By Doc Lanning
Realization is a high, individual state of awareness in the Physical, Astral, Causal, Mental and Spiritual worlds. That is why I am so enthusiastic about studying this Tai Chi or Yee Chuen Do.
If you think about how aware Sifu is once he touches someone’s hands, it is amazing. Sifu can roll with one of his students blindfolded. Sifu calls it sensitivity; when he can tell what the opponent is going to do by the touch.
If you roll with Sifu it soon becomes evident that he not only knows what you are doing but he knows what he can do to prevent you from doing what you are trying to accomplish. So, I say that to understand what the opponent is doing by the amount of pressure he is are is not generating on your hand might be sensitivity but to know what to do because of that pressure or lack of pressure is awareness.
All my life I have been interested in Realization and Martial Arts. At one time I thought they were just parallel interest never to converge.
I was studying Karate then and it was teaching me to clash; to block the attack and reply with a better attack. I received my black belt in Karate in 1983 under Master Takayuki Mikami.
Then in the 90’s I learned to love the serenity of the relaxed and contemplative study of Aikido. The word Aikido means “the way to harmonize the Ki” or Chi in Chinese. It taught me not to clash but to use the opponent’s force against him. I received my black belt in Aikido in 2000 under Sense Yoshimitsu Yamada.
In 2009 after returning from my second deployment to Iraq and retiring altogether from the military I was studying Aikido in New Orleans. I remember contemplating the statement; “When the student is ready the Master will appear”. This statement played a big roll in my life almost 40 years pryer when I stepped on the Spiritual Path that I am blessed to practice today; ECKANKAR “The Path of Spiritual Freedom”. Shortly after that, I was taking “Yee Chuen Do” with Sifu Tommy and hardly believing what I was hearing.
The Master had appeared and I was at his knee. He explained to us that we didn’t have to exchange blows in a fight. That it is as simple as you stick and hit. In other words, if you know how to stick to the opponent you will be sticking while he is trying to hit you. Then you will strategically hit him.
Meaning you just don’t hit, hit, hit but you let him fight the wrong hand put him in the wrong position, or give him the wrong angle. You learn to be aware enough to hit in-between his impulses and to stick when he is impulsing.
Sifu tells us that if we let him take us through the stage training he can take us to the Divine Level. There are 5 levels of stage training and you have to get through the fifth stage to understand the divine level. I can tell you that after one realizes themselves as soul they are well established on the fifth plane, the soul plane, the Atman Lok.
So by practicing this wonderful, ancient, classical art, we are building awareness toward the Divine Level. The Tao, or Do, or Way, in my estimation, is the Holy Spirit, the Eck and once one makes a good connection with the Holy Spirit he has made it to the Divine Spiritual level. Legend has it that Chang San-Feng; thought to be a Taoist Monk, is the founder of Tai Chi. I find it quite fitting that a Taoist who was building awareness enough to become one with the Holy Spirit is given credit for such a magnificent Martial Art.
It is only logical that building awareness toward the Divine is the Way.