Using Kungfu in Free Sparring is Certainly Possible and Also Enjoyable

It is ironical that many kungfu practitioners today not only cannot use kungfu in free sparring, they even believe that it is not possible! If kungfu students who have practiced kungfu for many years cannot spar effectively, it is bad enough, but it may be excusable as they are still students. What is shocking is that some world known kungfu masters, whom the general public look up to as authority, cannot apply their kungfu for combat, and even have explicitly and publicly said that kungfu techniques cannot be used for sparring and fighting. It really sounds the alarm bell that if nothing drastic is done to arrest this situation, genuine traditional kungfu may be lost forever within the next two generations.

We in Shaolin Wahnam are dedicated to do our part to arrest this alarming situation. We are even ready to teach our sparring methodology to deserving kungfu practitioners, including masters, of other styles without their having to owe allegiance to our school. This was unthinkable in the past where sparring methods were kept strictly secret.

We are proud that everyone who has learnt kungfu, including Taijiquan of course, from us for longer than half a year can use kungfu for combat. This does not mean we are formidable fighters — we still will be beaten if our opponents are more combat efficient — but we can proudly say that we can use our kungfu to put up some reasonable defence. At the same time we realize that while practicing kungfu looses its meaning without its combat function, there are many other more worthwhile benefits from kungfu training besides being able to fight.

Participants at the Special Shaolin Kungfu Course of September 2005, some of whom are Shaolin Wahnam instructors and assistant instructors, underwent a programme to enhance both their internal force and combat efficiency. The video clips listed below show their free sparring, which was the climax of their combat training programme. As usual, these videos were taken impromptu, and are released without editing.

None of the movements shown in the video clips were pre-arranged. It is obvious that the participants could use kungfu techniques and combat sequences to spar spontaneously. They could do so because they had been systematically trained. If someone attempts to free spar without prior combat training, he will inevitably spar haphazardly like children.

What is less obvious is that the course participants also used kungfu skills and tactics. Less obvious still, although it is actually more important to us, is that the combatants were physically and mentally relaxed, and they were not tired or panting for breath despite having trained vigorous for a few hours. They felt peaceful and happy, and some of them even had glimpses of Cosmic Reality. In other words, their kungfu training, including the free sparring shown in these video clips, contribute to their good health, vitality and spiritual development.

We can anticipant that some may ask the following questions.

• Why are there no hits connected? Is this type of sparring effective for actual fighting?
• The strikes seem to lack power. Can such strikes be decisive in a real fight?
• Will the kungfu practitioners be able to use their techniques if their opponents attack them in non-kungfu manner?
• Why are the combatants so relaxed? Will they be effective in fighting?

The following explanation will be helpful.

• Kungfu combat application today is of such a low level generally that many martial artists are hit many times in free sparring. Some people even think that to be hit a few times in free sparring is a norm, a form of punishment they have to endure. This is ridiculous, though true today. The very fact of learning kungfu, or any martial art, is to avoid being hit. If you are skilful in sparring, you will not be hit even once. This type of training which enables you to be free from being hit, because you can defend against them, is certainly effective for actual fighting.
• The strikes are actually powerful, though they may not be rough or strenuous, because the combatants use internal force. This, in fact, is a mark of a superior art. An art that uses brute strength and muscular tension is comparatively inferior. Moreover, the combatants here can control their force. They can apply force at contact, without having to tense their muscles first and gather momentum to pick up force. Thirdly, the attacks here are aimed at vital spots. A single strike is often decisive in a real fight.
• At first a kungfu practitioner needs to get used to different ways of attacks from opponents fighting in a non-kungfu manner. Once he has accomplished this, he will find it so much easier to fight such opponents. The participants here as well as in other kungfu courses found out this fact from their direct experience during their courses themselves. The underlying reason is that kungfu techniques developed directly from the most effective movements of actual fighting over many centuries. By not using these movements, that person denies himself of such combat advantages.
• Thinking that one needs to be tensed and aggressive in order to be combat efficient actually shows how badly both kungfu philosophy and application have deteriorated. If you are tensed and aggressive, not only you will be slower and less powerful, all your techniques and skills will be performed below your normal level. To be relaxed and calm is a pre-requisite for success in combat as well as in other aspects of life. If you practice an internal art, the more relaxed you are, the more powerful and faster you will be.