Is anyone here familer with or know anyone who still practice’s this form of Gung Fu? What are your thought’s on it? Fairy tale or reality? It’s my understanding that it’s a dying or already has died art. One of the last people that I heard of that was supposed to be skilled in light gung fu was the late Jook Lum Si-Gung Lam Sang See. According to some he was able to “jump” from the 2nd and 3rd floor of building’s and land unharmed. Like most stories there is usally some truth in there origin, but how much? I’m not a doctor but it would seem that the impact on the knee’s would be tremendous. I’ve talked to some of Lum’s student’s who claim to have saw him do this and swear it’s true. The late Si-jo Cua Kiam,founder of Ngo Cho Kun, was another who was supposedly skilled in light gung fu technique. One of the Sifu I trained with could jump from a stand still onto the top of a refrigerator, this I witnessed myself. Is it light Gung Fu, I dont know. By the way, anyone ever see the Eskimo Olympics? One of the event’s is jumping onto a refrigerator, but from a short run. Some of the trainingg method’s my Sifu was taught to develope this ability were interesting, though I can’t say that I saw him do any of them. So, what are your thought’s on the subject, negitive or positive?
My late sigung was supposed to have been able to jump onto the roof of a toolshed from a standing jump(this I did not witness), and my sifu (his son) was able to jump up and kick a lantern that was 12 feet off the ground (this I did witness).
Jackie Chan 
Levitation
I know of a master that says he can levitate and taught one of his students to do it as well. He said the best he can do is 40 feet!
HMMM i have to see it to believe it!!
But some TKD korean and Hapkido can jump as high as 12 feet and break boards that i have seen.
Some training is using a weighted jacket and jumping in and out of a hole for years and digging the hole deeper as you get better till its over your head deep.
FT:cool:
Re:
Gin Foon Mark has said that Lum Sang could jump over Marks head from a stand still.
There is a book by David chow and Richard Spangler that
has a section about different Kungs and an overview of the
training it is called Kung Fu-History,philosophy and Technique.
If you want let me know your e-mail and I can write what
is written in the book about it. It involves filling a big urn
or pot with rocks or what ever to a certain weight and you
start walking around the rim of the big pot and after doing
it everyday you gradually begin to lessen the weight in the
pot over many years until you can walk around the rim of
a now empty pot. It also covers the previously mentioned
jumping Kung where you jump out of a hole that gets grad-
ually deeper while wearing weights.
That is a short basic explanation, but hopefullt it gives you
an idea.
JL
I saw that in movie recently
JL,
I just watched an old kung fu flick that had what you just posted!
FT:)
Thanks Jook Lum!
I had heard about the training using weights and jumping out of a hole that you gradually dig deeper. One of the methods my Sifu had told me about involves a devise that, for lack of a better description, looks like a playground see saw? The idea is to run across the see saw before it hits the ground,gradually lowering it closer to the ground which means you would have less time before it hits the ground. It supposedly gave one the ability to run across grass or snow without leaving any marks. Out of curiosity, I tried to run across one in a local park, I all but broke my back and that was the end of my experiment. The levitation I’d have to see to believe. My Sifu also talk’s about Lum Sang’s ability to do this and insist’s that there were many people present who witnessed this. From what I have heard so far, no one fly’s around in the sky like superman. They are supposedly able to rise a couple of feet off the ground for a very short time only.
Someone I know’s older relative could levitate, apparently. I understand this skill was associated with kung fu training.
I’m open-minded about it.
Rgds,
David
Levitating? Lol!
Jumping high is one thing - being able to levitate is quite another!
Even Hakka/chinese guys find it amusing that us westerners, with our scientific approach to life, suddenly believe in all kinds of nonsense when we turn our eye to the East. David..I read this in that hakka forum link that you posted.
It is all part of a myth, much like the old racist myth of africa as being the dark continent. Stories get exagerated and there is no proof, just people who love the idea of the impossible and therefore pass the stories on. Levitating is NOT possible, no training will allow it to be so - not unless you are a magician like David Blaine and you can perform the trick (which I can do, and fooled people with).
This is the year of the monkey guys, wake up and smell the coffee.
I remember in the news a few years ago many people insisted that they saw a statue of the Virgin Mary crying. Hundreds of people flocked to the statue and insisted that they saw it crying. Except when the news camera filmed the statue, that’s when it miraculously stopped.
Or maybe there was nothing their, except for the power of belief.
Funny how every sifu in the past can jump tall buildings in a single bound, stop a locomotive, etc. Yet, none of his students can do the same, and no one else can do it either.
Makes you go hmmm…
David-
“Someone I know’s older relative could levitate, apparently. I understand this skill was associated with kung fu training.”
I have a bridge to sell. You want to buy it? It’s hardly used. 
Believe nothing of what you hear and half of what you see.
Peace.
Thanks for the lesson in scepticism. I have faith in the fruits of scientific endeavour. All will be made clear one way or the other.
The example I alluded to above isn’t old enough to be a myth. High kung fu is spiritual in nature.
I also have a fascinating account of a keen observer who had levitation demonstrated in front of him. The guy lay across the train seats and levitated himself a couple of inches. He ended bathed in sweat.
Rgds,
David
I think these people missed their window of opportunity. They should have been in the Olympics and did the high jump. They wouldn’t have to run and jump head first and arc over the bar they could clear with just a standing jump.
I am constantly amazed as to the supernatural things people believe regarding kung fu. Kung fu is about hard work and dedication there is no magic involved.
Peace.
I saw an ancient Penchak Silat Iron Body tape where they were jumping thru 3rd story windows and finishing the rest of their form. Crazy stuff. One guy had his leg gashed on a piece of glass and was literally GUSHING as he finished up. They would smack these chicks in the back of their heads with bokken, pour boiling oil on these guys bodies, all kinds of crazy shiyit. Sooo I would say its out there somewhere.
I heard a story that Chan Pui was challenged by a guy at his school, and said he would fight if the guy followed him outside. He then jumped out the 2nd story window and landed in the street, looked up, and the guy decided not to follow him. Enough heresay (sp?) though..I know that the UK prison inmate formerly known as Charles Bronson (not the actor) is known to have punched his arm through bullet proof glass, kicked a cell door off its hinges, jumped down from 3 stories into a yard to go after a guy, and a bunch of other crazy stuff…there are tons of witnesses to that stuff, but the guy is also a maniac, so dont discount all of it…you have enough time and enough practice at something, and enough lack of sanity to think you have a limit..you might break some barriers people think are not possible to pass.
Originally posted by CLFNole
I am constantly amazed as to the supernatural things people believe regarding kung fu. Kung fu is about hard work and dedication there is no magic involved.
Well, let’s see what kung fu is made of: -
wei kung - external
nei kung - internal
shen kung - spiritual
Shen kung does include magical thought and practice. This ties in with the account on the train which was a guy who’d trained his magical will.
Rgds,
David
All styles have internal and external. I don’t divide sytles into internal and external. The all aim for the same result but move along different paths.
Choy lay fut for example (my style) begins hard/external and at the higher levels involves becomes soft/internal. A so-called internal style such as tai chi starts soft/internal and becomes hard/external. True mastery is a balance of each, techniques that are 50% yin and 50% yang (it’s very hard to find masters that have perfected their skills to this level).
I am not saying that through dilligent practice that certain feats cannot be accomplished, however, that being said alot of what you see out there today is fraud. To jump high is one thing to jump from standing over a 12’ wall well lets just say I would think its a story that evolves as it is passed down. A lot of tai chi people think that they will glow through practice thinking that chi is something you can just throw around like a football. What many people think of a “internal” is perfected movement and proper breath control.
Lets take the story of Ku Yu Cheong and the killing of the horse. I would venture to guess that the story didn’y play out quite exactly like its told with him hitting it once and it dropping dead on the spot.
Peace.
Re:
Many things could be possible but most of it it B.S.. There are
a lot of nuts out there and a lot of gullible people and when
brought together they can both claim to have done and seen
almost anything.
I saw some wackjob on t.v one time who claimed he could levitate and said he learned from some mystic in tibet. He sat
on the floor cross legged and began to flex all his muscles at once and hop up and down like an idiot, at most a half an inch of the floor and when done claimed he was still tuning his body
into the forces of nature so he could not float very high yet.
I also saw a guy who claimed he was a Chi Kung Master and
was the only American to be taught these skills outside of
China then he stood in a horse stance in front of a lit candle
and said the Chi would extend from his hand and put out
the candle. Then he moved to about two feet from the candle
and took a deep breath in and pushed his arm out while blowing
all the air out of his mouth at the candle to put it out, just like
a birthday cake and most people stood an clapped and whistled
like he really had some great power.
Pretty sad!!!
Anyone else have any stories. I know a few more I will add
if others are interested.
JL
PICS
I seen some pics in a real kung fu mag from honbgkong from the 70’s and a guy is walking up the wall like a lizard but again we dont know if he ran up it or started just walking up it like a geko?
so many tricks in martial arts its hard to believe any of them.
FT
Levitating on a train seat?
David - You accept the lesson on skeptism as being a patronising one, and then reaffirm your slight belief in another person’s story of someguy levitating up from a train seat?
Lol. Are you being ironic or something? Because up until now, every one of your posts (on this and other forums) have shown you to be a very intelligent and articulate person. I can’t seem to match this with this train seat thing you keep mentioning.
Hynotists and magicians sometimes use water to give the appearance of sweating, this matched with real straining (sending blood to the head etc) often gives a sense of authenticity to what they are doing i.e. like they are performng a real physical feat. Of course they are not, it is a trick, they are messing with your perception.
When David Blaine first did his levitation trick, I quickly learnt how to do it and showed peope at work - some went crazy and asked me about meditation and stuff, they started following me around. It was nuts.
I expect the guy on the train was just trying out his latest trick/stunt he had bought from the local magic shop.