EARTHLY DRAGON, SOARING PALM

by Derek Dorris

  “But, alas, we haven't lost our old instincts,” Wen Dang sighed. “We still feel the need to stand out over the person next to us, to appear better than him—even to dominate him. That Feng’er is the ultimate weakness in human character—failing to control our primitive impulses, failing to allow the rich rewards of our higher behaviour to cultivate. You see, our ability to express ourselves creatively comes from our ability to feel connected with the world of people, not from our primal urges to separate ourselves from others.”

  Surprisingly, Bai Feng understood this. The only thing confusing him was the manner in which these elders spoke. It was like they were telepathically connected, finishing each other’s sentences and nodding and smiling as one. But, as for the logic of what they were saying—Bai Feng was getting it.

  The Nameless and Artless monk's were standing at the back of the room bemused by this tiny boy nodding his head with assurance. Their mirth was understandable given the boy's age and the lofty nature of the subject matter but what they weren't appreciating was Bai Feng's mind was better prepared for this type of lesson than any other the Earthly Dragon had encountered in their two hundred year history.

  “Most believe,” Kwan Dang continued the lesson, “that kung fu is defined by competition. That's why ego is anchored so deeply within its practitioners. But we believe kung fu is an artform! And artistic behaviour of any kind is not part of our baser behaviour. It's part of our higher abilities as people. After all, you don't see animals painting or enjoying our paintings. But we, Feng'er, we do! And when we are at our best in these endeavours, we don't do it with ill will towards others or with covetous, egotistical thoughts in mind. We do it with an unshackled mind that not only engages intuitively with the people around us but also with the subject of our art. In the case of kung fu, that subject is the person next to us—our opponent.”

  Bai Feng was ecstatic. “I've always felt that way! Well kind of... You know, like when Wangchuk Drup defeated Xun Da. I didn't enjoy seeing my friend get hurt but the battle was amazing to watch.”

  The three monks took the time to show each other a satisfied smile.

  “Feng'er,” said Jian Dang. “We believe that kung fu is the ultimate expression of human being’s artistic behaviour because we're not struggling with an inanimate canvas, words, or music but with another sophisticated person who is also expressing themselves at a high level. Imagine a painter had to wrestle with his canvass while he painted because the canvas could think and move like a human being.”

  Bai Feng thought about fighting a canvas and giggled.

  The hairy monk Jian Dang frowned briefly but then realised that such an image is undeniably amusing. He shared the laugh with Bai Feng before continuing. “However, art requires us to grow beyond our own mind, to relinquish the petty concerns of the ego and embrace the opponent and the world as a whole. If we fight while locked within our own minds, driven by selfish ambitions for success and cravings for reputation, then our fighting becomes a denial of artistic endeavour rather than a glorious expression of it. This is the reason kung fu contests descend into scrappy attempts at physical domination rather than the beautiful expressions we see in the forms. Outcomes are hammered or hacked out while the art, the martial art, is smothered.”

  Bai Feng was struck by that term. He had never heard martial skill referred to that way yet it sounded right to him. “Martial art!” he echoed.

  "You see," added Kwan Dang, "during the practice of our forms and taolu, our minds are clear, extended, and unencumbered by ego. The movements are executed like a painter wields his brush. And during those moments, there is beauty and ingenuity to our movements. That's the way our kung fu should always be! However, during combat, our primitive impulses to compete with our opponents arise; our desire to dominate not to mention our fear of losing to them invariably emerges and chokes our martial movements, chokes the art."

  Wen Dang interrupted excitedly, his piercing eyes glowing with the observation that this mere child understood some of this—maybe even all of it. “Some masters have enough self-control to free their minds for a time and while they do, their fighting can often be beautiful and artistic. But if their ultimate goal is always to dominate their opponent and not to express themselves, then their minds will never stay free and their fighting will eventually lose its fluidity.”

  Then, Jian Dang interjected. "If one's kung fu is to emerge artistically, one must face his opponent with the mind of a painter as his brush touches the canvas, of a sculptor as his chisel touches the stone, or of a poet as his pen touches the scroll. It is within these moments that an artist's soul is translated into the kind of action that can brighten the world. But such an achievement is impossible if you stay locked within your own mind, consumed by egotistical thoughts of victory or reputation.”

  Wen Dang raised his hands slowly from his lap and clasped them together softly. "That is what we do here. We try to free the mind of martial experts so their kung fu will actualise perfectly from form to application. When it does, it will be incomparable to the flaying, pounding arms of a fighter whose mind is swamped with primitive thoughts of domination.”

  Kwan Dang leaned forward eagerly. “Feng'er, we believe that you have the type of mind that is perfectly suited to learning our skills. But what do you think? Do you wish to learn kung fu without worrying about victory or defeat?"

  Bai Feng felt liberated. “Actually, I've always liked to fight. I find it… well I love it.” The young boy nodded his head conclusively as if he had made the most important decision of his life. “If you can teach me how to fight without having to care about winning or losing, then I would love that!”

  And with that, Bai Feng became the youngest ever disciple of the renowned Earthly Dragon Sect. His internal training was the exclusive purview of the three senior monks who instructed him daily on the principles of the mind, behaviour, society, culture, and ethics. They imparted to him two unique forms of meditation know as the “Five Yin Elementals” and the “Five Yang Modulations”, that allowed one to achieve a state of mind far clearer than any other. The purpose of which was to allow Bai Feng’s external kung fu to connect fluidly with his opponent's, unburdened by thoughts of losing face or dominating that opponent.

  While most forms of internal kung fu involved honing some or all of the five major senses of seeing, hearing, touching, balance, and smell, the Five Yin Elementals and the Five Yang Modulations added a substantial psychological component that involved restructuring the egotistical perceptions that arise from those five senses, all under a state of deep relaxation—to modulate such perceptions at their root by reformulating the very manner in which its practitioners interpreted the world around them. Typically, the restructuring of selfish thoughts was the most difficult aspect of this meditative process but the Earthly Three found Bai Feng’s mind to be the perfect platform for their techniques. The results were beyond anything they had ever witnessed. In only a few years, Bai Feng attained clarity of mind that was unparalleled in the history of Earthly Dragon.

  The task of the Eight Guardians was to impart to him the external kung fu of the Earthly Dragon Style. Earthly Dragon Kung Fu was a soft style that favoured momentum over power. Placing an emphasis on swiftness over strength, it encouraged one to stay connected with an opponent during combat, to remain at one with the opponent. The responsibility of developing this external system lay with the Guardians and each new Guardian would either specialise in the forms developed by former Guardians or develop new forms to be added to the system. Eventually, these new forms would be added to the base style in an effort to further refine its unifying function.

  Bai Feng would learn from each of the eight Guardians so as to receive as varied training in the Earthly Dragon Style as possible. The First Nameless Monk instructed him on the Seven Winds Form, the jewel in the Earthly Dragon system, a unique collection of close quarter techniques such as elbows, knees, and short range palm strikes executed with almost no undue physical forc
e. Although the Nameless Monk had yet to rise to the level of the form’s originator—the Virtueless Monk—of the current Guardians, he was nonetheless the most proficient practitioner of the Seven Winds Form.

  The Second Faceless Monk specialised in a wrestling form that involved no striking whatsoever. The Third Prideless Monk was a master of trapping and deflection. The Fourth Artless Monk had developed his own “Empty Palm Form” in which pushes and pulls were transformed into quick palm strikes. Similarly, the Fifth Strengthless Monk had invented the “Swallow Kick Form” which involved a variation of swift kicks that coincided with jumps and quick turning. The remaining masters specialised in the application of weapons-based forms to the Earthly Dragon Style. The Sixth Formless Monk taught Bai Feng how to use projectiles of all sorts, the Seventh Deedless Monk instructed him on sword fighting, while The Eight Guileless Monk was a master of long-range weapons like the spear and long staff.

  So it was, under the tutelage of such world class experts, the boy transformed into a young man, progressing without setback well into his fifth year. The clarity and freedom of his mind allowed him to perform his body’s movements with a purity he had never imagined. Within five years, he was even beginning to match the Eight Guardians.

  Then during his fifth year at Earthly Mountain, something unexpected happened. The non-martial movements of Bai Feng's body took on a feeling of lightness and became much more powerful. His running speed increased as did his ability to jump and in no time he was clearing each of the three gorges one leap at a time in the same manner his martial uncles could. He even developed the ability to alter the metabolism of his body. He remembered both Li Jing and Xun Da tell him that the strongest martial experts will attempt to harness the body’s natural movements to make them more powerful and he often heard his masters refer to this skill as “internal strength”. But he never imagined he would develop such ability so soon. As it turned out, neither did they.

  Problems arose when he began funnelling this newfound internal strength into his punches and kicks. Although, he was simply harnessing the natural momentum of his arm and leg movements, as he funnelled more and more power into his martial movements, his external kung fu gradually began to choke. No longer expressive of a clear mind, it seemed caught up in egotistical thoughts of domination. When fighting his masters, his kung fu would seize up completely while theirs would continue to flow freely. In their sparring sessions, he was no longer matching them. Instead, he was being subdued within seconds.

  When he asked his three grandmasters about this, they looked at each other in surprise.

  “We didn’t anticipate having to deal with this so soon Feng’er,” Kwan Dang said. “It seems your internal power has increased much faster than any of us expected. Sit down my boy; let us explain it to you.”

  Filled with a kind of curious apprehension, Bai Feng sat down and listened as the Earthly Three lifted the lid on the great hidden dichotomy that lay within kung fu.

  Wen Dang spoke first, “The type of internal kung fu most martial experts practice is designed to directly augment their external kung fu. During their meditations, they tend to their major senses one at a time, honing them to astonishing levels. You see, Feng'er, the senses reinforce each other. Stand on one foot and close your eyes and you'll find your balance wavering. When you sharpen each of the major senses and then bring them together, the increased sensitivity to your body's movements and to the world around you results in an economy of movement that enhances your physical actions. Your ability to impose yourself on the world, your internal strength, increases significantly. Most experts actively cultivate this strength with the intention of channelling it into their external kung fu. In other words, it's focused on making their punches and kicks physically more powerful. The problem they all encounter, however, is that the use internal strength during fighting exponentially increases thoughts of ego and domination and so it eventually suffocates their external kung fu. It makes them formidably strong but in a blunt and savage manner.

  “Needless to say,” added Jian Dang with a smile, “we would like to avoid that. That’s why we practice the Five Yin Modulations and Five Yan Elementals—a meditative practice designed to encourage egoless perceptions not internal strength.”

  Dang Kang rubbed his bald head with an almost sheepish grin. “However, Feng'er, it proved impossible to restructure our perceptions, without inadvertently refining the underlying senses. In fact, it turned out that our meditations refine those senses to an even greater degree than any other internal kung fu can. The earliest practitioners of the Five Yin Elementals and the Five Yang Modulations realised this with some shock. To possess in abundance, the very skill that disengages one from their opponent seemed a rather ironic by-product of our attempts to get closer to our opponents.

  “As you know,” Kwan Dang added, “internal strength can bolster our non-martial movements too. Therefore, our predecessors decided to permit its use in normal actions such as running, jumping, and metabolism control. However, to channel it into external kung fu was strictly forbidden within our sect and remains that way to this day.”

  Bai Feng was a little shook by this revelation. He was only sixteen years old but intelligent enough to see the great difficulty this might pose to him in the future.

  “If you begin to use strength to dominate an opponent,” Wen Dang continued, voicing out loud what Bai Feng was simultaneously realising, “you will gradually disconnect from him mentally. He will become nothing more than something you wish to pummel, an enemy! Your ego will rise within you, your mind will retract, and you’ll be locked within yourself. As I said, your martial art will suffocate.”

  “Don’t mistake us,” Jian Dang said. “Using your inner strength will render you incredibly strong. Eventually as strong as the Ten Greats who each developed their external artforms around the purposeful use of internal strength. But you will have forsaken your art for inner power. And you will have failed to follow the path of the Earthly Dragon.”

  Kwan Dang leaned closer. “Feng’er, it has been a central tenet of our sect since its inception that, if you can fully resist the temptation to use your inner power and rely solely on your external kung fu, then eventually you will ascend to a level where you won't need internal strength; where even the most powerful internal energies will not make a dent in you.”

  “But so far,” Wen Dang sighed, “not one of our martial grandmasters has managed to do this. They have shaken the world, to be sure, but they have always fallen back on the gargantuan internal energy of the Five Yin Elementals and the Five Yang Modulations to do so.”

  Jian Dang folded his arms and shook his head regretfully. “Like the Eight Guardians, the Ten Greats have deep internal strength yet the latter place no emphasis on eradicating ego. When necessity dictates, they won't hesitate to use their internal strength to crush an opponent with the coarse hammering of fists and boorish smashing of palms. Our Eight Guardians are no less skilled in kung fu than these greats. But their refusal to use their internal energy means they stand no chance against their brute strength.”

  “But what the Greats are using to defeat their opponents, Feng’er, is not kung fu in the artistic sense,” Wen Dang said. “It is brute force. And we remain steadfast in our belief that even such gargantuan power will fail against pure external kung fu.”

  Kwan Dang looked straight into Bai Feng’s eyes as if he was peering into his soul. “Thus, you face two great tests when you leave us Master Bai.”

  Bai Feng swallowed in anticipation.

  “Firstly, you will need to resist all temptation to use your internal strength when fighting. Feel free to use it to power your non-martial movements but guard against it creeping into your external kung fu.”

  “And secondly?” Bai Feng asked.

  “Secondly, you must practice and develop your external kung fu to the point that it can prevail against anyone; even those who come at you with the inner strength of a grandmaster.”

 
So Bai Feng went back to the training hall and practiced only pure external kung fu. His mind’s natural clarity exceeded the Eight Guardians’ so eventually, the fluidity of his kung fu did too. He fought with the same freedom with which he performed the taolu. He threw punches, palms, elbows, knees, and kicks with no internal force or energy. He soon discovered that he didn't need to. Performing his strikes fluidly and calmly gave them a precision and strength that allowed him to compete with all but the strongest of masters.

  Five years later, after spending a decade in total at Earthly Mountain, the Earthly Three summoned the then twenty-one year old Bai Feng to the temple and told him that whenever he would like to rejoin the outside world, he was ready for it. He would be the first disciple to progress to the sect’s third stage of learning without serving any time as a Guardian. Once that sunk in, they informed him, for the first time, about Wong Shi Hong. They told him the Majestic Wanderer had tread in the same footsteps years earlier and, like Bai Feng will be, the old vagabond was severely tested while attempting to put the Earthly Dragon Style into practice. Eventually, he forsook the Style completely in favour of his 100 Fists of Majestic Oak, a style that actively harnesses the immense strength his internal training had given him.

  Wen Dang looked at the young man who they had helped raise over the last decade with a softness not typical to his piercing eyes. “Remember Feng’er; the Five Yin Elementals and the Five Yang Modulations free your mind so comprehensively they inadvertently provide a miraculous basis for the cultivation of internal strength. Your mind is a natural bedrock for this internal strength—far more than we ever expected. Up until now, we have warned you not to fall back on that immense power lest your external kung fu be smothered.