This space contains contributions from the people who train in our branches across the country, detailing some of the thoughts that these students of Ving Tsun have about their training.

Several students of Ving Tsun responded to a set of questions regarding their training experiences. Here are a few of their answers.

What does the term “kung fu life” mean to you?

“It means living your kung fu, applying kung fu in your life, i.e. learning to translate lessons in kung fu to lessons in life through observing your sifu, sibak, sigung, interacting with them and seeing them interact with the rest of the world.”

“Taking the critical action to achieve the greatest success. Lots of time on the road. Aiming beyond the horizon.”

“Applying the knowledge and technique of the martial arts system to your everyday life.”

“Kung fu life is…in addition to the physical practice, the application of the principles and lessons learned from the physical practice to one’s everyday life, such as keeping grounded (horse), motivation and initiative (forward energy), and integrity (having right effort).”

“Kung fu life for me means learning about myself and my life. What it means is always changing for me as well. In the beginning it was simple: after a few weeks of training I felt better and I was proud of myself. Later on, I mean a few years, it became more difficult to make myself train, to get to the school, to be motivated, etc. Then kung fu life had to be something else, like making better choices about food, using it at work and at home. More than anything kung fu life means knowing I can live a better life “and Make History”, as Sigung Moy Tung once said, than most of the world knows is possible.”

“One that is devoted to peace and a healthy lifestyle. Disciplined but relaxed, focused, but open and receptive as well.”

“Kung fu life to me means living every day relaxing and excelling in everyday life including at work or with family.”

“Kung fu life to me means applying the principles of kung fu (“hard work”) in all aspects of my day-to-day life. This includes being relaxed, efficient, and direct at all times.”

“It means learning about  how to interact with the rest of the world through the filter of your martial arts training. The groundedness of the horse, the directness of the hand techniques, the default setting of forward energy. The core idea of martial arts is that learning, that study of how to deal successfully with the inevitable conflicts that life experience brings. When the opportunity to study conflict in the classroom is available, it becomes much less necessary to depend exclusively on the more stressful actual-conflicts for gaining experience and skill. “

“Rich, rewarding, focused, hard, humble and lucky work and activity throughout the experience of your reality.”

What attracted you to training at the school?

“Bruce Lee got me interested in Ving Tsun. Alan Pearson got me interested in the Moy Yat/Moy Tung branch. And the nature of Ving Tsun forced me to stay.”

“The traditional relaxation.”

“How relaxed the atmosphere is and after time my relationship with my sifu and the kung fu family.”

“The simplicity of its approach”

“I was driving by the last school on Cary Street one night with my younger brother and his friends, going downtown to dinner. I saw someone playing forms alone as we passed, and it was like I made a mental note. I had my chainsaws worked on at the shop behind not long afterwards. After I dropped them off I went around and got the number of the door. I called and the next day my Sifu called me and I came for class. I knew immediately it was for me.”

“The theory and science behind it. Also the stories of its origin were fascinating.”

“Had trained in Ving Tsun before and wanted to train at the best kung fu school I could find. I found it!”

“Initially it was witnessing the effects of a really relaxed straight punch by my future sihing on an aggressor.  After coming to class, what kept me coming was the relaxed environment and the simplicity and effectiveness of the training program.”

“In my youth, I experienced some marital arts training, and since then had become distracted by the mechanics of living, I found that I missed having martial arts in my life. Ving Tsun happened along to fill the void.”

“Chan and Tao! To find a way to stop riding the wheel!”

What have you found difficult in your training?

“Everything...relating mentally especially.”

“Negotiating the many relationships with people. Periods in which I do not feel progress.”

“After about ten years I really felt like my horse was there.”

“Manifesting an intellectual understanding into a physical reality.”

“Training consistantly.”

“Making tight fists, and sinking my horse.”

“Relaxing!!”

“Not living in the same town as my sifu or kung fu brothers for much of my training has been difficult, but it’s given me the opportunity to spend more time examining various aspects of my kung fu on my own.”

“Getting the details right. Translating head-knowledge into body-knowledge. “

“The most difficult thing is to catch a tiger by the tail and enjoy the ride, but also to ride the horse as if you are its own chi. The planting of the plum tree, the truest aim of the sharpest arrows with the speed of the wind, the perfect slicing of my fists, and the most free stroke of my ink brush!”

How important is it to know the school’s history?

“Very…if you don’t know where you’ve been how can you know where you’re going? (I jacked that from some movie).”

“It is not necessary. Having this knowledge can inform training in a powerful way.”

“Very!”

“Is is how or why?”

“It is of the most importance. It goes along with everything else that makes up the reason for doing/living Kung Fu Life.”

“I don’t know how important it is, but I enjoy it. To know the exact lineage makes me feel more like I am learning a true art form instead of just fighting.”

“Very important. The lineage means a lot. Just learning where the art came from.”

“Knowing the history of the school is very important to me.”

“Depends on your purpose. For the techniques, they can stand by themselves. For the context of the whole training, it’s part of the experience, and plays a powerful role in understanding where the ideas come from. History helps tie things together in a more unified way. “

“It forms cycles of collective consciousness to focus idea, theory, and evolution of your self and the art.”

Thanks to Leo Penalosa, Owen Matson, David Strayer, Ben Dows, Daniel Sydnor, Blake Roeder, Rick Hopkins, Mark Remeikis, Ann Gemlich, and Stuart Zeno for their responses.

My name is Paul Brown and I am a student of Sifu Marcus Evans.  When my daughters and I were in class with Lewis Charles, he challenged us to draw Siu Nim Tao.  We came up with the attached abstraction of Siu Nim Tao (some artistic license included).  Siu Nim Tao has helped me to overcome some flexibility and strength issues following injuries and surgery.

Paul Brown

Student of Sifu Marcus Evans

Grandstudent of Sigung Moy Tung

I would like to thank my Kung Fu family in Richmond for the opportunity to contribute my thoughts on Kung Fu Life and my wishes for my Kung Fu Family on the occasion of the 23^rd anniversary of the Richmond branch of the Moy Yat Ving Tsun Kung Fu Family. I am very sorry that I am unable to be there in person. Ving Tsun Kung Fu is a vitally important part of my daily life and words cannot express what the efforts of my Sifu and Sigung have meant to me. Neither, however, can the importance of those efforts to me be overemphasized, so I hope these words can serve to carry some of my sentiment. The package may be imperfect, but it is sent with the best intentions.

It was my good luck to begin training Ving Tsun at a relatively young age. Most would call a 14 year-old a young man. After I had been training for a few years, I had spent a great deal of time and energy on my Kung Fu, but it’s strange how a Sifu has the ability to show you the same thing you’ve been looking at for years from the different perspectives that make it new again. One day my Sifu was addressing a group of my senior Kung Fu brothers, including me, and mentioned to us that at that point we had been training long enough that none of us could remember what it felt like to not have Ving Tsun Kung Fu in our lives. It is possible that, even at that time, with some difficulty I could have called up some accurate memories of life without Ving Tsun. However I did realize, in that moment, something that had not occurred to me before in all my years of thought and work for my Kung Fu. Since he was addressing a group of us at the time, Sifu may not have known how significant his statement was to me in particular. . . I bet he did, though.

At the age of 14, I had already had a fairly fortunate life. I was in a good school district in a safe town, and my parents had afforded me opportunities to learn both music and martial arts. The first music lessons I had taken were on the piano, the first martial arts instruction I had received was in Tae Kwan Do. I had explored these two interests through those avenues and quit both activities after a time, feeling relatively little commitment to either. When my opportunity to train Ving Tsun came along, my decision to train was questioned by my mother, who thought this would be another passing interest. I realized how my previous decisions concerning Tae Kwan Do and piano had affected my credibility, and at the same time I became acutely aware of how desperately I wanted to study this martial art. I decided that beginning my Ving Tsun training was a commitment that I would have to make on a deeper level than any I had previously made and was able to express these profound ideas and feelings to my mother, who then fully supported my pursuit of Ving Tsun. In many ways, the decision to train Ving Tsun Kung Fu was the first adult decision of my life.

This was the epiphany that came in that moment when Sifu was speaking: I could not remember a single moment without Kung Fu in my adult life because there had been none. As a time when one experiences a great many physical and mental changes was just beginning in my life, Ving Tsun was there to see me through them and to help me become the man I am (a Ving Tsun Sifu and professional musician). I then started to think about life without Kung Fu. I considered how different it must be to grow up without that influence, to sort through all of life’s puzzles and challenges some other way. I don’t really think I can comprehend how different my life would have been, and this is after only my short time training.

I am lucky indeed to have a Sifu. He has a way of showing me how much I have, thanks to Ving Tsun Kung Fu, by showing me how little I know, even about the Kung Fu I possess. Yet this doesn’t make me feel as though I’m missing something; it just makes me aware that I have not yet reached the depths of training that are available to me. My Sifu is an entire generation further down the road than I am. And of course, my Sifu has a Sifu, without whom I would not have had this opportunity to make my Kung Fu Life.

The fact that after only seven years of training I was not able to comprehend the amount of influence Kung Fu had already had on my life shows me clearly that I can’t yet comprehend the work and energy that have gone into 23 years of keeping the Moy Yat Ving Tsun Kung Fu System strong in Richmond. Harder to comprehend still is the work that has gone into the many schools around the country that have sprung from the Richmond School, each, I am sure, with students whose stories are just as personally significant as my own. It feels strange to offer congratulations to my Sigung, especially when I know that I cannot understand the accomplishment for which I am offering them. Yet, since I have been afforded this opportunity, I would certainly be remiss not to acknowledge the significance of these achievements. Therefore, I offer my sincere congratulations only as the lesser part of my intentions in writing these words. The greater part is my deepest gratitude to everyone who has contributed to the growth and strength of the Richmond Headquarters and particularly to my Sigung, Grandmaster Moy Tung, for founding the school and the incomprehensible amount of work and commitment he has generously put forth these past years. Thank you, Sigung, for everything you have done, and Good Luck with all that is yet to come!

Andrew Knapp

Student of Sifu Robert “Moy Yat Tung” Squatrito

Grandstudent of Sigung Moy Tung