The Collected Teachings

  Po Li : the inner strength from the development virtuous character

• Wu Chi, from which all things come to which all things go.

• Stand like mountain, bend like willow, flow like water, float like cloud, strike like lightning.

• push /pull – is the recipricol spinal axial counteraction  of the body’s movement in order to maintain balance and generate power.

• Each strike or defense should be done with the whole body attention & co-ordination. To strike high with the hand one  need also use the small toe of the foot.

• Balance is the key in life and movement, this is Mannaka no Michi, the middle path between the extremes, the center of Yin and Yang.

•  It is ctiticle to extend from the rule, yet in accord with the rule.

• Human Behavior is determined by what one believes about oneself in relation to what one believes about what the "world" believes about that self and what the self believes the "world" believes.

• If the mind is on the weapon, attack and defense are weak,  No –mind, no-weapon, no-self consciousness merges with the void and becomes void.

• Weapons do not pose a threat in and of themselves.

• Respect for all living creatures is a must if one  is to be respected.

• Treat a fly as an honored house guest.

• The body is a sacred aspect of being to neglect the needs of the body is to neglect the health of the world.

• Linear attack circular defense, circular attack linear defense.

• Know ones strengths and weaknesses, do not glorify in ones strengths but instead work on strengthening the weaknesses by utilizing the strengths to do so.

• To fall and rise again is to gain strength, to stand is harmony, to sit is peace.

• If you do not accept the responsibility for  programming your own mind  the World will do it for you. 

• Each strike, each breath, every bit of motion in the Universe serves a function, Tai Chi, the great flow, is in perfect harmony at all times and can not be otherwise.  Thus there is no-attack no-defense, no-attacker no-defender there is only movement from Wu Chi to Tai Chi and back.

• Breath in /withdraw – breath out /advance.

• What is speed?  What is faster than the mind?

• Keys to consider when in conflict
  • avoid if possible any confrontation
  • redirect first
  • initiate contact if conflict ensues
  • withdraw or advance to your position
  • death is every moment
  • draw decisively to a clear and concrete resolution
• 3 levels of aggressive action

1.       a threat

2.      contact

3.      decisive movement

• To be balanced is to be centered which is to be clear of obstructions with no-thing for an attacker to hide behind.  Even in your sleep they can not approach without being detected.

• When there is no attack offer up no defense.

• To be tense is to be restricted to be relaxed is to be unhindered.

• Perceive slowly and things move swiftly, perceive swiftly and things move slowly.

• NEVER HESITATE, SEIZE THE MOMENT.

• Training is your best defense.  In time of need proper training will illicit proper responses.

• To train with your mind on the world is to be defeated by the same.

• Change the way you look at the World and the World you look at changes.

• Remember that there is no Attacker and no Defender and as such therefore there can be no Attack and thus no Defense.

•  Patience is a non-issue when there is nothing waited for.

• There is no “rank” nor spiritual "attainment" that will spare you the experience of pain. 

• Do not make attainment a goal if you do you will learn nothing .

• Some time the wrong foot moves.  Can this be?  Isn’t what move s that which moves.

• What is the first thing one does before building a house? Prepare the ground by clearing  a space to build and laying a foundation.  Clear the mind and absorb the teachings which are the foundation without which the floor will rot and the home collapse.

• Learn with the attention you would give to your hand if it were in a fire.  This is focus, this is concentration not the furrowing of eyebrows.

• Which is the best technique? No technique is best!

• To study the Great Way as self-defense is to study life. To learn the Martial-Arts is to unify the self.  To transcend the self requires no-effort.

• In movement of defense, when forced one step yield two advance one.  When pushed pull, when pulled push.

• Why break someone’s legs when they could use them to walk away peacefully.

• What is the best teaching?  Where do you go to get it?

• What is the best Art?  Where do you go to study it?

• What is the best defensive posture? what is better than no-posture?

• When in confrontation maintain your center.  If it is lost let go of it , if it is taken give it freely, if it can't be found cease looking for it, if tension has prevented you from feeling it, just relax and retreat into center.

• In movement just as in life all things must pass through center.

• Always leave an escape route for an assailant but only one that leave the confrontation, and always leave an escape route for your self.

• What is the difference between walking and defending ones’ self? When walking one might trip and break a bone.  When facing an attacker we prepare our self for conflict by watching every nuance, every move, keeping centered and balanced.  Walk with the same attention and falling rocks may be avoided.

• Why train? Why breath?

• A Warrior is not boastful, not arrogant, not unkind, not selfish , not indulgent, not concerned with outward appearances, is well presented.  A Warrioris at peace with themselves, seeks wisdom, recognizes harmony and blends with it.  A Warrior seeks knowledge , respects action, and dispenses with ignorance.  A Warrior lends assistance to those in need without expectation of platitudes, gratitude or reward.  A Warrior is in possession of nothing therefore has nothing to lose.  Kindness, courtesy, respect, love and compassion is extended to all beings.  Discipline is used to irradicate the “idea of self” and to quiet the mind.  Temptations to deviate from the path are avoided.  Mannaka no Michi the Middle Way is the path that such a Warrior of impeccable character walks.

• Strong root strong defense.  No root no defense!

• When uprooted, uproot yourself, only this way can root be regained.

• Zazen, “Shikan Taza” Just sit! Breath in through the nose filling the lower abdomen  first then the chest with circular rhythm.

• Look eastward for wisdom.

• Welcome death westward.

• Yesterday is gone, tomorrow will not come, do not lose today for the past or the future.

• To find the best teacher look for a calm pool of water stare deeply into the surface from above.

• Be  ever so Aware.

• Understand consequences.

• You Fight like you Train!

• Be unique, but not absurd, just be at ease and you can be yourself.

• A centered individual is balanced and does not fall to the right or the left, does not lean to the front nor the back, rises with the tide, withdraws with the setting of the sun, passes through emptiness with out leaving a trace. 

• Go the other way:
  • Do things you do not like
  • Eat things you do not like
  • Talk with people you do not like
  • Give away everything that you have
  • Accept everything that is given to you
  • Smile when you are sad
• This very breath is a gift.

• Change is the only true constant, resistance only brings suffering.

• Water follows and seeks the lowest path, the path of least resistance.

• Learn to lead by following.

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• Air fills all spaces, Mind fills everything.

• Yin is yielding and passive, Yang is forceful and aggressive .  These two together make balance ,create harmony in the Universe.  There is a time to strike and a time to avoid, guide by following to the most quiet point.

• The pinnacle of Martial Prowess is not to be the fastest, strongest, most flexible, most rooted, able to produce the most Fajing 發勁. It is adaptability the ability to flow with the movement of the Universe effortlessly in essence to be as one with the Tao.  In this manner no matter how strong the opponent just like as if a large boulder was rolling towards you, no harm will befall you if you move out of it s path.

發勁 Fa jing: "expressive power" the culmination of an intergrated Mind, Body and Spirit.  To produce Fa Jing 發勁 requires practice, coordination, and focus.  To control the amount produced requires relaxation, clarity of intent, and quietness of Mind.