John Chang and chi

MinnyMinor

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQZg_DqkIWo

I wonder what you would think of above chi demos and if it is for real. Not really MA i suppose but like internal MA?

dave80

MinnyMinor wrote: »

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQZg_DqkIWo

I wonder what you would think of above chi demos and if it is for real. Not really MA i suppose but like internal MA?

this says it all really

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gEDaCIDvj6I

Peetrik

He must really have believed it worked for him to accept the challenge. I suppose if it means that much to people, as in if its their livelihood and is the thing they are most praised and respected for... they start to believe it themselves, they have to for them to feel any sort of selfworth.

Its a bit sad really, poor man.

Still its better that its exposed for being the nonsense it is, at the end of the day its only going to hurt people in the long run wether that be through simply wasting students time or much worse giving someone the belief that they can fend off a knife mugger using their chi instead of just running away

Niall Keane

Last time on was on Wudang Mountain, one of the centres of internal martial arts, I asked a number of respected daoist monks and kung fu practitioners about their understanding of chi, and told them of these chi circus demos in the west. They were surprised to say the least.
Their understanding of "chi" would translate as "flow". It is not considered a thing in itself at all, it is not a life force or anything of the sort, that is simply imposing Indian yogic theory on Chinese martial arts, ie a new-age falacy! Chi to the daoists of the Purple Cloud Temple and The Golden Sumit Temple, simply means a flow of energy. So your cardio vascular system is part of your chi, your nervous system is part of your chi, the digestive system is part o your chi. Therefore attacking or inteupting chi is to attack or shock these systems simple as that!
All else is low level misunderstanding, not internal, not mystical nor traditional, but not surprising given the evident poor skill level of many who hide their ignorance of classic writings pertaining to the martial arts behind pseudo-science and false-mystery. No internal martial art classic mentions attacking someone with chi, they all mention using "jin" which translates as "educated strength" or efficient force in the correct direction. Of course many early western writers translated both chi and jin as simply "energy", these guys were academics not fighters, so hadn't a clue about what was being discussed. sustitute western terms such as faints and draws for empty force and the clouds start to dispell!

MinnyMinor

what would people think of someone who could hold their hand an inch away from your and burn you?

dave80

MinnyMinor wrote: »

what would people think of someone who could hold their hand an inch away from your and burn you?

are they holding a lighter??

OLDMAN1

dave80 wrote: »

are they holding a lighter??

MOST LIKELY A ZIPPO

MinnyMinor

OLDMAN1 wrote: »

MOST LIKELY A ZIPPO

holding nothing i once met someone who could do it for real. not a martial artist althogh had done karate. not interested in fame or money either

dunkamania

Midi-chlorians are microscopic life-forms that reside within the cells of all living things and communicate with the Force.They are symbionts with all other living things and without them life could not exist. The Jedi have learned how to listen to and coordinate the midi-chlorians. While every living being thus has a connection to the Force, one must have a high enough concentration of midi-chlorians in one's cells in order to be a Jedi or a Sith.

simon-king

How do I get to Wudang Mountain??

The Shane

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YMvMb90hem8


Application of the scientific method rather than somebody's brother's miracle recovery.

"Herbal medicine has been around for thousands of years, then we tested it all and the stuff that worked is medicine the rest is a nice bowl of soup"

Shane, The

Niall Keane

On the off-chance this wasn't flippant, simon-king:
Get to Beijing, fly to Wuhan, train to Shiyan, taxi to Wudang Shan.
Once there make sure to have hiking boots an clothes suitable for rain Forest, the main trek up to the Golden Summit is fine 3000 steps, but other more remote places are slippery treks a foot wide along cliffs, over rivers, waterfalls etc... Ie beautiful but not for everyone.

simon-king

Niall Keane wrote: »

On the off-chance this wasn't flippant, simon-king:
Get to Beijing, fly to Wuhan, train to Shiyan, taxi to Wudang Shan.
Once there make sure to have hiking boots an clothes suitable for rain Forest, the main trek up to the Golden Summit is fine 3000 steps, but other more remote places are slippery treks a foot wide along cliffs, over rivers, waterfalls etc... Ie beautiful but not for everyone.

Sounds like a very extreme and dangerous expedition but must be very beautiful indeed! Would it be very misty up at those altitudes??

Niall Keane

Can be, it has a sub-tropical climate, right now China is building Dams etc. in the area to supply Beijing and Shanghai with water. Despite its Unesco status! :eek:
But the mountains are not that tall, so nothing like Hua Shan's rocks / cliffs and its "sky ladders" and you don't have monkey's to contend with unlike Emei Shan.
some days you can't see 10 meter's ahead of you, which is atmospheric when assending a peak. (there are 72 peaks in the range)
Other days when clear the view from the peaks is truely amazing!
Tai He Shan (Supreme Harmony Mountain), the main peak is a Daoist sacred site so expect many pilgrims.
On the way up check out the "Purple Cloud" temple (centre for the Complete Reality sect I believe?), the "Iron Needle" temple (so called as Zhen Wu is said to have worn a colum into a needle training), the "Prince's Walk" temple, get some teas there!, (legend says it was where Zhen Wu studied the classics), the "Southern Cliff" temple is half way up, it is said to be the place where Nei Jia Chuan was developed first, Chang San Feng having resided in a cave beneath the temple, you might have seen it on movies, the "dragon incense burner" extruding out from the cliff is fairly famous, no longer allowed, but people used to close their eyes and walk out on it to place incense sticks, a test of "centering".
From there to the Golden Summit temple in the forbidden city, there are numerous grottos and temples worth visiting, strange hermits and nuns, and of course the three "sky gates" representing levels of internal achievement.
From the Southern cliff you could go on a 5 hour trek through the area over to Five Dragon Peak, which is an amazing place, and the oldest temple in the area. There is a hamleton the way that serves perhaps the best food on earth? I mean some of it was litterly picked off the terraced fields surrounding the hamlet before a meal. also their Yellow Wine is somethig else! be careful. They like telling the old "Outlaws of the Marsh" tale - "no more than three cups" I was with some communist officials at the time, so we had 9, there's some time I lost track of definately!
All the temples are active with monks and sometimes their failies living there, some are simply Daoists, some practice kung fu. Although they are not circus performers, you really need to get to know them or share something of your own stuff to break the ice.
Down in the town there are two temples, the larger is being reconstructed, the smaller houses a disney land wushu school, full of foreigners, which says a lot. There is real kung fu available in the town, there's a Daoist centre, where many traveling Daoists reside. I know a guy who stays there if not in the mountains, he has about 8 students only. See the truth about Wudang was that it was a centre of martial arts, people came and went to exchange ideas, test stuff out etc. not really to walk up to a temple, knock on the door and ask to be taught.
Anyway, if you have it in mind to, you should go and see for yourself. The other two mountains are worth a visit aswell, Hua Shan near Xian is breath-taking, and Emei west of Cheng Du still has kung fu, but also a tiger and panda reserve, which reminds me there's cobras and some unplesant spiders on those mountains so keep your eyes open!;)

gb153

As Niall said internal martial arts rely on jing as opposed to chi. There are variations on how jing is explained but probably the best way to get some kind of an understanding of jing is through contact with a high level practitioner of tai chi. See demo by Chen Bing below

[URL="[url]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eIc5NIfrnJs[/url]"][/url]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eIc5NIfrnJs

Its not some mystical force that can be transmitted through the air but is a very real ability to transfer force by direct contact. Although the explanations of how jing is described vary they all agree that it takes many many hours of practise to develop this kind of ability.

antybots

They were some pretty nifty throws.