Chris Meistre

I’ve recently bought “Jeet kune do: Bruce Lee’s commentaries on the martial way“, which is basically an extended version of “Tao of Jeet Kune Do“.

Both are compilations of how Bruce Lee thought about Martial Arts and how he was trying to figure it out for himself. There’s a lot of lessons to be learned from all his notes. It’s not just about Martial Arts and fighting, it can be applied to every day life as well.

One of the notes I read involved the cognitive behavior theory involving a centipede.

The fluidity a martial artist seeks can be best described by the story of the centipede.  The many-footed creature was asked how it managed to walk on all its feet.  When it stopped to think about how it managed its daily function, it tripped and fell.  And so, life should be a natural process, in which development of the mind is not allowed to throw the natural flow of life out of balance.

More about the theory can be read on Centipede’s dilemm.

It’s definitely worth taking note of this and how “thinking too much” can hinder you. Instead let life take it’s course with you, and accept things that happen around you for what they are.

Master the Grace of the Cat – Practice the light, easy and graceful movements of the Cat.

Master the Anger of the Tiger – Overrun the courage of your enemy, advance harshly and retreat without confusion, estimate the situation then heavily punch with a sharp rush.

Master the Step of the Dragon – The Dragon is a symbol of strength and power, steps must be strong, powerful and resolute, the step is the source of the power generated by the movement, a non-confident step means a slipshod fist. When one step is over the movement of the body is over to.

Master the Speed of Lightning – Learn to instantly react to any changes.

Master the Sound of Thunder – The most powerful strike is delivered with a shout to obtain more powerful “effort-jin” emission.

Master the Movement of Wind – If you started fighting with a frontal attack, use your force on the left and right following the principle of ‘The fist is visible, the strike is invisible’ and ‘If you do not see your hand striking the enemy, you will never see this enemy’.

Master the Stance of Mountains – Your Stance must be impenetrable, train with Mabu, The Riders stance and Pole Standing stance. This will train strong feet and regulate breathing.

Master the Swiftness of the Goose – One must move quickly, lightly and instantly to respond to enemies actions, like the goose moving to the slightest whiff of wind.

Master the softness of Cotton – Before full exposure to rigidity, one must avoid vividly.

Master the hardness of Iron – Train the body to bear great pressure and power to overcome attacks with metal objects.

Chinese I Ching Coins are very important ingredients in the practise of Feng Shui. It’s a very powerful symbol of abundance.

The coins are round in shape, with a square hole in the center. The circle is used to represent heaven, while the square represents earth.

When used or worn by people, it creates a cosmic trinity of luck. This is Heaven + Earth + Man (or perhaps rather person ). The coin has a Yang side and a Yin side. The Yang side is represented by four Chinese characters. These 4 characters represent the reign of each of the Chinese emperors during a dynasty. On the Yin side of the coin you’ll have 2 characters. Whenever you use these coins, the Yang side will always be facing up.

The most popular coins are the ones that focus on the Ching Dynasty. When compared to the other dynasties, the Ching Dynasty is believed to be the most powerful. All the other dynasties usually fell in less than a century.

The Chinese coins where a creation of the advisors of the emperors and that is why these coins are such powerful representations of wealth, prosperity and endless fortune. They also provide protection against danger and harmful energies.

Coins are sometimes used in groups to activate their power even further. These are in multiples of 3, 6 or 9, and most of the time a red thread is used to bound them together.

The significance of these numbers:
3 – trinity of heaven, earth and mankind
6 – heaven luck
9 – represents the wholeness of the universe

Everyone knows the Yin Yang symbol, and for each of us it has a different meaning. Some might associate alternative healing with it, others associate martial arts with it and then there are those that think of spirituality whenever they see it. We see this symbol almost every day in different places, and it’s good to see that a symbol like the Yin Yang can be so universally accepted by people for different reasons.

Yin Yang

People use it as tattoos, on martial art clothing, in jewelery, and website logos. And each time you see it, you can bet that it has a different meaning to the person that used it than to the person that created it.

Images of the Yin Yang Symbol

Where does the Yin Yang symbol originate from though? I searched and researched a bit and found the answer to be quite fascinating. It stems from ancient Chinese Astrology.

After observing the universe for quite some time, they found that it is changing every day. Based on this they were also able to observe seasonal and annual changes and cycles happening.

They decided to start measuring and recording these changes. They observed the sky at night, and recorded the position of the Dipper. During the day they would watch the shadow off a 8 foot pole.

Dipper

With this they were able to determine four directions. Sunset in the direction of West, sunrise in the direction of East, the shortest shadow is South and the longest shadow is North. During the darkness of night, the direction of the Polaris star would be North.

While determining the four directions, they noticed the seasonal changes as well. Whenever the Dipper points towards the East, it would be spring, and when it points to the West, it would be fall. When the Dipper’s point shows towards South, it is summer and when it’s North, it’s winter.

Using the 8 foot pole at a right angle to the earth’s surface, they were also able to determine that a year’s length is 365.25 days. This was done by recording the positions of the shadows.

Now it becomes a bit more complicated. Using the year’s cycle, they divided it into 24 equal segments. Some of the segments include the Vernal Equinox, Autumnal Equinox, Summer Solstice and Winter Solstice. Then with six concentric circles they divided the segments into 24 sectors. On this diagram they marked the length of shadow every day using the 8 foot pole.

Marking it in different colors for the Summer Solstice (Yin) and the Winter Solstice (Yang) you were left the following image:

Yin Yang

You will see the ecliptic angle of 23 26’19″ marked on the image. This is the apparent path of the Sun around the Earth. Not saying that the Sun rotates around the Earth! Perhaps this image will provide a clearer understanding of what I mean to say:

Ecliptic Angle

Wu Xing can be translated as the 5 Movements, 5 Steps or 5 Elements. Whatever you call it, this system is used to describe the interaction and relationships between everything and anything. The most common place to find this is in alternative medicine practices and martial arts.

The 5 elements of Wu Xing are Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal and Water.

These five elements generate four cycles. Two of these cycles are mentioned here as an example of how it can be interpreted..

1) Generation

This is a creation cycle. It can be described as the following:

• Wood eats Fire
• Fire creates Earth (ash)
• Earth bears Metal
• Metal carries Water (i.e. a bucket to carry water)
• Water nourishes Wood

Generation

2) Overcoming

This is a destruction or destroying cycle. It can be described as the following:

• Wood separates Earth (i.e. roots of a tree)
• Earth absorbs Water
• Water quenches Fire
• Fire melts Metal
• Metal chops Wood (i.e. an axe)

Overcoming

Everything in the Universe can relate to these 5 elements in their 4 cycles. Below is a table of examples I have been able to find on the Internet.