Master Yee posted a poem on his wall during the student reunion.  Written in Chinese we were able to find a helpful friend to translate.  Below is the translation:

It was written by Su Shi (1036-1101), a well-known poet in Song Dynasty (960-1279). When Su Shi was young, he performed brilliantly in the official examinations and occupied a few official positions until he was banished and became friends with a famous monk, Fo Yin. In addition to being a poet, Su Shi was also an expert in Buddhism. One day, he wrote the poem you showed me:

稽首天中天，毫光照大千；
八风吹不动，端坐紫金莲。

稽首(kowtow ; show respect)

天中天 (the sky within the sky; actually refers to Buddha)

毫光(small light)

照(illuminate)

大千(the world or universe)
八风(eight winds; actually refers to eight situations or feelings: compliment, blame, slander, fame, success, defeat, suffering, happiness.)

吹不动(cannot blow away)

端坐紫金莲(sit steadily on the lotus platform)

Simply put, the poem describes the different life experiences. Normally when people are successful, they tend to be arrogant. But people feel depressed when they are defeated or slandered. However, there is only one person who is not influenced by his surroundings, i.e. Buddha.

Su Shi, the poet, was smart in that he seemed to be praising Buddha while, in fact, he was also complimenting himself, alluding to his expertise in Buddhism and his understanding of this supernatural state.

Therefore, he was so happy and arrogant that he sent the poem to Monk Fo Yin, who lived across the river, assuming that the latter would compliment him. However, the reply from Fo Yin contained only two words (in Chinese)— “bullshit.” It is no wonder, then, that Su Shi became furious and immediately went to Fo Yin, who was actually waiting for him. On the door of Fo Yin’s house, Su Shi found the following two lines:

八风(eight winds)吹不动(cannot blow you away)，
一屁(one bullshit)过江来(blows you across the river)。

So Fo Yin was actually making fun of Shu Shi, who thought he had reached the supernatural state, where a person cannot be influenced by his surroundings. However, he was angered by just the word “bullshit” and wanted to argue with Fo Yin. As a result, Su Shi became ashamed and respected Fo Yin, who was the real master of Buddhism.

Go to the Youtube home page, under search type stlkungfu.  You’ll find videos from the kids class and two man training drills.

it’s southern praying mantis kung fu-saint louis branch.  Try this link:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/edit/?id=114725781904437#!/pages/Southern-Praying-Mantis-Kung-Fu-St-Louis-MO-Branch/114725781904437

Had to put this quote in because we heard it many many times during the 2010 student reunion.  For years we developed power and strength.  Now we are developing speed and mobility.  IF you can run and jump rope you’ll have the mobility or that light on your feet quality you need.  All boxers, MMA jump rope and do road work.  Ali had kung fu, float like a butterfly sting like a bee, it’s the mobility combined w/the power, that’s all there is.

This years student reunion was a good time.  Many hours of training about 10 hours a day, the rest of the time we were either eating chinese food or asleep.  This is my 16th year attending the reunion.  I went down this year wondering what else is thier to learn.  Well, I came back w/ pages of notes, a standing meditation that will make you cry from soreness, more kung fu for the kids program, and more two man concepts to train.  Thanks GM Yee and his students for opening thier doors and hearts.  For the first time I took a trip to Galveston w/ one of my students for the day.  Good times down there, just don’t let Andrew search for places to go w/ his phone!

This quote is easy, folks who are all talk and don’t follow up/back it up.

Next week I’ll be posting our new schedule, some times/days will be changing.  We will also be going to a 12 week semester schedule.  Each semester works on a certain aspect of the kung fu.  Payment can be for the full semester or monthly.  Details coming soon.

This quote was by the late great Danny Fallon from New Jersey.  He was an “old school” martial artists from the 60′s and 70′s who fortunately was able to live into the 1990′s.  This man judged his power on how many car lengths he could knock someone back.  Later in life he went on to run a successful drug/alcohol treatment center because he took no bs and as Dannny would say, “A thief can’t rob a thief”.  This quote to me means for some people kung fu is a hobby and others a lifetime commitment.  A lifetime commitment because they like it and that’s the kind of person they are, very diffilcult to find committed people today.  Before joining any martial arts school ask yourself why you want to train and do you see yourself doing this in 10 years.  People come and go in martial arts, some are very dedicated for a short time and disappear, others are slow steady over a long period of time, and others don’t make it at all.  Kung Fu has something for everyone.  With dedication it can reward you w/ great skills and good health.  Often people will find reasons to quit, none of which make them responsible.  If you apply this quote to your training you won’t be derailed by the usual excuses, the mind set is a long term commitment to your training.