WingChunStorypart IV

These three months were about training the mind andthe body, mental and physical training. Master Ng Muialso began teaching her some basic hands, such asTaan Sau (opening hand), Bong Sau (wing hand), FukSau (resting on hand) and Wu Sau (protecting hand).

All these techniques were Master Ng Mui’s new hand techniquesthat she had formulated to follow the principle of contactingthe enemy and reacting to the contact with them. Each of thehands cooperate with each other. Taan Sau is related to BongSau and Fuk Sau is related to Wu Sau. Later on other handtechniques such as Gaan Sau, Jam Sau, Waan Lan Sau, Biu Jiand Man Sau were developed. However, in a short period oftime, it is best not to learn too much.

Wing Chun had to repeat all of these hand techniquesmany times. At first she practised them by herself, and thenshe practised with a wooden dummy. The wooden dummywas not to hit, it was for her to use to get her angles andpositions right. Then she would never miss a technique. In realcombat, the fight must be very short and you should not spendtoo much time attacking and defending yourself. You mustwin as quickly as you can. When you attack, you must finishyour opponent and make sure that he cannot attack you back.

In order to be able to do this, Wing Chun had to trainevery single hand technique correctly. However, unexpectedthings can always happen and so she could sometimes missher opponent using only one technique. So she had to learnhow to follow up her techniques to cover any unexpected things.

For example, if someone punched her she could contactit with Bong Sau and redirect the energy of the strike. She

The first three months training was noteasy. However, if your body can accept it,then it will be very strong. Yim Wing Chunwas able to accept it and so she graduallychanged from a normal teenage girl into astronger and more powerful girl.

WingChunStory

could then punch towards the opponent’s face. However, ifher opponent also punched at her with the other hand, shecould change her punch into a Paak Sau and block the enemy’spunch with her palm and then hit back. So Yim Wing Chunhad to get those hand techniques right before she could go onto learn how to counter and continue her attack.

She trained very hard and became strong and full ofenergy. All her training covered external training and alsointernal training. The external training developed her bone,muscle, joint, skin and strength. Her internal training developedher Jing (sexual energy -which is the first kind of energy thebody will develop), Qi (vital energy) and Shen (spiritual energy).When she did a lot of physical training, she also had to domeditation, either standing or sitting in Lotus position. Duringthe daytime she rested. Master Ng Mui understood that the tobe successful in Kung Fu you had to not only train hard butneeded to be calm and rest between training. Many peoplethink that you have to train day and night all the time, but thisis wrong. A string that is pulled too many times will break. A

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piece of metal that is hit too many times will also eventuallybreak.

Master Ng Mui put all the basic techniques togetherinto a form. She did this to help Wing Chun remember thetechniques and also to understand theirprinciples and meanings. The form islike a book that tells you themeaning of the skill. Wing Chunhad to study the form manytimes to understand it in justthe same way a scholar hasto read a book many timesto understand the meaningof its contents.

Each martial art hasits own principles which itfollows to attack anddefend. For example, theprinciple of Wing ChunKuen is a straight linewhilst the principle ofTaijiquan is a circle. Theprinciple of Baguazhang isturning and the principleof Xingyiquan is a straightline. From one mainprinciple we can developmany supplements ones tobalance the principle andcover many aspects. Manypeople can be easilyconfused by too manytechniques and so theylose the main principle.

If you do an animalstyle of Kung Fu, then yourmovements should havethat animal’s spirit andway of moving and acting.For example, Master NgMui’s White Crane KungFu should have the crane’s

attitude and should be light and fast. The Tiger style must bestrong and powerful and must attack quickly. If it is the Monkeystyle, then you must be flexible and move very quickly. In thisstyle, you must also be able to jump and tumble. If it is DrunkenKung Fu, then you must be able to lose your balance. However,you must control your centre and at the same time be able towithstand a punch if necessary.

Wing Chun’s main principle is a straight line, but becauseit is a straight line, it needs circles to balance it and cover up

and down, as a straight line cannot do that. So to make it acomplete system of Kung Fu, Wing Chun has circles, left andright and up and down to cover all the aspects of skill for

straight line attacks. However, there are sometechniques and principles that every

person must follow even thoughthey each have their ownmovements and attitude.

We all have fingers, butour fingerprints are different.However, the principle of thefingers is the same and theyconnect with palms and havethree joints. Humans havefingers on each hand, butdifferent animals havedifferent kinds of limbs. Somemaybe have fingers but notnecessarily five and some arewebbed.

It is the same with KungFu. If we do not follow the style,then it is different and cannotbe called the same style. Soindividual people have differentpersonalities and attitudes andthis affects their movements, butthey must follow the sameprinciples in order to be doingthe same style. The closer aperson is to the source of the skill,the more original their skill willbe.

Yim Wing Chun wastaught three forms. The first formwas called Siu Lim Tao whichminimises the thoughts. Thismeans that we should not thinktoo much. It is quite a Daoist wayand although Master Ng Mui wasa Buddhist, she had also studiedLao Zi’s Dao De Jing. (Lao Zi was

the founder of Daoism and in thebook the Dao De Jing he explains Dao.Dao is nature and nature is balance).Although we can never make our mindsstop thinking we should minimise ourthoughts. Thinking too much can causeillness and many problems. Siu Lim Taocalms our minds and we learn how tobe still. Kung Fu is a fighting skill, a skillof movement, but before we canunderstand movement, we need to

understand stillness.Then our movements can be quick and accurate. Siu

Lim Tao also contains all the basic hand techniques and howto use Fa Ging (releasing power). In order to use power in ashort distance and to minimise the time, we must know howto Fa Ging in any circumstance. That is why when we Fa Gingin Wing Chun we do not withdraw the hands to do this and soyou should be able to do it wherever your hand is

by Michael Tse

“Becauseit is a straight line, itneeds circles to balance.”

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