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Mysticism and Mantis: The Quest for Magicby Joe McSorley
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Mysticism and Mantis: The Quest for Magic
Joe McSorley
There is this air about KSJL mantis that it is somehow ethereal and magic. Somehow after years of practice there will one day arise this mighty power that will spontaneously burst forth from the finger tips and vanquish your foe. There is often talk about these great powers of qi and fantastic stories about some of the past masters. I remember once in the early seventies in the school in Philadelphia Chinatown a student said to Sifu Mark Foon that he was ‘hiding his hands so that no one could learn the secrets.’ Sifu laughed and while moving his hands in different directions said, “hand can move up, down, side ways, in, out and around, what can I hide, this is all a hand can do! There is no secret hand!” Another time when there was talk about the internal power Sifu lined up three students of varying degrees of proficiency and told them each to do a mor siu block (an inward block about mouth high). Each did it and then Sifu did it. There was a stark difference between his motion and theirs. Then he had someone punch at each of them and each tried to block it, some did it well while others did not. Then the punch was thrown at Sifu and with imperceptible motion he flung the arm away so that the puncher lost balance. He then asked, “What is the difference between me and the others?” No one answered and he laughed and pointed at them and then pointed at his own head (mind). In the story of the origins of this style Som Dot observes a mantis defeating a bird many times his size and weight. Did the mantis practice qigong and secret motions? Was he privy to an entire discipline of shin gong that the other mantises were not? No, of course not it was just doing what mantises do by their nature. The difference between the mantis and the man is the mind. The mantis has no mind. It moves effortlessly and flawlessly according to its own nature. In man’s case there is a mind that stands between him and the world. It is overcoming this mind, no-mind that releases the innate power of the human body. It is the pathway between the universe and the self where self moves out of the way for your true nature to burst forth. There are anecdotal stories about women, who when a car was about to roll over their child, lifted it up and moved it. In that moment the person loses their sense of self and they are moving effortlessly and purely. Here there is a momentary realization of no-mind for the greater cause of saving a life. There is no magic here, secret hands or air bending. It is the Tao being expressed in the moment. It is Sifu’s and any great master’s years of practice and discipline that brings them to this state. There is no magic, there is only kung fu. |