SELECTION OF QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
DECEMBER 2018 PART 3
Cosmic Shower is an excellent way for physical, emotional, mental and spiritual cleansing
Question 1
You told us, and wrote it many times in articles and in your books that Western medicine should learn from traditional Chinese medicine or at least try to work under some aspects of the traditional Chinese medicine to cure so called incurable diseases.
— Dimitri, Austria
Answer
I have tried to impress upon the public this concept that Western medicine, which most people accept nowadays, can benefit much from traditional Chinese medicine without any financial loss. Indeed, with the technological advance of Western medicine today, the world will benefit much and Western medical practitioners will gain a lot of prestige if they study and apply the empirical knowledge of traditional Chinese medicine without forgoing their training and practice.
A major difference between Western medicine and Chinese medicine is their approach to restoring a person's health. Western medicine is reductionist, finding out from the environment the factors that cause illness. Chinese medicine is holistic, finding out from within the patient himself what has gone wrong that causes him not to be normal.
It is a shame that today many diseases are considered incurable in Western medicine, like cancer, heart problems, asthma, diabetes, depression, phobia and many others. This can be traced to the basic paradigm in Western medicine. As there are countless factors in the environment, and they are constantly changing, it is near impossible to pin-point at the factors that cause diseases. Doctors trained in Chinese medicine do not have this problem. As human systems are limited and have been carefully studied, they only need to find out what has gone wrong and rectify it. After rectification, the patient regains his good health, which is natural.
I wish to emphasize a very important and beautiful point. Good health is natural. When all the human systems operate the way they are meant to operate, illness can never occur. This is made so much easier with the empirical knowledge gained in Chinese medicine, which can be reduced to the principle of yin-yang harmony.
Very briefly, yin-yang disharmony, which means illness in this case, can be caused by insufficient yin, insufficient yang, excessive yin or excessive yang. If a patient suffers from insufficient yin, like being easily fatigued in Western medicine, a suitable treatment is to increase yin, like giving him nutrients to improve his body functions. If a patient suffers from excessive yang, like a viral attack in Western medicine, a suitable treatment is to reduce yang, like giving him cooling medication in Chinese herbal medicine.
It is even easier in chi kung therapy, which is a part of traditional Chinese medicine. In chi kung philosophy all illness or yin-yang disharmony is caused by energy blockage. When a chi kung healer succeeds in helping a patient clear his energy blockage, the patient regains his good health, which is natural.
Western trained doctors can make good use of this empirical knowledge in Chinese medicine, without having to discard their Western training and practice. To restore yin-yang harmony, i.e. to restore a sick person to good health, a Western trained doctor can use Western medical practice. If a patient suffers from insufficient yin, instead of using herbs to nourish yin, a Western trained doctor can use Western nutrients. If a patient suffers from excessive yang, instead of using herbs to cool the system, a Western trained doctor can use Western methods to restore the patient's defence system, which Western trained doctors are successfully using now.
Question 2
Acupuncture and acupressure are two important pillars besides herbalism, tuina massage and chi kung in the traditional Chinese medicine.
Answer
Unfortunately, acupuncturists, chi kung therapists and other doctors using traditional Chinese methods are much influenced, usually unconsciously, by Western medicine. Instead of using traditional Chinese medical philosophy to understand the patient's illness and plan a thorough strategy to overcome his problem, they use stereotype acupuncture points, chi kung techniques and other methods for particular diseases.
In other words, instead of using traditional Chinese medical paradigm like five-elemental processes and yin-yang harmony to discover what aspects a patient is not functioning as he should, they find out what illness the patient is suffering from, usually using Western medical paradigm, then prescribe stereotype traditional Chinese medical methods to overcome the complaint.
Interestingly, many of them still succeed.
Dr Foong explaining some points during an Intensive Chi Kung Course
Question 3
I found a product in the internet. It is called "laser pen for acupuncture" and according to the creators and sellers it should work like acupuncture needles, but you don't sting the skin. It works when the laser beam touches the point on the skin.
Has Sigung ever heard of these devices and can you tell something about it from your own experience?
Answer
I don't know about the laser pen or similar devices.
I am very sure that a laser pen, no matter how good it is, is very different from a well-trained acupuncturist. It is not the gadgets he uses, but his skills and knowledge.
It is the same with chi kung. It is not the chi kung techniques a person uses, it is the skills and knowledge of the chi kung therapist. A same chi kung technique by a mediocre instructor will have very different result by a skillful teacher.
Question 4
Dear Sigung, do you mean to say that my chi kung healing is going quicker and more successfully than most other chi kung students or patients? Has Sifu told you that?
— Marina, Russia
Answer
Our chi kung is more than 100 times better than what most other chi kung practitioners practice!
It is hard to believe, but it is true. More than 80% of those who practice chi kung today, irrespective of how long they have practiced, cannot generate a chi flow at will. They only practice gentle physical exercise using chi kung techniques, just as most people today practice Taijiquan as an outward form using Taijiquan techniques. It is chi flow that gives chi kung benefits.
Most other people cannot overcome their illness, any illness, by practicing chi kung. Not only you have overcome cancer and fear, your life now is much better than ever before.
Your sifu (Dr Foong) did not tell me this, but it is obvious from students in our school, though some of them may not realize how lucky they are.
Course participants practicing Cotton Palm at the UK Summer Camp 2017
Question 5
Your advice and guidance is very clear. I will follow your advice just to enjoy life wholesomely. Do you know people who just decided to be happy and are actually happy since they decided, without fail?
Answer
Many people in our school have decided to be happy, and they are actually happy without fail. God want us to be healthy and happy. No God of any religion want his followers to be sick and depressed.
These people are sick and depressed because of their blockages, which can be physical, emotional, mental and spiritual. Genuine chi kung, which is rare today, is an excellent way to clear blockages.
Question 6
I must firstly thank you for the wonderful answers on the Cotton Palm thread and for your generosity of passing on these wonderful arts.
— Miguel, Netherlands
Answer
My answers to the questions asked by students on various topics, including Cotton Palm, are beneficial, even if they don't practice the respective arts. The answers often reveal much depth and wisdom.
A person responds to a situation based on his experience and knowledge. For convenience we may classify his response into three categories as good, average or bad. It is interesting to note that whether his response is good, average or bad is dependent on whether the information provided is good, average or bad.
If he follows the instructions well, and if the instructions are good, his result is good. If he follows the instruction well, and if the instruction is bad, the result is bad. What is good is that brings benefit to himself and other people, and what is bad is that brings harm to himself and other people.
For example, in the first question, "Combat Application and Internal Force of Wudang Cotton Palm", I advised that "before one can explode internal force, he must have built sufficient internal force. He must also know the mechanics of the pattern he uses to explode the force."
If a student follows the advice, i.e. he builds up sufficient internal force, and knows the mechanics to explode internal force, he will have internal force and can explode it much faster than most other people.
However, if the advice is bad, such as internal force is a matter of body mechanics, which is actually advised by some "masters", the response will be bad. Not only the person will not have internal force, he may harm himself.
Sifu Ho Fatt Nam performing One-Finger Shooting Zen on a Goat Stance
Question 7
In your autobiography you mention that sometimes Sitaigung Ho Fatt Nam practiced One-Finger Shooting Zen on a Goat Sance. I asked the question to Sifu, and we both came to the conclusion that you no longer teach this because instead we can do One-Finger Shooting Zen in standing position or in Horse-Riding Stance and get the same benefits, but I was still wondering whether there are any different benefits of doing One-Finger Shooting Zen on a Goat Stance?
Answer
One-Finger Shooting Zen is normally practiced in the Horse-Riding Stance. One must therefore be able to stand at the stance for some time before performing One-Finger Shooting Zen.
However, over many years of teaching, I discovered that some students who attended an Intensive Shaolin Kungfu Course where this art was taught, were not sufficiently proficient in the Horse-Riding Stance. To enable them to learn the form first, I taught them One-Finger Shooting Zen standing upright.
This expedient mode of teaching led to an important discovery. It enabled students to generate a chi flow more easily. I also discovered that chi flow was essential in generating internal force which One-Finger Shooting Zen was meant to do.
When flowing energy had been generated, students needed to consolidate the flowing energy into internal force. This could be achieved by stabling the stance, hence the Horse-Riding Stance was used.
I don't know why my sifu, Sifu Ho Fatt Nam, sometimes performed his One-Finger Shooting Zen in a Goat Stance. When he taught me and my classmates, he used the Horse-Riding Stance.
I believe there were two possible reasons why he performed One-Finger Shooting Zen on a Goat Stance. The Horse-Riding Stance I learned in his school was narrower and higher than the one I learned from Uncle Righteousness, my first kungfu teacher. Indeed, the Horse-Riding Stance I learned from my other sifus, Sifu Chee Kim Thong and Sifu Choe Hoong Choy, were also narrower and higher.
A possible reason was that Sifu Ho Fatt Nam started with the Horse-Riding Stance. But over the years, he found the Goat Stance more suitable for his needs. I don't think performing One-Finger Shooting Zen on a Goat Stance was a secret. He often showed us this art openly on a Goat Stance.
The second possible reason was that the Goat Stance was somewhere between standing upright and on a Horse-Riding Stance. My sifu probably found that when he was on a Goat Stance he could better generate chi flow. I also don't think it was a secret, otherwise he would have told me, as he had told me many other, and often more important, secrets. My sifu probably found this out unintentionally.
Question 8
Ever since I was young I have received premonitions of the future. These premonitions often came at random, and I could foresee events in the future, such as natural disasters, random encounters with people, or simple everyday occurrences. Since beginning my chi kung training these premonitions occur more often.
Answer
Chi kung opens many psychic centres, often without the practitioners' knowing and without their intentions.
When your centres concerning premonitions were opened, you have the ability to see into the future. This ability, called "miraculous powers" in classical chi kung terms, is very useful and beneficial. You know beforehand what will happen.
If the premonitions are good and happy, you can improve yourself to welcome them. If the premonitions are bad and unpleasant, you can prepare yourself to avoid them or minimize them. Premonitions are fluid. Sometimes you may change their course of action.
A sure way is to develop good karma, or cause and effect. Do at least a good turn every day, no matter how small it may be. Do it not because you want to have good karma, as it will inevitably occur, but do it because it is the right thing to do.
There is one important thing regarding premonitions you need to bear in mind, and it is called "heaven secrets". You must not reveal "heaven secrets" indiscriminatingly. A good way to find out whether you can reveal your premonitions is to ask God or ask your consciousness. You will always be given an answer. Nevertheless, one normally does not reveal premonitions.
If you have any questions, please e-mail them to Grandmaster Wong via his Secretary at stating your name, country and e-mail address.
LINKS
Selected Reading
- How Chinese Medical Philosophy can Enhance Western Medical Practice
- Spiritual Cultivation and Cosmic Wisdom
- A Very Special Zen Experience
- San Zhan of Wuzuquan
- Onward to the Interial