Yes, Sifu is alive and well regardless of what you may have seen on the web. Sifu, like many people, has a family plot with a premade tombstone. There is a photographer that took a picture of it and posted it on the web and said Sifu is dead. The folks at his school have …
I am always amazed at how we humans are so attached to our ideas and opinions of reality when in fact they have little basis in reality. We have certain ideas that we think are real and actually matter to our lives when they are just contrivances that we have somehow cast as real in …
Mind and Perception: The Truth? We can’t handle the truth! Read More »
When you try to teach Zen, kung fu or anything of real value you present it in parts. You can’t present the whole thing because it is incomprehensible to the student. So each student takes what they can and digests what they can. It is like learning the many tributaries of a river and where they lead …
If all you have is a hammer, in either mental or physical skill, then you are severely limited in how you can solve problems. There are many ways to steer yourself out of a situation with varied skill sets and techniques but once you introduce a hammer there is only one way out. What you bring …
To The Man Who Only Has a Hammer All Things Are Solved With A Hammer Read More »
There is this strange mind set in martial arts that somehow amassing a large amount of techniques equals knowledge of the art. Somehow gathering all this information makes you a master just by virtue of having it all, it’s like thinking owning all of Shakespeare’s works makes you a playwright. There are those that go from …
Technique Gatherers: the Difference between Information and Knowledge Read More »
It has happened again to me and it is always amazing. Someone had come to me to ask about learning kung fu and while inquiring about the training asked, “ so….how long until I can teach it?” What? Where else do you go to learn something and before you even start it ask when you …
There is a phrase that is rarely used in martial arts, religion and spirituality that could shed light on many problems and practices. The phrase is simply ‘why does this work?’. Why does one thing produce another and do you truly know that it does? I was once speaking to a very devoted Korean karate …
The Myth that Physical Discipline Develops Spirituality Read More »
This morning we lost a great teacher, uncle and brother. Sifu Louie Jack Man passed away. He will be sorely missed by everyone in Phildelphia’s Jook Lum Family. It was an honor to know him. Please keep his family in your thoughts.
There’s an ill wind blowing at a time of great sadness. I experienced this wind years ago when Grand Master Lum Wing Fay died in 1991. Before his death his inner circle of students was well known and undisputed. His lineage was clear. Immediately following his death the vultures descended claiming to be his chosen …
We are not instinctive creatures which is why we are so helpless as children. Within a short amount of time after birth many animals are able to fend for themselves in some capacity, but we take many years. We have no innate ability to forage for food or to hunt. It is this intrinsic ability of …