How do I be a beginner and gain value from studying different martial arts?

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Anthony Taylor
Tasmania, Australia
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Dear Peter Ralston,
Thank you for your work, your writings periodically keep me honest. I am training with Dave Higgins in Hobart, mostly enjoying the mind/body-space of playing the games and making some primitive beginnings on a slack rope. I am training in Aikido with teachers of various quality at the Uni club and doing some supplementary training with a Ninjitsu instructor simply because he is the best mover I've ever seen.
I reason that most people seem to come to Cheng Hsin with a lot of Martial arts under their belt and already have as it were, techniques to transcend. It seems true of yourself and Ueshiba that technique, instruction and discipline provided a valuable basis to find truth. It seems wise to begin in forming technique with Cheng Hsin principles and practices as soon as possible.
These different influences have kept me a little extended without causing confusion probably because they all inform each other so thoroughly, I would, however, appreciate some guidance on how best to be a beginner. Is it as simple as Goenka says, that to make a well you need to commit and dig one deep hole? Can I study a few traditions with serious and playful curiosity and come away with more than just a good time?
Good luck with the month-long.
Anthony Taylor

Anthony,
It is hard to say, both have value. In the beginning, however, it is probably best to look around for a while. Studying a few things can balance the dogma of any one. On the other hand, you need to delve past the hard parts to get an appreciation of any art. Some arts, or teachers, aren't worth the time; some are. After much study, then choose one or two arts and dig your deep hole.
Peter

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Questions for the master. Alignment when Punching? Stance and Protecting the Body? Feeling Qi?

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Michael Norman
Boston, MA
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Peter Ralston,
I have completed the first two chapters of your book and have decided to stop and make sure I get them right before moving on so as not to lose anything. I do have several questions that you may answer later on in the book but I will ask anyway. If they are answered please don't waste your time in answering them since I am sure you are very busy.
Thanks again for taking time to read my letters. I think I have found answers to a great deal of what I am looking for in your book and I would truly love to do anything that I can to help you and your organization. I have a black belt in isshinryu karate so I am used to a straight punch and a forward-facing grounded stance, but after taking kickboxing and tae kwon do, I found that a sideways-facing bouncing stance makes me much quicker and allows my kicks more freedom, this is where my problems arise.
Michael Norman


Q1:Since you talk about the elbow as pointing down, do you suggest a straight punch or a twisting boxing punch as the base technique? There will be times when the other is applicable but which do you see as more effective?

PR: The elbows point down only when there is no reason for them to point in any other direction. I do neither the boxing punch with the twist, nor the karate punch. Basically, I simply reach out the arm using the whole body and put my fist on the target. The elbow should be moving into the end of the fist so that the wrist isn't bent at all -- the elbow, forearm, wrist, and fist should all be on a straight line. In a high hook punch, for example, this means the elbow will be up and out to one side so that the forearm and wrist are straight when moving into the target.


Q2: Looking at Cheng Hsin from a kickboxing standpoint, is it possible to adopt a stance which limits the amount of target space open to hit but also allows you to settle on your heels and remain mobile? Along that same line: if I am fighting from a sideways stance with one shoulder facing my
opponent, my whole body can be in line with the exception of my head which would be facing him. Does the fact that my nose is then out of line with my navel create problems?

PR: Many martial arts fuss over stance. The pose one takes is really not very important. I suggest that rather than trying to protect the body with the shape of the body, instead protect the body with your awareness. Be sensitive and completely aware in every moment of everything that is occurring with the opponent and you can always take appropriate action. This is best.


Q3: This question is the most important and one that I have had for my entire life. Ever since I was small I have been able to control small warm bursts of something to shoot through my body. It creates an extremely pleasant, warm feeling and makes my skin tingle, but I can only do it a certain amount of times in a row before I feel like I have exhausted it. I have asked doctors about it and they have no idea. Is this my qi? Speaking of qi, I am having a lot of trouble feeling it. I can see and feel its effects but not the qi itself, which is preventing me from being able to gather it and direct it as much as I would like too. Any suggestions?

PR: I will tell you the truth about that. What that is is what that is. It isn't really any more or less. Try practicing other things as well. Altogether, they help improve your ability to control your body and direct your feeling-attention. The consciousness which moves attention through the body is not itself a feeling, so the effects are all you can notice. I spent much time messing with such things and found one question that's good to ask is: what are you doing it for? It is quite useful for increasing awareness and sensitivity, and shifting states, and making new distinctions in subtle perceptive feedback and the like. But if you watch, it isn't very useful for developing magical powers all by itself. This is what many people think is going to happen. I've yet to see it. I've met a few people with some phenomenal abilities, but these didn't seem to come from simply developing their chi, and such people are very rare. Much more frequently encountered are the people who "believe" but show little beyond that. I suggest working with trainings like the Ball and Chain and such. I also suggest that you investigate what this feeling really is that you are creating. Be completely honest about it, and see what you come up with.
Peter Ralston

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Intrtinsic Strength Applied to Ground Fighting

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Michael Thomas
Kimberley, England
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Hi Peter Ralston,
I'm wondering how intrinsic strength applies in a groundwork context. Is it still possible to apply principles such as grounding when you're off your feet? My experience of ground fighting is that it utilizes a great deal of muscular effort, but I can't yet see how it could be otherwise. What are the options for applying intrinsic strength?
Thanks,
Mike

Mike,
It is harder to use intrinsic strength when grappling on the ground. It isn't harder to use grounding though, since you can't get much more grounded than lying down!
First you need to learn the use of intrinsic strength before trying to use it in a more difficult situation. Usingintrinsic strength requires movement, alignment, and compression. While grappling, movement is reduced because of the nature of the art, but there is still movement. The more you can use the ground for compression the better. In grappling, positioning is very important since you have so little mobility, also leverage is essential. And yes, more strength is generally needed because of the situation, but still less strength than you might think, and much can be done in the area of yielding, maintaining the advantage, efficient use of weight and positioning, etc. All of the principles still apply, they simply must be translated into lying on the ground.
Good luck,
Peter

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Insight to become one with your opponent

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Jan Bloem
Groningen, Holland
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Peter Ralston,
Two small questions:
Q1: During the Cheng Hsin workshop we did an exercise in which we needed to put our hand on the body ofthe partner and move around without losing the contact. After that we did some pushing. At one moment I put my hand on a partner and I had the feeling that he was not very present. I felt the body all right, but that was it. Also with the pushing it was rather easy to "push him around." On a theoretical level, can you say that this is a case of a lack of body-being?



Q2: I have the feeling that I see more and more what you mean with "consciousness" and also the "martial value" of it. My question is (one of them) some people say that you are able to "read" the intentions of your partner. How I interpreted your remarks during san shou was that we should be very aware of every part of our body and the mechanical and physiological reactions which are evoked by external stimuli -- being a punch, kick or behavior in total. When people say "he can read the intentions of his opponent" the impression comes to mind that you need to learn to observe behavior of your opponent and you should start with your opponent. I have more the feeling that you do not read the intention of the opponent by looking at him, but by being aware of your own bodily reactions, because they are usually quicker there than any visual feedback. When you know out of experience that a certain physiological reaction is evoked by a certain behavior of your opponent, there is a great chance that this behavior will occur. In that sense you will be one step ahead. This will make it possible to "respond instead of react."
Am I on the right track?
Jan


Jan,
About Q1:
What we were practicing is called "outreaching," which is making and feeling the connection with another. This enables us to pick up information about a partner or opponent beyond feeling his whole body, such as a sense of what he's up to, how aware he is, his reaction to being "touched," and so forth. We can't say that your partner lacked body-being since that would mean he didn't have a body or wasn't alive. We could say that he probably was not very conscious of his body, or not "in" his body much. When a person identifies most strongly with his mind, the relationship that mind has to body is abstracted, detached. He may "perceive" the body and even identify with it, but he doesn't occupy the position "of" the body "as" the body, which creates a serious weakness.

About Q2:

Certainly I recommend paying attention to the opponent and your own body. Although this sounds self evident, you'd be surprised how many martial artists need more work in this area. As far as your analysis, it certainly shows you're thinking about it, and it may well have validity. The particulars, however, aren't as important as the experience, and the experience usually comes as a feeling awareness, a cognition of theother person's intent and impulse, which for me comes largely as a feeling, sometimes just as a sort of knowing that is so close to my response as to be virtually undetectable as something separate from my action (but not completely). As a feeling it is as if their movement, and in some sense their intent or what they are up to mentally, emotionally, and strategically, "touches" my body. In this way, it may be similar to what you are considering. I wouldn't want you to restrict yourself to one way of thinking about it. In the end there may be many ways we pick up such information -- use them all.
Peter

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Questions for the Master (Insight into several aspects of the martial arts and other training)

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Nguyen Van Minh
Paris, France
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(Next: Because of the amount and nature following questions, I will answer these rather briefly and as
they come up.)
Peter,
1. Question: Does your kind of realization break selfishness and fear?

PR: Yes.

2. Question: Is the "I" purely memory?

PR: No. The self certainly is identified relative to what is historical and so memory is a big part, but I don't think it is accurate to say that "I" is memory. At least one other ingredient is necessary, which is the
conception that "I am." This is then followed by "I am this or that" based on identifying something that I am, which is a function of memory.


3. I can't stand firmly. What is exactly "rooting"?

PR: Attaching to the earth. There are various methods to achieve this, but the name, being a metaphor, suggests some sense of being connected into the earth. Feeling the whole body and relaxing the whole thing so that it falls down into the feet will help you stand more firmly. Concentrating on a feeling sense of being located or attached under the ground will help you root.


 4. About relaxation: Does it require that one find out and annihilate every anguish, including existential anguish? I mean anguish about one's destiny, life, death, and so on. I feel them in doing relaxation in bed, before sleeping. What kind or state of mind allows this kind of realization?

PR: Your view is an extreme one. Deep relaxation may well result in running into emotional tension produced by such things as anxiety, and it is true that fear or anxiety does not fit in an extremely relaxed body. But worrying about it doesn't help. The principle behind relaxing is letting go. If you can let go of all anxiety, something very deep is sure to relax. But don't get caught up in "biting off more than you can chew." Instead of trying to accomplish everything at once, it might be more reasonable to do what you can and then work your way toward deeper levels of relaxation when it feels natural to do so.


5. In fighting situation, does one use a minimum amount of strength when relaxed? If yes, what is this minimum?

PR: Yes. The least amount you can use to get the job done (and usually less than what you think).


6. About chi: I never understood it. How to train simply to develop it? When you push someone far away in T'ui Shou, do you use chi? Do you use a minimum amount of strength?

PR: Chi is best thought of as "feeling-attention." This applies primarily to feeling, listening, outreaching, directing movement, and whatnot, yet it is intrinsic strength, not chi, that is the main component to not using strength.


7. Did you manage to make somebody else to break the ego? I mean: is your realization "transmissible"?

PR: Yes and no. First of all if you mean by "breaking the ego" a realization of being that is not a self, then this might be called an enlightenment experience which others have had, yet neither I nor anyone elsecan "make" that happen. Others can experience whatever I have experienced (or anyone else for that matter), but they must always experience this for themselves, it cannot be handed to anyone without their responsibility. With work and commitment on the part of a student, I can facilitate such things.


8. Do you have any students who have the luck to live by you so to have the opportunity to get close teaching (your own personality is part of the teaching)?

PR: Not really. Some students live close enough that we see each other on occasion. Of course personal contact with someone who has an experience of what it is you want to know is the best way to learn (but I doubt anyone would want to learn my personality).
Peter

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Trying to find Effortless Power, How do I do it?

Cheng Hsin

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Stewart Breslin
Pacifica, CA
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Peter,
I was working with one of those punching bags with the water in the base trying to find the proper alignments for compression using the resistance of the bag to push against in various shapes. Testing myself by feeling my triceps while pushing, I noticed that no matter how relaxed I started out, at some point my triceps would tense up. If I go on the assumption that there should be no tension in the arms at all at any point then I must be mobilizing that muscle group to push the bag away at that point. I even setup my push so that I was bracing my elbow against my hip so that the upper arm was not required at all and I still tightened up my triceps. I also tried working the alignments with a feeling of receptivity of the bag and also with placing all of my attention in my foot. Both of these approaches yielded better results but I still couldn't keep from tensing up. Is this a sign that I am holding the bag out or pushing it away subtly rather that allowing the weight of the bag to compress down to my feet or is a very small amount of tension in the triceps necessary or inevitable? If I should continue to try and eliminate all tension from my arms, do you have any suggestions for ways I can train to eliminate the tension?
Stewart

Stewart,
Bags aren't the best training devices for pushes. But to answer your question: fail. Instead of moving the bag and trying to relax the triceps, relax the triceps and try to move the bag. The operative words here are "do" (relax) and "try" (to move). This means that the most likely result will be failure to move, but success at relaxing. Once you've found action in which your muscles are relaxed, then keep that and search for ways to move the bag with relaxed muscles, not with something else. You may not get it in a week or year.
Good luck,
Peter

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Intrinsic Strength in Boxing

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Jamie Schardt
Chicago, IL
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Peter,
For power delivery, western boxing can produce more raw power, but compared with intrinsic strength it is inefficient. For balancing power delivery and mobility, again intrinsic strength goes a lot further. Because there isn't a great deal of muscle contraction, movements can be redirected, changed, corrected. It doesn't unbalance the "giver" because there is no force until compression by the "receiver," and it is harder to become unbalanced by the opponent moving the attacking limb because it isn't rigidly connected to the torso. So, am I understanding this correctly so far?
Jamie


Jamie,
Boxing doesn't necessarily have more power, it simply takes more effort to achieve it. The rest of the
statement seems fine.
Peter

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The Art of Effortless Power: Peter Ralston shows and explains some Cheng Hsin martial dynamics.

How do I fight with Internal Arts? / How do I know myself and be calm?

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Renaud Vanderlinden
Port Elizabeth, South Africa
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Dear Mr. Ralston.
My name is Renaud (pronounced "Reno") Vanderlinden. I've been doing T'ai Chi Ch'uan for about 10 years now. I'm currently living in Port Elizabeth, South Africa although my family and I are originally from Belgium. When I started here in Port Elizabeth I found the teachers to be rather dull and non-helpful in their approach to the art. I've since been teaching myself and I am currently starting to teach others. My Mom bought your book on "The Principles of Effortless Power -- the teaching of "Cheng Hsin." I knew immediately that this was what I was lacking in my training. I consider myself very good at T'ai Chi and I can grasp concepts very quickly.
There are, however, two things that I feel I seem to be stuck on and I was wondering if perhaps you could give me some guidance. After reading your book I feel that if there's anyone who can help me it's you. The first is that I lack a lot of sparring to put into practice what I am learning, although this should hopefully change when I start teaching others as I can spar with them. I would like to know if there's any exercises I can do which will help my confidence and my sparring while I don't have anyone to spar with?
The second and bigger problem is as follows. I started reading your book and followed your words with great enthusiasm. All your teachings of centering, balance, relaxing, grounding, sinking, etc., helped me a great deal. It was without a doubt the greatest eye opener I've ever experienced. I also do QiKung as a form of muscle stretching and breathing exercise. I feel, however, that I'm blocked or stuck at the moment. Although I understand everything mentally I can't seem to extend it to my physical actions. Is there a meditation or some form of exercise I can do in order to release me, to calm myself and focus? To be completely at one and at peace? I find myself when I spar to be attacking, even in my training. Maybe I'm too aggressive or I'm not understanding your teachings well enough?
My Mom ("Michele Mistler") and I have been avid followers of your teaching and her T'ai Chi master in Belgium (I don't have his name) just spent three weeks with you recently. I feel that you can definitely help me if you so choose.
Thanking you,
Renaud Vanderlinden

Renaud,
One thing to watch out for in working out the "functional" aspects to the art (via sparring or whatever games you may invent or play) is not to turn it into just another kung fu type "application." Many t'ai chi teachers do this since they don't know how to participate in real internal martial interaction. Make sure to relax, don't block or resist, but find other ways to handle another's force (yielding is the main one); work on using intrinsic strength, keeping calm, listening and joining these are things that set such an art apart from the "external" arts. Grasping these things mentally is a start, but all this must be trained "into" the body.

Interactive work can't really be done without a partner. We play a game called "Pressure -- No-pressure" which is very simple and easy to do but teaches so much, and can be played with anyone regardless oftheir chosen art or skill level. It is simply two people playing, touching for the most part, but not allowing any more pressure to come to the body than would crush a mosquito, while at the same time trying to apply pressure to the other person. That is the game. It is open and you can do anything you can think to do, but one thing I tell people is that they can't use pressure to get out of pressure being applied to them (basically: don't block -- don't push on someone's arm to prevent them from pushing on your torso, forexample, instead, yield to the pressure, and independently apply pressure anywhere on their body). This basic description and some others are in the back of the book "Cheng Hsin T'ui Shou: The Art of Effortless Power" if you have it. If not, you might want to get one, as well as the video "An Introduction to the Arts of Cheng Hsin" if you don't have one. Also, I do a two week camp in Holland the end of June. If you can get up that way, come join us.
Regarding your last question: to address this domain I think the work that we do in ontology and contemplation is appropriate. You can begin to contemplate for yourself, and I recommend attending the ontology workshop here in the spring if you can. The books I have out that relate to this domain of work are "Reflections of Being" (a series of essays written a long time ago and never meant to be anexplanation or complete information in any way, but may give you some direction); and "Ancient Wisdom, New Spirit" -- transcriptions from actual workshops and groups doing this work, but once again it isn't instruction, nor complete. I am currently working on a book that will be complete in this way. Other than that, try questioning yourself and contemplating on what is true within your experience. There may also besome direction available through reading through the old IDA (original newsletter) available in Archives on the website. www.chenghsin.com
Good luck and hope I've been of assistance. Maybe I will meet you one day.
Peter Ralsto

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Ueshiba's influence on Peter Ralston and Cheng Hsin

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Maurice Gillis
Iwama, Japan
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Dear Peter
I would like to thank you for not only allowing me to take the degree one test this past summer, but encouraging me and giving the necessary guidance. I had a great time, as usual, and taking the test
added a whole new dimension to the Cheng Hsin challenge. I believe taking the test forced me to learn a lot more than if I hadn't. Lastly, I was wondering if you could elaborate on something for me. You have spoken well of Ueshiba in the past. I see a resemblance between some of your techniques and those of Ueshiba. What if any influence has Ueshiba had on you?
I want to thank you again for sharing what it is you have worked so hard to find, and I anxiously await your next seminar.
Sincerely,
Maurice Gillis


Maurice,
Of course Ueshiba has influenced me as have many others. I studied Aikido with Robert Nadeau, who studied with Ueshiba (so you've heard many "insider" stories). And I think Aikido done right is very beautiful to watch. Some Cheng Hsin techniques may look like Aikido techniques but when you work with them you will find they in fact are not, they just have a familiar look (Aikidoists have as hard a time learning them as anyone else).
I've studied many martial arts, and when I learned something valuable (i.e. if it had some effective functional purpose for being) I tended to keep it, and what was not valuable, I tossed. But don't misunderstand, I don't believe in jumping too quickly into revision or eclecticism. My philosophy has always been to master what is taught, before I would even think about changing it. This may have slowed me down in some cases, since I was hesitant to change what was asserted, even though I may have failed to find genuine value in it. But it also forced me to discover things I never would have if I had rushed to modify something due to a lack of immediate understanding. Eventually, however, I did begin to toss what proved to be remnants of techniques lost, or that were poor inventions in the first place, and to keep only what showed itself as a useful contribution. Of course by that I don't mean I kept the techniques as I found them, I just kept the direction or sometimes the look, and changed them or redesigned them to be consistent with Cheng Hsin principles. Since, as you know, my commitment is to the principles and not to
any form or specific art.
I never really wanted to create a new martial art by creating all new techniques. That pursuit seemed rather useless and I felt no need to do it. (I have known several people who tried that, and I thought their efforts turned out to be bogus and superficial.) But I did want to communicate the incredibly valuable principles of Cheng Hsin and so this is why Cheng Hsin T'ui Shou, Cheng Hsin Boxing, Cheng Hsin Body-Being, etc., where created.
Of course, standing on the basic design of techniques from other arts has sometimes proven to be a mistake. In trying to "reinvent" a technique to be Cheng Hsin consistent, I have discovered that a distortion of both the technique and the principles was often the result. In such a case, I found it was better to throw it out and start from scratch. But then again sometimes I was forced to learn (invent) a particularly difficult form of using intrinsic strength in order to accommodate the basic design of a technique that I never would have discovered without going down that road. So it seems to have evened out.
Not to understate his many genuine technical and systems contributions, the greatest influence Ueshiba had on me was inspirational. By the time I saw him, I had already gotten to the point of feeling like the world of martial arts didn't hold much more for me. And I was still a young man. But everyone I saw seemed worse than I, or doing systems that lacked what I already experienced as possible. Then I saw Ueshiba and conceded there was more to be done. I admired his attempts to go deeper even at an old age. I loved the beauty of his art. I enjoyed his ideas and intelligence. So it re-inspired me to study more. To look even deeper and push on. This was his main contribution to me personally.
Peter

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How can the Cheng Hsin principles be applied to kicking?

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Jan Bloem
Holland
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Peter,
How can "The Cheng Hsin Principles" be applied to kicking?
Jan


Jan,
The same way they are applied to anything else. Move the leg from the center of the body, stay relaxed throughout and move the whole body into the kick. The last point is unusual in most kicking arts since usually people counter leg movements with their upper body and arms to balance the motion of the lower. I suggest not doing this, but instead move upper and lower body in the same direction. This will take some getting used to and you'll have to find a new way to stay balanced, but it isn't too difficult once you work it out. When the foot comes to the target, continue the motion into it and allow the body to be compressed into the foot you're standing on. One piece of advice I give people in kicking is not to try to "kick" but simply place or put their foot somewhere. Stay relaxed and let it drop as soon as it's free. One thing people seem to overlook is that when kicking you are on one foot (at most) at a time. This reduces mobility and the ability to make subtle and quick changes, so timing and awareness of the relationship is
crucial.
Peter

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Principles can take alternative forms

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Joel Glover
Englewood, CO
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Peter,
I wanted to express my gratitude for your willingness to make yourself available for these types ofworkshops. My schedule and commitments tend not to permit much time for these, but when I get to them I am so grateful for the outcome. I left the seminar with two strong impressions that have already helped me.
One has to do with lineage. I have studied a Chen Pan Ling tai chi chuan style for just under 10 years, butI don't really have a consistent instructor or class anymore and I have no clue on my lineage and can point to no "secret transmission." I feel like I am getting the "secrets" from you, like avoiding is better than blocking. In addition, I began to recognize that honoring lineage could serve to hinder or restrict learning what truly works and could force one to learn and even teach aspects that don't work. So, I feel better (less insecure) about being something of a mutt in the tai chi world. I especially appreciate the chance to get to "play" with other practitioners and to recognize that they are not superior because of their "lineage."
The other has to do with usefulness. I am involved in various levels of combat almost daily and I continue to try to use the basic Cheng Hsin principles. However, my combat is either in court, or negotiations, or on paper. In some ways it could be perceived as more abstract but for me it is more concrete. I don't need to imagine being in fights. I am in them. I was in them last week and will be in them this week. I continue to try to implement a system to apply the Cheng Hsin principles in the conflict resolution work that I do in the commercial world. They tend to work very well. The workshop helped reinforce for me those principles and to see their application in the combat that I do on a regular basis. For example, perception - seeing through your opponent's eyes; experiencing and knowing losing to know winning; timing; letting your opponent continue their attack so you can lead them instead of having them do something else; accepting and immersing in the loathsomeness of the combat; presenting; yielding; not committing to a particular outcome; recognizing anger in your opponent; doing everything right and still getting your ass kicked; and many others -- all had direct, concrete applications for my work. They may not always improve the results, but they help me enjoy the work that I do much better.
So, thanks for the help. I recognize that I may not fit the mold of your typical students but what you do really helps me on a daily basis and I look forward to continuing to work with you at other
workshops.
Joel


Joel,
Not to worry about lineage, it means nothing. If you study t'ai chi, then your lineage goes all the way back to the founder of t'ai chi. Where else could it go? The secret is not in lineage, but in finding real teachers who know what they are talking about. And then of course you have to practice what you learn.
Remember when applying the Cheng Hsin material to your work, the principles for combat will work just fine, but the form and method of applying them may have to be different. Consider, for example, what is it we are accomplishing through yielding, why do we do it, what does it provide, and what is the principle?
Then you can know better how this may apply to your work. It may take forms that don't look like yielding, or like yielding looks in the martial sense.
Good luck and thanks for your letter.
Peter

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Intrinsic Strength vs. Chi Power

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Marc Doust
Jacksonville, Florida
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Dear Peter
I just received the intro video tape, thank you. You seem very good at explaining things, which is important in this kind of discipline. I'm still confused about something. You mentioned that the intrinsic strength you use comes from compression with the ground. But other internal teachers talk about internal power coming from accumulating chi in the body and then projecting it into your opponent. So is it the same thing or is it something completely different? Is chi an energy that can be accumulated or is it just an expression of a trained and focused mind projecting intent or will?
If internal martial arts are so effective as so many people claim it is, why don't these people actually enter real no-hold-barred competition, just like you did in 1978? Most of them will say that their arts are too dangerous!!! But I think that if you can't perform in competition how can you expect to be able to fight in life threatening situation!
I wonder what are your thoughts on this.
Thank you,
Marc Doust


Marc,
Intrinsic strength is something you really need to study for awhile before it becomes clear. It is not the same thing as using chi. Most of what people call chi is just fantasy. There is something valuable to do in that area, but it isn't entertaining fanciful ideas, it's a lot of hard work. Certainly the vast majority of internal martial artists wouldn't enter real competition, because they don't know how to fight effectively. This is true of most martial artists. Unfortunately there is a tendency to lie to others and oneself about that. The thing is, fighting skills aren't for everyone. Few people actually want to use that path. It isn't necessary. Just don't lie about it or pretend.
Peter

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What of FA-JING?

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Mike Hart
Swansea, Wales
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Peter,
I know this question has much to do with my attachment to other practices I have done in the past. Specifically, when I trained in a system designed by a guy called Erle Montaigue from Australia (Fa-Jing Ch'uan). His whole focus was (is) on fa-jing, not surprisingly. But I remember asking you in London last year on the boxing day about that, because I was "flicking" the waist, and you asked me to try to guide all of my body, even the rear hip into the punch -- every part of the body should focus toward the target, I believe you said.
About fa-jing, you said: some people do it that way, but you don't, and that you'd stop talking while you were still gracious about the subject. What has maybe revived my interest is what you said in Holland about a push being one movement, not two. While I'm asking this question of you I also realize that, for me, this is an ontological issue of how I hold or perceive "the world" to be, or at least "my world."
OK, enough preamble. I am surrounded in Swansea by people who profess FA-JING to be the ultimate force known to man (their ideas not mine). Also, Erle is moving to Wales in a couple of weeks so that obviously this will give them more leverage in their arguments because the guy is on their doorstep. I was an instructor in his system before switching over to Cheng Hsin. I have no doubt that Cheng Hsin is a superior and more intelligent art than anything that Erle teaches -- I can feel that. In fact I am confident in my ability to take any challenges up from local instructors, T'ai Chi or otherwise. What I seek, is to understand why. I'm sorry, I just realized this is more about an ontological issue than a fa-jing vs. intrinsic strength one. I suppose I'm just looking for justification and support to what I already feel is true for me. All their fajing and dim mak means nothing with the effortless movement and intrinsic strength capabilities that I am currently developing. Their fajing is anything but effortless, in fact, it's downright hard work which wastes more energy than it applies. Still although I usually don't bother emailing you when I work things out, I thought I'd send this one because of the strangely uneasy feeling I have, even though I've worked through it somewhat. I know it's a fear deep down. But I'm unsure of how to "handle" it. It feel's like I'm in a dilemma within myself, like I want to go to Erle when he comes over and say "Hey, try me for size buddy" (if that doesn't work maybe I should say Yo' Mamma!) I feel I can't beat him yet, but there's something inside me that almost screams that. Could you help with any views at all please Peter?
Regards
Mike Hart

Mike,
For one thing you are confusing psychological with ontological. Ontology is the study of "what is," the true nature of existence, of Being. Psychology is the study of mind, the emotional makeup and mental structure of an individual. Your challenge is psychological, not ontological. If we were to make it ontological (which we could do) we would look at what it "is" that is there. What "is" the drive and fear? What are their natures, how did they come to exist?

But that's not your challenge. Sounds like you are working out the relationship between "fa-jing" (for our folks who don't know what this is, it is a method to generate power, usually practiced by whipping the whole body to snap out the hand into a target -- methods vary, but that seems the general course) and intrinsic strength. You are right, fajing is not intrinsic strength. It is not even using the whole body. Since the starting place of the whip is done before the end of the whip arrives. This is a wave, but it is not using the whole body as one unit. It is NOT compression.

But it is a method some people train. Your challenge, it sounds, is an emotional one with other martial artists in your area. And it sounds like you are actually unsure of your new found abilities and understanding in Cheng Hsin, otherwise why would their bluster bother you so much? Simply shakehands and say, thank you for sharing. Unless they view the principles of interaction and power differently, then Cheng Hsin methods won't mean a thing to them. Share your view, and offer yourself as one trying to follow this view. Let them know why you chose this method as opposed that one. If anyone is open they'll hear what you have to say, and maybe consider it further. You can always invite them all up to visit me in London or Holland next time, and I can "explain" it further.
Good luck, and peace.
Peter

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How do I utilize power? Who is responsible for learning?

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Jesse Marandino
Austin, Texas
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Peter,
Question 1: How can I make my internal strength useful against unwilling (or more likely free willing) opponents that are not constrained to the traditions of my chosen system? Question 2: Is the ability to change structured knowledge into free-form usable skill something that can and should be taught to you or is it the responsibility of the student?
Jesse


Jesse,
About Q1:
The first thing, of course, is to find and develop such strength. There is a lot of talk about "internal" strength but very little clarity. Clarity regarding what it is you're trying to develop is necessary for its development. We use "intrinsic strength" yet this isn't necessarily what you mean by internal strength.

In any case, power, regardless of form, is not the main factor--skill is. Handling unwilling partners is a complex matter and you need to develop the skill and understanding necessary to do so. It isn't a matter of just having some form of power, although a healthy degree of power is necessary. As Ku Yu Cheong (greatest "iron palm" master -- able to break thirteen large stone bricks at once, all resting flat on a slab) said to a man who demonstrated he could break five: "That's good, but now try to use it against me." The man couldn't and Ku pointed out that power alone is worthless without boxing skill.

To interact effectively with an unwilling opponent, one must first fully acknowledge his unwillingness, which from his point of view is merely the desire to win, and you should remember: that's his job! He's doing what in his mind is appropriate. Let it be that way and join it, don't fight it or resist it. Use what he is doing against him. This of course requires skill, and therefore proper training. It is not done simply by having the idea--you must take this idea into effective action. Once again, this is not something that can be accomplished by reading about it.

About Q2:
Both. It must be taught by someone who understands what it is, but it must also be taken on by the student -- researched, contemplated, tried out, etc.. As you play with people, commit yourself to working on some principle such as staying relaxed, using the whole body, moving from the center, joining, etc. whether you win or lose, and see what you discover. It is of much greater value to investigate these principles than to concentrate on winning or losing. But like I said, you will gain so much by some hands on work with us here. It will make a 100% difference in your practice and play.

Good luck, hope to see you in the near future.
Peter

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Do Boxers use Good Mechanics?

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Christian Campfield
New York, NY
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Peter,
It seems to me that western boxing is totally off when it comes to proper mechanics in punching.
For example, the power comes from strong muscular efforts from the arm and the shoulder instead of
sinking and springing up from the legs. Am I correct?
Christian


Christian,
No, you are not. Boxers actually hit harder than most martial artists, and generally fight much better (since they actually practice fighting). I trained with professional boxers for some time. They do hit from the legs, using the whole body. But they use the muscles and push the body into the target, and we compress, letting the target push us into the ground. Yet most of them try to relax. They do this not because of a belief system, but because it works in the ring. Most martial artists only follow a belief system and are too abstracted from the reality to understand what's what.
Hope this helps.
Peter

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Martial Arts vs. Real Fighting

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Seungyup Paek
New York, New York
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Peter Ralston,
May I ask a small question? There seems to be a large number of 'no-holds barred' fighting tournaments in the world today. Are these similar to the world championship tournament that you competed in? I believe that this is not the case. Could you please explain the dynamics of the current 'ultimate fighting championships' and how they are similar or different from the tournament that you fought in? Somehow, the winners in these ultimate fighting championships seem to be the antithesis of the principles of cheng hsin. Why is it that they look more like animals fighting in a cage than martial artists? I greatly look forward to hearing from you sir.
Respectfully,
Seungyup Paek


Seungyup,
When people fight, even trained martial artists, it rarely appears as though an art is being performed. On the one hand, we shouldn't assume that because they don't look like what we see in choreographed routines from the movies that there is something lacking. On the other, there is something more to grace than artful dance. When we look at professional fighters, such as Muay Thai or Western Boxers, we see much more grace is possible and usually present in the better fighters. This is because the art they are
doing is the same as what they train. In most martial arts, the practices are not at all the same as what is confronted in a real fight. It is very difficult to look good in such circumstances. In simple, it is unfamiliar and unpracticed. When one has more experience relating to the situations that come up in fighting, then this relationship can take on a much more graceful appearance.

In no-holds-barred competitions, winning in the simplest way possible is the goal, or at least has become the goal. (Early on, most martial artists proved to be unequal to the task, and had no ability to deal with such real fighting.) Since simple and direct is the easiest strategy to understand, and being muscularly strong and powerful is the simplest and most easily achieved form of power, it stands to reason that these are what we'd see the most. Strength is strength. Simply because it doesn't fit in with our ideas or methods doesn't mean it isn't effective. If it wasn't effective why would so many use it? Any time a game is created, the players will mold themselves in relation to the rules of the game in whatever way they can to win. This always produces a particular development. If you change the rules of the game, a different kind of development will take place. We should notice, however, that it isn't always the big and strong that win, and some of the better players have shown flexibility and strategic skill.

In the competitions in which I fought they didn't count ground fighting. I spent many years developing Newaza (grappling arts) and am quite confident on the mat. But this was not allowed in the world tournament. There was full contact in striking, and throwing was allowed. But I think the main difference was the background and thinking of the players. Since it was a traditional Chinese tournament, the assumption in the players was probably to conform to this thinking about how the fighting should proceed.
I remember being criticized in one of the local newspapers, when they complained: "What happened to traditional kung fu? This American looks more like he's using a combination of Boxing and Judo" (both of which are foreign to a Chinese tradition). This wasn't exactly so -- I was using Cheng Hsin -- but you can see that my fighting didn't appear as the author thought it should. Didn't matter. I won anyway.

Real fighting is difficult. I feel for those that take it up. But I don't share such sentiment about the reduction of the arts to what is easiest to understand or to mindlessly accomplish. Yet this dynamic takes place in many arenas, not just the ultimate fighting one.
Peter

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Traditions and Roots of Martial Arts

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Michael Morgan
San Francisco, California
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Dear Mr. Ralston,
I have an issue I want to bring up to you. [I talked with someone...] when I asked if he knew of your Dojo, he said that the two of you had one issue on which you had a major difference of opinion. As far as I can understand it, what he was saying was that his school believes in learning and/or recognizing and/or honoring "the roots" of martial arts and that you do not. So, here is my thing: I am asking for your viewpoint on the issue of tradition, roots, etc.
Sincerely yours,
Michael Morgan


Michael,
I am surprised that you are still unacquainted with how I hold tradition. "Roots" are of no consequence, the "truth" is. What we call tradition may or may not be worth keeping, especially since it has undoubtedly been changed over time to serve various purposes. (Consider that some past Christians have slaughtered many people for their beliefs, and in the name of Christ! I doubt that man would have
approved.)

It's not that I think those who come before have nothing to teach. I have always worked hard to thoroughly learn what others have to offer before presuming to "create" any divergence. However, once the teaching is mastered, it is necessary to seek out principles and insight beyond any beliefs or methods that have been used to teach in the past.

For example, Picasso mastered conventional painting techniques before he approached, say, cubism. Some who scorn tradition think they are being creative but they really don't understand that creativity doesn't mean "do whatever you feel like." I am not one of those, and I studied almost every form of martial art extensively before creating the Cheng Hsin arts. The demands of creating lie in creation, and this is not something that whim or one's ego can even perceive.
Hope I cleared this up.
Peter

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