Comparing Western Physical Training and Eastern Martial Arts 1. Westerners concentrate on building up their bodies and are more concerned with their appearance than their performance. If people were racing cars, Westerners would only be interested in the shell. Eastern martial arts are not about caring how big that shell is, but how aerodynamic and
The original idea of kung fu has nothing to do with the martial arts. “Kung” means the time devoted to working on something. “Fu” means a tough guy or an intelligent person. When put together, the phrase describes somebody who works hard at a task. Chinese people even use this to make jokes about their
This is a philosophy as well as a martial art technique. (The correct spelling is “Taiji” but “Tai Chi” is more common.) The philosophy of Tai Chi comes from Taoism. According to Taoism, the essence of life has no limitation. In Chinese it’s called wuji. According to the philosophy, wuji acts in two opposite directions:
Happy Heart You build up stress and get psycho because of a bad habit: you don’t balance your stress every day. It’s like a little snowball rolling down a hill. In the beginning, it’s small and you can stop it. As it rolls, it becomes bigger, big enough to smash your house. If you
A meridian in our body is just like a freeway through a city: it helps transfer various types of vehicles (information) to different areas. The connection points between meridian lines – the nerve points – are like freeway junctions which allow cars to pass through without blocking traffic. When a nerve point gets blocked, it
Your presence has no presence. This is the same for all consciousness. Having the presence means you have to let it go every second, and then you have no presence. It means everything from your past has been hooked onto you. Whether you want it to or not, it will still hook onto every part
In order to climb even the highest mountain in the world, you have to start from the lowest point. You can understand this wisdom today, but it will take you a million lifetimes to feel it from your heart. Buddha’s First Essence Meditation Buddha essence is in you: it wants to teach you to become
Searching Heart creates non-pure consciousness. It creates pollution such as anxiety, ambition, stress, doubt, possessiveness, and insecurity. The result of this is a stage of awareness called Worry. Worry that you are not able to receive what you want. Worry that it isn’t as good as you had imagined. Worry that you might lose it
What is the cause of suffering? Suffering is created by your blindness and then received by your consciousness. If your food is hot, but you are hungry and eat it, then your mouth gets burnt. Suffering has no form, you cannot describe its colour, you cannot point at the suffering itself. Suffering comes from your
The Six Bodhisattva Characters are Generosity, Discipline, Patience, Concentration, Meditation, and Wisdom. Meditation Meditation is the power of creation, the ability to create complete awareness of the opposite forces of life. To create: being lively, wild and free, being calmly but sharply aware with no tension, of all the details of the present and possibilities
Some Common Misunderstandings of the Tai Chi Martial Art Speed True Tai Chi has no speed limitations – slow, fast, steady, changing in any way freely and smoothly – but the training system is used in slow motion to catch every detail until the moves finally become natural and correct. Because of this, most people
Training System Move in harmony and keep the spine straight. Be steady like a mountain, but act like wind. Be light and sensitive. The whole body’s strength remains connected as one. Energy vibrates exciting. Defend System Stay calm: observe and be aware of the coming situation so you have a better chance to defend and
INTRODUCTION The Heart Sutra – Prajñāpāramitāhṛdaya – 般若波羅蜜多心經 – Bō rě bō luó mì duō xīn jīng Indian Buddhism originally had two different groups, one group called “Large Popular” and the other called “Top Concentrated Group”. For the Large Popular, the most important Buddhist philosophy is the philosophy book of Por Ler. The Bodhisattva called
