Ch.3 Shouldn’t Kong Fu Be A Tool of Peace and a Way of Life?

I think it makes some people uncomfortable when I define kong fu simply as a set of hurting and killing skills. But it is the truth. Just like a samurai sword, a Spanish rapier a 1911 .45 pistol, a F22 raptor or an atomic bomb, kong fu is designed to inflict hurt and to kill. But if you see beauty in the swords, astonished by the .45’s power, admire the high-tech jet fighter’s design and awe to the atomic bomb’s devastation, then there is no reason you take kong fu as anything less or think it is just an elegant art rather than a tool of killing.

And to me, Kong fu is a tool of peace and a way of life. It is a tool of peace simply because it is so powerful that stops people from hurting you and once you realize how terrible things can happen to others if you abuse your ability, you become a calm and self-restrained person. While I am more controlled, practicing kong fu becomes a constant way of checking my inner balance and maintain physical and mental strength.

But do not fool yourself by pretending it. It doesn’t come just because you do some kong fu moves from time to time, or think to yourself as such. You have to mean it. And you have to practice it over and over physically and mentally. It is a way of life only when you take it seriously.

If you have a gun but never practice it in the range, and you do not have the will to pull the trigger when the bad guy comes at you, the gun will not fire accurately and your opponent will see that you have no determination and resolution to save yourself. You will fall. Eventually there is peace, just not yours.

And it is like any other tool of killing, kong fu needs your determination to use it and needs your vast amount of practice to make it work when it is needed. A fighter jet pilot makes the controls into his instinct, a gunman pull and aim like his/her second nature and so do we make kong fu into our everyday lives.

Kong fu is beautiful and is good to your health. But if you are only looking for the beauty, ballet is a better subject to learn. If you want only to be healthy, do Yoga. Kong fu is beautiful because it is designed to utilize the human body effectively, it helps your health condition because it is logical and efficient for your body’s circulation and enables better metabolism. All in the name of efficiency.

Coming up Next Ch.4 What Kong Fu System Should I Choose?

Ch.2 What Is Kong Fu Anyway?

You call it kong-fu probably because Bruce Lee called it that way, and you’ve also heard its other names that are hard for you to pronounce: Kung-Fu, Wu-Shu, Wu-Kon, San-So, Kuo-Su…etc. You probably know that it is a general term that refers various systems and styles of the Chinese martial art systems, but really, all these to you is just a vague idea of some fancy moves, high kicks and potentially with some strange yelling and heavy breath which you think would be powerful in fighting.

Immediately you face a big problem once you decide to learn kong fu: What is the kong fu I want to learn? And if you do your homework and list the menu up, you will find at least hundreds (if not thousands) styles for you to pick. Just in the name of Shaolin temple, there are hundreds search results and for God’s sake if you are naïve enough to type “kong fu” or “Chinese martial arts” and ask Google for help, you are doomed.

After hours and hours of research, you still have no idea what kong fu is and you are certainly not sure the school you are about to enlist is going to give you what it has promised just because it is famous and with many students.

But all in all, kong fu is just a set of skills of how to use your body itself or leverage certain weapons to really do some damage to your opponent(s). And all the masters believe there exists a perfect way of doing it just like the physicists believe that there is one theory that explains everything.  

As a result, it doesn’t matter what system you are in, or what style you are about to study, all kong fu styles can be stripped down into four elements that aim to one thing: Finish off your opponent as fast as possible while keep your own ass intact. And the four elements are:

1.      The desired effects of the moves.

2.      The right way of body movements for the moves to be effective.

3.      The logic and reasoning behind effective moves.

4.      The philosophy behind the design of the moves.

With a clear logic and reasoning of the moves, you will be able to follow the designed body structure and project your power onto your opponent through a track that is efficient and effective so that you can get the job done quickly. And in each style, there will be a specific philosophy behind the design of its moves about why it is designed in such way.

So, now you should know what are the right questions to ask your kong fu master: Why do we do these moves? How does it affect me and the opponent? How do I develop such power and what is the thinking behind all these moves? A good system will give you simple and clear answers to all the questions while the fake ones will lead you into confusion and doubts. Oh, by the way, when I say simple and clear, IT MEANS simple and clear. So if you hear some big talk about these how and whys, don’t pretend it means something to you and submit yourself to the gurus…

Now you should also understand what kong fu is. Simply put it: Kong-Fu is a general term of the skill sets that Chinese people use to hurt and kill the opponent(s).

Coming Up Next: Ch.3 Shouldn’t Kong Fu Be A Tool of Peace and a Way of Life?

Ch1. Why do you want to learn it?

Before we start talking about kong fu and building a customized program for you to develop the necessary concepts, skills and physical abilities to become a kong fu master, there is a very important thing you have to recognize so that whatever it is in the following chapters would work for you. You need to know why do you want to learn Kong fu?

People learn kong fu for many reasons, and most of the time the reasons that lead them to kong fu actually lead them into things look like kong fu but in fact are useless time wasting exercises with no real life value at all.

So, If you want to learn some kong fu because the latest movies show you some really fancy stuff and make you feel anxious to know it, I would suggest you start learning movie making and special effects rather than kong fu. The students with wrong and exaggerated ideas about kong fu usually learn it from movies, despite the fact that I am a frequent movie goer and love action movies, it is very clear to me that the movie makers don’t know kong fu and the stunt men learn their tricks from somewhere that has no idea what kong fu is.  

Or, you may want to learn kong fu because you think it is so beautiful and mysterious and represents some exotic oriental stuff, I would highly recommend you go buy some Chinese painting or learn some native Asian dancing moves. Because kong fu is not something meant to be beautiful and it is not mysterious and above all, it is not some exotic oriental stuff that only some kinky old guy can teach you. It is beautiful because the real kong fu masters were/are usually minimalists and always follow the form, fit, function principles. It is mysterious because you don’t speak Chinese and the masters don’t know English, it seems exotic and oriental because without proper explanation and interpretation, the kong fu moves makes no sense in real life.

There are many other reasons that make people want to do a little kong fu while I would suggest you leave the current page so that you won’t waste any more of your time and energy and you can keep pursuing the imaginary kong fu land, unless you want to learn kong fu because you want to be stronger, faster, deadlier with this evolving skill set that embodies the wisdom of how to make human body the most dangerous and effective weapon you can imagine.

Coming Up Next: Ch2. What is Kong Fu Anyway?