As a sort of commemoration to Wah Lam Praying Mantis I have finished off one of the articles on Wah Lum that I have been thinking about for over a year.
I hope that those who train Wah Lum find this to be illuminating, and also hope to stimulate the interest into the ancient roots of Mantis in general.
Always a pleasure doing those warm up excercises! several years in, I still have those moments that break the calmness and make me want to rise up instead of sink lower.
We were working on first form last night as a matter of fact, slow and low. My legs are still feeling it!
[QUOTE=Tainan Mantis;1190025]As a sort of commemoration to Wah Lam Praying Mantis I have finished off one of the articles on Wah Lum that I have been thinking about for over a year.
I hope that those who train Wah Lum find this to be illuminating, and also hope to stimulate the interest into the ancient roots of Mantis in general.
Wah Lum and the Heaven Ascended Taoist[/QUOTE]
My antivirus says your website is malicious!
Kevin,
Nice article!
throwing hands
In reply to a private question on jut sow mantis;
Jut sow, the cantonese pronunciation of shuai shou. Used exclusively by the Wah Lum school of Mantis. It means throwing hands. Shuai is often used in old mantis to describe throwing the hands.
As for detailed information in Shuai shou you will not find it.
Shuai shou is mentioned briefly in two of Wei Shaotang’s book on Mantis.
My educated guess is that it was a random scrap of information that one of his compilers had, one of his students, that inserted that into the book to make it more interesting, since a lot of the book is pulled in from outside sources unrelated to Wei Shaotang’s Eight Step Mantis.
It says
ti na feng bi nian zhan bang tie lai jiao shun song-throwing hands praying mantis
There is supposedly another unpublished work, which I have not seen, and can not find, one of those elusive things, which mentions shuai shou.
The term shuai itself is used as part of the old manuscripts of the Luohan style that includes mantis as a portion of its system. They are in seven maneuvers qi shi lian quan- of Mantis as well as being mentioned as the title of the form Throw and Pull.
As an interesting side, Throw and Pull is the form that contains the techniques Iron door Bolt. Iron Door Bolt is the name of the important and unique form of Wah Lum. Making me wonder if there are more connections between shuai shou and Wah Lum.
jut sow
a friend of mine who lived in St. Pete, florida used to rent out a room to an old chinese guy. one day he was wearing his wah lum t-shirt and the old guy saw it and asked him about it. the old guy asked to see some forms so my friend demonstrated some forms .
Turns out this guy actually new jut sow mantis and said the wah lum forms are totally different.
If my memory is correct this guys teacher had left china and moved to Vietnam and was a body guard for high up government official. The old guy had old 8mm videos of forms and my friend said the stuff was awesome, lots of 2 person weapon stuff.
i will see if i can find out more information but my friend is in japan now
Wang Songting referred to a part of his curriculum as Shuaishou (Throwing Hand) mantis during his time teaching in Taiwan. A form that I learned recently, Zhai Kui (Take the Helmet), was one of these forms.
The link is making my antivirus go crazy. Is this a false alarm? I’d like to read the article, the first school I studied at used wah lum mantis.
soco
my anti virus goes nuts too but i have gone to the website before and didn’t have any problems.
AVG sez the site is ok.
you guys are lucky… the site doesnt even open in china!
here’s the text - yeah that site sets off alot of virus programs!!!
throwing hands Praying Mantis
In reply to a private question on jut sow mantis;
Jut sow, the cantonese pronunciation of shuai shou. Used exclusively by the Wah Lum school of Mantis. It means throwing hands. Shuai is often used in old mantis to describe throwing the hands.
As for detailed information in Shuai shou you will not find it.
Shuai shou is mentioned briefly in two of Wei Shaotang’s book on Mantis.
My educated guess is that it was a random scrap of information that one of his compilers had, one of his students, that inserted that into the book to make it more interesting, since a lot of the book is pulled in from outside sources unrelated to Wei Shaotang’s Eight Step Mantis.
It says
ti na feng bi nian zhan bang tie lai jiao shun song-throwing hands praying mantis
There is supposedly another unpublished work, which I have not seen, and can not find, one of those elusive things, which mentions shuai shou.
The term shuai itself is used as part of the old manuscripts of the Luohan style that includes mantis as a portion of its system. They are in seven maneuvers qi shi lian quan- of Mantis as well as being mentioned as the title of the form Throw and Pull.
As an interesting side, Throw and Pull is the form that contains the techniques Iron door Bolt. Iron Door Bolt is the name of the important and unique form of Wah Lum. Making me wonder if there are more connections between shuai shou and Wah Lum.
a friend of mine who lived in St. Pete, florida used to rent out a room to an old chinese guy. one day he was wearing his wah lum t-shirt and the old guy saw it and asked him about it. the old guy asked to see some forms so my friend demonstrated some forms .
Turns out this guy actually new jut sow mantis and said the wah lum forms are totally different.
If my memory is correct this guys teacher had left china and moved to Vietnam and was a body guard for high up government official. The old guy had old 8mm videos of forms and my friend said the stuff was awesome, lots of 2 person weapon stuff.
i will see if i can find out more information but my friend is in japan now
Wang Songting referred to a part of his curriculum as Shuaishou (Throwing Hand) mantis during his time teaching in Taiwan. A form that I learned recently, Zhai Kui (Take the Helmet), was one of these forms.
Wah Lum and the Heaven Ascended Taoist
Heaven Ascended Taoist, a mysterious character from the earliest history of Praying Mantis Kung Fu left behind a manual which describes a technique that I believe is still practiced as an essential of Wah Lum praying mantis under the name Bai Fut Sow (Mandarin bai fo shi).
Grandmaster Chan Poi
Arthur D’Agostino’s Wah Lum Praying Mantis school, where I trained in the '80’s, always started class with bai fo shi to stimulate the flow of qi and activate the heart. Holding this posture strains the legs to the point that only a strong will and determination will lead to any accomplishment. Shifu D’Agostino told us that this exercise had been handed down from the time of Lee Kwan Shan, Grand Master Chan Poi’s revered Shifu and my great-grand shifu.
My first Praying Mantis Shifu Arthur D’Agostino
To perform bai fo shi take a step twice as wide as your hips with your feet parallel to each other. Bend your knees and regulate the breathing as you spread your hands out and in. Push the knees outwards and tuck the hips inwards, the hips should not sink below the knees. If at first your legs can’t take the strain rise up a little bit, then let your body slowly sink down again, but remember you are also training the determination of your mind to control your body. This exercise causes the heart to beat powerfully but allows the breath to remain calm.
Bai Fo Shi from Chan Poi’s Book Wah Lum’s First Form
The meaning of bai fo is to pay our respects to Buddha. The exercise has this name because the hands are held in a similar fashion to how we pay our respects at the alter of Buddha. It is performed with two hands together as you face the alter.
Shimu April performs bai fo at a temple in Tainan, Taiwan
Tyrant Raises the Cauldron
To lift a cauldron requires a great strength, the idea behind the name of this series of techniques is that you are using the strength required for holding up the type of cauldron that usually sits in front of a temple.
A student of Tampa Kungfu in Taiwan and a temple cauldron
The writings of Heaven Ascended Taoist are a synthesis of Buddhism, Taoism, martial arts, and medicinal practices. One section, called Tyrant Raises the Cauldron, is where I believe we find the roots of Wah Lum’s Bai Fo Shi.
Round One: Hold up the Hands and Strain the Legs
Separate your hands at your chest with your legs support.
The swallow opens its wings suspended in the air.
Water and fire rely on the sealing of the anus.
Block up the ears from the cicada’s ‘ding-ding’.
Rising and sinking completely relies on the kidney’s strength.
Bend the knees lower the waist keep your feet light.
On practicing this gong it is essential to learn its secret,
Endlessly working to overcome your heart’s desires.
Water and fire rely on the sealing of the anus. That means water and fire must interact with each other and the ‘sealing the anus’ helps the mutual relationship between water and fire. Balancing the water and fire mean the relationship between heart and kidney. Taken to a deeper level it represents three principles. Fire is your spirit, water is your essence and qi. These are our ‘three treasures’
spirit,
essence
qi
Essence and qi develop the spirit, our spirit is our vitality. Balance your spirit with your essence and your qi. This becomes the metaphor for our breath and the idea of balancing the inhalation with the exhalation.
As you inhale, you become more enlivened but as you exhale you contract in on yourself. One is yin and the other is yang.
Distractions
You may be distracted from sounds you hear or thoughts in your head, we are advised to;
Block up the ears from the cicada’s ‘ding-ding’...
On practicing this gong it is essential to learn its secret,
Endlessly working to overcome your heart’s desires.
Keeping the mind free of extraneous thoughts is crucial to success
More Articles
I welcome your comments, please visit
Wah Lum praying mantis under the name Bai Fut Sow (Mandarin bai fo shi).
Jut Sow
Eric, did your friend come back from Japan. Did you get a chance to ask him about that guy who knew Jut Sow
uh, I think you meant this directed to 18elders.
[QUOTE=Paul T England;1234783]Nice info.
Is the bai Fo sequence the same as 7 Stars mantis Lohan gung #2?
Paul
www.moifa.co.uk[/QUOTE]
Now, no. It is not the same. Similar.
My hope when writing this article was to show some links between what students do today with what was done long ago.
biyn jiu
chatted with my friend today. he is still in japan but said the guys name was Hong or Huang, he had leaned from his grandfather.
Hong later moved to south Vietnam and became a bodyguard for high ranking government officials.
I guess he may have been there the same time as Chui Chuk Kai as my friend said they were friends and the guy showed him old video of stuff and Chui Chuk Kai was in some of it.
He said they had lots of 2 person weapons sets and the 2 person empty hand sets had lots of close trapping and take downs.
Unfortunately he did not get the lineage from Hong or his grandfather’s name but hong came from zhengzhou, china, not sure if he was born there or what.
Tam Tui Jut Sow
I was reading old posts and cam upon one that stated that; Tam Tui Jut Sow is the only recognized Shaolin art here in the US. Is this true?
you are joking right??