Good Thoughts Words and Deeds: The Shaolin Arts and Daily Life
Part 5 of 6
In this article I will discuss one of Grandmaster Wong Kiew Kit’
's most profound teachings on daily life, to have Good Thoughts, Words and Deeds. The article goes on to discuss other aspects of Shaolin Wahnam philosophy and their application in daily life.
Living Skilfully Part 2
The second part of "living skilfully" is to use our Kung Fu and Tai Chi Chuan tactics and strategies to enhance our daily lives for ourselves and others.
There are many, many Kung Fu Tactics and Strategies, so in order for us to ensure we are putting the most important ones into practice we can list the main tactics and strategies from the Shaolin Wahnam syllabus (note that some are in fact principles, and some of the later ones are left out).
So the list goes:
- Three Arrivals
- Ask the Way
- Safety First
- Gradual Progress
- Perseverance
- Soft against Hard
- Exploiting Opponent’s Weakness, Avoiding His Strong Points
- Feign Weakness
- Pressing Attack
- Breaking Opponent's Momentum
- Know Thyself, Know Your Opponent
- Certainty and Decisiveness
When one is sure they are applying these well, we can examine the countless other tactics and strategies available.
It is important to mention that these practices relate to the concepts of “from You Wei to Wu Wei”. That many of these strategies become part of us as a natural result of our training, for example from training with internal force we naturally develop the characteristics of certainty and decisiveness, if every time we use “Black Tiger Steals Heart” our shen is focussed and we use flowing force, then in life we will have certainty and decisiveness in all scenarios.
Never the less it is fruitful to also use some conscious effort to work these tactics and strategies into our lives.
1. Three Arrivals - this principle is fundamental if we wish to achieve anything in our lives. This relates greatly to Good Thoughts as I mentioned earlier. If we wish to achieve anything we must know in our hearts that we will, then we must put ourselves in the place to achieve it, and then we must do it simply without fuss or question. The level of our arrival of the heart can vary depending on what it is we wish to achieve and our level of development. If the task is easy then arrival of the heart is easy, if it is more difficult then we must use our skills of letting go and gentle focus so that we can clear our doubts and achieve arrival of the heart. The higher our level of attainment the easier it is to have arrival of the heart in any aspect of our lives. It relates greatly to the concept of "heart thinks events materialise", we must use our powerful minds to achieve wholesome and good things, but we mustn't be afraid to use them. Closely related to this topic is the four modes of preparation which is another crucial principle we must learn to use.
2. Ask the Way and 3. Safety First - are closely related. When we embark on any venture we must "test the water" to see if there is an opening and we must cover ourselves with safety first. If we are strong willed and rush into opportunities in life then we may cause ourselves unnecessary hassle that these strategies would prevent.
This is a careful balance, we must not use Safety First as an excuse not to go for it. This is why we must skilfully use three arrivals with safety first.
4. Gradual Progress and 5. Perseverance - two fundamental concepts in building internal force and also very applicable in daily life. Perseverance is needed to achieve any difficult task, and we will gain this determination from our Shaolin training. Gradual Progress is an excellent principle to use in overcoming any fear or difficulty in our lives. For example if one is nervous of public speaking then we can use gradual progress to overcome this: first talking in front of a few close friends, then a bigger audience of colleagues, then a larger group of colleagues and seniors before finally talking at a large public seminar.
6. Soft Against Hard - This is an excellent principle to help us in our one to one interactions. This principle helps greatly in interacting with family or friends, especially in conflict situations. Learning how to soften your language, voice, judgement or point of view may help to build deeper relationships.
7.to 10. - are all very useful principles to utilise in verbal conflict or disagreement, or in fact to achieve any noble course which has resistance. If we know when to feign weakness to open an opportunity, whilst simultaneously avoiding our opponents strong points and exploiting their weak points, then we will become a skilful negotiator. It is useful to point out that terms such as "opponent" are symbolic, to some readers it may sound disturbing to label clients, family or potential love interests as "opponent" but this is why we must remember the term is symbolic without a strict western definition.
As an alternative strategy to Soft on Hard we must learn how to press with determination in order to achieve our goals in life, and we must also learn how to break an opponents momentum if we are being pressed. For example if we are asked a series of difficult questions we must learn how to pose a skilful one back in order to give us time to re focus. We must learn how to press hard to achieve a job, partner, goal or any desired and noble outcome whilst covering our self safely.
11. Know Thyself, Know Your Opponent - a useful way to put this into practice is whenever we wish to achieve a noble outcome then we can write down or think of all our strengths and then, honestly, our weaknesses (not giving way to self doubt) and then do the same for our symbolic opponent. This can then help us to look for openings and apply other principles such as Safety First in any endeavour.
12. Certainty and Decisiveness - as mentioned earlier this practice comes as a direct result of training our arts correctly. If one feels they are not making progress then it may be worth examining which parts of our training may be slowing us, often it is because of needing to gradually increase our force training.
This has been a quick overview of these tactics, strategies and principles from our basic syllabus. Other resources are Grandmaster Wong’s many books, the question and answer series and the many wonderful videos which Grandmaster Wong generously releases for us all.
The final instalment (Part 6) of this article will be available on 5th December 2007
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