My Kung Fu

People always ask what do I practice, I say "Kung Fu", they say, "what kind of Kung Fu?" Well, that's hard to explain, because it's my own Kung Fu, and because they don't know me, they don't know what I practice unless they get to know me.  Bruce Lee had his Kung Fu, I have my own.  Bruce Lee created the label  "Jeet Kune Do", I created the label "Freddie's Modern Kung Fu​".  But essentially, I am trying my hardest to promote the teachings of the East through my Martial Expression.  I don't want to choose, but if you force me to choose, then I will say I am promoting the Chinese Martial Arts.

Which will include "Bruce Lee, Jeet Kune Do, Jet Li, Donnie Yen, Wushu, Jackie Chan, Tai Chi, Wing Chun, Choy Lay Fut, Shaolin, Praying Mantis, Hung Gar, Tao, Lao Tzu, Sun Tzu, The Art of War, Confucius, Mencius, Chuang-tzu, Qigong, Kung Fu Panda, etc.

Although most of my teachings will include aspects from all different cultures, if I was forced to only choose one to promote, I would have to say the Chinese culture would be the most encompassing of the teachings of which I promote.  The wisdom from the Sages of China is the same wisdom you will find from the sages of India and Japan.  The wisdom of the Japanese Martial Artist Musashi is not too different than the wisdom of Bruce Lee.  The wisdom of Buddha is not too different than the wisdom of Lao-Tzu.  The wisdom that is contained from the entire world, can essentially be found in China.

I never wanted to choose, but if you force me to choose, I will promote the Chinese Martial Arts and the Chinese culture.  I can wish to be nameless, but even my parents had to make a final decision on what name they wished to give me.  I understand the true way is No Way, but people just don't understand that teaching, that teaching only comes to an understand after many decades of practice.

A Teacher is Not a Master

I can understand where you are coming from but I see a difference between just teacher and a true Master. A True Master, a student will never surpass, unless the Master dies an untimely death. A true Master Masters himself, and he is living the way, he doesn't speak about the Way, he simply lives it. The student then just follows without being forced to follow. The student can surpass many teachers because anybody can be a teacher but the student can never surpass the Master. It's like trying to catch up in age to your own father, you can't, unless he dies an untimely death. But if he lives a long life till 100, you will never catch up, you might even die before him. He has experienced so much more than you in your life, he already walked the path that you are walking now, he knows the way, you are just trying to learn it.

A true Master never stops growing, he is constantly bettering himself, if he is 50 years old, he has been putting in 50 years of hard work, if you are just 20 years old, you cannot meet his level of expertise and experience, you will always be behind him because he will not stop his own growth even when he is assisting you. If you find a true Master, you will never have to seek any further. If you encounter a teacher or a false Master, you can be searching for endless lives.

How can a student possibly claim he is better than a Master? What is being assessed? An entire person's life is being assessed, not just a small aspect of it. Any student that claims himself to be better than a Master is already at fault. A student who tries to compete with a Master has not truly surrendered to the Master, his ego is still in the way of him learning, he is not truly open to learning, he is not there for the family, he is not there as a disciple to the Master, he is there to take what he can in which to compete with the Master to find his own students. He is like a person who applies to work at a company, gets hired in, and then starts stealing from the company, even though he has the uniform and customers think he is on the side of the company, he is not really there for the company, he is there for himself, he doesn't want to see the company grow, he wants to steal from the company to eventually start his own company. A true Master can identify this fraudulent employee, the true Master can install hidden cameras to identify this fraudulent employee and get rid of him. He does not belong in the company.

A student to a Master is similar to applying to work for a very successful firm. You have the CEO of the company, you as new employee will never be the CEO of the company, even if the CEO dies, only one person is needed to replace him, not any more than that. A student has to agree to surrender to the Master and be a true disciple or he cannot surrender and go about his own path without the help of the Master. He cannot be half hearted, a half hearted student will be identified by the Master and terminated, he will never learn the inner teachings of the school.

A true Master needs no students, the students come to him, they seek him out and they have to beg for the Master to accept them as disciples. A real Master will never beg for students. It's like a father who has more children than he can even handle, he truly wants no more, but then more come begging to convince him to expand his family. A true Master doesn't care to obtain more and more students, he does not obtain students for the fulfillment of his ego, he only accepts students because he is following the Tao or the way of God, if God tells the Master to accept the student he will, he will follow his heart, he follows the order of God, not the order of his ego.

The Real Can't Be Changed

The Real Can’t Be Changed

“When you love, you project.  You love not to give; you love to take, you love to exploit.  When you love a person you start trying to fix the person according to you, according to your ideas.  Every husband is doing that, every wife is doing that, every friend.  They go on trying to change the other, the real, and the real cannot be changed – you will only get frustrated.”

“The real cannot be changed, only your dream will be shattered and then you feel hurt.  You don’t listen to reality.  Nobody is here to fulfill your dream.  Everybody is here to fulfill his own destiny, his own reality.” – Osho “ hsin hsin ming” – pg. 17

Martial Art students should not be exploited.  You should not fix a Martial Art student according to your desires and ideas.  The student should be allowed to be natural, to just be himself.  As a Sifu, you are there to remind and encourage him to be natural and real, to not try to be somebody that he is not, but to simply just be himself.  As a Sifu, you do not try to change the student. 

When the student enters through the door, it is not about the Sifu and what he wants out of the student; it is about the student and what he or she has interest in developing.  The student is there to fulfill his own destiny, not to be used as a puppet to fulfill the corrupted ideals of the teacher.  If there is the right connection between the Sifu and the student, the Sifu will be there to help the student achieve his/her potential.  If the connection is not there, nothing should be forced. 

How to Live

How to Live

Nobody enjoys others telling them how to live.  People enjoy freedom.  But with freedom comes responsibility.  People don’t like the government because the government imposes a certain way of living.  The government provides restrictions on how you should live.  Religion also provides restrictions on how you should live.  There is corruption in government and there is corruption in religion.  Because of this corruption, people have no trust in authority.  Our parents also provide restrictions on how we should and should not live.  But our parents can be corrupted as well.  Everywhere we look, we don’t know which authority we can trust. 

Fact of the matter is that we must be guided by truth.  Truth is beyond government, truth is beyond religion, truth is beyond any guidance that can be provided by our parents or teachers.  Truth is within us, we must become our own authority and live this truth.  The world can be against us, the politicians, the priests, the officers, the judges, the professors, etc.  But truth rises above all.  When we know the truth within, we follow it, even if it means going against the masses. 

Awakened Teachers

Awakened Teachers

Buddha said, “People who have become enlightened before persuaded me, argued with me.  They said, ‘In thousands of years a man comes to the state of being where you are.  Even if out of a hundred people, one person understands your words rightly, that is enough.  Don’t be worried about the ninety-nine because they will go astray even without hearing you.  They are bound to go astray.” 

“If they can go astray even hearing you, then what do you think – that without hearing you they will not go astray?  Take it for granted: those ninety-nine are determined to go astray whether you speak or not.  But what about that one percent?  We appeal to you for that one percent who may not be able to find the path without your speaking.”

And Buddha said, “I am speaking for that one percent.”  - Osho “The Magic of Self-Respect” pg. 200

Those who wish to promote the good and positive should keep that teaching in mind.  It is against nature for the masses to be awakened.  The awakened will always be in the minority.  But do not lose hope in the masses.  One by one, a change can be made towards the greater good.  Without your positive contribution, the people will suffer.

Tae Kwon Do is Jeet Kune Do

Tae Kwon Do is Jeet Kune Do

Tae Kwon Do is Jeet Kune Do.  They even sound similar.  They both end in “Do”, Kwon and Kune both start with the letter K, and both are four letter words.  The pronunciation of Kwon and Kune sound very similar.  Tae Kwon Do means “The Way of the Fist and Foot.”  Jeet Kune Do means “The Way of the Intercepting Fist.”  The meaning is very similar, now if there was another label named “The Way of the Intercepting Fist and Foot”, that would even have greater significance than both labels. 

Bruce’s original idea was to open up a chain of Jeet Kune Do schools across the nation, like how McDonald’s is found all over the world.  Essentially what Bruce planned to achieve, Tae Kwon Do has achieved.  Tae Kwon Do has schools throughout the nation, everybody in America knows of Tae Kwon Do.  Tae Kwon Do was able to achieve in America what Bruce was unable to achieve during his lifetime.  Bruce opened up 3 schools but then his plans changed and he shut down all 3 of his schools and went into acting. 

Now why did Bruce shut down all of his 3 schools and trash the idea of creating chains of Jeet Kune Do schools across the nation?  Well if you look into Tae Kwon Do and it’s reputation in the Martial Arts world in America, it will tell you why.  The problems associated with Tae Kwon Do in America is that it is extremely watered down and corrupted in regards to living up to its original integrity and standards of which you may find in some of the real Tae Kwon Do schools in Korea.  If you see the real Tae Kwon Do schools in Korea, you will see Black Belts that are really Black Belts.  They are the real deal, right before your eyes, they are performing demonstrations that will put you in awe, they are like armies of Bruce Lee’s.  Like the Shaolin Monks in the Shaolin Temple.  But that type of intense training in the Martial Arts, does not exist in America. 

Come to America and one Bruce Lee is a big deal.  Go to China or Korea and some other countries where they practice the real Martial Arts, there are hundreds of Bruce Lee’s that are just as capable or even more capable but only difference is they don’t have the name, the reputation, the individuality, that America brings.  They are just seen as a nameless “Chinese” or “Korean” guys that are super talented.  The name “Bruce Lee” sells tickets, the random Chinese guy in China that is super talented does not sell tickets because people don’t know who he is. 

Mike Tyson used to sell tickets, but now no longer.  Mayweather sells tickets.  America knows how to build on a name to sell tickets.  But America doesn’t know how to build real talent and skill.  Real talent and skill comes from real genuine hard work.  Not like the American Lance Armstrong who wants to cheat his way to fame.   No, real Kung Fu is somebody who works extremely hard everyday till death for little to no pay, like these Chinese factory workers who are making 50 cents per hour making the products of which we enjoy. 

America has little to no talent, that is why Bruce gave up on teaching Jeet Kune Do to Americans and decided to go into acting.  Bruce knew that if he continued on with opening more and more Jeet Kune Do schools, the less and less quality of each school would be the result and ultimately it would lead into the fate of what Tae Kwon Do has become in America.  Which is pretty much a style of Martial Art that has become a joke compared to the real Tae Kwon Do schools in Korea.  Selling Black Belts for profit, not because the student has earned it but because he has paid his dues on time.  Giving somebody a Black Belt and over inflating his ego when he has only trained for 1 year!  I can understand if a person gets a Black Belt in 20 years, but in 1 year, no way! 

Imagine if you had a Brain surgeon who only went to medical school for one year.  Imagine if you can become a lawyer in just one year of being in law school.  Imagine a couple who has only been together for one year.  Even if they spend every single day together, how well do they really know one another?  How strong is their relationship really?  There is a big difference between a couple who has been together for 1 year and a couple who has been together for 20 years. 

Imagine if all it took to raise your own child is just a 1 year commitment!  No, in order to raise a child the proper way, it is a life time commitment!  True Martial Arts is a lifetime commitment.  To replicate another Bruce Lee, it will take at least 32 years of training because Bruce Lee died at 32 years.  If Bruce Lee died at 65, then it would take 65 years of training to replicate Bruce Lee.  As a Martial Artist, every day you are living, you are learning or unlearning.  There is no end to your training, only death is the end. 

Bruce knew that if he continued to teach Jeet Kune Do in America, it would end up being poorly represented just as how these American Tae Kwon Do schools are poorly representing the real Tae Kwon Do in Korea.  You think Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, Lebron James,   Mohammed Ali, and Floyd Mayweather can be duplicated in just one year of training!?  No way, it takes close to 30 years or more training to get to their level of perfection. 

America doesn’t have the patience to train in real Kung Fu or real Martial Arts.  The American mindset is too corrupted.  As a whole America will never be ready to develop into real Martial Artists, it goes completely against all the values of which they stand for. 

You tell American’s not to compete, but they are born and raised to compete.  You tell American’s to be patient, but they are born and raised to be impatient.  You tell American’s to not strive towards any goals but to just be in the present moment, but they are born and raised to strive towards endless goals.  You tell American’s not to fight even though you are training them how to fight, but they are born and raised to be violent. 

When you train an American to become a Martial Artist, you are essentially teaching the American to not be American.  Now this is something that will never happen on a mass scale, this goes against patriotism.  You are teaching the American to value the Chinese or Korean cultures and ways of life above the corrupted ways of America.  If the American does not realize that his own ways are corrupt , then he will not be open to learning.  If he is not open to learning, there is no hope.  And that is why, real Martial Arts will never exist on a mass scale in America, it will always stay underground as long as America is America.