Secrets of Phoenix Eye Fist Kung Fu. Mark WileyЧитать онлайн книгу.
their completion of Shaolin training that Leow encouraged them to study the fighting instincts and techniques of animals and insects. With this in mind, the Chu sisters then embarked on observing and imitating the fighting actions of the praying mantis, tiger, monkey, and snake. They then incorporated these new skills into the Shaolin art taught to them by Leow. Elements of the praying mantis, tiger, monkey, and snake can be found in varying degrees in the empty-hand forms of this dynamic fighting art.
After perfecting their new fighting art, the Chu sisters presented it to the nun for review and criticism. Leow was so impressed that she formally named the new art “Chuka” from Chu, the sisters’ surname, and ka, meaning “family” in the Hakka dialect. Thus, Chuka refers to the Chu-family style of Chinese martial arts. And while not a Shaolin martial art proper, and actually having developed independent of the temple itself, in deference to the Fukien Shaolin Temple wherein Leow learned her fighting art, the name was carried over. Thus, the complete name of the Chu sisters’ art became Chuka Shaolin.
It was also during this time that the nun envisioned and came to develop the deadly hand-formation resembling the eye of the mythical phoenix. Feeling that this particular fist strike was especially effective for women (i.e., herself and the Chu sisters), Leow incorporated it into the Chu sisters’ new fighting art. As time passed, however, the exponents of Chuka Shaolin began to favor the use of the phoenix-eye fist hand strike. As a result, the art of Chuka Shaolin is now more commonly known as phoenix-eye fist kung-fu.
OOH PING KWANG
After Leow passed away, the Chu sisters embraced her kind disposition and continued to gather herbs, make medicinal compounds, and practice kung-fu. One day while on their way to town, one of the sisters was accidentally struck by mud thrown by a group of boys who were fighting. Upon seeing that a passerby had been struck with the mud, all the boys fled, with the exception of the one who had actually flung the mud. The boy apologized profusely for the accident, stating that he was merely flinging mud in all directions so as to keep the bullies from getting at him.
The boy’s name was Ooh Ping Kwang. He was an orphan who tended the cows and did other chores on his uncle’s farm in exchange for his keep. The sisters were so impressed with the boy’s disposition and honesty that they approached Ooh’s uncle and asked permission to look after the boy. The sympathetic uncle said he would consent only if the sisters agreed to teach his nephew their martial art in an effort to secure a safer future for the frail child. The nuns agreed. Ooh was nine years old at the time.
Over the many years Ooh served the Chu sisters he grew to manhood and became quite skilled as a martial artist and as an herbalist. On the death of the second Chu sister, Ooh, now almost forty, descended from his cave-home and settled in the village, where he married a local girl. Ooh then set about imparting the Chuka art and herbal knowledge to his relatives and trusted friends, never forgetting the Chu sisters, their strict teachings, and their high moral character.
LEE SIONG PHEOW
Lee Siong Pheow (1886-1961) was one of Ooh’s most gifted disciples. He was trained in a more rigorous manner than any of Ooh’s other pupils, serving a long apprenticeship with the master. Lee worked hard during the day, fully occupied with the domestic chores in his master’s household. Every evening and early each morning Ooh directed Lee’s Chuka training. Lee was required to undergo unremitting practice of the various stances and postures, an unnerving and boring practice to be sure, but he persevered. Lee’s only problem was his temper. While he willingly accepted the hard work and the beatings administered by his master, and whatever harsh punishment the master might decree to correct any mistakes made in training, Lee could not accept domination by others.
One day, Lee’s temper got the better of him. He relentlessly beat Master Ooh’s son during training. For this unforgivable act, Master Ooh, using a long hardwood pole, fiercely struck Lee’s fist and foot, crippling the index finger of his right hand and deforming one of his feet for life. While such a severe lesson would surely have discouraged a spiritually weaker man, it only served to make Lee realize that his skill was not yet perfect. He had to train even harder than in the past. In time, Lee’s diligent effort and consistent training elevated him to the highest level of Chuka Shaolin excellence, and it is said that no local fighter could defeat him in one-on-one combat.
In 1930, Lee left Kwangtung and emigrated to Malaysia, where he settled in Penang and earned his living as an herbalist and traditional physician (fig. 1). He followed the strict traditional policies of his Chuka predecessors, especially the rule of choosing students with wisdom and great care. Lee required that each candidate who wished to study under him accept certain conditions. The candidate was to kneel before him holding a cup of Chinese tea in one hand and a small red envelope containing money in the other. By this method, Lee tested the candidate’s humility and sincerity. Many refused to kneel before the master, instead issuing pompous challenges of fighting skill. Lee, a man said to have never refused a challenge, obliged. As in China, Lee was never known to have been defeated in Malaysia. Many, after being defeated and thoroughly embarrassed at the hands of Master Lee, had an immediate change of heart and, in the manner Lee required, asked to be accepted as a student. Once accepted as a pupil, Lee inculcated them with three principles:
• Do not create or seek trouble.
• Do not teach people of unproved character what you have learned.
• Always be humble and respectful to others.
Indeed, a breach of any of these principles meant instant expulsion from the art. Master Lee was said to have never given an offender a second chance.
Master Lee passed away in 1961, at the age of seventy-seven. His most prized pupil was Cheong Cheng Leong, the current grandmaster of the art.
Lee Siong Pheow
CHEONG CHENG LEONG
Cheong Cheng Leong began his study of Chuka Shaolin under the tutelage of Master Lee Siong Pheow in 1951, at the impressionable age of ten (eleven, by the Chinese calendar). Master Lee, who was already in his sixties at this time, was famous in the Air Itam quarter of Pulau Pinang, Malaysia. Someone had told Cheong that there was a master in the town who knew a very special type of fist that was strong and could surely kill anybody, regardless of size and fighting ability. Being a young and impressionable boy who liked to fight, Cheong approached the master, determined to learn his art (fig. 2). At that time, Lee taught only Chinese of Cantonese or Hakka status, no Hokkien. Fortunately for the future of the art, Cheong Cheng Leong was a member of the correct social class.
Cheong Cheng Leong
Master Lee was interested in Cheong and his friends because they were so young and impressionable; he believed that he could mold them into respectable and upstanding citizens. When he approached Lee, the master asked Cheong if he was interested in learning Chuka Shaolin to become a better fighter. Cheong answered no, he was not interested in the art for fighting. Master Lee then asked the young Cheong why, if not for fighting, he wished to learn kung-fu. Cheong sat there in silence. Master Lee again asked Cheong if he was sincerely not interested in the art for purposes of fighting. Cheong replied that he was really not interested in such things. With that, Master Lee seemed content and said since Cheong was not interested in fighting, he would accept the boy as a student.
Master Lee still adhered to the ceremony of accepting new pupils, but Cheong was young and forgot all that was expected of him in this regard. He simply stuffed five Malaysian dollars into a red envelope and handed it to the master. At that time, five Malaysian dollars was quite expensive for kung-fu training in Malaysia. After all, one could join any of the other martial arts associations in Penang, like Chin Wu, for only one or two dollars. However, money seemed no object for some, and a few people who could afford it paid Master Lee fifty Malaysian