JKD practitioners, mixed martial artists and modern stylists who practice strictly for street and sport combat, may not appreciate the cultural and historical aspects of Chinese kung fu.
But for traditional Chinese martial artists, their kung fu extends beyond protecting the village from brigands and beating rival fighters in the next village, province or state. Their strength, agility, balance and athletic skills are demonstrated annually not during knock down dragged out tournaments but during the lunar New Year through the lion and dragon dance ceremony.
This shamanistic ritual is believed to be vital for the community by chasing away evil spirits, bad karma and purify the space to usher in peace and prosperity for the New Year. Something we all could us these days.
In the Big Apple this tradition continues as you can see in this video of an awesome lion and dragon performance by the Wan Chi Ming Hung Gar Institute.
And for those whose appreciation of martial arts is practical, check out these guys’ leg strength, endurance, flexibility, and balance concealed behind these thrilling – and dangerous – lion and dragon movements. Acquiring these physical attributes would enhance any modern martial artists fighting abilities.
By the way, in this video there is a shot of Hung Gar Master Wan Chi Ming. In 1984, he led ten martial art teachers – I had the honor to be one – to visit the Shaolin Temple. We were among the first foreign guests of the Chinese government to visit the Shaolin when it was still closed to the outside world.
It’s over 28 years since I was with him in the Shaolin courtyard. His New York Chinatown school has evolved: five pristine lion heads, a dragon, uniforms when once there were only two simple lion heads, no dragon and performers in blue jeans and street clothes. And the elaborate staging and precise coordination of the show elevated the simpler street performances to theater. That’s progress.
But now watching Master Wan’s students pounding the drums and performing the lion and dragon’s ritual movements as he once did a generation ago, I realized that no matter how much things change – or seem to progress – in the end, things are the same. That’s tradition.
Evolving Martial Artists bridge the old and the new to discover what’s true.
Lawrence Tan
This Year of the Dragon we are introducing TanDao Dragon Combat for the first time. It integrates “Little Dragon” Lee’s JKD and classical dragon kung fu for a modern tradition. Join us.
Check out our Tiger Combat ebook
And…our video downloads – Tiger Claw and our vbook, The Red Book
Tags: chinese new year, dragon dance, kung fu, lawrence tan, lion dance, nyc, pearl river mart, toni josephson, wan chi ming, wan chi ming hung gar, year of the dragon
Want a big tip to perfecting your martial techniques? This open secret is part of traditional kung fu wisdom and now seems to be scientifically verified. You may be hearing or reading of the 10,000 Hour Rule, expounded by the popular author, Malcolm Gladwell. He states a general theory on acquiring excellence in any field from the Beatles in music, Einstein in physics, Gates in technology, and we can extrapolate Bruce Lee in martial arts.
The “10,000 Hour Rule” essentially postulates that achieving extraordinary abilities of a specific task requires practicing twenty hours a week for ten years – or 10,000 hours. Now let us apply this to mastery of a martial art skill.
Every martial artist who throws a simple front kick, reverse punch or perhaps more specialized tiger claw or dragon take down may seem skillful after five years. But according to this theory, it is still not enough time for true excellence.
In Chinese, the words kung fu, have the same meaning of this rule although it doesn’t quantify the amount of time. In the calligraphy above, the character “kung” which means work or effort is comprised of two radicals: effort and time. Therefore, only through disciplined hard work and effort doing a specific skill over a long period of time will bring true skill. The word “fu” means human and the Chinese character juxtaposes the character for human and heaven, subtly implying a divine or cultivated person.
Whether you are dedicated to capoeira, krav maga, wing chun, jkd or mma, the 10,000 Hour Rule provides insight into the what is needed to attain superior technical abilities – not true mastery. That requires two to three times that.
Is there any specific fighting technique or form you want to make awesome? Narrow it down to a core of three techniques or a single form and apply this rule. If the wisdom of traditional kung fu and Gladwell’s rule are scientifically valid, then you are on your way to mastering those martial techniques.
Question: There are certainly many successful martial artists fighting and teaching, who have haven’t practiced the arts a decade. What are the implications? What do you think?
Keep exploring and practicing,
Lawrence Tan
Birthday Greetings to our dear friend, Neil Hall, Chief Instructor at London Chinatown TKD. And check out his bo staff demo!
Check out our Tiger Combat ebook
And…our video downloads – Tiger Claw and our vbook, The Red Book
Tags: 10000 hour rule, kung fu, lawrence tan, malcolm gladwell, Martial Arts, outliers, tandao
In Act One of Shakespeare’s Richard III, the future king says “Now is the winter of our discontent, made glorious summer by this son of York…” It is a statement of celebration, difficulty has turned a corner. Today, Feb 2nd, in Pennysylvania, the grand groundhog, Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow. The tradition tells us this means six more weeks of winter. This is the harshest season in the cycle. It may have a feeling of stagnation, coldness, isolation – with no imminent sign of spring.
Set in cold and snowy Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, we almost all know the film Groundhog Day has a hidden message. An egotistical weatherman trapped in time relives the same day for years until he is liberated by his own awareness. It is an endless winter, a time of seeing his shadow. This is an allegory of our spiritual journey.
We may see something of ourselves in the Groundhog Day protaganist Phil Connors. Inside of us are the moments of self loathing or self absorption. We are the grandiose, or the world weary. Both are painful. This is a time to take a good look — do you see your shadow? Where are you in your life? In your practice?
Our path is one of process, flow, progress. The story of the warrior always has at its core the apprentice finding his way along the road to mastery. It is learning from mistakes, preparation, practice, meditation, change, growth. For us at TanDao, the orientation is always the martial way, though the philosophy applies to anything you endeavor. It is the cycle of the Evolving Martial Artist: the warrior, the scholar and the monk. These three parts of the self are all moving, turning together, each with elements of the other changing us. We’ll slow it down to get a clear look at the stages of the evolution. In the first stage, there is youthful arrogance, egocentric attitudes, a stumbling, yet flexible growth. Second, a time for refinement and responsibility as focus shifts away from the self. Last, awareness beyond the self — compassion, as knowledge flows into serenity and wisdom. They are all moving into one another, flowing, changing. The final and total integration is the soul of the quiet master.
In change there is salvation. And redemption. If you are mired on your path, work to break the loop. Like Phil in Groundhog Day, learn to work, practice and play for the joy of work, practice and play. Take the journey, leave your ego in the dust. When you look, may you find no shadow there, as your long winter makes its way into the sun.
Toni Josephson
Check out our Tiger Combat ebook
And…our video downloads – Tiger Claw and our vbook, The Red Book
Tags: ego, groundhog day, lawrence tan, Martial Arts, philaldelphia, tandao, toni josephson
Knockout of the century! (Nocaute do seculo!)
Awesome! Though brutal, this is a beautifully executed spinning wheel kick. Watch this again, because it is the Platonic ideal of fighting beautifully in a unrehearsed, unchoreographed fighting competition.
High spinning kicks to the head, common to capoeira, tae kwon do, hapkido and certain northern kung fu systems require great skill.
Evolving Martial Artists appreciate this supreme expression of kicking, yet regard it as a stupid self-defense technique. Why? It is too dangerous for a violent encounter when a mistake can have serious consequences.
In TanDao we learn to distinguish between a high probability and high destruction technique when determining which of the multitude of punches, kicks, throws and fighting movements from different styles are truly practical and efficient for real fighting.
This kick is a high destruction technique as evident from this dramatic knockout. Yet fans of MMA, tae kwon do or kickboxing know how rarely this kick connects in fighting tournaments. A right hook or roundhouse kick to the head is statistically far more common. As such, this type of high kick is regarded as a low probability technique. It should be avoided in any serious violent encounter, no matter how skilled you are. By all means, use them for wowing audiences at demos and for movie fights scenes, but for self defense, a wise martial artist will employ high probability techniques all the time.
Keep it simple.
Our theme at TanDao for Evolving Martial Artists is to bridge the gap between modern martial science and traditional martial arts.
This Year of the Dragon, we will introduce fighting techniques that are both high probability and high destruction that are taken from our TanDao Dragon Form.
Keep exploring and practicing,
Lawrence Tan
Check out our Tiger Combat ebook
And…our video downloads – Tiger Claw and our vbook, The Red Book
Tags: capoeira, kung fu, lawrence tan, self defense, tae kwon do, tandao
Happy New Year! Kung Hei Fat Choy! Gong Xi Fa Cai!
Tags: chinese new year, dragon, tandao, year of the dragon
