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What is Shaolin Kungfu?	Shaolin Kungfu is the style of kungfu (or martial art) originally developed in the Shaolin Monastery in China. It has a history of about 1500 years and has since derived into various schools such as Lohan, Praying Mantis, Chaquan, Hoong Ka, Wing Choon, Choy-Li-Fatt and many others.
What benefits can one get from practising Shaolin Kungfu?	There are many benefits, and they may be generalized into five categories: self-defence, health, vitality, mind expansion and spiritual development
What is intent?	Much has been written about "intent" and what it means to the martial artist. Putting it simply, intent is the desire to make something happen that is greater than your opponents desire to not let it happen. For example, in Tai Chi practice much ado is made about the intent behind a move. Without intent, the move would be lifeless and, short of physical correctness, would probably have little power. Here's an exercise I do often with my students. Stand your opponent in a relaxed forward stance and then push them back with both your palms. Keep your focus on their chest as you do so. Depending on their (and your) size, they will probably go back a bit. Now, let's apply a little intent to this exercise. Assuming the same stance, push your opponent with both your palms but focus on a spot way past him into infinity. The results should be vastly different. The opponent should go flying back from a couple to over 20 feet. Your intent ignored his physical location and pushed way beyond him. Intent is used heavily in breaking exercises used by most martial arts and in Iron Palm training. Without intent there is nothing but scattered energy. With intent, comes the focus of making what looks almost impossible happen. Intent is the energy, or focus, created by the mind and executed by the body. It is not as difficult to achieve as one may think, but it does require a clear mind and practice of the basics to create proper movement and force.
Is Shaolin Kungfu religious?	No, Shaolin Kungfu is non-religious. Throughout history, Shaolin masters have come from various religious background, including Buddhist, Taoist, Confucian, Christian and Muslim. There also have been masters who have claimed to profess no religion
Very briefly how would you define the scope of Shaolin Kungfu?	For convenience, Shaolin Kungfu may be divided into four dimensions: Form. Force. Application. Philosophy. Hence, to get the best benefits you should know at least something of every dimension. If you know only kungfu form, for example, at the best you can derive only a portion of the potential benefits Shaolin Kungfu can offer
Can you give an idea of the depth of Shaolin Kungfu?	It is no exaggeration to say that its depth is unfathomable. We may examine its depth from various angles. One way is to consider each of its four dimensions. Regarding form, all the techniques found in other martial arts like Taijiquan, Karate, Taekwondo, Jujitsu, Judo, Aikido, Western Boxing and Siamese Boxing can be found in Shaolin Kungfu. Shaolin kungfu force is incredible -- its kungfu application is not just for combat but also to enrich our daily living. Shaolin philosophy opens up vistas of wisdom ranging from the smallest sub-atomic particles to the infinite galaxies. Another way to examine its depth is from the perspective of personal development. Shaolin Kungfu offers a comprehensive programme to develop a person in all his/her physical, emotional, mental and spiritual aspects. At the physical level, Shaolin Kungfu enables the exponent to have radiant health and vitality; at the spiritual level, it leads him to the greatest attainment anyone can ever achieved, i.e. spiritual fulfillment. For someone used to only a partial knowledge of Shaolin Kungfu, such as some kungfu patterns and sets, he or she may find it hard to believe its depth as mentioned above. A basic tenet of the Shaolin teaching, which is an echo of the Buddha's teaching, is as follows: do not accept any teaching based on faith alone, nor on the reputation of the master, but assess the teaching to the best of your understanding and experience.
Can Kung-Fu REALLY be used in a fight?	It is hard to believe but true that 90% of people learning kungfu today, including in China, do not know how to use their kungfu skills and techniques in combat. Most revert to karate, taekwondo or kickboxing techniques, and many fight like children. If you have read my webpages, you would find this concern is a major theme I have often stressed, but it is a delicate issue and I do not want to offend many kungfu instructors. The main problem is that the methodology linking set practice and free sparring is generally lost. Going straight from set practice to free sparring, which 90% of kungfu practitioners do, will result in cases similar to yours. It is not feasible to explain the methodology in a short e-mail, and it is difficult to learn it without a master's personal tuition. Nevertheless I shall try my best to answer your questions. You may also have some useful information on kungfu combat if you refer to my webpage http://www.oocities.org/~wahnam/. I am extremely lucky to have been trained in the traditional Shaolin way, whereby we have to go through numerous stages from set practice to free sparring so that eventually we can spar in typical kungfu way. I hope to share this methodology with deserving students, and may plan an intensive course in Malaysia, but those who wish to participate need to be instructors or have practised kungfu for at least three years. Timing is a crucial factor in combat. Many people think that to win in a fight all you need is techniques. In fact timing is more important than techniques. There is a kungfu saying as follows:bai fa bu ru yi kuai, which means it is better to be fast than to learn hundreds of techniques. If you are fast enough to strike an opponent, it does not matter what technique you use. On the other hand, even if you know a lot of techniques, they will be quite useless if you are too slow to use them. But timing is more than just speed. Sometimes if you are too fast, it can be detrimental. Timing does come with practice, but you must practise methodically. If you practise haphazardly, as many students do, you will still end up bouncing about trying to avoid kicks and punches, although with experience and improved speed you may succeed in the avoiding. But soon you would be out of breath and eventually you would still lose the combat, but even if you win you would be reverting to karate-style punches and kicks, forgetting about all the kungfu you have learnt. Actually you are lucky to realize this pathetic situation after only a year; many others, including "masters", keep on this pathetic situation for life, and if they do not have opportunities to test out their sparring effectiveness, or ineffectiveness, they may imagine they are doing wonderful kungfu. Those who have some inkling of their combat ineffectiveness would, in an attempt to cover their inadequacy, turn aggressive whenever sparring is suggested, or mystify kungfu as such a deadly art that sparring practice even among classmates is forbidden. Genuine kungfu exponents are calm and gentle as they do not have to prove to others and, more importantly, themselves that they can fight, because they know they can. Sparring using kungfu patterns must be learnt methodically and systematically, otherwise students will revert to the more simple karate-style punches and kicks, or to the most natural way of fighting as exhibited by children. Kungfu fighting is not natural fighting; it has to be learnt and acquired, and to be practised and practised methodically and systematically until it has become second-nature. There are many steps between set training and free sparring. Thus, if an instructor or even a "master" asks you to practise sparring just after the set training stage, you can reasonably suspect that he does not know the essential intermediate steps. Set training is to familiarize you with the form and practice of kungfu techniques; free sparring is to put these techniques, as well as appropriate tactics and strategies and other combative factors like force, timing, spacing, judgment and decision--making into action against an opponent or opponents. Many useful tactics and strategies have been generalized into kungfu principles like "using minimum force against maximum strength" and "avoiding his strength and attacking his weakness". Methodologies like specific techniques, combat sequences and sparring sets are employed to train combative factors to prepare for free sparring. As there are more things to learn and practise in kungfu than in other martial arts, it is logical that it takes more time. A kickboxer can fight reasonably well after training for six months, a karate or taekwondo exponent in three years, but a kungfu practitioner would need more time. This does not mean that you can't fight until after practising kungfu for more than ten years -- as some "masters" buying time to cover their inadequacy may suggest. In fact if you have practised genuine kungfu -- any style of kungfu including taijiquan -- for a year or two,you should be able to provide some decent defence against any assailant irrespective of what martial arts the assailant may use; otherwise you should examine whether your art is genuine kungfu.
Proper Respect	An art is best learnt in its culture. One remarkable difference between the culture of the east and the west is the respect shown to a master. In this connection I have little complaint because my students, from both the east and the west, generally show much respect to me. But I have met many eastern masters commenting on the lack of respect, sometimes utter disrespect, shown to them. Often it is because of the western students' ignorance of eastern ways rather than their wilful discourtesy that their eastern masters of chi kung or kungfu (including taijiquan) regard as disrespect. The following are some simple and helpful points both eastern and western students may follow to show the respect deservedly due to their masters. Addressing the Master Correctly First of all you must know how to address your master correctly, something which many western students are ignorant of. Never, never, never call your master by his name, especially if he comes from a eastern culture. In some western societies it may be considered personal and desirable to call your senior or even your boss by his first name, but in chi kung or kungfu culture it is considered extremely rude. It is worthwhile to remember that your master is not your peer or equal. Your master is at least one, but usually many levels above you, otherwise he cannot and should not be your master. The proper way to address your chi kung or kungfu master is "Sifu", which is the Cantonese dialect of the Chinese language for "Master". The Mandrin pronunciation is "Shifu". Actually if a great master answers you when you call him "Sifu", you are, not he is, honoured; it shows he accepts you as a student. (I always felt greatly honoured whenever I called my masters Lai Chin Wah and Ho Fatt Nam "Sifu", because they were two of the greatest masters I had found.) If your master's surname is Chen, you should call him "Sifu", or "Master" if you want to sound western, but strictly speaking not "Sifu Chen" or "Master Chen" for that is the address the public, not his students, would call him. If you call him "Sifu Chen" or "Master Chen" you are distancing yourself from him. Showing Propriety Besides showing propriety in your address, you should also show propriety in your behaviour. Do not, for example, put your hand around him, pat him on his shoulder, or hug him -- leave that to his wife, which following eastern social etiquette is also only done in private. When you stand or sit in front of or near him, hold yourself upright. You need not stand at attention like a private in front of his sergeant major, but you should not stand sloppily, with arms akimbo or hands in your pockets. When you sit do not cross your legs with a foot pointing at him, or expose your groins to him even though they are hidden by your pants. It is only sensible that you should listen when your master speaks, especially if he is explaining some points. Yet, it is not uncommon to find some adult students (male as well as female) lying on the floor, sometimes with their hands folded at the back of their head, their eyes close and their legs open in an inviting position! This shows not so much a disrespect to the master, but an utter lack of good manners on the part of the students. Entering and leaving a class It is also bad manners to arrive at your class late. In the past in the east, late students would be asked to go home, or to leave permanently if they were late habitually. The logic is simple: the master has something invaluable to offer; if you come late you tacitly show that you do not value his teaching. But if there is a valid reason for your being late, you should first greet him from the door, walk quietly but briskly to him, respectfully wait if he is pre- occupied, then explain your reason and apologize. On the other hand, you should wait patiently if the master is late -- even for hours! If you think this is unfair, you are probably not ripe for great arts. There are stories of great masters who purposely arrived late, not for hours but for days, and then passed on their secrets to the few wise, patient students. Although it seldom happens nowadays, it will reflect a splendid grasp of chi kung and kungfu culture if you and your classmates stop whatever you are doing, stand up respectfully, bow and greet your master as he comes in. Do not leave your class half-way. But if you have to leave early for some reason, explain that to your master before-hand and politely ask his permission. At the appointed time, ask his permission again, then bow and thank him before leaving. At the end of a class, the students should leave after the master, not before he does. However, if the master stays back for a considerable length of time, such as explaining some points to some students who stay behind to ask him, other students may leave first, after bowing to the master. In the east, it is customary for the teacher to arrive last and leave first. Interestingly, it is often the reverse in the west. The teacher, western in culture if not in race, often arrives the earliest, sweeps the floor and prepares cookies and drinks which he will serve during recess to his students, who will joke and laugh. At the end of the class, the teacher will stand at the door, shake the students' hands and thank them for their attendance. He will then throw away the garbage his students have left behind if he still has energy left, and check that everyone has gone home before he closes the door. Offering a cup of tea In eastern culture it is always the students who offer drinks to the teacher. When you offer your master a cup of tea, it is preferable to do so with two hands. In eastern societies, accepting a cup of tea and drinking it has deeper significance than merely quenching thirst. In the past, even if someone had done you great wrong, if he or she offered you a cup of tea, usually while kneeling down and then knocking his or her head on the ground, and you, sitting down in front of other witnesses, accepted and drank it, it meant that you accepted his or her apology, were ready to forgive all the wrong, and would not take any action whatsoever in future. The students should also offer a seat to the master, and the seat chosen is usually the best one available. If the master is not seated, the students should remain standing, unless the master asks them to sit down. If they dine together, the students would wait until the master has made his first move to eat or drink. Don't be Insulting When your master is explaining or demonstrating something to you, listen attentively and respectfully. Do not bluntly say you already know what he is teaching, even if you really know. In chi kung and kungfu culture, doing so is not being straight-forward, it is being insulting -- you are implying that the master does not know what he is doing. I recall some occasions when my masters taught me something that I already had learnt quite well. Thanks to my training in eastern culture, I followed their instructions faithfully although they appeared very simple and below my level then. Only much later did I realize that had I not follow these apparently simple instructions I would not have acquired the foundation necessary for advanced development. Do not ever make the fatal mistake of telling a master what or how to teach you. This is not only unbecoming, it is also very foolish, for you will be denying yourself the very purpose why you need him. If he is a master, he knows best what and how to help you attain your best results; he is able to see your needs and development in ways far beyond your limited perspective. For the Students' Interest some westerners may find the above- described master-student relationship odd, just as those accustomed to eastern culture would find the behaviour of some western students unbelievable. It may be more surprising, especially for those who think they are doing the master a favour by paying him a fee to learn, to know that all these customs of respect for the master are actually for the students', not the master's, interest. Someone who teaches kungfu dance or gentle exercise for a living will probably care more for your fees than your respect, but a master whose art gives you good health, vitality, mental freshness and spiritual joy actually does not care whether you respect him more or your dog. But those students who have experienced the wonderful benefits of genuine kungfu and chi kung will understand that the respect given to the master is not only a sincere token of appreciation to the master for sharing his art, but also constitutes an ideal psychological state for the training to take place