SEEKING GUIDANCE FROM PAST MASTERS
Grandmaster Lam Sai Weng
Question 8
With regard to Spiritual Cultivation and access to the Universal Mind, is it possible to seek guidance from a particular individual that has passed? For instance, if a student/instructor has taken your Baguazhang course, would it be possible for them to seek guidance directly from Dong Hai Chuan, to deepen their understanding and skill?
If this is possible, would it be recommended? Could this fall into the category of trying to be smarter than the master (not trusting Sifu's teaching/method, looking for better ways to practice, etc.)? If we do our best to practice as you have taught us, does that provide us with the best opportunity to receive spiritual guidance (if it is offered), and therefore no additional seeking of this guidance is necessary?
Sifu Matt Fenton
Answer
Yes, it is possible to seek guidance from an individual that has passed on from this world. This in fact is what happens in seeking guidance from gods who were human before in this world.
Immortal Li was a scholar and Taoist cultivator before he became an immortal. Many people sought his advice with my sifu, Sifu Ho Fatt Nam, acting as a medium. I was skeptical at first, but events proved that if I claimed to be scientific, I just had to accept the fact that immortals who were previously human existed, and their advice helped when human endeavour failed.
It is only sensible to seek advice from highly spiritual beings like gods and immortals. It would be foolish to seek help from lower spirits.
A student or an instrucror who has taken a Baguzzhang course from me could seek guidance from Dong Hai Chuan. Whether Dong Hai Chuan would respond is another issue.
Personally I have not come across students or instructors in our school or other schools who seek advice or guidance from the patriarch who have passed on of the arts the students or instructors practice, like Southern Shaolin practitioners seeking guidance from Wong Fei Hoong or Taijiquan practitioners seeking guidance from Yang Lu Chan.
But I know of a senior practitioner from our school who received guidance from Grandmaster Lam Sai Weng who passed on about 50 years ago. This was a very illuminating real story. The disciple did not know about Grandmaster Lam Sai Weng at first. He just knew a jovial powerful kungfu master came to teach him. It was like real life; the master was like a real living person.
Later when this senior practitioner had a pleasant surprise when he saw in my website a picture of Grandmaster Lam Sai Weng. He told me that was the master who came in spirit to teach him. I asked the senior practitioner what Gandmaster Law Sai Weng had taught him. It was very powerful tiger-claw.
Some time ago a few students reported that they were visited by my sifu, Sifu Ho Fatt Nam. But on investigation I found that it was another spirit.
I would not recommend our students or instructors to seek guidance from mastes who had passed on. There is a likelihood that other spirits may impersonate the past masters.
There is also no need to seek guidance even if the real past masters themselves come. Our students and instructors are already practicing the past masters’ arts very well – to the point of over-training. In fact I have advised that if they could attain only 30% of what they attained at the courses where I taught the arts, it would be more than sufficient for them to excel in the arts.
Yes, this would be falling into the category of trying to be smarter than the master. It is a clear indication that they do not trust my judgement – that attaining just 30% in their daily training of what they attained during the courses would be sufficient for them to excel.
This is different from the example of a past master coming on his own will to help a student like the case of Grandmaster Lam Sai Weng and our senior practitioner. The senior practitioner actually sought my advice when Grandmaster Lam Sai Weng first came. At that time neither the practitioner nor I knew that the past master was Grandmaster Lam Sai Weng. I advised the practitioner to access whether the past master was good-natured and that the practitioner must make clear there was no obligation involved.
We have become so cost-effective that students and instructors do not have to do their best to practice as I have taught. If they practice daily and attain only 30% of what they attained during the courses I taught them, they would have done well. This is almost a joke. “Ku lian”, which means “bitter training”, is the hallmark of all kungfu training, including my own kungfu training when I was a student. But now we tell our students, “Don’t worry! Don’t intellectualize! Enjoy your practice! If you just attain 30% you would have done well. If you try to do your best, you will be over-training.”
Yes, if one can attain only 30% of what he (or she) attained during the course I taught him, it would provide him with the opportunity to receive spiritual guidance, and there is no need for him to seek additional guidance elsewhere.
All our training is triple cultivation, i.e. cultivation of jing, qi and shen, or physical, energy and spirit. In other words, all our training, from the lowest to the most advanced, includes spiritual cultivation.
After performing an exercise like Lifting the Sky or Carrying the Moon in a regional Generating Energy Flow class, all students feel peaceful and relaxed. This is spiritual cultivation. After an advanced regional course like Merging with the Cosmos, more than 70% of the students expanded into the Cosmos. This is spiritual cultivation.
30% of a student who feels peaceful and relaxd, or expands into the Cosmos in a few hours is more progress than other practitioners, including masters, who feel peaceful and relaxed or expand into the Cosmos after many years.
The questions and answers are reproduced from the thread 10 Questions on the Essence of Spiritual Cultivation in the Shaolin Wahnam Discussion Forum.
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