How to approach Basic Methods (Ji Ben Gong) and Token Training in Kwan Ying Dao

When Kwan Ying Dao was created by Feeman Ong he organized the art in soft and hard styles, northern and southern shaolin. It’s for this reason the practice of Kwan Ying Dao emphasizes training in all 4 for natural balance to counteract the extremes of each frame of thought (Too soft =toothless tiger, Too hard =brittle body + fragile mind, Northern Kicks, Southern Fists). Since Feeman Ong was a devout Buddhist and Taoist our art naturally flows from both of these methods. The Buddhist’s focus on bringing one’s self to live the 8 fold path (Yang hard style) brings balance to the Taoist’s focus on living in complete naturalness to derive their (Yin soft style) ideals. Traditionally students would practice both methods simultaneously through learning soft and hard practices at different times throughout the week with certain basics as a foundation for both.

In both of these categories we have meditation, qigong, 2 person drills, push hands/step sparring or slow sparring, moving step push hands/shuai jiao/ wrestling, and live sparring.

In time soft style and hard style meet at the precipice in the center. Giving the practitioner innate awareness and ability that unfolds naturally to protect oneself from harm in every sense, through shifts in habits, mindset, lifestyle and martial practice. The basic training in each system is similar, although in the beginning each ‘style’s’ approach can seem quite opposite. Soft style’s approach starts slowly using awareness with minimal tension whereas hard style’s approach starts with rigorous training coming to stack maximal tension onto various alignments. Naturally this leads to certain pros and cons depending on the person's yin/yang balance and/or desires of what they want from training. Soft style tends to be more yin predominate whereas hard style is more yang predominate. Since we are drawn to our similar nature, it makes sense that naturally people will lean toward their similar qi, yin to yin + yang to yang. Although it is important to note, health and balance comes from balancing oneself with the opposite of what they naturally have more of. Our opposite qi will always feel uncomfortable, therefore as the Chinese saying goes: In order to taste sweet one must be willing to eat bitter.

7 Methods of Training in Soft Style and Hard Style:

​1. SOFT STYLE: Laying, seated, and standing meditation
HARD STYLE: Temple + Ko stances for strengthening and meditation

2. SOFT STYLE: Nei gong for medical purposes, internal power development and Chi Kung (Taoist exercises) for healing
HARD STYLE: Chi kung (Buddhist exercise) for strengthening and conditioning In the hard style these are simply called “basics”

3. SOFT STYLE: Forms to train functional relaxation and movement principles
HARD STYLE: Forms in hard style are called “tokens” or “dao chuan”. These are practiced for a variety of reasons, as I’ll elaborate below…

4. SOFT STYLE: Partner drills for principle building and training specific form applications
HARD STYLE: 2 person drills to train timing pieces of tokens and coordinating proper application of techniques.

5. SOFT STYLE: Push hands HARD STYLE: Step sparring/ slow sparring

6. SOFT STYLE: Moving step push hands + interpersonal and situational awareness to deter and avoid conflict HARD STYLE: Shuai Jiao- literally means leg taking (wrestling/throwing)

7. SOFT STYLE: Practice and healing in order to help others apply the art, HARD STYLE: sparring of various types.

Soft style tends to have a strong wudang/ Taoist influence whereas hard style tends to have a strong shaolin/ Buddhist influence. Soft and hard styles have 5 animals with different connotations and attributes that are meant by each animal.

5 Animals

Taoist/ Wudang 5 animals: (there are actually 12)
Tiger- Moving and Stretching
Bear- Thinking and inquiring
Monkey- Gripping and supporting
Deer- Legs crouching and running
Bird- Arms flying and swimming

Shaolin 5 animals:
Tiger- Strength and muscles, long power
Leopard- Speed
Crane- Balance
Dragon- Alertness, lizard darting eyes,
Snake- Coiling, Endurance + low, long, spinal breathing

Tokens- Token is Cantonese for “set or way of fists”. In the mandarin dialect it would be pronounced dao chuan. Master Ong used to teach that within Kwan Ying Dao there is enough material to accomplish the attributes, power and coordination that forms the foundation of all the myriad styles of kung fu. For this reason and to this effect it’s more important to emphasize the basics. We should seek quality in consistent dedicated practice over quantity. To reiterate this point he recommends that students focus on perfecting 5 tokens very well, whereas all the others should be kept up with to always have room to grow.

Our tokens come from a variety of places. Many tokens in our system are a distillation of a particular style and/or the main form within a style that holds all foundational attributes of that particular system, bung bo is an example from praying mantis. Some forms are more combative focused, some for strength building, and every form is meant to build certain attributes or abilities. Master Ong used to say that he "enjoyed learning other arts for their strategy not necessarily for their power development because within our system we have all we need for this."

To put it simply, tokens are a method to help with remembering the vast amount of material within our system and to train us to link various things together for different applications. In Kwan Ying Dao there are far more basic techniques than there are tokens. This is partly because each “basic” is meant to establish a certain attribute in your body that prepares you for the movements of the form, which in turn help to prepare you to live a healthier life and to protect yourself from harm in every sense.

Basics- Basics help you develop a certain attribute and a way to move that sets the foundation for more difficult applications later on. We call these basics because they are skill sets that you need to progress in this art and any skill. The longer you train in the art the more one basic will compound into and onto another. The other reason there are more basics than tokens is because many tokens hold at least one (more often than not several) basics and other chi kung strengthening exercises within its full set of movements.

How to put a critical eye and mine riches from token form work...

When training in Kwan Ying Dao and other Southern Shaolin Martial Arts ask yourself the following questions when examining and trying to understand the token you are practicing:

1. What is this specific movement?
   Does it train a certain type of coordinated attribute?
   Is it straight or circular?
   How does it affect the spine?
   Is it to open a certain meridian?
   Is it to benefit the shoulders or hips?
   Is it to strengthen or make a certain dan tien or jiao more open?
   How does it sequence through the body?
   How does it link the body?
   Does it develop the legs for a certain movement?
   How can the footwork be coordinated for offense or defense?
   How can it be used?
   Is it a Chi Kung type of technique?
   How does that complement the rest of the form?
   If so, what are those points generally used for?
   Are there any acupuncture points that it correlates with or coincides with?
   Where should the intention be placed, and for what purpose?
   Is it soft or hard?
   If so, what strengthening attribute does it build?
   Is it a self defense technique? 
   If so, how can it be applied at various joints? 
   More importantly how can these things be set up, lead into and/or out to a more effective position, submission, knockout, combination or disconnect to get away?
   How can these things be set up, flowed into and drilled to be effective in a live environment on a resisting opponent?
   How can it be a joint lock/ na?
   How can it be a throw/ shuai?
   How can it be a kick/Ti or strike/ Da?
   If it is a leg technique how can it apply at the foot, ankle, knee or hip?
   If it is an arm technique how can it apply at the hand, elbow, shoulder, neck, head/face?
2. What does the name of this form mean?
   Is it connected to another style of kung fu?
   If so, what are the characteristics of that style? What are the basics that give them their main attributes? (as an example Hok ken is a form that has its origins in crane styles, crane basics will inform the practice of the form as well as inform and improve the practice of other styles that borrow foundations or started from crane systems such as wing chun. Their basics will also feed back into and help improve the practice of our tokens)
   Does the name have another cultural link, does it have a deeper meaning in the context of the culture it came from?

​Is the form linked to any animals? If so, what are their primary attributes? If there are offshoot systems of kung fu the basics from those systems will lend to a deeper understanding of the animal movements in the form as a whole. Hung Gar Ken means tiger crane fist, their whole system is named after its founder/s preferred animals the tiger crane movements. So naturally in tiger crane movements they will be more efficient and effective in those attributes, similar in Tang Lang Chuan, preying mantis fist, White Crane, etc.

Come learn this and more in class, see you soon.