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In our TanDao System we combine JKD and Shaolin animal styles to create practical  techniques for extreme self-defense.  This week’s video introduces the TanDao intercepting claw. It is inspired by Bruce Lee’s straight lead punch and the Shaolin tiger claw. The intercepting claw exemplifies TanDao’s approach to bridging traditional art and modern fight science. The best of both worlds.

One of the core techniques in Bruce Lee’s JKD is the straight lead punch.  It is fast and powerful by using the dominant hand in the lead position. The weapon is structurally closer to the target than boxing and karate styles that generally favor positioning the power hand in the rear.  As such, the JKD intercepting fist, or the lead straight punch is ideal for intercepting the opponent’s attacks.

Traditional kung fu teaches that animal hand techniques, tiger claws, snake fangs and crane beaks are more sophisticated than punching. Like a fist, animal techniques can hit the target, but animal techniques are more versatile than the fist since animal techniques  can concentrate force into targeted vital pressure points.

In TanDao, we have combined the lead straight punch with the Shaolin tiger claw that is found in styles like hung gar or choy lay fut.  It is true, modern martial artists focus on punching and  seldom employ animal techniques. In the spirit of Fight Lab, experiment with it. Discover the power of the TanDao intercepting claw for yourself. It works!

To learn more about TanDao and our TanDao Tiger Combat series, check out our ebooks, video downloads and dvds.

A special thanks to those of you who have generously donated to the TanDao tip jar.

Lawrence Tan

Tiger Claw download — now available in DVD!
Check out our TanDao Fight Labs and our ebooks and videos
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Imagine: having the opportunity to spend a year working with the master who taught Bruce Lee kung fu. Awesome! In 1982, I wrote and directed the first video on Wing Chun – The Science of In Fighting, with Wong Shun Leung. He was one of Grandmaster Yip Man’s inner circle disciples and who’s fighting abilities were recognized by his title, “King of Talking Hands”.

Wing Chun and JKD aficionados may know that although Yip Man is Bruce Lee’s formal master, it is Wong Shun Leung who actually taught Lee. In Fiaz Rafiq’s book, Bruce Lee Conversations, according to Master William Cheung, Lee’s Hong Kong friend, after less than a year in Yip’s school, students pressured Yip Man into expelling Bruce Lee. Cheung implies this stemmed from jealousy of Lee’s great skills and reflected the conservative mindset that kung fu not to be taught to foreigners because Lee was a quarter-German. Perhaps this incident motivated Lee to defy tradition by teaching non Chinese in the States.

Wong Shun Leung may have been a motivation for the young Lee to explore other martial arts. Jesse Glover, Lee’s first student in Seattle, recalls in his book that after a visit to Wong in Hong Kong, Lee realized he was unable to defeat Wong Shun Leung using pure Wing Chun. Lee’s desire to find ways to surpass his teacher may have lead to his creation of the eclectic JKD.

Master Wong Shun Leung, quiet and humble, was surprisingly open in explaining and demonstrating the secrets of Wing Chun to me, to transmit his beloved art.

Interestingly, the presence of this famous master is found not only in Wing Chun and JKD, but also in our TanDao System. The theoretical foundation of Wing Chun (centerline, economy of motion, etc…) holds universal principles that apply to all systems and forms the basis of TanDao.  It is evident in our animal combat (tiger, snake, crane, leopard and dragon) and Tan’s Dazzling Hands (internal open hand combat) which evolved beyond Wing Chun punching. Check out our TanDao Tiger Combat video and ebook, see if you can discover these principles concealed behind our practical modern animal combat.

Download our free Shaolin Crane Ebook http://www.tandao.com/ebook/

Lawrence Tan

TanDao Kung Fu

Bruce Lee

“Emotional content,” Bruce Lee tells a student practicing a side kick in Enter the Dragon. Martial artists strive to re-channel emotions, like anger, fear and frustration, to amplify the power of a strike or kick, or when breaking a brick or throwing an attacker. The kiai or “spirit shout,” for example, is a way of focusing the breath to direct primal emotions into fighting techniques.

However, when the young student angrily kicks out, Lee admonishes, “emotional content – not anger.”  Unleashing power is only the first stage on the martial path. The next less traveled stage, is the challenge to control the power. This demands meditation and deep contemplation of the consequences of our actions. There are mental techniques that help control emotions. These are practical and can be used by everyone of us as a tool for emotional outbursts in daily situations. Here’s some helpful information and techniques:

White Bears

A well known study on the consequences of suppressing emotions was done by Dr. Daniel Wegner. One group of people was instructed to push away thoughts of a white bear, while another group was allowed any thoughts, including thoughts about a white bear. He found that the group who had suppressed thoughts of a white bear actually ended up having more white bear thoughts than the group that had been allowed to thinking about anything.

What it means is that if you accept your thoughts and feelings and learn to regulate emotions, you are less likely to rely on their suppression. Don’t bottle them up– detach, let them come — and then — let them go.

Triggers

Learn to detect the small signs of emotional discomfort before anger or damaging reactive/ impulsive outbursts erupt. Think about exactly why you have these feelings or have the urge to act. Identify the triggers. Consider healthy solutions. Shift your attention. Consciously re-channel the emotional energy into your work, or other activities.

No Blinders

Your ego creates a self- referencing focus and reaction to life’s challenges and changes. It also creates feelings of anger, resentment, fear, even helplessness. You may see your emotional reactions to people and events as information about the situation. Take off the blinders, work on developing your peripheral vision — the wider and further past yourself, the better. Objectivity allows you to look at the thing itself and not at your subjective, emotional feelings. Practice mindfulness and compassion. A healthier ego helps you turn on a light in life’s dark moments.

Techniques

If you feel overwhelmed, angry or upset, stop for a few minutes. Don’t reply to that email or phone message. Don’t engage the other person is an angry dialog. It will get you nowhere fast. Take a break, or a walk. Calm down before you respond or react. We have seen this in the news this past week with Senator Joe Wilson, Serena Williams and Kanye West the results of  impulsive or reactive actions.

Move and breathe – use breathing and relaxation techniques to calm you. Give meditation a try. We recommend our Energy Snacks to show you how to breath rhythmically and deeply, and learn to center.

For many of us, emotional control can enhance our every day communications and overall well being. For some of us, it is breaking out of dangerous patterns that cause overwhelming pain for ourselves and those we interact with. If all of  this is especially tough for you – try writing down your thoughts, consider assertiveness training, anger management or counseling. Don’t be discouraged if there’s no immediate change in your behavior.  Remember, just as learning a kick or joint lock requires repetition and practice, these emotional control techniques require practice –- keep practicing.

Toni Josephson & Lawrence Tan

Emotional Mastery: Watch The Master’s 3 Sons

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It’s ironic. On the same day that the celluloid Shaolin master, David Carradine, died, an authentic kung fu master and Hong Kong film legend, Shek Kin, passed away. Although martial artists and film goers may know him as Han, Bruce Lee’s evil nemesis in Enter the Dragon, Shek Kin was a pioneer of early kung fu films. Please do not take this lightly: he was truly one of the first martial arts action stars. No doubt, as a child living in Hong Kong, Bruce Lee was thrilled and inspired by Shek Kin’s kicks and punches in the original black and white “chop socky ” films. Shek Kin achieved fame for playing the arch villain in over 80 films based on the Cantonese martial hero Wong Fei Hong.

As Far East editor for Inside Kung fu magazine back in the seventies, I interviewed Shek Kin in 1975 at his apartment in Hong Kong, after the international success of Enter the Dragon. As a point of interest, Shek Kin was in his late 50′s when he fought Bruce Lee in Enter the Dragon. He was a true master; modest, unassuming and gracious. Here is an excerpt from the end of his interview, in his own words:

An old Shaolin boxing proverb states: “Boxing has no set methods and hitting has no set rules….” Each…nation’s martial art uses basic weapons differently. Power is delivered differently, the patterns of offensive and defensive movements differ and the tactics and strategy differ.…
We should not think in terms of style; we should think in terms of martial arts in general….We should study the best aspects of other systems and better our Kung fu. With this constant exchange of new ideas and the changes that should result from the influences, more and more new styles will emerge as time goes on. Although there will be many new systems, the basics will always be the same…

With the surging popularity of mixed martial arts, Shek Kin’s words sound like those of  a contemporary martial artist. Yet they were spoken thirty four years ago by this Grandmaster of Northern Shaolin. As they say, the more things change, the more they stay the same.

Nevertheless, Shek Kin was an old fashion traditionalist insisting that the primary goal of kung fu practice is for health and longevity. Self-defense is secondary. Unlike Lee and Carradine, Shek Kin lived a long life. He was 96.

Something for an Evolving Martial Artist to consider. What do you think?

Lawrence Tan

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Watch Scholar/Warrior/Monk and other videos http://www.tandao.com/videos/

Theorizing Bruce Lee: For thoughtful martial artists.

We’ve been writing about Bruce Lee in some of our posts. I came across a very well written article, “Theorizing Bruce Lee” by Paul Bowman on Bruce Lee’s JKD. Lee was a popularizer, innovator and is now an international icon. Yet so much written about him is distorted and shallow – though well intentioned. For those interested in a more scholarly and objective perspective on Lee’s modern martial art, Jeet Kune Do, which became the forerunner of Ultimate Fighting and Mixed Martial Arts, I encourage you to read this refreshing and thoughtful essay. It is an intelligent and insightful examination of Lee’s contribution devoid of “hero worship” and the tendency to over mythologize Lee and his JKD.

The author examines Lee’s synthesis of Daoist thought and Western scientific approach, to deeper levels than commonly expounded. He brings to light that Lee never did complete a classical system and many of his criticisms of classical martial arts were inaccurate. It also recognizes Lee’s use of Mao Tse Tung’s military quotations (“Absorb what is useful. Reject what is useless. And add what is your own.” ) and other deep thinkers quotes that have been wrongly attributed to him by editors who published his posthumous writings. Many of Lee’s quotes, gleaned from his notes and not referenced, were popular Chinese aphorisms and common philosophical quotes as well as provocative thought’s by writers like Krishnamurti, Suzuki, Gibran, etc. Just as Lee would probably find it upsetting if others attribute his Jeet Kune Do theories to another contemporary martial artist, say Chuck Norris, it is important to give credit where credit is due with regards to intellectual ideas as well as martial arts techniques.

Of course, none of this is meant to detract from Lee’s historic impact on martial arts, which is universally recognized. But just as we today wonder about who was the real Bodhidharma, or Miyamoto Musahashi or Elvis Presley, for that matter, this type of writing is vital. The necessity of distinguishing between fact and myth, to probe deeper than the popular history, is for the Evolving Martial Artist, who inspired by Bruce Lee, seeks the truth behind conventional dogma and unexamined thoughts – even those of the master.

Read Bowman’s article:
http://theorizingbrucelee.blogspot.com/2008/12/jeet-kune-do-in-theory.html

Lawrence Tan

Download our free Shaolin Crane ebook http://www.tandao.com/ebook/
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Did you watch How Bruce Lee Changed the World on the History Channel?

For fans, seeing a compilation of this charismatic master of movement is always awesome. However, the very title of the documentary, provocative and grandiose, and the fact that it was on the History Channel, set up intellectual expectations that were quickly dashed from the very opening. Disappointing. The excessive focus on contemporary celebrities weakened this attempt to examine Lee as a cultural phenomenon, an inspiring symbol for the global village. There is nothing of the man himself, only his brilliantly created media persona, the ultimate martial arts fighter, is perpetuated.

That this intense, innovative and iconoclastic individual who fought Hollywood racism and Asian stereotyping should inspire athletes, artists, and creative individuals is obvious. But it does not logically follow that he directly contributed to their fields: rap music, fitness, break dancing, free running, etc.

In martial arts, Lee’s impact is absolute. He is the father of mixed martial arts. In Chinese philosophy, however, though Lee earnestly introduced common Daoist and Zen sound bytes in his films, to regard him as a great philosopher – or a “minor prophet” as one called him – is stretching our intelligence.

Attempting to examine Lee from a historical East/West perspective was perfunctory and shallow. The lack of deep interviews with his martial art contemporaries and friends, reminiscing instead by way of young directors like Brett Ratner and LLCool J seemed to leave the project lacking. Although it was a well intentioned homage to the young master, aside from the film montages, and entertaining moments, seeing Lee’s legacy transforming into new commercial context, was unsatisfactory. If it was called How Bruce Lee Influenced Pop Culture, it would work. As a historical documentary, it not only diminishes Bruce Lee’s profound significance but also diminishes history.

Lawrence Tan

Download our free Shaolin Crane ebook http://www.tandao.com/ebook/
Watch TanDao Snake and other videos http://www.tandao.com/videos/

Meeting Bruce Lee

A hero dies, time flies. It’s been thirty six years since on a visit to Hong Kong, I stopped Bruce Lee as he came out of a restaurant. We talked for a few minutes as movie executives waited for him in a limo. Several months later in Boston Chinatown as I went to Kung fu class, a friend sitting on the steps said softly, “Bruce Lee’s dead.”

How Bruce Lee Changed the World, a new documentary commemorating his death will premiere on the History Channel on May 17.  I am anticipating this documentary since Bruce Lee, a global icon has been an inspiration for so many of us. And for me, as a martial artist. Ultimately, martial arts became an avocation for me — where you love it, you must do it, and you make a living doing it.

Chinese Gung Fu: The Philosophical Art of Self Defense

In 1963, I chanced upon a tiny advertisement for a book on Chinese kung fu in Popular Mechanics magazine. It must have been fate, because that was the first and last time that I read that magazine. I sent away for the book, along with my five bucks. Several weeks later it came in the mail: a small, self published book. I was already a martial arts student, yet Bruce Lee’s Chinese Gung Fu: The Philosophical Art of Self Defense also connected me to the spiritual roots of a rich Chinese philosophical heritage.

Beyond his superior physical skill, it was also who he was as a thinker that influenced my life. In a brief essay he introduced the symbol of the yin and yang as it applied to the often neglected intellectual component of kung fu. It was a seed that grew over the years on my own journey from student, to teacher, to mastery, shaping martial arts for me as an integrated path. Daoism, Zen, and the wisdom of the Chinese classics, such as the Art of War, were sources of Lee’s martial philosophy.

The sophistication and subtleties of these universal ideas take a life time of discovery. They have a presence in the TanDao system I created. After over a half century later, I realize that true mastery transcends physical excellence. The Evolving Martial Artist is more than a skilled warrior — one also incorporates a scholar and a monk. It came by way of Bruce Lee. And I happened on the book in a magazine I still wonder why I picked up. Yes, it was worth the five bucks.

Lawrence Tan

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