While Kung fu has practical combat applications, and some schools train participants to enter tournaments, Kung fu is also a spiritual art and path to enlightenment when taught, practiced and walked as a path in life in this manner. This is the way we teach it.
Some people wonder whether this art trains one to have a big ego ... or to be aggressive and combative in approach to life. All these things depend on the teacher and often, more importantly, on the student. Just as numerous priests have been known to divert from their spiritual path and behave in questionable ways, teachers and students of any spiritual art have been known throughout time to do the same. The same can be said for a follower of any faith and student of any path. It is very difficult to judge a path based on stories or the behaviours of some of the people associated with these things.
At times, a student may go through very challenging stages in their Work ... things may seem to get worse (in many ways) before they get better, as aspects of the self are brought to light for transformation. How much of this is there? ... How long does it take? It is individual. In natural medicine and other holistic healing modalities, a healing crisis is a common theme ... in spiritual texts, we come across mention of the dark night of the soul. The light is brighter on the other side of this Work.
Kung fu and Chi kung, in the way I was taught, is a spiritual path with side benefits which include practical combat applications (which some people enjoy demonstrating in tournaments), and high levels of health and fitness. According to the work the student puts in, and their current level of health and Being, it is obvious that people will get different results in the same amount of time.
Many other benefits are experienced according to the level of Work put in by the student and their level of being. The art can build up the inner strength and confidence of a student ... this is not the same as having a big ego ... though some people might view it as such. Some students do develop an ego of self-importance ... or self-pity ... (perhaps they come to the art with these traits) ... this has more to do with where they are at internally at that time and they may, as they develop over time, come to see themselves as they are and Work to transform. This is not only seen in arts such as Kung fu - one can see it in the spiritual self-importance projected by Yogis, religious people, healers of various disciplines, Tai Chi practitioners, kick-boxing clubs, Karate schools and Gyms... not to mention anyone we may come into contact with in the general public! We must always be aware of judgments, comparisons, justifications and labelling ... and avoid playing these games. Work on self ... cleaning our own mirrors and focussing on higher more worthy things is Work enough for all of us.
We do not have a filtering system or a specific characteristic we look for .... like the hopeful aspirants at the gates of the Shaolin Temple or those waiting at the feet of gurus in stories we've heard and movies we have seen. Many schools in the West (and now the East too) open their doors and work with the general public at the level they are at, with the hopes of planting seeds and watching students reach their potential ... whatever that may be.
Over time, practiced and walked in the highest manner, one can attain extra-ordinary abilities in mind, body and spirit... and real change in Being. Aggression and ego (the many forms of ego manifestation) ... among other things are to be faced, seen and transformed. This will occur only to the level at which the student is prepared to clean their own mirrors of self-projection and Know Themselves ... willingness and ability to travel their own inner landscape and their own unique ability to see and to Work ... All these things are factors in this.
The body is the physical tool used by the student (as in the path of Yoga etc.) ... with which to transform energies and their level of Being ... as this occurs, all can be new inside and out.
