ON MAGICAL ENERGIES & ALL THAT JAZZ.... Nasser Butt©December 2011 I am still shocked and amazed at the number of emails or enquires I get from people regarding supernatural energies, or demonstrations of said energies on YouTube or elsewhere! It is incredible that in this ‘age of reason’, there are still folks being duped by so- called ‘masters’ into believing that such fantastical forces exist whereby one can knock out an adversary by a mere flick of the hand! If such ‘masters’ or even such supernatural energies existed, then where were they when China was being invaded and ‘raped’ en masse by foreign armies throughout its long and turbulent history? Why weren’t these ‘Super-Masters’ stepping to the fore and using their powers to defend their nation’s weak and oppressed citizens? The answer’s simple - there weren’t any, because none existed! There is not one iota of evidence that the great masters of old - the Yang Lu-ch’ans, or Sun Lu-tangs or Chang San-fengs ever claimed to possess supernatural powers through the practice of their internal arts or ever demonstrated circus tricks! Sure, legends abound regarding the prowess of the above-mentioned masters, but such legends were based on historical facts and where they weren’t and were overstated by zealous followers, who knew next to nothing about the art or the artist - they were and can be proven wrong easily! Let’s take the story of Yang Lu-ch’an being able to nullify a bird’s energy and prevent it from taking off from his palm. This is clearly a reference to the skill of Yang at being able to neutralize the energy of his opponents with ease. Birds, however, are a totally different proposition altogether! Birds are nature’s perfect flying machines. They can land on the most delicate of branches and take off without causing the branch to break! They are meant to fly... unless, of course, they are designed not to do so. The suggestion that Yang Lu-ch’an could, somehow, defy physics and prevent the bird from flying from his palm is preposterous! The time in any flight of the greatest danger is during take off and landing. This is because speed is related to the lift needed to leave the ground. Lift is the weakest at take off because full speed has not been made. And at landing because the speed of the bird is being reduced. This is true also for modern aviation too. It is the size of the wing which determines how much lift is made. The angle at which the wing approaches the air affects lift. This increases the air speed over the wing and produces more lift. Birds use all of the following: changing their wing size, lowering flaps, opening slots, using winds, and increasing their speed by flapping their wings faster. So, it’s clearly demonstrable from the above that it’s the wings of a bird that help it to gain lift. The only way Yang could have stopped it from flying was by preventing it from spreading its wings and not by making some adjustments to his palm or anything else to neutralize the bird’s energy! By the way, there is no record of Yang ever claiming this feat for himself. Rather, it is a story handed down to us from students!! Similar stories are found for Sun Lu-tang. In fact, it was claimed that he was so light footed that he could walk on the surface of water! A story which arose from a simple leap over some puddles and mud! Sun’s daughter, Sun Jian Yun, spent her life denouncing such myths about her father! Between 1898-1901 at the time of the Boxer rebellion, there were many boxers who believed that by practicing certain qigongs, they were able to gain a type of iron shirt that could deflect bullets! Sadly, they discovered rather quickly and fatally that they were not Kryptonian men of steel but, rather, men of flesh and blood! Of course that didn’t stop some of the masters claiming that the reason why their students failed to stop the bullets was due to a lack of training and not following their instructions properly! Funnily enough, the said masters themselves never took on the guns! A similar parallel exists in modern times. George Dillman and his lackeys are amongst a host of current non-Chinese and Chinese practitioners claiming the no-touch knockdowns. The fact that they have been brutally exposed by ordinary reporters and shown to be charlatans, who can only do such tricks on their own students, does not deter them from continuing to make their claims! Go check YouTube... they are found easily! What’s so abhorrent about these guys is that they feed on the weak and vulnerable minds and no doubt make a bucket load of cash in the process! And even when confronted by their failures, they claim it’s because the recipient is not receptive to their qi and that’s why it doesn’t work! Or, even, that the recipient was a master who knew how to neutralize their qi by simply moving their toes in opposing directions - that’s a real gem George! Surely, if such skills were possible, then they would work on everyone period! For what’s the point of something, which only works on those who are willing? And far more importantly all the armies in the world would be teaching such skills to their soldiers! Imagine the current costs of modern warfare... these could be slashed as no more expensive bullets or missiles would be required to overthrow states and governments! Nope, the soldiers could simply wave their fingers like a Jedi and send their opponents flying or use mind tricks to confound their enemies... “These are not the droids you are looking for!” Enough of such fools and foolishness! They are neither masters nor teachers or guides! I would gladly stand in front of any one of them and challenge them to move me one inch without touching me or even make the shirt on my back ruffle! A true guide or teacher would not resort to such trickery. No! They would behave with honour and protect the weak and the poor of society and even lay down their lives if they had too. The great Baguazhang master Cheng Ting Hua, was one such honorable man who sacrificed his life during the aforementioned Boxer rebellion. It is said that he saw a group of foreign soldiers abusing fellow Chinese outside his shop. Armed with 2 small knives he dove amongst them, killing several and injuring many before being shot down. No magic, no trickery. Rather, a man who represented the true nature of his art and executed it with a skill that still marvels us today! The internal arts are magical enough. They do not require the circus tricks of modern charlatans to prove their worth! No! The masters of old showed us the simple path to the truth. Stick to it, train hard and your art will reward you with health, longevity and a oneness with the earth, the heavens and all that’s contained therein. Oh.... and it’ll teach you how to fight too! And... If you really want to knock an opponent out - simply hit him! This article originally appeared in Combat & Healing Volume 63 December 2011.
Posted on: Fri, 17 Oct 2014 00:47:14 +0000
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