Sifu Says Archives - Page 2 of 4 - Martial Art of Awareness

The Path of Wisdom – Part 4

Listen To Yourself First To Increase The Power of Concentration

Q: I have a question about how do we use the sound—certainly to try not to hear the words…
Sifu: You just listen: just pay attention to your self. If I put my attention on my sense, I listen. But at the same time I do listen to other sounds—someone right now is chopping in kitchen or we hear background noise. We are the receiver. But I believe that what we train, as Sifu Jiru trained us just now, we try not to get that involved. We don’t try to listen to that—we try to focus more—to get that Samadhi to train what is happening there, to see if we can hold there or not, and draw back to there.

Actually there’s nothing wrong with listening, we just want to increase the power of concentration more first. We want to increase here first so that under different conditions is there any thought coming or not to disturb us now? This is why part comes to “purification”, but normally martial arts people don’t like to listen to purification.

“Why do you want to purify? I’m a martial man—why do I want to be purify.”

Actually, it’s to clean the lens—to let the mind not to be disturbed: then you are there—concentration is there.

Here is what we train. Sifu Jiru talks about willpower—to not let thoughts pull you away. If your attention is not strong—poof, pulled away already. Pulled away by a lot of things—hunger, greed, what we don’t know (ignorance). These are the “Five Hindrances”, along with sleepiness and restlessness. Restless is like your mind running.

Q: something our students struggle with and I struggle with too, is balancing trying to ‘do’ something, trying to ‘do’ a move, and also doing it with sensitivity.

From Obvious To Refined/Subtle

Sifu: Sensitivity is there. If you train to be balanced, you must have sensitivity. If the sensitivity isn’t there, how do you know you are balancing? Yes? It’s just a matter of you are balancing, you are adjusting—your attention is there to meet. If my attention can’t arrive there, I can’t meet there. Sometimes because if we train too light, too loose—it’s hard to draw the mind there, so sometimes we do it a bit heavier. More obvious. That’s why the training has external, they call it ming jin 明勁,—that means it’s external and more obvious, before you can train very subtle.

Actually, that’s why I call you students to train big first. If you can’t do it big to draw a perfect circle, I call you to do it big, medium, small. From heavy, obvious, subtle. Obvious to help to draw attention there; or else attention is very hard.

Q: For me, the biggest barrier in partner training is performance anxiety. If the person I’m working with is ‘oh, you’re doing it wrong.’ I feel “oh, I’m no good.” How to change this?

Sifu: Yes, that can be very tough.

Sometime you can tell your partner and say, ‘let’s just follow the instruction carefully.’ Just do what we’re instructed to do—don’t do more than that, can we do that or not?” Following instructions is not easy. We try to put into how an instruction should be. Sometimes we say, “Do what you’re being told; don’t try to teach your partner now. You are training yourself now. You are learning both partners as an opportunity to do it: you aren’t doing on him or him on you: you are working on yourself. “ Can you follow instructions? If you can’t follow instructions, why is that?

Then what is missing that you can’t follow instructions?

Is it because you have your own view? Once you have your own view you’re thinking ‘Oh, I like this or I don’t like that.’ The problem is it’s so hard to see because it’s your own viewpoint. No one is blocking you—it’s because your view blocks you. Your view is yourself—all your ideas: how can it be wrong? So the hardest part is to change your view.

If you don’t listen carefully to instructions, your instructors have no chance to bring you out of your viewpoint. Everything you think is inside your view. I like to give the example of the student in Poland who was wearing a shirt that said ‘think outside of the box.’ And I said, Is that right? All the students said ‘yes.’ I said, ‘do you know what is thinking? Thinking is the box!” [laughter]

Be careful when you listen to some lectures; you tell me to do this and that, but you can’t get out of the box. So, no thinking. I have a quote: if you know, you don’t think; if you think, it means you don’t know. You’re stuck in the box.

“You can never think outside the box. Thinking IS the box!”
~GM Sam Chin

Holding The Touch Point of Contact To Connect

A lot of time instruction must be carefully designed to pinpoint to the path.

So this morning, what Master Jiru talked about connects to this. That’s why yesterday we talked about touch point of contact. Connect must have a balance. The balanced connect that means the connect has the idea of holding—the holding of the point—any idea of connect means the idea of holding to that thing.

If you don’t have the ability of holding there, you can’t connect. To hold there that means you must have a balance point to hold: too much you go through, too little you can’t hold slip off. This little simple thing here is the training. If you can’t initiate this right, the point of contact is wrong already.

Now you guys touch you know: too much pressure, too little—what is that? That’s the balance point in order to get it right. Then that balance point can you connect all the way down to his feet. If only at the touch here (at finger/wrist forearm)—that’s not enough. You must be able to connect to his body, to his hip, all the way down to his feet. Can you connect every joint that he moves or not? Then you can separate left back, front back everything so you can move—you can move your partner.

Q: Like a dancer?

Sifu: Yes, if I trained I could be a very good dancer [laughter]. I can be a teacher to teach but I can’t dance. Yes, just be a puppet master.

If you can do this, then you are the puppet master—connecting. The information that we talk about is like a spider web: it connects. And all the connections have crosses and junctions. All the connect comes down to the neutral center: where the spider sits.

So every junction, every spider web has tension line, you see. The tension line is the balance line. Later on, on every line, the connection is a tension line (like a musician plays a guitar string)—it attunes and you receive information. Also, like a kite—like a puppet master: you play the string here—too tight, too slack, you can’t move.

You must know how to move so that the tension light must be balanced. That’s why in every action you try to get the tension line first. On the grab here—there’s a pull. When I pull, I stretch the line—I get the slack away. If it’s too lose, then draw the slack and let the line come. If the opponent tries to relax to be soft, you can just whip (do the wave—like a towel). You try to maintain the line so that information is direct. This is all on the CONNECTING TOUCH.

This is all the principles that apply to EVERY MOVE! On here, then you look for what is open, what is close; what is absorb what is project—the unification of the self. The first thing we talk about is gravity—because we live in this world with gravity, and this body with a mass. Every object has a mass. The mass and the gravity—its relationship—that forms the axis line: that forms the balance line. The balance line means it’s 90 to the ground. This means it’s a center point to direct. 90 is the center. When you explain things, we say ‘what makes it 90’? What makes it a center?

Master Class on Sun. morning –August 4, 2019 (continuing the discussion)

Reference: Seeing the difference from the center

From the first cross you know the difference. From the second cross you know more because of the 2 crosses and the difference, that you match. And all the knowing and the changing must come from here, because the cross gives you the difference. I want you to see the difference from there. Difference from the center—from the cross: the difference of like pressure, open close (because left right have different pressure of open close have different pressure of open close).

Because when cross at the center, we start to pivot because there’s open-close and pressure. Or else the equal will be flat. Equal there’s no pivoting. Understand. So that kind of feeling is the direct feeling. If you can’t feel from there, as I’ve said before, it means your attention isn’t strong enough to hold. Then you will fall back to your memory, to your past experience. Then you aren’t in the moment any more. You’re using the past to know the present. That is what we don’t want to use. We want to have direct.

The Path of Wisdom – Part 3

How The Point of Contact Is Established

How to pay attention to your senses and maintain?

Our senses are our receiver. That’s why I keep on saying “you feel yourself being touched”; you don’t feel someone touching you.” You receive and feel through touch. On the Point of Contact, you connect.

How do you connect?

Practically speaking, everything comes down to the point of contact. So that’s why first you have to unify your self. Unify yourself means there is separation—there’s more than 1 thing: a minimum 2 things. One cannot unify—you need 2. Same thing: one cannot separate—you need two.

So how can this unify? How can this have a separation and unification? This is the Balance Point. Separation and unification is also a balance point. Work on these two things together—to have this complementary—because this cannot violate that and that cannot violate this. You have to maintain that yin is yin and yang is yang. The front is front and the back is the back. How can my back go to the front and the front go to the back?

Pay attention to each characteristic of the function—this is yin muscle and this is a yang muscle. If I draw the yin—I don’t draw yin to the yang to violate. If you say there’s a separation clearly, then, if I draw the yin here then the yang has to follows.

[Sifu demonstrates the difference between a yin grab and a yang grab.]

If the yang follows, yang is only supporting. If I start with the yang first, if the yang initiates, I stretch with the yang first, then the yin follows. Then the same thing, if I draw first, then the yang follows. There’s no beginning or ending any more. It’s a matter of function: of what leads what, what supports what. It’s a complete cycle.

A complete cycle must have a separation. Without a separation, things will be confused. Without the center of bone supporting, how will the yin yang muscles work? It won’t work. Yes? Because everything also works with pressure. It comes down to different pressure: Day and night have different pressure, hot and cold have different pressure. That’s where the cycle is. Within our body the same. Within our body the yin muscle pressure is condensing; the yang muscle pressure is expanding. So you help the cycle of flow. Sometimes because of the training, body fitness, they train the yin muscle up to here (mid-chest) but it’s too tense. They look fit but practically they don’t have much power.

Q: How would someone know that?

Sifu: Many don’t know. That’s why the theoretical information we provide is important. A lot of people don’t have the chance to even get the right information. Sometimes listening to the right information.

Q: “Aren’t there people practicing ILC also doing it wrong?”

Sifu: Only a small part. More people like ‘body beautiful’/body building better (laughs)

Comment: When something you know is interfering, you have to let go of that view.

Sifu: Why is it that many bodybuilders have heart problems. Their muscles aren’t functioning the way nature should be. They build up this muscle then yang pressure and yin pressure become quite the same—there’s not much difference. The heart has to work harder to pump the flow. If he can do his relaxing and expanding, then the pressure is different, like day and night. Like high tide and low tide—that kind of function: because the pressure is different, it helps the cycle. That’s why we use the dan tien 丹田
and ming-men 命門 in the cycle. It helps the function.

“When things become clearer, you can see more.”
~GM Sam Chin

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Build Up Discipline To Direct Our Attention

If we can’t flow, it’s because our attention is not there. It’s not strong enough to hold, to be there. You can’t even last 1 second—the mind is already somewhere else. Some thought already pulls you off.

Here’s where our training of meditation comes in. We try to look into our mind to clear the thought, to build up this discipline so we can direct our attention. We can put our attention where we choose. When you can hold over there, you start to became calm, and then you become still. Still means things start to become clear because you can see things clearer.

When things become clearer, you can see more. Your attention can hold more. If it’s not clear yet, attention is very hard to hold. That’s why the meditation, people will use different methods: breathing, counting, if they can’t just watch the breath (if they can’t, they add in counting—1, 2, 3, 4, 5—up to 10 or however many they want to count).

It’s just another method of trying to draw the mind to there first. We say that the mind—the monkey mind—it runs around, so it needs a job to do. As the monks say, ‘give a job for him to do: call him to come and give him something to work on: give him an order. If you don’t give him something to do, he plays around.

A job—like counting or doing something to hold the mind there. So sometimes some people, in Pure Land, will use mantra—will use sound even to listen, to pay attention, to give more things to hold. Some use beads. Some use their hand just to rub. Some circle their thumbs. All these kinds of things—slowly, slowly then you try to drop that off so you can feel the breath more…drop, drop, drop, until it becomes very refined.

Q: “If we just focus on the breath should we also try to make our senses less, like Jiru described?”

Sifu: No, because you are training concentration now. You try to separate things now.

If you can separate that means you can unify. This separation with the attention on separation is so you can unify. They need to focus so still until they separate the feeling of the body—they don’t feel the body anymore, the senses gone: only that one point. They can see: that is where the concentration is—they can see the concentration there—so they know ‘okay, we have been attaining something.’

Sometimes you start to observe, yes, this is what sometimes they say is concentration and Vipassana.

We do Vipassana more. Observing is Vipassana; you do need attention for Vipassana. Right? The problem is—how deep you don’t know. You feel that you can maintain. Especially when we do martial arts; we are very good at observing also. I’ve been training for so many years, we know that we can observe. So, why is it that we cannot go in-depth?

The Path of Wisdom Part 2

So, with all this above, then how are we going to get this information?

The truth is changing. If we believe that, according to philosophy, then that means that to be together, with this, then we need to go along at the same speed.
That means we need to change with change together, in order to be together (‘with’), or you’ll be behind or go too fast.
To change to be together that means on this point you must be equal: always have the balance to be equal.
If there’s no balance point you can’t be together. So, the balance point here has the quality of no resisting and no backing off, then you can be together. Here’s how we come up with the balance point—otherwise you can’t be together.
If you can’t have the quality of ‘together,’ then you can’t connect.
If you can’t connect, then you’re not ‘there.’ You fall off, or you project too far. So how can you do this connecting first?

That’s why many people who don’t have the philosophy, or they just train but they don’t know this part, then they don’t know how to approach. That’s why yesterday when we talked about the connect and balance, that is on point of contact. So, every moment is from point of contact—where and how you get information and you act back on that point. If you can’t connect you can’t join, you cannot be with–so then you are not there. If not there, how are you going to get information? That means you can’t flow, you can’t maintain present. So you will fall back, drop back. You drop back and you have no other choice any more—you go back to your past experience, ‘Oh I feel this’, or go back to knowledge: what you have read, studied, gone through your life—what you have read, what you have experienced. All from accumulation. That’s why we call that ‘knowledge.’ But that’s the past experience. So, you want to know this moment, but you can’t. you’re judging form past experience

“Before everything, you are constantly adjusting, constantly balancing to maintain.”
~GM Sam Chin

But if you can FLOW and be together, then you’re not judging: and the conditions REVEAL—because you are together. The conditions show you. This is part of ‘the Nature Speaks Itself.’ Every moment, every second what you come into contact with the nature is speaking, displaying, is showing, but we can’t see. Often we don’t have that kind of concentration: to hang on to flow along until we get so stable. That’s why we call it STILLNESS: it’s so stable, then the clarity comes.

RECOGNIZING ENOUGH, KNOWING ENOUGH
So stable is that maintaining, so stable that with any change, we know. Change is action. Not to change—to maintain—that’s balance. To keep on balancing means keep on changing. That’s how you know from there. Because your ‘changing to balance’ is the action. Is it too much, too little?—you just need enough, just right enough to balance: too much or too little you can’t balance. That’s why we ask ‘what’s too much, too little—what reference do we base it on?’ We base it on that balance: to maintain balance all the time. If it’s too much, you go off and can’t maintain—too little also. Just RIGHT to be balanced. And that balancing keeps on changing. Under the main base the characteristic of nature is change. That’s why I keep on reminding students telling you guys to maintain: change: because maintain is change; you need to change to maintaining. Stable—many can’t be ‘stable.’ You must ‘change with the change’ to be stable because the nature’s characteristic is change. Here is where the tricky part is.

RIGHT UNDERSTANDING, RIGHT ACTION
Before everything, you are constantly adjusting, constantly balancing to maintain, then from here you get able to connect. Able to connect means you get the right information—then the right understanding. Then with right understanding you can act with right [appropriate] action. Then you do it an act with what is most appropriate. Not form you thinking about but about what condition displays—this is what is called doing the right understanding, the right action. But normally we cannot. Sometimes we fall off. That’s why we have to follow the rules, the precepts: follow this, follow that.

Q: if you have an opponent/partner…. we want to stay neutral…is that the point?

Sifu: Yes, from staying neutral you know. You ‘know’ from neutral. Not only attack—everything you come in contact with. I’m taking this cup: there’s a balance there: too much or not enough I can’t pick it up. Too much, maybe water spills out. Yes? How I hold it, there’s also a balance. I don’t want to use too much force to hold: too little I can’t pick it up. ANYTHING you touch there’s something there. To get the right information, to get the right information. We say there’s a circle with center. You want to touch with 90 degrees. Is it round? is it square? You touch—you know it’s round. Or you know a different angle—you KNOW. You are there to balance it, with that angle you know things, you see. That’s the neutral approach of direct.

There’s a story I was talking about with this 90° touching, with Sonjue, she’s an acupuncturist, and she talks about how at the beginning of training, she had some difficulty reading the pulse, but after understanding the 90° she can listen more clearly—because 90° to the center is the most direct. You understand?

EVERYTHING YOU APPROACH, WITH TOUCH, MUST BE DIRECT—90° TO THE CENTER
Anything that goes 90° to the center is the most direct information you can get. So, everything you approach, when you touch, IS DIRECT. Then from 90° there you can move to 45 or go to 90° to move 20° or to however many degrees you want, but you must HOLD the 90° first to move.

So, now we find out that our attention is not ‘pure’ you can say: not stable. And why not? Because we have accumulation of too many other things that keep on opening up to disturb us. But for me, because I train martial arts, I can make it so simple in a way that there’s nothing to train. Because I don’t want you to think you’re ‘creating’ something—because it’s already there. What’s there to train? You only try to train to GET YOUR ATTENTION there, clear. If your attention isn’t clear it’s because there’s rubbish blocking that’s all. Only if you have nothing to disturb you then you can stay there and get clear.

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Q: But if attention is there, you still have to know what to DO about it…

Yes! That’s why we give you instructions to hold over there. Why can’t you hold? Rubbish comes, thought comes. So, you look at it and let it drop off. That’s why we talk about ‘letting go’—and come back. You must have a reference to come back to reflect on here, or else you won’t know. You have a reference to reflects what comes over there but that moment you are also training the present moment—because you are trying to see what’s happening at that moment that draws you off: that draws you off, come back. If you can’t see what’s happening—it draws and you’re gone.

Q: What about the path of self-unification? Is it important to touch the point to be aware, but then we ourselves is not balanced, or if I pay attention to point but I myself am not balance?

Sifu: Then you yourself are not balanced. That’s why you must have self-unification first. Unify yourself first. This is simply to say there’s a point of contact where you stand, you sit… every point of contact starts with you. Point of Contact needs 3 things: object, subject and conscious. If conscious or anything isn’t there, there’s no contact. If eyes don’t have Subject, Object and Consciousness, the eyes won’t see. The point of contact isn’t’ there. The touch you won’t feel if conscious not there. If you’re not conscious you won’t even feel that your shirt is touching you. Your shirt is always touching you but something you don’t feel—why not?

Recognizing the Neutral Point of Direct: The Path of Wisdom Part 1

Recognizing the Neutral Point of Direct:
The Path of Wisdom

GM Sam F.S. Chin Viewpoint Talks
Transcript 2019 MABA RETREAT
Mid-America Buddhist Association (MABA)
Augusta, Missouri (July 27-Aug.3, 2019)
Friday morning, August 2nd

Introduction

For me, the most important message is that we talk about wisdom. What is wisdom? It comes down to having people get the right understanding. People will ask, what do you mean by right understanding? Where right understanding comes to is what kind of reference do you use? So we try to teach the reference of nature, from what is happening. Then, your understanding comes from where? It should come from the moment of recognizing through what is happening—through harmonizing, through balancing—that kind of understanding. You can have that to see things, then what you see and know will help you to make the right move. It all comes down to having the right move. How do you make a right move? Yes, it’s about coordination, timing, spacing—based on what?

“That’s why present is only FLOW—the balance point. Follow is not correct; follow is one step behind. ~GM Sam Chin”

What is nature? It all comes down to what is knowing and how you know—knowing is the most important point. From knowing you have everything. Depends on what you want. (If you want to get rich, if I want to be peace of mind—then you know what to do—because of knowing. Right? The problem is—what is right knowing? Where is the right information and what do you mean by right information? This is where the skill is.
This is what is nature—what is happening in this world: with ALL things happening. Why do things happen that way? You can ask this question to everyone. Everyone will say their own perspective: ‘oh this is how I approach’, this is my viewpoint.

What quality and conditions are needed to get access to the right viewpoint? THIS is what I’m trying to teach. What is the approach, what is the condition, what references do you use to answer this? The problem is—how many people even know how to ask this question? (Next time it will be part of what students need to write. At student level 9, students will need to write the answers to these questions.)

Everything is based on what is your reference or what philosophy do you use—and what is the reference of that. What other conditions do you need? How do you apply your philosophy into your practice? Other martial arts may not understand the conditions; what conditions you need. What kind of qualities do you need to approach? They may say ‘you need to do something directly’, but they don’t talk about how or teach about it.

CONNECTING AT THE POINT OF CONTACT – CONDITIONS, FUNCTIONS, APPROACH

That’s why I talk about contact-ing: the moment of Point of Contact. If they aren’t taught about it, they don’t even know how to connect at point of contact—and how I’m going to connect that. That’s why yesterday’s talk emphasized about Point of Contact, the moment of contact and how to recognize it. If you don’t even connect, then how can you be in the present moment? You cannot? You can’t even have some requirements to be in the moment. How can you be in the moment if you can’t even connect? The subject is not there for you to study. There are requirements and conditions to be in the moment. Now this morning Jiru talked about things in this way, too.

(Comment: what’s so obviously different about the way you teach is everything comes down to real feedback, no hypothetical. You talk about the structure…)

Sifu: Because I talk about conditions, functions, approach—the concrete observables. What kind of concept do you need? Some other martial arts do have similar philosophies, but when it comes to action, the philosophy and action doesn’t connect. Why don’t the philosophy and action not connect? When you come to training the words have to connect to the philosophy. The words of instruction. Nature itself is like this: you must merge…All these kinds of references typically are not being shown or taught. Even open and close. I’m closing but you don’t know when to start to close. You can see in the teacher: if they learn from books yes they learn something, but how to put it into USE often is not there.

Me and Ven. Jiru are slightly different. We are practitioners: we want to see how it works, how it functions—then it comes down to there’s no more words. How can we get that across? When action/re-action, you must have the right information first: the right information to understand what is the present condition. What are the tools to get the right information? If you don’t have the tools to get this, then you don’t know how to start, how to approach the situation. If you can’t understand the situation, how will you start to get the right information? What tools.

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BE IN THE PRESENT WITH THAT MOMENT

That’s why it comes down to being present in the moment. Be in the present with that moment. It’s so tough, they don’t even know what that means. What kind of moment is that? What we try to understand is this first. The moment of things; anything by itself is called its nature.

Tao talks about change is the characteristic of nature—that as a base: change. So no matter what you say, you know you must be changing along with it. “Change with the change’ to know the truth. If you cannot do this. This means you must flow not follow. Flow means TO BE WITH. To flow that means the balance point. That’s how it starts, you see? Here is the right information that I can get. But to get that information what kind of quality do you need to be there order to flow? Only knowing, you cannot. That’s why the mind must be sharp. That’s why we need to learn Samadhi concentration. Or else you see you touch, and in one split second, you touch—and you’re gone already. You don’t have the penetration power—that means you don’t have the ability to access the information from directly. You’d touch it and if you relate it to past memory to feel, this is the steps that 99% of people do and call it the ‘present.’ But in Tao and Zen this is not the present.

Q: So the reference of yin and yang is just to observe the change?

Sifu: Well, yin and yang is just one thing. When Buddhism talks about cause and effect and yin and yang it’s 2 different things. Yin and yang is not cause and effect. But this yin and yang is the complementary—it’s the function. HOW WE WORK WITH THAT to balance that function; to harmonize the moment with that yin yang—it’s a balance. How the 2 things function in order to be in harmony and in balance. So if you can work with harmony and function and yin and yang and CAUSE, then the cause will be good. You will know what’s happening because of cause and effect: if you can balance things on a cause, then it’s a good cause: so you are doing the right (appropriate) thing only.

So everyone has a different way—this is a lot of the missing part of others’ philosophy when they come to training. (Some say, ‘oh yes, I’ve learned Tao philosophy—but when it comes to training, it’s a different thing). If the instructions and their concepts aren’t connecting, they can’t understand the conditions and quality of the approach and what you need in order to give the right instruction. If the instruction is wrong, you’re pointing your student’s mind in a different direction. That’s why I’m very careful with the words to tell students how to work on things. I don’t tell them to ‘think’ or to ‘imagine’; I tell them very directly. So in order to have things work, you see, to be with the moment—you must be THERE first. Simple to see if you’re not there: imagining is not “there’, thinking is not ‘there. You can understand some of the effort of the action—but if you’re thinking you aren’t there—so how are you going to work with this moment if you’re not there?

What is the condition, quality, characteristic of “BEING WITH” first? That’s why tai chi talks about we can’t resist, we can’t back off. If you resist it means you aren’t there. You only feel this, but you have an idea that comes in to block it out already—or you run away. That’s why present is only FLOW—the balance point. Follow is not correct: follow is one step behind.

RIGHT UNDERSTANDING IS THE VIEWPOINT

Just now we were talking about the message of how we would approach an article to explain our approach, that kind of thing—you see—and what is the most important thing to get across, to share with people with ZXD—and what’s unique about how we do it. To me, what’s important to get across is the Right Understanding. Right Understanding is the viewpoint. What do I mean by that—when everyone has their own understanding.

Q: You can say it, but need to feel it. I understand what you’re saying, except when I try to do it.

Sifu; what kind of philosophy do you use for the right understanding. Everyone uses a different philosophy for something. When WE train we use the philosophy of Tao and Zen, and even Confucius. Right, to get the right understanding from there—based on the nature itself. To get this right understanding from there. Just understand the way things are. That’s one part. Then how can you access… that’s why we are teaching this. OK, I want to get this right understanding—HOW?

This information—receive this information. First, to receive the information you must be THERE. TO be there you must be able to connect [student: I feel pre-kindergarten—if someone doesn’t have a body tied up…they’ll never get it]. No, first of all, some of this information you MUST understand theoretically first. And consider: do you accept this one first? If you’re not accepting, then how are you going to approach this. We say ‘you must be convinced’ first. Then, if you’re convinced then you can go on to ask HOW …But first, does it make sense to you or note?

Based on the philosophy of Zen and Tao the characteristic is based on change—the nature is always changing. And Zen is the same: impermanent. Do you agree or not? If not, your mindset doesn’t change. Then you have to explain…what is change. Everything changes—sometimes it changes too slowly that we can’t see, because it’s so solid…do you understand how solid it is—it’s still not one. There’s not ONE solid entity. Do you agree or not, you see? Because under Buddhism and the 3 characteristics of Existence: of Impermanent, Suffering, and No self—the most important thing first.1 No one solid entity. No ONE thing: They all come and go—it’s all by conditions that form; it’s the condition that must be there. If the condition isn’t there, it won’t combine—it will separate. You need certain conditions (to separate or absorb) and Tao talks about the way borns one, one that borns two, two that borns three—and everything from there (the tai chi symbol that separates: it’s two). But this kind of philosophy, first you have to see: do we agree or not? If you don’t agree, then you can’t go further anymore. Only if you want to see if it works this way or not (consider the computer world: 1 or 0—like yin yang: the hardware separation is only 1 or 0). So, okay, science can prove that yin yang can do so many things…

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Flowing On Neutral – Part 4

Quarters and Cycles: Understanding the Straight and the Curve

With the centers reference then you understand the open close; the empty full; and the movement—the direction from the four quarters: how to move from which of the four quarters. There’s four quarters see: upper lower, left right—how this cycle turns and goes through which quarter to which quarter, so you can cut—understanding the straight line and the curve: like how you drive a car to make a corner: how you cut the line in order to be starting. No doubt it’s a curve but you want to make it straight. If it’s too straight, you want to curve.

So now today’s training, I’ll try to talk about FULLNESS point.

Fullness point is also one point; it has the highest point of meeting. Of the meeting point. Fullness you can say is how you meet; more like sometimes people will say it’s a fulcrum point; fulcrum point is a fullness point.

Why is it FULL?

Because this point is directly from the center. Directly from THIS center to meet on this center: to be one line 90 degree is a fullness point, it’s a highest point. Any ball, any circumference you touch, you say this is the highest—to where? To the center. Because I touch it, it’s the highest…if I’m not touching these 2 sides are lower already: any point I touch is full…but if it’s without the reference to the center it’s wrong.

Because it’s the diameter line also. This fullness is also the fullness point that I touch. That means if my hand is this way and I touch this way—this is not the furthest—how to consider furthers? It means my circle comes from here: my fulcrum part is here… on point of contact. Because you have to adjust at this point of contact, this is not the furthest because my center is her; I need to adjust my c-7 back to here to adjust.

If the point is here, then this is not the furthest. Understand? Unless I move the point or if I move myself behind it—if I move my mass behind it, then this point is also pointing at the opponent’s mass: that is the fullness in one line. You can say this is all physics. You can use science, math physics to explain this.

How are you going to train that?

It’s to maintain the fullness: to MAINTAIN the fullness so that everything adjusts to maintain this. To maintain this—to be fullness, then fullness itself must have a quality: must have conditions to be full.

A center must have a condition to be a center. A center must have its own quality and properties to be a center that’s why a center must have left right up down forward back center is a junction point. FULLNESS? -the same.

It needs conditions to be the fullness and you need to maintain the conditions to keep the full. You must OBEY that. you can’t think that—no, you cannot. In a way, it means you have no thinking—if you think that means you relate back to your past and try to adjust that. NO—it’s based on meeting, reflecting direct. That you need to support this fullness. That’s why in Tao talks about if you can hold onto the circle with center—hold over there—everything will align over there. If you can hold over there. No other way. If you can’t, the conditions separate, the conditions are not formed, then the things aren’t formed.

Everything is the same in life—with things happening. Everything’s the same. You need the condition.

Condition isn’t here, you can’t uphold something there—things will break down. In Zen, we say, if condition are there, things come by; if conditions is not there, they’ll fall apart. So, things come and go.

If you don’t recognize the condition things will not be maintained. You want to be clear, you must have the conditions. You want to be peaceful, you must have the conditions. Every has conditions—can your recon the conditions. That’s why we talk about cause and conditions. To see the conditions is not that easy. Normally we JUDGE on the condition, we don’t see the condition. Even just to listen to this talk you need the condition to be able to listen or you think ‘ah, this is just rubbish.’

Flowing On Neutral – Part 3

GM Sam Chin & M Alex Skalozub in Poland 2019

Q: can you explain the ex. In terms of the ones we did yesterday in relation to expansion/compression in relation to balance of yin yang…. the progression of the exercise?

Point of Contact Itself Manifests the Center and The Cross.

Here’s where the Basic Exercises come in: you must know the 2 groups of muscles first, and the bone first. That means you must understand the dan tien and ming-men: then that the whole body has only 2 lines: yin and yang. Here’s where the macrocosmic energy comes. If you’re not clear of your own body flow, then how can you manifest on point of contact?

When I touch it, because my body has this flow, I have a center—I have 2 lines—when I touch it on the point of contact, I already have a center, I already matched my line like negative and positive I connect already! Yes? I connect my positive and negative line to your line—so I move: I draw there; I expand there—but I need to hold onto the centers. If I can’t hold onto the centers, I can’t do that. So on the point of contact itself manifest this: it manifests the center and the cross.

With the hardware and the software. The hardware is because have 2 lines here; the software, under rotation I have under different planes.

Q: Can you explain more about hardware and software?

Hardware means it’s your body that yin is yin, yang is yang –can’t be changed.

Software, your action: my yin can do yang action, my yang can do yin action—and it changes on point of contact: how it manifests to engage. Movement is based on point of contact to engage—what do you mean by engaging?

Meeting like meeting or to hold, alright? To have close-close, open-open, or to get across the half line—this is all engaging: how you engage to balance, engage to penetrate, or engage to hold, to expand it as one.

Engagement is to connect. You must have the connect that kind of conditions in order to function. That means you must know what is the condition over there [at the point], and your move is only acting accordingly to what the point is engaging.

The engaging point: you could be using your yang to engage on me—and I feel your Yang. Or you could use your yin to engage on me—you are drawing. You need to recognize the conditions—and how to act according to those conditions. It’s all through these 2 lines: the yin line and the yang line—there’s only 2 lines.

Without the connecting of the centers you have no reference. That’s why we say “your knowing is based on what reference?” So the training is not much, but it will take years.

Q: on holding to rotation?

Sifu: first you must have the contact. If the contact here is too loose information and energy can’t transfer.

A lot things are between our joints—in order to generate power through our joints—the hip joint any joint, later on, you need to close up the gap—so you turn to close up the gap and then how to rotate to close so the energy transfers, or else you cannot

Q: because there’s play and you can’t get the reference?

Sifu: If it’s not closed, then even to turn into that direction, you cannot. If can’t be too loose – also can’t be too tight. Too tight that means the rotation of movement is not fluid, not smooth. Any questions?

So, we first move from rotation. Then we feel the point of contact on the center. Because with the rotation with the center that means it’s a circle which has a circle—when you move and circle with rotation, so these will combine together: rotation with a center, so you move on the center.

You will produce the circles also. Then on this rotation, on this circle, then the connecting on the point—how far you connect—if you first go to the shoulders—then you must have direct feedback from the centers first. If you don’t, it means you cannot.

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Quarters and Cycles: Understanding the Straight and the Curve

With the centers reference then you understand the open and close; the empty/full; and the movement—the direction from the four quarters: how to move from which of the four quarters.

There’s four quarters see: upper lower, left right—how this cycle turns and goes through which quarter to which quarter, so you can cut—understanding the straight line and the curve: like how you drive a car to make a corner: how you cut the line in order to be starting. No doubt it’s a curve but you want to make it straight. If it’s too straight, you want to curve.

Flowing On Neutral – Part 2

Experience/feel from that rotation…that’s why yesterday the movement we tried to experience: okay, if I don’t start with rotation—ok, how do I feel?

Then, if I do start with rotation, how do I feel? In and out every rotation. Ok that is YOUR UNIFICATION with rotation.

When it comes to Point of Contact, then a movement must have Circle with a Center. Circle with a Center then how do you move to hold on the centers. Here is one center you hold; from the point of contact there’s one center you hold, with rotation. With rotation we connect: that means you must circle with center and center to center.

You Must See the Cross of Open and Close

In order to see clearly on the centers, you must see the Cross of open and close—on the center, ok? That’s why yesterday I told you guys to do this exercise. Because you must hold and attention must be there to see the centers: to see the vertical line and the horizontal line—that means, you must from the center then you must connect the centers as a REFERENCE to see left right up and down: that means it’s a cross!

If you can’t see and be with the centers, you have no reference. You’re using the reference of THAT MOMENT OF CONTACT: MEETING THE CENTERS, using that moment itself! If you can’t reach over there to hold, to be with THAT reference, you won’t get any information. No information from that moments if you can’t get it, because you have no reference.

Or you can say, you may have a reference, but it will not be with the CENTER reference, so then your movement and direction will be the wrong movement because you’re not clear to get the centers. Because the center of the reference there is the bone first; bone is the skeleton to hold the structure of the whole body; if the skeleton isn’t there you can’t move—you will collapse.

No doubt people say you need muscles; but yin yang muscles are 2 groups—but what HOLD the muscles is the bone. That means the BONE is the neutral is the center—it’s the neutral of yin yang muscles—it holds the muscles. So you need that reference to be clear. So all the training is to get that reference clear. That means why? That attention must be thee. Can your attention arrive there? How can you arrive there? Form connect to feel the pressure—can you maintain to stretch.

Stretching Is Building Up the Pressure–Use The Pressure to Knock on Something and Return

You hear a lot of people say you must stretch from the point.

Stretching is building up pressure: building up pressure as the frequency! –This frequency to there! The pressure that KNOCKS on something to return. And how to hold? How to hold and return is a PROCESS: of non-stop going there and coming back. It’s not: go there, I stop going and I come back.

RETURN means the cycle completes and nothing has stopped it: must be two ways: I’m coming back and I’m still going forward and this is still coming back. But reverse it needs to stops one side: you cannot have 2 ways when you reverse. RETURN: It’s a cycle: on a cycle, then coming back it will be under a different quality: that’s how a COMPLEMENTARY works (if it’s the same, you cannot).

That’s yang is expanding yin is drawing—like day and night—they are different: cold and hot have diff density; diff kind of quality of movement. Cold it thaws, hot it expands: this balance of complementary is not 50/50 balance. So how to get the cycle of return? Practically speaking it’s already a cycle (it’s there already!) It’s cycling already—if can’t cycle, you can’t function.

Are you guys clear on yesterday’s exercise? That kind of exercise you have to train for years. Not saying ‘oh, I know now; you don’t know.’ You have that kind of quality expressed on instance contact. Can’t say ‘wait, wait, wait—let me do something first.” No, can you change with the change I that instant?

A Higher Kind of Cultivation

So, you can say sometimes ‘it’s too refined—it seems that it’s hopeless that it seems it can’t be trained. It’s so hard to understand, how can I get that. You need a certain quality to attain that or else you cannot. That’s the refined higher kind of skill—a higher kind of cultivation. Because with that you need more control, more discipline, more self-control. If you don’t have that—you can’t., Discipline and control means you know more of yourself—you’re expanding to know more of yourself. Then, through point of contact then slowly you know your opponent—and you can say… not everyone can be able to train it. Actually, everyone should have this—the problem is that a lot of people won’t see it that way, because of past experience or habit.

Flowing On Neutral – Part 1

Zhong Xin Dao Viewpoint Talks
AZ Workshop
May 2019

Sifu: Good morning! Questions first?

What I teach may be hard to understand for those not really into the curriculum. No doubt yesterday I teach the ‘real thing’: it’s the real thing because that’s why you can do, what you’re looking for—from direct. Direct is that you only can be connecting to see that. It’s not you have to fall back to past experience to get the message or information. Yesterday what I showed you guys is how to get information.

Q: last step is just holding the neutral offense

When you’re neutral offense you can strike any time. That means you are on the neutral defense or neutral offense…if you’re already on the offensive side you can whack him. When it comes to control you cannot control on DEFENSE; defense is 50/50. Offense is because you understand I’ve already crossed the half line. Offense means I can get you but you can’t get me when you have neutral offense. I you don’t have neutral offense, he can get you—when you cross he can cross, too. Because you hold on to the neutral to do the close close or open open, then he cannot.

As I’ve said before, holding the space—same time and same space—only 1 can occupy. If I sit here, you can’t sit here. So if I get the space, you cannot, unless it’s a different space, then it’ll be under different time. So, you can say that in the beginning of the Flow, you try to stay on neutral, but you can also try, at first, to learn with neutral defense: then you know the limits.

Flow Has the Idea Of You Do Things Within the Limits

Only neutral, it’s sometimes hard to detect the limits. But with Neutral Defense—there are 2 points there, so It’s able to give you a better sense of if you’re still within the limits or not. Flow has the idea of you do things within the limits also—out of the limits, that means you’re following. The Flow will turn into following, you see? So when it comes to CONTROL, we must be in Neutral OFFENSE; you can’t control in Neutral DEFENSE: you can only PREVENT in neutral defense. For control, you must be one step ahead. That means, if he wants to come into you, he needs to neutralize your defense first, so that’s one step. So, Offense, that means you have to be able to cross the half-line, but I didn’t strike you—I still maintain Neutral Offense. Level 7, then, on control, there will be a moment when Upper Hand can strike. Then, I want to strike but you want to show you can maintain as a control over there. So the training of the procedure must be very clear. You can’t control on defense. That’s why neutral Offense and neutral Defense must be very clear: that means the half-line. There’s a 3-dimension half-line.

Primordial Energy, the Beginning of Energy, the Balance Energy

So, as yesterday, we approach it first from One point: One-point approach means one point of movement that means one point is a rotation…so that rotation you can say that is also spiral energy—Also as Chen style tai chi states, it’s Chan2 Si1 Jing 4 [silk reeling power] –so that’s why Chen style says it’s primary energy—is chan si jing; it’s right, it’s not wrong; in our sense, too: because he has to hold onto one point; and if you understand one point that one point has 6 directions, 3 dimensions, that reduce—sometimes later they call it the primordial energy, the beginning of energy, the balance energy.

That’s why Feng, Zhi Qiang calls it [ ?? ] Hun4 Yuan2 Tai4 Ji2—source of the beginning—the origin, that’s primordial. They have—I don’t know what he named, that’s the meaning you see, of the very base of things. That means it must come from the balance point. From the balance. So, Balance must come from the center. So the center has conditions to be a center, as the neutral point.

Whatever You Train Must Relate Back to the Philosophy

Like I said before, everything that WE train is based on what philosophy? The philosophy of Tao and Zen which is based on the nature of change. So whatever you train here is to change. Whatever you say must relate there, whatever you train must relate back to the philosophy. If it’s not related, then what you train is still falling back. This I the MOST important point. When you say something—is it related to that? are they comparable with this? If not, don’t say it, unless you use a different philosophy. For our system, we use that philosophy. You must understand that diff philosophy will have different concepts and combine with diff principles. If you use this philosophy, then we have these concepts and principles that align and point back to this philosophy. So all the instructs who give instructions must know how to give instructions—must align to that philosophy.

Don’t teach students you must think about this—or all these things, something to add. In the beginning, yes, you can tell them some things—but only do this but only for this period…the student must know they are only using this as a stepping stone

Readiness—the readiness must come from the balance point, but sometimes it’s so hard to get alertness and readiness from the balance point. If you don’t know how to use it … how to explain what comes first. Because you must be able to use it, but practically, you must know HOW to do that in order to pay attention also–or else you cannot. So you need to have some attention—then attention needs to have some concentration in order to do something in the first place, where does this come by? It’s very hard to explain.

So, the instruction must be given correctly. But everything has its own conditions. Readiness sometimes we can use—we can use fear to trigger readiness, to trigger alertness. But it’s the wrong approach. But sometimes, if you don’t do it, sometimes they can’t figure it out. But the alertness quality is the same but it goes through fear: one layer that changes things. But you need to have fear to trigger it up first so you can see ‘oh, this is how alertness is, how readiness is.’ Then you slowly turn it to get rid of fear to slowly change back into balanced harmony.

Q: Can you train it without fear, with the right philosophical approach…can fear be used as a context

Linking, Directing & Reflecting

Sifu: yes, but it’s very, very hard. Fear is based on a past reference—because in the moment you don’t have this thing. In the moment you don’t have fear or happy, that kind of thing. You can say because it’s more of calmness. So whenever you do something, you must explain this is not the final one, but you need this one first.

From yesterday’s training, as I said, it’s because of connecting direct—you need to connect, you need to direct, you need to link, you need to have a reflection. To start big to be in the moment. To hold on the point, to connect on the point. If you connect on the point, that very beginning, then if you want to move on that connecting point, then what is the movement that you can do? —it’s only rotation: rotation up and down and pivot like this…and up and down rotation, that’s all. And that rotation is the VERTICAL ENERGY under the plane: frontal, sagittal it leaves the point. Only vertical rotation holds—with the gravity first –that means everything must come up from here and go back to here).

Listening To The Point – Part 3

Return All In Reference To Yin & Yang

Stretch out first – The Neutral is where can go back and forth, but you need to hold and return in a loop—like a conveyor belt—you need to hold so something is steady.

We have 2 groups: yin yang muscles like the conveyor belt—they work together. For example: All the yin draws to dan tien; there are some things you just need to use at the beginning of the reference like all yin draws to dan tien; all yang expands from min-meng. All action references to here: Absorb Project yin first, then yang. Coming up will go to dan tien in front; back, it’s yang, will go to ming-men.

We are doing stacking energy first—rotate the [vertical] line first (stacking to feel direct); have THIS direct first; then only feel the front and back.

From the touch: direct to the bone—then you can feel the other side: hitting the mass—you can feel like 2 balls bounce; if direct, you feel the knock. If not direct, it’ll slice off. Understand? Only If direct—only then do you have the reference.

So, now if I hold the direct, if I want to go a little bit off, then I keep you to one side or the other, or a little up or down; but you must have the reference first, or else how will you know? A lot of people have been training saying ‘oh, it’s based on my reflex, I just know—that’s my habitual reflex.’

We Know Because We Hold the Centers

Now, first, we train to be very clear of the center: we know because we hold the centers. Then, from holding the centers so precisely, I know how many degrees of angles I should move.

Stronger the centers the clearer you are because the centers divide. No doubt, people say ‘oh a center is just a center. No, the centers divide the 6 directions, or else it’s not a center!

So, in action, you must use your mind—you must act according to the quality. A circle must have the centers; we don’t do circles without centers. We call it centers with 6 directions—that is the requirement.

*That’s why as instructors, you must make sure students do it correctly! They must do centers with directional energy—if not, then it’s not the center.

Q: it’s not the center of it’s not the right center?

Sifu: it’s not a center at all!

To be considered a center it must have directional energy. Maybe you stay in the center but don’t know you have direction, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t there. This tripod stand—it’s 3-legged—in order for it to be stable, already it must have this energy to stand.

The Center Is the Separation and the Unification Point

I was trying to say that in every action you must look into the quality. I would like to do first the rotation: how everything comes from rotation—so hold onto the rotation. So your movement is ROTATION first!

The rotation to do the movement: from the feet—feet rotates to the hip, hip to the spine, the spine rotates to the C-7 and open and close through the shoulders (open-close rotation and shoulder rotation).

This is very important because this center is the separations and also the unification: The Center is the separation and the Unification point. You must have the center to connect. If your movement with attention is not from the center, then you pay attention only to yin or to yang. If you pay attention to the right you forget the left, or vice versa, switching back and forth, left-right, left-right, left-right. [zig zagging]

In order for unification of these two to happen, it must come from the center. If your Movement is from the center, then the 2 will turn into one. One is 2, two is 3, but you can say that these 2 with the center– these 2 will be as ONE.

That’s why I say 1, 2, 3 –the reverse thing will form as one: will form as one ONENESS.

One ONENESS comes from one center to have separation. If you don’t have a center, you won’t be able to unify. The MIND is not connected: the mind will not be doing one point to stretch: the mind will be jumping from here to here.

So understanding this, you are holding one point to connect and stretch like a spider web. From one neutral center, you can connect everything. This center axis; dan tien and ming men: this one point down (vertical line)—floor up and down) and front-back—dan tien and ming men, condense-expand. Dan tien and ming men is also separation.

So with axis and rotation, you can hold the 6 directions: you can see the 6 directions. It’s not that you ‘move’ forward-backward, left-right, up and down. Yes, you can move, but you don’t have to. You want to really pay attention to this. How CLEAR the center is. The stronger and clearer the centers, the clearer you will be

In Zen they say one point—the Zen center point—is so strong it’s unmovable. The stronger the center is, the clearer the direction point is: a strong point gives direction. This is the whole training. This morning’s talk.

It’s about the Clarity and Stillness

Q: can you clarify what ‘strong’ center refers to?

Sifu: so strong means it’s very steady and balanced. That means the relationship of the center with 6 directions is very connected and separated. Clear separation Is connection. It’s about clarity and stillness. Of course, then when it’s so strong then you can go down to very small. And so small it can still contain that kind of quality. Alright.

Q: it’s a lot to recognize and fine-tune

Sifu: that’s why we’re always training from Big to Medium to Small—we don’t train small first. Yeah, you can try to do it, but maybe you won’t be able to make it strong or have the quality. The Big size you can see if you can do it correctly. Then slowly you reduce it smaller and still keep it the same. Keep the big one doing circle…small one still is making circles—just so small you won’t be able to notice it—or see if you’re not really doing circles. So, you must do it BIG first. That’s when I look I can see you’re not doing circles—no loop, you’re just going and coming back. You can see the loop is there—then this is the circle ([demonstrates on point of palm to show how we can see the loop and thus the circles—not just ‘backing off.’)

Ashe: are you saying we do it big first to see the cross first?

You can say that we do it big to recognize the cross clear you can also say that you’re using the cross to do the loop/circles: they always go together. If you’re doing one, you’re doing the other. You’re training that, you’re also training this. The separation and the center.

Ashe: if you do the movement big, your mistakes are magnified—can see them better?

Sifu: Yes.

That’s why we keep on saying you must complete the circles. Complete the circles—how many: you may be doing a loop at the palm, but are you also doing it at the elbow? At the shoulder? At the hip? Are they THROUGH THE WHOLE BODY?! [Demonstrates: Can you see my knee, my foot I’m looping? NOT only at hand or Point of contact at hand: hip is also doing it—the whole body is connected]. Then you are doing down to feet: feel the FEET ARE DOING THE CIRCLES! It’s not at the hand only! So, here is where the refining is made.

Feel. [demonstrates on Ashe, who is wearing Irek’s shirt]. Feel how it is going down to feet, joint by joint. One touch at the circle is WHOLE—how many circles can you go down? Match with rotation.

The refinement has much, much farther to go. Touch here: it’s NOT just the frontal here: I have your shoulders down to your feet. Understand? Just this one loop to learn on touch: Pow! Is it down to the floor?

Start the training at wrist, elbow, shoulders and down. Let’s just train this move to see the difference: Absorb Project from here (on the heel of the hand, the hand with the elbow, with shoulder start—see the difference; with the hip roll starting the loop, then with the feet: observe the difference).

Q: as you go down from hand, elbow…

Loops within Loops, Circles within Circles, Spheres within Spheres—3 Dimensional
You’re doing the same loop ALL at the same time: the smaller ‘loops’ with the bigger loop! Like a conveyer belt with many rollers…. the top one rolls, and EVERY j[interlocking] point has a roller and it connects to the next—the body is one: we’re connected with rollers at each joint looping…loops within the loops means it’s 3-dimensions: a circle within a circle [fractal]

Ashe: all move together; it’s not like they are

Sifu: each one has a loop by itself AND the whole body is one, too. Like a mechanical machine—it’s running all together, matching and coordinating. All together even as all have separation, too. Separation but also you can unify. And this can move in different planes. SPHERES WITHIN SPHERES.

Train this: section by section: loop could be at poc/wrist—can also be hand and shoulder. Then, I can go down to feet and every part is moving/looping.

Listening To The Point – Part 2

References, Rotation, and Relationship of Theory to Training

GM Sam F.S. Chin Viewpoint Talks (continued from part 1)
Tempe, Arizona USA
May 2019

Q: How do you meet to the center without pressure being there?

You can just have flowing, light pressure. I’m talking about matching at the point of contact—like we do the flowing exercise; the flowing exercise that you need to fix on to the point to hold onto the point. Adjusting to the point you maintain pressure: that’s changing with the change to maintain not to change. That means you’re always changing. There’s no single moment you’re not changing! You’re changing to adjust, changing to maintain. You can say ‘that’s only the correct movement. Any other movement.

Q: Is that idea more just for beginners?

No—that is very advanced already. Maintaining—you have to increase and decrease (if you can’t match the pressure, that means you are gone). So, it’s the training: to maintain. Understand?

So, in the beginning we need a lot of pressure first to be engaged to feel the point, to connect the point and to rotate on the point. The rotation of the point could be frontal rotation, horizontal rotation or sagittal rotation. But that rotation is not that you simply rotate: you rotate to match the NEXT CENTER–the next center of the next joint. Then how many centers can you match–that matching. Then, can you RETURN?

First, in the beginning is to get the bone first (on bone you can go back and forth at first—that’s fine). Then later, go in and get the yin and yang muscles. Without the bone you have no reference. This is the very CORE of the training! Because If you can occupy the centers an opponent cannot move up from those centers, he’ll lose everything. Because then he, in action, he can’t move: in action has to be either yin or yang. But we train to have holding the center to do yin and to do yang. Holding the center as the reference to see what is appropriate. Right?

We don’t talk about ‘it’s too much’, or ‘it’s too little.’ If I can talk everything that seems to makes sense but it’s nonsense–oh ‘it’s too much, too little, too fast, too slow, not enough’—what’s that? No reference!

Those kind of words [without reference], do you ever hear me use them? (too fast, too slow, not enough)—no I never use those words. If I say ‘not enough’ I always have a reference to know what’s enough. Without the reference we don’t know what; it makes sense, but you don’t’ know what or why. Understand? As we’ve been talking, there’s also one thing you need to get across to the students:

What is the point of the theory—many people have a tendency to not be interested in the theory, in the philosophy.

As we discussed yesterday, without the mind seeing it, knowing it from theory, from how to approach what you are looking for—and how to act on it—then, without that leading, you try to do something and you can’t. You can’t just say ‘don’t talk, train’; let’s do it (body training) without the clear reference of the mind—and what you’re searching for, what you’re pinpointing, then you don’t know how to direct your attention. you’ll keep on being like a blind man touching an elephant: touching this and that—always touching but you don’t know what you’re touching.

With clear theory and concepts, then you know what you’re looking for. Then you have a direction for the mind.

So, it’s very important to give a precise kind of instruction: what are you looking for? Because what you’re looking for with direct mind—into seeing it—then we can have the mind to see directly. Because we aren’t using ‘I’m trying to feel it based on what I’ve felt before’. No, what you’ve felt before, don’t let it come into play; that’s the past. You want to do with the instruction of what you are holding onto to feel that moment.

The Moment of Training of Feeling Directly

Only in the beginning, a lot of things students do need some kind of experience to do the difference (Ex: what is direct, what’s not direct. The direct always has the two energy directly feedback: if one energy goes out and it doesn’t return, then that’s not direct.

Like a ball that bounces back—if the energy bounces back, that kind of experience you need to know. It doesn’t mean that past experience isn’t useful, but in the moment of training of feeling the direct, you try to recognize what is happening as it happens in that moment that turns into a moment of experiencing.

The DIRECT—that you can be trained is that: to understand directly. Every point of contact must be direct. And able to maintain over there. Here is where it comes down to be able to have that kind of concentration: it will depend on the level of concentration.

If my concentration is better than yours, I get more information, get more direct information, more clear information, then I can change better than you can change its base on here why do they keep on saying you have to change concentration, train direct? And why do we say it’s always based on Refection.

Direct Information Means You Have to Have 2 Points: One Point to the Other Point, Stretching to Connect while Balancing Pressure

To train reflection is direct—the direct getting information. Direct information means you have to have two points: one point to the other point: you have to extend to that point and return. But if you ‘reverse’, then the information breaks.

The RETURN information is continuing. That’s why we keep on talking about the action—the movement that goes out can’t reverse. RETURN is the COMPLETE cycle with information that keeps on coming without a break. When there’s reverse there will be a break and there will be a gap.

So in order to have the return, that means you must be able to hold onto one point to CONNECT to another point. How can you do that? By STRETCHING and through PRESSURE. With the pressure—with the movement of rotation to increase the pressure from one point to the another point to come back to hold onto another point and come back. if you can’t have the same pressure, you can’t do it. It will reach the other point and just disappear and it won’t be back. It’s just like a radio frequency if you go there and come back with a different frequency you can’t receive. You must have the same frequency in order to come back: that means the same pressure, the same wavelength. Understand?

In order to maintain the same, it means it’s a balance point also: that means you keep on changing to maintain not to change. The problem is our attention is so messed up; our concentration is really really messed up—you can’t even hold for a couple of seconds.

Continued…