relate to the rets of your practice of kung fu? and do you ever steal the money from the offering bowl?