Post by qwan on Mar 20, 2011 8:42:29 GMT 2
Relatari despre maestrul Hu si Chen Fa Che facute de maestrul Feng Zhiqiang (extras din Transcript of sections from Grand Master Feng's July 2001 Workshop)
Early on there was a student, I think it was Dennis, who was asking for some stories about Hu Yaozhen, [Editor's note: who was one of Grandmaster Feng’s significant teachers] so I'm going to tell you a little bit about Hu Yaozhen. Hu Yaozhen and Chen Fa Ke were both my teachers. Both of them reached a very, very high level in martial arts. Their personalities, their way of thinking and action, were very high and virtuous. Chen Fa Ke was from Chen Village in Hunan Province, but his level of achievment, there’s no other person from Chen Village that he has met that reached even a fraction of Chen Fa Ke’s level.
[Zhang] Master Feng is very humble, but he has inherited everything that Master Chen Fa Ke taught him — his wisdom, martial arts, and his way of life.
[Feng] Ever since I started learning from both of those masters, I have never heard them say anything negative about anybody else, and they never talked highly about themselves either. Master Chen actually had two nicknames. One of them was Chen So-so, and the other was Chen Useless. Because every time somebody praised him he would say, “I’m useless, I’m so-so.” He said it so often that people actually called him by his nicknames Chen Useless and Chen So-so. However, in martial arts publications in Japan they called Grandmaster Chen Fa Ke “the Saint of Fist”. [Translator's clarification: The Saint of Martial Arts]
Master Hu, similarly, never expressed his opinion about other people. He always said, “you’re good, he's good." He always praised everybody else. When somebody’s martial art or life style had some problems, he never said anything about it, he would just say “I don’t know.” When he saw something strong in somebody's martial art or something good in somebody's personality he would always praise them. Master Hu was a master of five arts. He was a master of Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism, and Chinese Medicine as well as martial arts. When he meditates, I have seen him levitate for about a foot off the ground.
One time he was meditating in the house and I went to visit him with some fellow students. We knew he was meditating, so we stayed outside the house, we didn’t want to go in and disturb him. However, master Hu could somehow sense that we were there, and asked us all to come in. He asked us all to come in, and said, “I’ve been meditating too long, my legs are numb, it’s all crooked, so can you all come and lift me up?” So all five of us said, oh that’s pretty easy, because all five of us were strong young men in our prime, so we said, “no problem, we can lift him up.” We tried, but couldn’t move him. After he saw us struggle, he said “Never mind, I’ll do it myself, I’m no longer numb.” He just walked down from the bed himself. While we were trying, five of us each took a limb and the other took the body, but none of us could move him. Only when he said “I’m moving myself” then he’s coming off the bed. When we were pulling him, it felt to us as if he was almost moving. We felt as if he’s giving, he’s giving, but he’s never quite coming off the bed, and when we’re out of strength he somehow moved back. It’s almost like he’s elastic. We were very puzzled why the teacher was doing this to us. The teacher said, “May be you guys are thinking too highly of yourselves. Are you very proud of yourselves, are you very proud of your strength and your achievements? But look at you, you can’t even move an old man like me, so you must go back and do some thinking. What have you done wrong?” But none of us could find our own fault at first. “I’m ok, I’m very humble, I don’t think very highly of myself.”
So we tried to help each other and say, “oh, you are arrogant in this way and arrogant in that way" and we found our problems eventually. My problem was… [demonstrates] When I was young I liked to walk like that (scrowling at everybody else). Another fellow student… [demonstrates] ... full of himself. Another one… [demonstrates] He’s never sincere, he’s always too smiley-faced on the outside. That’s how the teacher taught us to be humble. The lesson was to teach us that “you haven’t learned a lot yet and you’re already so proud of yourself, you already have developed so many problems, how can you move beyond your present level?”
In my memory, both masters have never hurt anybody. Whenever they took on challengers, they always defeat them without hurting them. Other martial arts schools in Beijing gave Master Chen a signboard that said he is Taiji 1, as in Taiji first person, meaning there’s nobody else higher than him in Taiji. Everybody thought he would be happy with such praises. However, Master Chen wasn’t happy at all, he was very upset. He took that signboard and hid it under his bed. People asked him, "You should hang it up. Why do you hide it under your bed?" He said, "I’m not the only one doing Taiji, lots of people are doing Taiji, I’m not the “only one” in Taiji" (a possible literal translation of the words on the signboard). All these stories are quite well-known, widely spread, even in Japan. That’s why they call him the Saint of Martial Arts.
Grandmaster Hu, on the other hand was called “the God of Fist” [Translator's clarification: The God of Martial Arts] His level of achievement was also very well known, not only in martial arts, but also in Confucianism, Taoism, Buddhism, and Traditional Medicine. There was an aura... he gave out a visible aura when he meditates. His scholarship in Confucianism was very well known, his definition of Kindness, Righteousness, Way/Truth, Virtue was considered to be the best in the field. His knowledged of medicine is also very, very deep. I have seen two or three patients who came to visit him, and they were so ill they couldn’t walk any more, they basically came in a cart. Master Hu just poked two needles into them and they all walked home by themselves. Those patients called him the God-doctor. He wasn't just using needles when giving acupuncture, he used his qi, and he drove it all the way into the patient. Sometimes he could foretell things before they happened. There are certain things I probably should not tell you today, but I would say one thing: Master Hu is not a normal person. For example, I was introduced to Master Chen Fa Ke by Master Hu. I told Master Hu, “I don’t like Taiji.” But Master Hu said, “His Taiji is good.” So I asked Master Hu, “How come you know his Taiji is good?” Master Hu said, “Well I don’t know him yet.” At that time they didn’t know each other.
Then I asked, “In that case how do you know his Taiji is good?” Master Hu said, “I’ve seen him at night,” without saying anything further. My theory is that he was able to do some sort of out-of-body visit when he was meditating. Master Hu basically persuaded me to go and see Master Chen. “You just go and have a look-see. If you like it, I’ll write a letter of recommendation for you.” So I went to visit Master Chen, and I was very, very impressed. So that’s how I meet Master Chen and joined his school. So it was through Master Hu's introduction that I get to know Master Chen Fa Ke.
Before Master Chen, the type of Taiji I have seen were what I saw in parks done by old people, which was very soft and not very good. It was only through Master Hu’s introduction to Master Chen that I started doing Chen Taiji.
Early on there was a student, I think it was Dennis, who was asking for some stories about Hu Yaozhen, [Editor's note: who was one of Grandmaster Feng’s significant teachers] so I'm going to tell you a little bit about Hu Yaozhen. Hu Yaozhen and Chen Fa Ke were both my teachers. Both of them reached a very, very high level in martial arts. Their personalities, their way of thinking and action, were very high and virtuous. Chen Fa Ke was from Chen Village in Hunan Province, but his level of achievment, there’s no other person from Chen Village that he has met that reached even a fraction of Chen Fa Ke’s level.
[Zhang] Master Feng is very humble, but he has inherited everything that Master Chen Fa Ke taught him — his wisdom, martial arts, and his way of life.
[Feng] Ever since I started learning from both of those masters, I have never heard them say anything negative about anybody else, and they never talked highly about themselves either. Master Chen actually had two nicknames. One of them was Chen So-so, and the other was Chen Useless. Because every time somebody praised him he would say, “I’m useless, I’m so-so.” He said it so often that people actually called him by his nicknames Chen Useless and Chen So-so. However, in martial arts publications in Japan they called Grandmaster Chen Fa Ke “the Saint of Fist”. [Translator's clarification: The Saint of Martial Arts]
Master Hu, similarly, never expressed his opinion about other people. He always said, “you’re good, he's good." He always praised everybody else. When somebody’s martial art or life style had some problems, he never said anything about it, he would just say “I don’t know.” When he saw something strong in somebody's martial art or something good in somebody's personality he would always praise them. Master Hu was a master of five arts. He was a master of Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism, and Chinese Medicine as well as martial arts. When he meditates, I have seen him levitate for about a foot off the ground.
One time he was meditating in the house and I went to visit him with some fellow students. We knew he was meditating, so we stayed outside the house, we didn’t want to go in and disturb him. However, master Hu could somehow sense that we were there, and asked us all to come in. He asked us all to come in, and said, “I’ve been meditating too long, my legs are numb, it’s all crooked, so can you all come and lift me up?” So all five of us said, oh that’s pretty easy, because all five of us were strong young men in our prime, so we said, “no problem, we can lift him up.” We tried, but couldn’t move him. After he saw us struggle, he said “Never mind, I’ll do it myself, I’m no longer numb.” He just walked down from the bed himself. While we were trying, five of us each took a limb and the other took the body, but none of us could move him. Only when he said “I’m moving myself” then he’s coming off the bed. When we were pulling him, it felt to us as if he was almost moving. We felt as if he’s giving, he’s giving, but he’s never quite coming off the bed, and when we’re out of strength he somehow moved back. It’s almost like he’s elastic. We were very puzzled why the teacher was doing this to us. The teacher said, “May be you guys are thinking too highly of yourselves. Are you very proud of yourselves, are you very proud of your strength and your achievements? But look at you, you can’t even move an old man like me, so you must go back and do some thinking. What have you done wrong?” But none of us could find our own fault at first. “I’m ok, I’m very humble, I don’t think very highly of myself.”
So we tried to help each other and say, “oh, you are arrogant in this way and arrogant in that way" and we found our problems eventually. My problem was… [demonstrates] When I was young I liked to walk like that (scrowling at everybody else). Another fellow student… [demonstrates] ... full of himself. Another one… [demonstrates] He’s never sincere, he’s always too smiley-faced on the outside. That’s how the teacher taught us to be humble. The lesson was to teach us that “you haven’t learned a lot yet and you’re already so proud of yourself, you already have developed so many problems, how can you move beyond your present level?”
In my memory, both masters have never hurt anybody. Whenever they took on challengers, they always defeat them without hurting them. Other martial arts schools in Beijing gave Master Chen a signboard that said he is Taiji 1, as in Taiji first person, meaning there’s nobody else higher than him in Taiji. Everybody thought he would be happy with such praises. However, Master Chen wasn’t happy at all, he was very upset. He took that signboard and hid it under his bed. People asked him, "You should hang it up. Why do you hide it under your bed?" He said, "I’m not the only one doing Taiji, lots of people are doing Taiji, I’m not the “only one” in Taiji" (a possible literal translation of the words on the signboard). All these stories are quite well-known, widely spread, even in Japan. That’s why they call him the Saint of Martial Arts.
Grandmaster Hu, on the other hand was called “the God of Fist” [Translator's clarification: The God of Martial Arts] His level of achievement was also very well known, not only in martial arts, but also in Confucianism, Taoism, Buddhism, and Traditional Medicine. There was an aura... he gave out a visible aura when he meditates. His scholarship in Confucianism was very well known, his definition of Kindness, Righteousness, Way/Truth, Virtue was considered to be the best in the field. His knowledged of medicine is also very, very deep. I have seen two or three patients who came to visit him, and they were so ill they couldn’t walk any more, they basically came in a cart. Master Hu just poked two needles into them and they all walked home by themselves. Those patients called him the God-doctor. He wasn't just using needles when giving acupuncture, he used his qi, and he drove it all the way into the patient. Sometimes he could foretell things before they happened. There are certain things I probably should not tell you today, but I would say one thing: Master Hu is not a normal person. For example, I was introduced to Master Chen Fa Ke by Master Hu. I told Master Hu, “I don’t like Taiji.” But Master Hu said, “His Taiji is good.” So I asked Master Hu, “How come you know his Taiji is good?” Master Hu said, “Well I don’t know him yet.” At that time they didn’t know each other.
Then I asked, “In that case how do you know his Taiji is good?” Master Hu said, “I’ve seen him at night,” without saying anything further. My theory is that he was able to do some sort of out-of-body visit when he was meditating. Master Hu basically persuaded me to go and see Master Chen. “You just go and have a look-see. If you like it, I’ll write a letter of recommendation for you.” So I went to visit Master Chen, and I was very, very impressed. So that’s how I meet Master Chen and joined his school. So it was through Master Hu's introduction that I get to know Master Chen Fa Ke.
Before Master Chen, the type of Taiji I have seen were what I saw in parks done by old people, which was very soft and not very good. It was only through Master Hu’s introduction to Master Chen that I started doing Chen Taiji.