MASTER FOOK YUENG
Mr. Yueng is an advisor, teacher and grandteacher to the students of Xin Qi Shen
Dojo. At the opening of the new Xin Qi Shen dojo, Mr. Yueng presented
Andrew Dale with his family's sword, naming him adopted son #2. (Dave
Harris is son#1). Mr. Yueng has been in the Seattle area for more than 30 years. In
that time he has shared his knowledge and training in Kung Fu and
Chi Kung with several very lucky students. His primary interest
was in sharing, not teaching. He ‘folded’ his hands a
few years ago (stopped teaching kung fu) and now occasionally
works with students of Xin Qi Shen Dojo and Harris Sensei's dojo on applications and T’ian Shan Chi Kung
(not similar to
the Taiwan T’ien Shan Kung Fu system).
Due to time and space limitations over the years his group has
been small. Mr. Yueng has never been one for fame so he’s
always avoided publicity, but he’s always been willing to
answer questions and give training guides. He insists on Mr.
instead of Master. On one occasion he consented to an interview
to be published in the Xin Qi Shen Dojo Newsletter.
Here are excerpts from that article:
A VISIT WITH MR. YUENG
Of all the martial artists and high level teachers I have
encountered, Mr. Yueng shines bright among them. His skill is
exceptional in martial arts, chi kung, and healing, but the extra
special quality is his joy. When Mr. Yueng is around there is a
joyousness, and bright energy that sparkles and influences his
surroundings. This quality is one of the reasons he has been a
hero of mine for 20 years. Mr. Yueng permitted me to ask
questions about his training and his past. As always, there was a
wealth of information he shared with me.
HIS TRAINING:
Mr. Yueng was trained in the Chinese Opera. Those familiar with
Chinese Opera know that the members can put any gymnast to shame
by their flexibility, strength and fitness. The training was
extremely hard, beginning at 4 am.
Mr. Yueng: "The
training was brutal, beyond what practitioners are willing to
endure today. If you fought, your life was on the line, you could
be crippled or killed. Now-a-days it doesn't matter how skilled
you are, you can't defend yourself against a bullet. Today
practitioners compete for prizes, first places and better health,
the reality and training is very different than if your life
depended on it."
Mr. Yueng, being in the Opera, had the opportunity to study with
many martial artists and has learned many styles. Tai Chi, Pa
Kua, Wing Chun, several Mantis systems, Crane, Monkey and many
more (he practiced with Sun Lu Tang's students and also played
the part of the Monkey King in the Opera).
I asked him if there was one instructor that stood
out above the rest that he looked up to, or was a model for him.
Mr. Yueng: "All
my teachers were very good, each had their own unique gifts and
talents. I wasn't taught that one style was better than the
other, each was useful. However, I didn't idolize the teachers,
or want to be like them, since the life of a kung fu teacher was
not a good life. A kung fu teacher's life was very difficult and
sometimes sad. In those days if your skill wasn't of high
quality you didn't eat, it was survival. If your kung fu
wasn't any good you didn't work, no one would hire you."
"To start with few kung fu teachers had families, they had
to continually train hard so their skill was high in order to
stay alive and be successful. If you were a kung fu teacher
anyone could come up and challenge you, injuries and possible
death could result. Running a school meant you were responsible
for all your students and their actions. If a student hurt
someone or was quarrelsome it was the sifu's fault. The sifu had
to train and instill a sense of responsibility in all students,
continuously. The life of a kung fu sifu was not a peaceful one.
When you accept students it's your responsibility to look after
them, take care of them, educate them. Even if their health
wasn't good the sifu must guide them back to better health."
Currently, Mr. Yueng focuses on chi kung for health and healing.
"Better health is the most useful and important aspect of
the arts." He represents a special Taoist chi kung from the
Tian Shan Mountain Range called (of course) Tian Shan Chi Kung.
This is a high level chi kung that not only works on self-healing
but also focuses on spiritual development.
Mr. Yueng: "The
secret to chi kung is studying from a master with strong chi that
can boost the chi of the student. The sifu must give the student
chi to help accelerate their development. Otherwise it takes an
extremely long period of time to build a storehouse of chi and
move beyond just health exercise. Before storing and building chi
a person's sick chi has to be cleansed. So along with learning
and practicing the movements with the teacher, the teacher boosts
the students chi to help heal them and accelerate the process
along."
Mr. Yueng:
"T’ien Shan chi kung must be taught individually, each
person is different and thus requires different instruction. The
sifu must be able to focus on the student completely so large
classes aren't possible. An older person has different
requirements than a younger one. Someone who has, or has had some
type of illness must be guided very gently, carefully. The master
must invest much chi and effort into each student which is why
this chi kung isn't very popular, few practitioners of Tien Shan
were willing to do this."
WHERE DOES T'IEN SHAN COME FROM?
Mr. Yueng:
"T’ien Shan is purely Taoist. This is a chi kung
for spiritual development and primarily for hermits so it never
became popular. Also, it was taught within a tradition for
spiritual seekers. The most important thing now is to transmit
the chi kung to better people's health."
WHAT ABOUT MODERN
WUSHU OR KUNG FU?"
Mr. Yueng:
"THINGS CHANGE . . . Things change and adapt. In the pasted,
kung fu was a livelihood, you had to be good or die. Each village
had it's training school for the family and village members, this
is no more. Now, it doesn't matter how good you are people have
guns. Now kung fu is for health and exercise, this is the
present, it serves a different purpose. People learn kung fu to
be in movies and exercises, no one has time to train as if it's a
living. I taught kung fu for self-defense and exercise, not for
fighting. Fighting is no good. Bruce Lee and the kung fu movies
made kung fu popular so more people are practicing, but it's
different than before. It is changing with the times, being
useful for now, fighting isn’t helpful or good for
society."
Though Mr. Yueng continues to work with some of his long
term students, he considers himself retired and continues his own
practice.
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