'Everybody in this world is looking for happiness outside while nobody really understands one's own inside. Everybody says 'I', but nobody understands this 'I'.'

This is a part of a text written by Seung Sahn, a Zen Master. Zen philosophy speaks about the Nature. About the nature of each thing as separate  and of the world as a whole.

Zen speaks about the way things are. It  means seeing the truth and the facts.

For understanding we need balance and harmony.

Looking at oneself, the process of balancing and harmonization helps to maintain one's health.

It also helps to decide how and when to  act, for example to avoid negative consequences.

According to this philosophy, to understand the nature, 'change' is an important term. One should follow the change. Change with the change, to understand nature.

We can also say that nature itself is characterized by change. In other words, to understand nature, one must be present in the moment. And in this moment, to change with the change, in balance, with correct timing and spacing.

So we have to understand our mind and our body. To understand ourselves, to understand how to balance our mental state and balance our body so that we won't use it against its nature.

Master Sam Chin is continuing his family tradition, I Liq Chuan, a martial art based on Zen philosophy, Yi is  mind, Li is force, Chuan is fist.

I Liq Chuan is not only a self defence training but also a way to maintain health and to train the mind. The style of Chin Family was inspired by a martial art  passed down in Hakka, the Chinese nomads families.

The Hakka, wandering from one place to another, exposed, to many dangers, used their knowledge for self-defence.

As for the mental state, if you are present in the moment, your mind is calm. So we observe our feelings, not to get into aggressive movement. If you want to hurt somebody, you're angry, your body will produce negative hormones. In this way you will harm yourself.

If you can maintain a calm state of mind, you will produce positive hormones. 

In the training, our first goal is to understand ourselves. This means that you have to unify your body and mind.

The I Liq Chuan training is considering two parts: mental and physical. The physical training is knowing the body better. Understanding it's structure, the mechanism of action.

Earth, water, fire, air.

The body consists of four elements; Bones, muscles, ligaments and tendons are the element of earth. Water is the blood. Fire, or heat is our temperature. Air is the breath and the qi energy, about which' existence the Chinese are convinced, derived from it. The breath is also the move. Better control over breath is better control of move. It becomes more precise and effective.

In actions we are using the muscles, ligaments, tendons and balancing it. When we relax, the flow of our blood, lymph and qi becomes more free. During training we are breathing with our abdomen. This increases our strength. When we are using our abdomen it's like we were massaging our internal organs. This massage helps to purify our organs and body of toxins. The nature of the body is constant flow. Relaxation brings a more free flow of blood, lymph and energy. Blocked flow is the source of health problems.

Solo training is related with relaxation. It strengthens the immunological system. Coordination is important, too. Solo training in which we learn to know our body and the way how it relates to the mind. To have a correct structure, position and qualities of move. Allowing to unify the whole body so that all muscles, joints and tendons work together, of which one of many results is that we become much stronger. Even smaller persons are often surprised how efficient they become against bigger ones. 

Strength is not only a matter of muscles. When one has already mastered the art of feeling oneself and knows one's limits and possibilities one may work on unifying with a partner. This kind of training with partner, including what is called by the Chinese as listening power, feeling, what is happening within the partner's body through touch.

To do this, one needs concentrated attention. But why is that we need attention?

Only when you know attention is there you have attention. With no attention you don't know. You have eyes, but you don't see. You have ears but you don't hear. Why? Because you have no attention.

If you have attention, we can meet in the point of contact.

Only then we can say what things are. It will help you direct your energy in that place and will teach you how to move it. The basis of I Liq Chuan is the ability to use attention. Such training goes on continuously. Also in everyday life.

Self-development, building a right body structure, its proper alignment, coordination of actions this kind of attention creates discipline. Every kind of discipline is good for the mental. 

If you can have enough discipline, you can get to know more about yourself and have more self-control. 

The problem with disciplining the mind is that there are five hindrances. First, if you feel greedy. Greed. And you have hate. And ignorance. And restless mind. It means you're unable to keep concentration, for few minutes, for one minute, or few seconds, keep running. And the fifth one, the last one is sleepy mind. When you're trying to do anything, it's not interesting and you feel sleepy. You fall asleep, you see. These are the five things that hinder discipline. So if you can have this discipline, you do something to help to improve the mind.

Attention, discipline and structure are the basis of I Liq Chuan.

You won't find habitually learned movements here, but an ability to spontaneously react to given situation. There are very effective techniques. They consist of a very unique way of gaining  control over the opponent's sense of coordination. They consist of a very unique way of gaining control over the opponent's sense of coordination through learning how to be sensitized for the opponent or partner which gives the possibility to enter his structure and reach specific centres in which the movement is born and stop this movement, gain control over the opponent and attack or simply show that any further fight has no sense and walk away, you see.

Bartosz Samitowski has trained various styles of gong fu. I Liq Chuan has unified his goals. A martial art with elements of contemplation encourages physical and psychic health. It balances the mind and brings relaxation. It develops condition and body consciousness and it's a means of self-defence... and an effective martial art. Although there're no specific I Liq Chuan tournaments, its practicioners gain trophees. Lately, one of our contenders, Daria Sergeeva from Russia, a high class fighter, went, last year, to muay thai competitions in Italy and won.

I Liq Chuan is an attempt at balanced development in accord with one's needs. According to Zen philosophy, the most important thing is to understand oneself. This is why disciplining of body and mind are important. Awareness and self-control. Disciplining to be a better person, we could say.

If you understand yourself, it means you are learning to better understand what you're doing that, when you do that.

By recognizing feelings of you like, you don't like, or you don't know, we learn to know what to do in the moment of contact. To see if our action comes from what is happening, to see the action and reaction.

In other words, we're trying to create a positive environment, so we can be calm and happy.

Physically and mentally healthy. Such is our goal. 

Neil Winterbottom has trained many martial arts throughout all his life. He's been training I Liq Chuan since February. All the real high level Chinese martial arts are all about bringing about deep changes in your life: your body, your mind, psychologically, your relationships. They are meant to be about it, but many of them don't even approach that. 

Neil, taking and example of the Chinese, is planning to train until late old age. He admires them for their unflagging vital energy. As he says, having the very thought that one does something for one's body and mind is elevating by itself. When you become older, you keep on training but you have to train differently, you have to pay more attention to it in a way it doesn't actually create physical crysis, which happend to people I knew, younger than me doing a lot of intense work like they were young men again, there were two people, one died.

Follow the sun - sleep regularly. Keep balance in eating. A good student should be wise, listen to instructions and understand what one's training. One shouldn't, however, believe blindly and take everything as facts. That something is passed down in a traditional way doesn't automatically mean it's correct. What is correct in one time and place, might be otherwise in a different circumstance.

Master Sam FS Chin demonstrates a slightly modified version of the I Liq Chuan Butterfly Form for Russian TV crews in Moscow.

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Master Sam FS Chin demonstrates the I Liq Chuan 21 form for TV crews in Moscow in May 2005.

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Here, Sijo Chin, Lik-Keong works with Ben Fisher, Senior Instructor from North Carolina on some sticky hand techniques during the "Founders Workshop" which took place in Kuala Lumpur Malaysia during August, 2010.