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Questions and Answers

Questions on Hua To Five Animal Play

Question 1

Hua Tuo was a very advanced physician for his times but before he was executed, as the legend says, he burned all his books and not much knowledge of his treatments was left. I wonder how his Five Animal Play could survive. However I am happy it did.

While the different movements were classified into five categories of Yin Organs (Liver, Heart, Lung, Spleen, Kidney), why did he not mention the Yang organs (Gallbladder, Small Intestine, Large Intestine, Stomach, Urinary Bladder)? For Example: someone has a Gallbladder blockage (presenting as Endometriosis), what will bring more benefits the Deer (Liver) or the Bear (Kidney)?

— Sifu Anton, Germany

Hua Tuo is honoured as a Sage of Chinese Medicine. He successfully performed surgical operations on the brain when bloodletting was the main and often only medical treatment in Europe.

He resigned as an imperial physician despite its glory and wealth so as to serve the common people. But when Cao Cao, the Lord of Wei, was sick, he volunteered to help him. He suggested brain surgery to overcome Cao Cao’s neurological disorders, but thinking he was employed by a rival lord to kill him, Cao Cao imprisoned him.

According to a legend, when he was in prison, his illiterate wife burned all his medical texts. When a prison warden arrived at the house, he could only save text on the inoculation of chickens!

I don’t know how true was the legend, but even if it were true, Hua Tuo’s medical teachings had been transmitted to his students even when all his medical texts, except the inoculation of chickens, were burned. The Five-Animal Play could have survived in this way.

There are two schools of thought regarding the techniques of the Five-Animal Play. According to one school, which was the orthodox until the emergence of the second school in fairly recent time, Hua Tuo observed the movements of the bird, the deer, the monkey, the tiger, and the bear, and used these movements as techniques for his Five-Animal Play.

In another school, which gained more notice and importance from archaeological research, Hua Tuo taught various chi kung exercises, and his patients moved in various ways which can be classified into five characteristic groups named after the bird, the deer, the monkey, the tiger and the bear.

Chinese doctors discovered that these five animals, which were different from the five animals in Shaolin Kungfu, related to various organs. The bird related to the heart, the deer to the liver, the monkey to the spleen, the tiger to the lungs, and the bear to the kidneys.

Only the yin organs, namely liver, heart, lungs, spleen and kidneys, are mentioned in the Five-Animal Play because the yang organs, namely gall bladder, small intestine, colon, stomach and urinary bladder respectively, are counterparts or external manifestations of the yin organs. In other words, the gall bladder is the counterpart of the liver, and the small intestine is the counterpart of the heart. By attending to one, a Chinese physician can also reach the other. If a patient has a heart problem, for example, a physician may cure him by treating the small intestine.

Presuming all other things being equal, when a patient has a blockage at a yang organ it can be overcome by treating its corresponding yin organ rather than another yin organ, and vice versa. For example, if a patient has a gall bladder blockage, prescribing chi kung exercises that correspond to the deer, which relates to the liver, which in turn is the counterpart of the gall bladder, is more beneficial than prescribing exercises that correspond to the bear.

But other things are not equal. If the gall bladder blockage is caused by insufficient energy in the kidneys, in other words the gall bladder blockage is a symptom but the cause is insufficient energy at the kidneys, then prescribing exercises that correspond to the bear, which relates to the kidneys, will be more beneficial.

On the other hand, even when the cause is insufficient energy at the kidneys, but the symptom has become serious, like the resultant blockage at the gall bladder threatens life, the physician should remove the symptom first by prescribing exercises that correspond to the deer, which relates to the liver, which in turn is the counterpart of the gall bladder.

This is the concept of branch and root, which represent symptom and cause. Normally the physician removes the root cause, but if the symptom has become life threatening, he should remove the branch first.

How does a Chinese physician know all these intricate situations? He discovers them by a thorough diagnosis. Diagnosis is very important in Chinese medicine. If the diagnosis is correct, recovery is a matter of course.

Thus, after a thorough diagnosis, a Chinese physician employing the first school of thought of Five-Animal Play, will prescribe the appropriate exercises to overcome the illness. If the patient’s illness is caused by a blockage of the gall bladder meridian, the physician would prescribe exercises that resembles the movements of a deer. If the cause is insufficient energy at the kidneys resulting with gall bladder blockage as symptom, he would prescribe exercises resembling the movements of a bear.

However, if the symptom is life threatening although the cause is at the kidneys, he will prescribe exercises resembling the movements of a deer. When the life-threatening symptom has been removed, he will prescribe exercises resembling the movements of a bear to treat the root cause.

Nevertheless, and this may appear ridiculous to those not familiar with its underlying philosophy, for those who follow the second school of thought in the Five-Animal Play, diagnosis is not necessary. This is also the philosophy and practice we employ in our chi kung healing.

If the cause of a patient’s illness is gall bladder blockage, irrespective of what chi kung exercises the Chinese physician may prescribe, including exercises that resemble the movements of a bear, the resulting chi flow movements of the patient will resemble those of a deer. If the cause of the illness is insufficient energy at the kidneys although this is manifested as gall bladder blockage as a symptom, irrespective of what exercises are prescribed, the patient’s chi flow movements will resemble the movements of a bear.

If the symptom manifested as gall bladder blockage is life-threatening although the cause is at the kidneys, irrespective of what exercises are prescribed, the patient’s chi flow movements will resemble those of a deer.

Why do the movements resemble those of a deer and not those of a bear when the root cause is at the kidneys. It is because chi will always flow where it is needed most urgently. In the case of this patient, his most urgent need is to remove the life-threatening symptom at the gall bladder.

Chi kung healing is most simple and profound. It does not matter what the illness is, what causes the illness, and what symptoms are manifested. When there is sufficient chi flow, in quantity as well as time, his illness will be overcome. It is not necessary but if a physician wishes to know for the sake of his curiosity, he may have a idea of the illness by observing the patient’s chi flow movements.

Question 2

In your outstanding book "The Complete Book of Chinese Medicine", you share Liang Shi Feng’s instructions to the Five Animal Play which consists of pressing two major energy points and extensive visualization. Will the Five Animal Play you are going to teach be a crystallization and easier to perform, as usual?

Besides the obvious technical difference, is there a difference in the outcome between Five Animal Play induced by visualization and practicing a set of 3 exercises like we do to induce self-manifested chi-movement?

What diagnostic findings can a chi kung healer draw from observing a student’s chi flow movements. Should he prescribe exercises focusing on the specific organ manifested in the spontaneous movements afterwards?

— Sifu Leo, Austria

Yes, the Five-Animal Play I shall teach will be a crystallization of the two main approaches of the Five-Animal Play that are usually taught and are still a heated topic in debate.

In the past, people thought that Hua Tuo observed the movements of the bird, the deer, the monkey, the tiger and the bear, and taught these movements to students or patients. This is the main approach of teaching Five-Animal Play today.

I have a few books on Five-animal Play, and all of them adopt this approach. However, I found that the patterns looked quite alike. Patterns showing bird movements, for example, are not very different from patterns showing deer movement.

I recalled a similar scenario in patterns showing different animal forms in the Shaolin Five Animals of Shaolin Kungfu. Patterns showing dragon movements, for example, are not very different from patterns showing snake movements. Later I discovered that it was the inner spirit, and not the outward forms, that are important. In other words, although the outward forms of the dragon and the snake are alike, their inner spirit is different. The dragon spirit trains mind whereas the snake spirit trains energy.

Recent archaeological discoveries in China gave a different approach to the Five-Animal Play. The discoveries suggested that the different animal forms referred not to the exercises Hua Tuo taught patients or students, but to the chi flow movements as a result of performing the exercises. Hua Tuo might teach the same exercise to a group of patients, but depending on their body constituents due to their illness, the resultant chi flow movements were different.

There were countless different movements, but all of them could be generalized into five representative types, symbolized by the bird, the deer, the monkey, the tiger and the bear. This is the approach we use in our school.

Yes, the Five-Animal Play I am going to teach will be a crystallization of these two approaches. I intend to choose, or devise if appropriate exercise are not ready available, exercises that resemble movements of the five animals. These exercises have not been taught in our school before.

As a result of performing these exercises, course participants will have a chi flow. We shall examine what categories of the five animals we can classify these chi flow movements, and examine whether these resultant chi flow movements have any relationship with any disease the participants may have, and with the type of exercises they performed. Not only it will be fun, it will also add to the body of knowledge concerning the Five-Animal Play. The course may create history.

Yes, there should be a difference in the outcome between the Five-Animal Play induced by visualization and a set of three exercises we use to induce self-manifested chi movement. This is because the mind, operated by visualization, is the most important factor influencing the type of chi flow. We shall assess this relationship between the mind and the chi flow movements in the coming Five-animal Play course.

There should also be a difference in the chi flow between using exercises that imitate movements of certain animals and using general exercises without any reference to the animals. This is because the type of exercises we perform also influences the type of resultant chi flow. Again we shall access this relationship during the coming course.

A skillful healer can have a good idea of a student’s health problems by observing the student’s chi flow. This is because chi issuing from different organs and meridian will result in characteristic chi flow movements.

For example, chi from the heart, the intestines, the heart meridian and the intestine meridian will manifest movements resembling those of a bird. Chi from the liver, the gall bladder, the liver meridian and the gall bladder meridian will manifest movements resembling those of a deer. Chi from the spleen, the stomach, the spleen meridian and the stomach meridian will manifest movements resembling those of a monkey.

Chi from the lungs, the colon, the lung meridian and the colon meridian will manifest movements resembling those of a tiger. Chi from the kidneys, the urinary bladder, the kidney meridian and the urinary bladder meridian will manifest movements resembling those of a bear.

Hence, by observing a patient’s chi flow movements, a skillful healer can know what organs or meridians are affected, and therefore what illness is involved. For example, if a patient moves like a bird, but does not have its vibrancy or liveliness, the healer may suspect that the patient’s heart, small intestines, heart meridian or small intestine meridian is involved.

The healer may prescribe exercises focusing on the patient’s respective organs and meridians. In this example, he may focus on the patient’s heart, small intestines, heart meridian and small intestine meridian. But he must not neglect other possibilities, like the symptoms may be manifested in these organs and meridians, but the root cause may be somewhere else. He must also be on guard that his judgment may be wrong.

These setbacks are not present in our chi kung healing. In our situation, once we help a patient generate a chi flow, the chi will automatically flow to where it is needed most urgently. We do not even have to make a diagnosis; we just have to get the patient have a chi flow. This may sound ridiculous, but it is true. We have used this philosophy to help countless patients overcome so-called incurable diseases.

Question 3

Kung Fu masters, martial art experts and generals who retired went to the Shaolin Temple for cultivation and due to their martial arts background they modified the 18 Lohan Hands to their needs which evolved into the 18 Lohan Art. Later it evolved into Lohan Kung Fu.

You mentioned that it was believed that the Monkey Kung Fu originated from the Five-Animals Play. How in your opinion did or could that happen?

Could it be a similar development like the 18 Lohan Hands where some masters with martial arts background and knowledge and experience of the Five-Animal Play modify the movements for their needs in combat?

The 12 Sinew Metamorphosis exercises, if I am correct, generate energy flow especially along the 12 primary meridians. In this sense, each exercise would correlate with a specific meridian.

Could you please elaborate the connection between the five major organs and meridians in relation to the Five-Animal Play?

— Sifu Roland, Switzerland

The 18_Lohan Art and the 18-Lohan Fist, or 18-Lohan Kungfu, evolved from the 18-Lohan Hands independently. I believe the 18-Lohan Kungfu evolved from the 18 Lohan Hands first, before the 18-Lohan Art also evolved from the 18 Lohan Hands.

The 18 Lohan Hands continued to be practiced in the Shaolin Temple after the 18-Lohan Kungfu was evolved. In other words, both the 18 Lohan Hands and the 18-Lohan Kungfu were practiced at the Shaolin Temple side by side.

Later the 18-Lohan Art evolved from the 18 Lohan Hands. So at this time all the three arts - 18 Lohan Hands, 18-Lohan Kungfu, and 18-Lohan Art - were practiced at the Shaolin Temple at the same time.

The 18 Lohan Hands were the most popular. All Shaolin monks practiced the 18 Lohan Hands. Next in popularity was the 18-Lohan Kungfu. All kungfu monks at the Shaolin Temple practiced the 18-Lohan Kungfu. Some monks at the Shaolin Temple were not kungfu monks. The 18-Lohan Art was secretive. It was available only to selected kungfu disciples.

There were many styles of Monkey Kungfu. A few Monkey styles developed from the monkey movements of the Five-Animal Play, but other Monkey styles developed from other sources.

This could happen when some kungfu masters were sick or injured, they practice the Five-Animal Play to overcome their sickness or injury. When they had recovered they incorporated these monkey movements into their kungfu as they found them effective for combat. Eventually these monkey movements evolved into Monkey styles. Yes, it was quite similar to the development of 18-Lohan Kungfu from the 18 Lohan Hands.

It is worthwhile to mention that using chi flow to overcome sickness and injury is, and was, elite. Even masters do not, and did not, know how to do so. When they are sick or injured, they have to take medication, like herbs. In the past, if they were lucky, they might have practiced Five-Animal Play from chi kung healers (who were rare) to overcome their sickness or injury.

From what I have read, chi kung healing in the past was unlike chi kung healing we practice in our school today. Chi kung healing in the past was thematic, and operated mainly at a physical level. A chi kung healer would prescribed specific chi kung exercises for specific diseases, and patients would have to practice for quite some time before they could experience chi flow. It was infrequent that such chi kung healing could overcome so-called incurable diseases.

Our chi kung healing is holistic and operates at the mind level. In fact, our chi kung healing is so powerful that often our chi kung healers have to lower the level of chi flow so that patients would not over-train. Our chi kung healing can overcome any diseases, including so-called incurable diseases, and our success rate is very high. In the recent Chi Kung Healing Course in Kuala Lumpur (March 2014), Dr Foong Tuck Meng told the class that the success rate, including with patients whose doctors had told them that they would die, was 100%!

Understandably, other people would think we are boastful, but I am just stating the truth. This results in two important points for us. One, we, especially those who have undergone training in our chi kung healing, are in a very privileged position to help people recover from so-called incurable diseases. I am quite certain that in the future our chi kung healing would be the norm in medicine. Two, at present we must accept the fact that most people, including conventional doctors and those who suffered from so-called incurable diseases, do not believe in our ability.

The 12 Sinew Metamorphosis exercises may not necessarily generate energy flow along the 12 primary meridians. It was recorded that the Sinew Metamorphosis exercises as well as the 18 Lohan Hands flow at four levels; the level of the skin, the level of the flesh, the level of the bones, and the level of the bone marrow. In other words, when Shaolin monks practiced exercises from the 18 Lohan Hands and Sinew Metamorphosis, their energy would first flow along the skin, then along the flesh and bone and finally along the none marrow.

This would give the Shaolin monks good health physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually so that they could more effectively practiced sitting meditation to attain Enlightenment. When chi flowed along the none marrow, it generated a lot of internal force which was necessary for the monks to break through their illusionary physical body to merge with Cosmic Reality.

These effects of chi flow were collectively described as bone marrow cleansing. There has been a long debate, still extant today, whether Bodhidharma taught bone marrow cleansing. The debate occurred because the people involved did not differentiate between techniques and skills.

People believed that Bodhidharma taught the 18 Lohan Hands and Sinew Metamorphosis because the techniques of these two arts are clearly described. But there was no descriptions of the techniques for Bone Marrow Cleansing. In other words, these people did not know what Bone Marrow Cleansing techniques Bodhidharma taught.

When we understand the difference between skills and techniques, and that Bone Marrow Cleansing referred to skills and not techniques, we would know that there were no specific Bone Marrow Cleansing techniques because any techniques, when performed correctly and sufficiently, could produce the results of chi flowing at the skin, flesh, bone and bone marrow levels.

The Bone Marrow Cleansing taught in our school is different from the Bone Marrow Cleansing taught in the Shaolin Temple. In our school there are 5 levels of chi flow, namely along the skin, the flesh, the meridians, the internal organs and the bone marrow. At the Shaolin Temple, there were 4 levels of chi flow, namely at the skin, the flesh, the bones and the bone marrow.

Why do I teach 5 levels of chi flow? It is because it was recorded in chi kung classics that chi would flow at these five levels. Some students may ask, which is correct: chi flowing at 4 levels or at 5 levels? Both are correct. It is a matter of choice. In principle it is like asking which is correct, driving on the right side of the road as in continental Europe, or on the left side of the road as in the United Kingdom, though many continental Europeans would call it the wrong side of the road. Both sides are correct. It is a matter of choice.

But in the case of the Five-Animal Play, why are there 5 animals, and not 4, 6 or any other number? Is it also a matter of choice?

No, here it is not a matter of choice. There are 5 animals because they represent 5 characteristic types of chi flow movements. Why are there 5 characteristic types and not any other number. It is because these different types of chi flow movements are manifested from five primary organs or their counterparts, and their respective meridians.

In Chinese medical philosophy there are 5 xang or storage organs, namely heart, liver, spleen, lungs and kidneys. These organs are regarded as yin, and their yang counterparts, which are 5 fu or transformational organs are small intestines, gall bladder, stomach, colon and urinary bladder. The pericardium and its yang counterpart, the triple-warmer, are also important organs, and they are grouped in the same category as the heart.

The energy from the five storage organs or its counterparts and their meridians results in characteristic chi flow movements. Energy from the heart, or its counterpart, the small intestines, and their meridians, i.e. the heart meridian and the small intestine meridian, as well as the pericardium, the triple-warmer, the pericardium meridian and the triple-warmer meridian, results in chi flow movements resembling a bird.

Energy from the liver and its counterpart, the gall bladder, and their meridians results in chi flow movements resembling a deer. Energy from the spleen, and its counterpart, the stomach, and their meridians results in chi flow movements resembling a monkey. Energy from the lungs, and their counterpart, the colon, and their meridians results in chi flow movements resembling a tiger. Energy from the kidneys, and their counterpart, the urinary bladder, and their meridians results in chi flow movements resembling a bear.

Some people may ask why energy from the heart results in chi flow movements resembling a bird and not something else. It is the way of things. In principle it is like asking why a person with a viral infection has a fever. It is the way of things. Western doctors discovered that when a person had a viral infection, he had a fever. Chinese doctors discovered that energy from the heart resulted in chi flow movements resembling a bird.

Question 4

Is there any relation between the "5-Animal Play Chi Kung" and our "Chi Flow"? If so, in which way the 5-Animal Play has contributed to the Chi Kung that is practiced in our School?

— Santiago

As in many chi kung questions, depending on our point of reference, the answer can be "yes" or "no". Further, the answer will also depend on what we mean my "chi flow".

If our point of reference is historical, and by chi flow we mean what the term literally describes, there is no relation between Five-Animal Play and our Shaolin Cosmos Chi Kung which, of course, generates a chi flow.

Five-Animal Play was invented by the great physician, Hua Tuo, who lived in the 2nd century. It was classified as medical chi kung. Shaolin Cosmos Chi Kung developed in the Shaolin Temple, which was established in the 6th century, about 400 years later, and it was classified as martial art chi kung. There is, therefore, no relation in the historical development of our chi kung, which has chi flow, and Five-Animal Play.

Medical chi kung was regarded as "soft", and was mainly employed for overcoming pain and illness. Interestingly, soft medical chi kung, like the Five-Animal Play, was generally described as external art, or wai gong. Martial art chi kung was regarded as "hard", and was mainly employed for enhancing combat efficiency. Hard martial art chi kung, like Sinew Metamorphosis, was generally described as internal art, or nei gong.

Hence, from the perspective of their nature, characteristic and function, there is no relation between our chi kung, which has chi flow, and Five-animal Play. Our chi kung, Shaolin Cosmos Chi Kung, is hard, internal and martial. Five-Animal Play is soft, external and medical. They have opposite features.

However, if we look at the historical development as well as the nature, characteristic and function not of Shaolin Cosmos Chi Kung as a whole, but at the chi kung practiced in our school, which is still called Shaolin Cosmos Chi Kung, we can answer yes, there is a relation between the Five-Animal Play and our chi flow.

Initially, external chi flow movements in our school were little, if at all. Much of the chi kung I originally taught in our school came from Sifu Ho Fatt Nam. My sifu, Sifu Ho Fatt Nam, did not encourage vigorous chi flow movements. Sometimes, there were some slight external chi flow movements, which were poetically described as "Flowing Breeze Swaying Willows".

But undoubtedly there were a lot of internal chi flow movements. I could clearly feel internal chi flow when practicing One-Finger Shooting Zen and Small Universe. Even in external exercise like Thirty Punches, I could feel a lot of internal chi flow. But we did not call it chi flow, we called it internal force.

Chi flow, in the sense of self-manifested chi movement, became obvious when I started teaching chi kung to the public. In my early chi kung classes in Penang in the 1980s, for example, students moved about in vigorous external chi flow movements. A student, called Percy, hopped for about 15 minutes like a kangaroo. Soon he told me that his arthritis, or rheumatism as I cannot remember exactly, was overcome. Another student, whose name I cannot remember, suddenly put his hands onto his head with fingers pointed like antlers and ran about like a deer. In later classes, students wriggled about like snakes, and jumped about like monkeys.

These external chi flow movements developed independently before I read about Five-Animal Play. At that time I had no idea chi flow was the ingredient that overcame pain and illness. Like most chi kung masters, I thought my students overcame their illness because of the chi kung exercises I taught them.

Around this time there was talk about self-manifested chi movement from China. A world famous chi kung master, Sifu Yan Xin from China, transmitted chi to hundreds of students by merely talking in lectures, with the result that the audience went into self-manifested chi flow movement, and later recovered from various diseases. I could relate this self-manifested chi movement to the external chi flow movement of my students in my early chi kung classes.

Then I read more about Five-Animal Play and came to a conclusion that what was called Five-Animal Play in the past was called self-manifested chi movement in the present. Years ago, I had read about Five-Animal Play by Hua Tuo, but at that time I thought Hua Tuo imitated the movements of five different animals and taught the animal movements to his patients. The concept of Five-Animal Play from what I read was low level chi kung at a physical level.

Five-Animal Play and self-manifested chi movement were given a boost in my teaching when a chi kung master from Alor Star worked for Advanced Service in Sungai Petani founded by me and two other partners. He taught Soaring Crane Chi Kung which led to self-manifested chi movement. Later this master betrayed me and left, but vigorous external chi flow movement became increasingly important in my teaching. The emphasis of my chi kung teaching also gradually changed from enhancing martial arts to overcoming illness and contributing to good health, vitality and longevity.

At first I called these vigorous external chi flow movements induced chi flow. But when Douglas, my most senior student in the West, commented that other types of our chi kung, like Eighteen Lohan Hands and One-finger Shooting Zen, also induced chi flow, I changed the term to self-manifested chi movement.

Hence, it can be seen that Five-Animal Play has played a vital role in the development of our chi kung, including our concept and practice of chi flow. In the process, it has contributed greatly to both the philosophy and practice of our chi kung training, including in our various kungfu styles.

At the beginning our chi kung was hard and martial, and we called our chi flow internal force. With the influence of Five-Animal Play and its modern equivalent of self-manifested chi movement, while maintaining its hard and martial features, our chi kung has become more flowing, even in our kungfu training, to the extent that some people wonder why our Shaolin Kungfu is not hard and external.

We also have gradually shifted our emphasis from combat efficiency to first overcoming illness and maintaining good health, next to vitality and longevity, and eventually to peak performance and spiritual joys.

Our chi flow, much influenced by Five-Animal Play and self-manifested chi movement, has made us ridiculously cost-effective. We can achieve in months what even past masters took years to achieve.

Our development led us to our understanding that it is chi flow, and not the chi kung exercises, that enables practitioners to overcome pain and illness, and to contribute to good health, vitality, longevity, mental freshness and spiritual joys. In kungfu training, we also understand that it is chi flow, not the exercises themselves, that enables us to develop internal force, which in turn maintains life, enhances life and enables us to have better results no matter what we do!

Chi flow has become a hallmark of our school. As Tim Franklin rightly pointed out, people in future would identify our school by our unique characteristic of chi flow. Five-Animal Play has contributed much to these wonderful benefits of the chi kung practiced in our school.

Question 5

What made you decide to teach the Five Animal Play now?

What are the typical movements and sounds of the specific animals?

— Evelyn

Like many other interesting courses, I decided teach the Five-Animal Play because the organizer, Adalia, suggested it to me. She said that the Five-Animal Play was interesting, and many people would be interested in it, and asked me whether I would teach a course on it. I replied that I agreed with what she had suggested, and so the Five-Animal Play would be added to our list of courses, starting in Barcelona in May 2014. Students who liked the Five-Animal Play would have to thank Adalia.

Daniel from Barcelona then asked me whether I would be ready to answer questions on the Five-Animal Play. Again I agreed. So, we have to thank Daniel for our increased understanding of the Five-Animal Play.

This trend is the same with the other interesting courses, which greatly increased our repertoire, making our school a treasure house of important arts in chi kung, kungfu and Zen.

In 2010 Adalia also asked me whether I would teach Bone-Marrow Cleansing. Markus from Finland also asked me independently whether I could conduct a series of courses on the Legacy of Bodhidharma, which included the 18 Lohan Hands, Sinew Metamorphosis and Bone-Marrow Cleansing. He also suggested a course on Iron Wire. I said, "Very good, carry on!" and so these wonderful arts have become a part of our rich repertoire.

In the same year, Roland suggested Praying Mantis Kungfu to be taught in a regional kungfu course in Bern. I chose the Eighteen Collection to be the basic set in the Praying Mantis Course as this set incorporated the best 18 techniques of the time Wang Lang, the inventor of Praying Mantis Kungfu, collected from his friendly sparring with many masters all over China. I also taught the 18-Lohan Art which Northern Shaolin masters employed for their internal force training.

The first introduction of other kungfu styles, besides Taijiquan, into our school which was established to preserve mainly Southern Shaolin, was Tantui, the fundamental of Northern Shaolin in 2007. I can’t remember whether it was Emiko who first proposed it, or it was introduced by myself, seeing that many practitioners in Toronto were Tantui practitioners.

Emiko proposed that I teach Wing Choon. So the first Special Wing Choon Course was held in Penang in 2010.

Robin came up with a brilliant idea of the Drunken Eight Immortals. So we had a Drunken Eight Immortal Course at the UK Summer Camp in 2011 too. Following this brilliant idea, Robin continued to propose Baguazhang and Xingyiquan, to complete the trilogy of the internal arts of Taijiquan, Baguazhang and Xingyiquan. So Baguazhang was conducted at the UK Summer Camp in 2012 and Xingyiquan in 2013.

Andrew proposed Wuzuquan, the one remaining art of my four sifus that I have not taught in our school. For some reason, this course was not held in Switzerland, but I conducted a Special Wuzuquan Course in Penang in 2012.

Innovation is a key factor for growth and success. It is no surprise that our school has successfully grown to be the largest martial art and chi kung school in the world in all history. We have a lot of innovative people.

As its name reveals, there are five animals in the Five-Animal Play. They are the bird, the deer, the monkey, the tiger and the bear. They relate to the heart, the liver, the spleen, the lungs and the kidneys.

The movements of the bird are characterized by opening the heart and moving the arms like flapping of wings. There is no specific sound related to the bird, but the feelings are associated with joyfulness.

The movements of the deer are characterized by running about vigorously and wildly, often with fingers pointed like antlers. There is also no specific sound, but the feelings are associated with excitement.

The movements of the monkey are characterized by making faces and arms dropping down, sometimes moving about with bent legs or on all four. Sounds like "chi" and "ho" are sometimes heard. The feelings are associated with curiosity.

The movements of the tiger are characterized by fierce looks and angry eyes, with the chest pointing forward. The hands are sometimes held in claws. "Ah" and "Ya" sounds are common. The feelings are associated with anger.

The movements of the bear are characterized by upright posture with eyes rounded, sometimes with palms bent at right angle to the arms. There is no specific sound. The feelings are associated with righteousness.

Question 6

If all things are equal, how does Shaolin Wahnam Self Manifested Chi Flow induced by combining 3 dynamic patterns (i.e. Lifting the Sky, Push Mountain, Carry the Moon as taught in Intensive Chi Kung Courses ) compare to 5-Animal Play in efficacy to cure illnesses?

— Dr Damian

At the risk of being branded egotistic or boastful, I would say with conviction and confidence, and backed by empirical evidence, that our Shaolin Wahnam Self-Manifest Chi Movement induced by combining 3 dynamic patterns, like Lifting the Sky, Pushing Mountain, and Carrying the Moon, is more effective than the traditional Five-Animal Play in overcoming illness, including so-called incurable diseases and health problems that are considered impossible by the general public. If the Five-Animal Play were better, I would certainly have used it instead of our Self-Manifested Chi Movement in chi kung healing.

From what I have read, the Five-Animal Play was generally chi kung at a form level, which is the lowest level of operating chi kung. Five-Animal Play practitioners have to perform chi kung exercises many times, between 30 to 50 times, before there is some slight chi flow.

We operate at the mind level. We need to perform an exercise about 10 to 15 times, and our chi flow is very vigorous. Our advanced practitioners can perform an exercise just 3 to 5 times to have a vigorous chi flow.

Chi kung can operate at three progressive levels, namely form, energy and mind. As a rough guide, the proportion of chi flow due to operating chi kung at the form, energy and mind levels is about 1, 3 and 6. In other words, our Self-Manifested Chi Flow is 10 times, not 6 times, more powerful than Five-Animal Play.

Why is it 10 times and not 6 times? It is because our Self-Manifested Chi Movement operates at all the physical, energy and mind levels, whereas the Five-Animal Play operates only at the form level.

Some students have a misconception that operating at the mind level means the use of visualization. No, this isn’t correct. Operating at the mind level means operating in a chi kung state of mind. Often there is no visualization involved, although in some types of chi kung, like Bone Marrow Cleansing, visualization is needed. Visualization here is not intellectualization; it is performed intuitively.

As entering into a chi kung state of mind is an essential requirement for performing chi kung, otherwise it would just be gentle exercise using chi kung patterns, don’t Five-Animal Play practitioners enter into a chi kung state of mind too? Yes, they do, otherwise they would be doing gentle exercise instead of chi kung, but this occurs only infrequently. Most of the time they would be perform chi kung form as gentle physical exercise, but once a while they would become so involved in their performance that they enter into a chi kung state of mind without their realizing. Only on such infrequent occasions, which may happen once awhile, that they practice chi kung, on other days they practice gentle physical exercise.

Indeed, the great majority of chi kung practitioners, including masters, are in this situation, except that for masters being in a chi kung state of mind happened more frequently than ordinary practitioners. This is a main reason why masters take a many years to attain what we can attain in a few months. This is also a main reason why the chi kung level of most other practitioners is at a relatively low level even when they may have practiced from a long time.

In our case we purposely enter into a chi kung state of mind every time we practice chi kung. Moreover, because we understand the underlying philosophy, we enter into a deeper level of mind that other practitioners. The deeper the mind level, the more powerful will be the result.

When I first practiced chi kung, I also operated at the form level like what most practitioners do. But over the years, especially when I taught as many as over a hundred classes a year whereas other master taught only two or three, I had good opportunities to reflect on the underlying philosophy of chi kung training and improve my teaching methodology. I gradually moved from operating at the form level to operating at the mind level.

In other words, when I first taught 18 Lohan Hands about 30 years ago, my own chi kung attainment as well as that of my early students were at the form level, which was similar to that of Five-Animal Play. But now my own chi kung attainment as well as that of our students are at the mind level which makes our Self-Manifested Chi Movement induced from combining 3 dynamic patterns more effective than Five-Animal Play in overcoming pain and illness.

There are two dimensions of our effectiveness over Five-Animal Play. The traditional approach of Five-Animal Play was thematic. A healer prescribed specific techniques to patients according to the types of illness they suffered from. Our Self-Manifested Chi Movement is holistic. It does not matter what types of illness patients suffer from. If they have sufficient chi flow in amount and time, they will recover from their illness.

Secondly, our more powerful chi flow results in more powerful healing effects. As the chi flow of Five-Animal Play is not as powerful as ours, its healing effects are less, and may not be powerful enough to help patients overcome drastic illness, like caner, heart discords and deep emotional problems. Our Self-Manifested Chi Movement can overcome any health problems.

Our Self-Manifested Chi Movement is not only more effective than Five-Animal Play in healing, but also in other aspects. Although Self-Manifested Chi Movement is best used for healing, for which it is known in our school as the platinum chi kung for overcoming diseases, because of our high level skills, we can also use this genre of chi kung for other purposes, like developing internal force, improving mental clarity and even for spiritual cultivation. Five-Animal Play does not have this facility.

If all other things were equal, Self-Manifested Chi Movement is not as effective as Golden Bridge for developing internal force, or as Cosmic Shower for improving mental clarity, or as Cosmic Breathing for spiritual cultivation. But all other things are not equal. Because of the higher level skills and better philosophical understanding, our students may use Self-Manifested Chi Movement to develop internal force, improve mental clarity and cultivate spiritually more effectively than other students use Golden Bridge, Cosmic Shower and Cosmic Breathing.

The comparison of Self-Manifested Chi Movement is made here with traditional Five-Animal Play. But the Five-Animal Play that I shall teach in Barcelona will be different. Because of my improved methodology, which was not available to traditional Five-Animal Play in the past, the Five-Animal Play that I shall teach may (or may not) be more effective than Self-Manifested Chi Movement in the various aspects explained above. But it is certain that the Five-Animal Play I shall teach in Barcelona will be more effective in healing and other functions than the Self-Manifested Chi Movement I taught 30 years ago.

Question 7

Can you talk about the importance of the 5 Animal Play and its context in the history of (worldwide) medicine? Why do you think that Hua Tuo was the person to discover, or crystallize this method?

— Sifu Andy, Scotland

The Five-Animal Play could provide the philosophical framework for overcoming diseases in world medicine, but it doesn’t. Two questions we should address ourselves are why in theory it could provide the philosophical framework, and why in practice it doesn’t.

Five-Animal Play touches on the core of health and medicine. The core of health and medicine is maintaining life, including overcoming pain and illness that threaten life. Life, in all forms and at all levels, is a meaningful flow of energy, a fact verified by both traditional Chinese doctors and modern scientists. Obviously, if this flow of energy is insufficient or blocked, the quality of life would be affected, manifested as lack of vitality or illness.

Five-Animal Play indicates this condition of energy flow, and rectifies it if the flow is insufficient or blocked. Hence, it provides an excellent philosophical framework to maintain health and overcome illness.

However, in real life this is not so. Very few professionals trained in mainstream health care and medicine know of this excellent philosophical concept, least to practice it. The reasons for this theoretical abnormality, though most people of the world accept this abnormality as normal, are political and economic.

Today, conventional Western medical thought provides the philosophical framework for mainstream health care and medicine. This is due to Western political and economic might. It started in the 18th century with the industrial revolution, followed by the great exploration to find markets. This led to colonization of almost the whole world by Western powers. It was logical that the world followed, and still follows, Western culture, including health care and medical thought and practice. It is, therefore, no surprise that Five-Animal Play, despite its excellent philosophical framework, is not in mainstream health care and medicine.

On the other hand, Five-Animal Play was also not the mainstream medical practice, though its philosophy was in mainstream medical thought, during the time Chinese culture held sway in many countries, like China itself, Japan, Korea and Vietnam. This was because of two main reasons. Five-Animal Play was usually performed at a form level of chi kung, and therefore was not powerful enough to overcome serious health problems. Secondly, there were other effective methods of Chinese medicine, like herbalism, acupuncture and external medicine.

However, the first of these two reasons is no longer valid in our school. Drawing inspiration from the Five-Animal Play, our Self-Manifested Chi Movement has become very powerful, and is capable of overcoming any illness, including so-called incurable diseases. But we still face other powerful reasons, like the efficiency of other Chinese healing methods, and the dominance of conventional Western medical thought and practice due to Western political and economic might, that hampers the application of Five-Animal Play or Self-Manifested Chi Movement to overcome illness.

I believe in the future, perhaps 300 years from now, Self-Manifested Chi Movement, pioneered by our school, will be the norm in mainstream medicine to overcome illness. Paradoxically, this will be due not to its effectiveness, which is true, but to the inadequacy of conventional Western medicine in dealing with so many so-called incurable diseases. This does not mean that the future world will abandon Western medicine. Western medical technology is very advanced and will aid future world medicine in many ways, like producing pills that generate chi flow instead of performing chi kung exercises.

Hua Tuo was the person who discovered or crystallized Five-Animal Play because he was a genus. He had an excellent understanding of chi kung philosophy and practice, besides being an expert in herbalism, acupuncture and surgery. Hua Tuo successfully operated on the brain more than 15 centuries before the West started on surgery!

If Chinese surgery was already so advanced in the past, why isn’t surgery an outstanding feature of Chinese medicine today? It was because Hua Tuo and other Chinese doctors found better methods to overcome illness where surgery was needed. Indeed, the Chinese people in the past considered surgery barbaric, like the people in the West as recent as 300 years ago who regarded surgeons the same status as butchers and barbers!

It may be difficult for many people today, when surgery is highly regarded, to believe that other forms of Chinese healing methods, which they often consider primitive, could overcome diseases where many people think, wrongly, that surgery is the only option. In other words, instead of undergoing surgery, patients could overcome their diseases like kidney stones, ulcers and cancer by treatment with herbs and acupuncture.

Indeed, empirical evidence shows that our chi kung healing produces better results than surgery. Surgery removes symptoms of the illness, but our chi kung healing removes the root cause. A patient who underwent surgery for a heart problem or a tumour, for example, would have to undergo future surgery when the symptoms recur. But a patient with the same diseases can recover completely with chi kung healing without the need for further treatment.

In my opinion, because Hua Tuo was also an expert with herbs and acupuncture, which could overcome diseases treated by Five-Animal Play, that he did not face the need to develop his chi kung healing to a very high degree. This could be a reason why Five-Animal Play remained, as far as I know from my research, at a form level. He also did not have the rare opportunity as I do of teaching more than 100 chi kung classes a year, which would give him the opportunity to raise his chi kung healing to a level beyond recognition.

This is the incredible level our chi kung healing is at at present. It is, I believe, unprecedented in the history of medicine. Our chi kung healing is capable of helping patients overcome so-called incurable diseases like cancer, cardiovascular disorders, inability to walk, depression and many others, and our results are unbelievable. But, as mentioned in an earlier answer, most people, including conventional Western doctors and those who suffered from so-called incurable diseases, do not believe in our ability in helping patients overcome so-called incurable diseases.

Question 8

Today there are many versions of the 5 Animal Play, most of them include movements and established patterns that imitate the five animals. What do you think of this popular versions when compared with the self-manifested chi movement approach?

— Sifu Daniel

The many versions of the Five-Animal Play today can be classified into two categories, which for convenience we may call the form approach and the manifestation approach.

In the form approach, a teacher teaches chi kung forms that resembles the movements of five animals, namely the bird, the deer, the monkey, the tiger and the bear.

When performing bird forms, for example, students may move about cheerfully like birds and flap their arms like wings. When performing deer forms, students run about excitedly and raise their hands like antlers. When performing monkey forms, students drop their arms loosely at their sides and round their body. When performing tiger forms, students move about ferociously, often with claw-like hands. When performing bear forms, student are upright with open chest.

The movements mentioned above are examples. As you have rightly said, there are many versions with different forms, but the examples above give an idea of their typical movements.

This form approach is what most people think Five-Animal Play was practiced in the past. It is believed the great Chinese physician, Hua Tuo, imitated the movements of the bird, the deer, the monkey, the tiger and the bear, and taught these movements to patients and students. It is also what many schools practicing Five-Animal Play nowadays do.

However, recent archaeological finds in the 20th century suggested that Hua Tuo did not imitate the movements of the five animals, but the chi flow movements resulting from the exercises he taught could be classified into the movements of these five animals. This was the manifestation approach, and the art was called Five-Animal Play.

Hence, there is a debate as to which approach was what Hua Tuo taught. Most people favour the form approach, but personally I think Hua Tuo used the manifestation approach. But, in the spirit of Zen, which was Hua Tua’s original method is not so important, what is more important is that it works.

Of the two approaches, the manifestation approach is more effective in curing illness and maintaining health.

The form approach, as its name indicates, operates at the form level. By imitating the movements of certain animals, which have a direct relationship with certain organs and meridians, practitioners attempt to influence the respective organs and meridians to overcome illness and maintain health. For example, by opening their arms like a bird flapping its wings, practitioners attempt to open their heart and generate energy flow along the heart meridian.

In the manifestation approach, the physical movements are a manifestation of energy flow. When practitioners spontaneously open their arms like a bird flapping its wings, it is the result of energy opening their heart and generating energy flow along the heart meridian. The manifestation approach represents the result of a healing process, whereas the form result represents an attempt to cause the healing process.

Following a rough estimate of the proportion of benefit according to the operational level of chi kung, the form level gives 1 unit of benefit, the energy level gives 3 units, and the mind level 6 units. If all other things were equal, the manifestation approach is 3 times more effective than the form approach.

In the coming Five-Animal Play course in Barcelona between 6th and 11th May 2014, I shall unify the form approach and the manifestation approach. In other words, basing on my understanding and practice of chi kung over many years, I shall devise chi kung techniques resembling the movements of the bird, the deer, the monkey, the tiger and the bear, and transmit to students to manifest chi flow movements resembling these animals.

Our benefit will not just be 4 times better than the form approach and slightly better than the manifestation approach, but respectively 10 times and more than 3 times better. It is because we shall operate at the mind level, which include the form level and the energy level. What we shall do is an upgrade of our Self-Manifested Chi Movement.

Self-manifested chi movement, or "zi-fa-dong-gong" in Chinese, is a modern chi kung term coined in the 20th century. It was, I believe, Five-Animal Play in the manifestation approach in the past, except that its manifested chi flow movements are not as clearly defined into the five animals. In our self-manifested chi movement, for example, we have practitioners wriggling on the floor like a snake, or hopping about like a kangaroo.

It is worthy of note that the five animals in Five-Animal Play are different from the five animals in Shaolin Kungfu, which are the dragon, the snake, the tiger, the leopard and the crane. In these two groups of five animals, only the tiger is common, but the significance of the tiger manifestation is different in the two groups.

The significance of the five animals in Shaolin Kungfu is quite different. The form or manifestation of the dragon trains mind; of the snake trains energy, of the tiger trains internal force, of the leopard trains speed and strength, of the crane trains elegance and essence.

In the Five-Animal Play, the bird relates to the heart, which expresses joy. The deer relates to the liver, which expresses anger. The monkey relates to the spleen, which expresses anxiety. The tiger relates to the lungs, which express grief. The bear relates to the kidneys, which express fear.

Please note that the organs mentioned above include their counterparts and their meridians. For example, in Chinese medical philosophy, the counterpart of the heart is the intestine. Hence, the bird relates not just to the heart, but also to the intestines, the heart meridian and the intestine meridian. In this case of the heart, the pericardium, the triple-warmer, the pericardium meridian and the triple-warmer meridian are also included.

There are the positive aspect and the negative aspect of emotions. Manifesting the bear movements, for example, not only eliminate fear, but also build up confidence.

Question 9

Where does the 5 Animal Play rank compared to other Chi Kung arts and skills in our syllabus (i.e. 18 Jewels, 18 Lohan Hands, Self-Manifested Chi-Movement, Cosmic Shower, Bone Marrow Cleansing,…)?

— Sifu Leonard Lackinger

If all other things were equal, with techniques as the deciding factor, the ranking of the chi kung arts or skills practiced in our school from the lowest to the most advanced are as follows.

18 Jewels

Self-Manifested Chi Movement

5-Animal Play

18-Lohan Hands

18 Shaolin Wahnam Chi Kung Techniques

Grasping Sparrow’s Tail

Lifting Water

Abdominal Breathing

18-Lohan Art

Three-Circle Stance

Golden Bridge

One-Finger Shooting Zen

Bone Marrow Cleansing

Cosmic Shower

Sinew Metamorphosis

Small Universe

Phenomenal Big Universe

Cosmic Breathing (Transcendental Big Universe)

Merging with the Cosmos (Transcendental Big Universe)

It is important to take note that the list is arbitrary and there can be changes due to changing conditions.

The phrase, "if all other things were equal", is a philosophical premiss. In real life, all other things are not equal. Even if we presume all other things were equal, a change of conditions or perspective may result in a change of the order of the list.

For example, in the list above the Three-Circle Stance is considered a step more advanced than the 18-Lohan Art. The condition here is that a practitioner practices all the exercises in the 18-Lohan Art quite evenly, compared to practicing the Three-Circle Stance for an equal length of time, say 5 minutes.

But if we have a different condition, while keeping all other things being equal, like practicing all the remaining 17 exercises of the 18-Lohan Art quickly in 1 minute, and practice a powerful exercise like Reverse Hanging of Double Hooks for 4 minutes, then the 19-Lohan Art will be many steps more powerful, or more advanced, than the Three-Circle Stance. In this case the 18-Lohan Art will be about the same level as Sinew Metamorphosis.

As another example, if we practice Sinew Metamorphosis at the form level, and also practice Golden Bridge at the form level for the same length of time, and all other things were equal, Golden Bridge would be more powerful, or more advanced, than Sinew Metamorphosis. This, in fact, is the condition of most people who practice Sinew Metamorphosis and Golden Bridge. But for us operating at the mind level for both arts, 3 minutes of Flicking Fingers after 2 minutes of going over all the other 11 exercises, is more powerful than 5 minutes of Golden Bridge.

The criterion for listing the arts in the order from the lowest to the most advanced is the amount of energy generated from the arts in an appropriate equal period of time. This corresponds closely to the classification of chi kung into five levels as follows.

Medical chi kung

Health chi kung

Intellectual chi kung

Martial chi kung

Spiritual chi kung

Why is chi kung classified in this order. It is because this is the logical order for development.

When a person is sick, practicing medical chi kung to get well is his top priority. If he sick and tries to practice intellectual chi kung to improve his mind, or martial chi kung to improve his combat efficiency, is being silly.

When he is free from pain and illness, he should practice health chi kung to promote good health, vitality and longevity so that we can do well in his work, which is a duty to himself and to society. If he neglects his work to practice martial chi kung to excel in sports, or spiritual chi kung to see God, he is being irresponsible. God will ask him to go home to fulfill his duty.

Only after he has done his work well, should be think of enjoying his hobbies, which may be intellectual like composing poetry and playing chess, or marital like sports and games. Intellectual chi kung and martial chi kung will be excellent at this stage. The focus is on mental clarity and a lot of energy. Martial chi kung is of a higher level because the demand for mental clarity and a lot of energy for a warrior is more than that for a scholar.

Having done his work well and enjoyed his intellectual or martial hobbies, he is now ready to return to God. Spiritual chi kung serves his need the best at this highest developmental stage.

This classification - from medical to health to intellectual to martial and to spiritual - is a guideline for special emphasis at different developmental stages. All chi kung, even at the lowest level, is spiritual, i.e. it is a cultivation of the spiritual, not just the physical body and energy.

Indeed, the spiritual aspect is very important in medical chi kung. All healing starts from the heart, the spiritual heart.

Chi kung may also be classified into three levels:

Chi kung for health

Chi kung for peak performance

Chi kung for spiritual attainment

This three-level classification corresponds to the five-level classification described earlier.

Chi kung for health, includes medical chi kung.

Chi kung for peak performance includes intellectual chi kung and martial chi kung.

Chi kung for spiritual attainment is spiritual chi kung.

In our list, 18 Jewels, Self-Manifested Chi Movement, 5-Animal Play belong to medical chi kung as their main function is to overcome pain and illness. 18-Lohan Hands and 18 Shaolin Wahnam Chi Kung Techniques are health chi kung, enabling practitioners to have good health, vitality and longevity. In the three-level classification, all of these chi kung arts are health chi kung.

Abdominal Breathing, Bone Marrow Cleansing, and Cosmic Shower are intellectual chi kung, with special emphasis on enhancing mental clarity. Grasping Sparrow’s Tail, Lifting Water, 18-Lohan Art, Three-Circle Stance, Golden Bridge, One-Finger Shooting Zen, Sinew Metamorphosis are martial chi kung, with emphasis on providing a lot of energy.

Grasping Sparrow’s Tail, Lifting Water, and Three-Circle Stance are arts from Taijiquan, which is a scholar’s martial art. Thus, these chi kung arts are also excellent for scholars.

Please bear in mind that saying intellectual chi kung like Abdominal Breathing and Cosmic Shower enhances mental clarity, and martial chi kung like Golden Bridge and Sinew Metamorphosis generates a lot of energy is speaking relatively. All types of intellectual chi kung and martial chi kung enhances mental clarity and generate a lot of energy. They are excellent for peak performance.

Small Universe, Phenomenal Big Universe, Cosmic Breathing (Transcendental Big Universe), and Merging with the Cosmos (Transcendental Big Universe) are spiritual chi kung, excellent for spiritual cultivation to the highest level.

Please remember that saying the Small Universe is for spiritual cultivation, and the 18 Jewels for overcoming illness, is speaking relatively, especially in our school where we are so skillful that we may employ a low-level chi kung for some high-level needs, or vice versa. In other words, because of our skills and philosophical understanding, we can use the 18 Jewels, which is regarded as low-level chi kung in terms of techniques, for spiritual cultivation, which is a high-level need. Reversely, we can use the Small Universe, which is high-level chi kung, to overcome illness, which is a low-level need.

The Small Universe is a fantastic art. It is regarded by some chi kung practitioners, though not quite correctly, as the chi kung. Many of our students who had taken a Small Universe course from me, reported that all aspects of their life improved noticeably. This is no surprise if we know that in Chinese to be lucky is known as "hao yun qi", which literally means "good circulation of chi". The Small Universe ensures good circulation of chi.

Question 10

What are the additional benefits for students who have already the skills, for example, to generate an energy flow, to go into self-manifested-chi-movements, to activate a cosmic shower or any other advanced skill, by learning the Five Animals Play?

Could you please explain the processes or rather reasons which lead to these additional benefits?

— Sifu Roland

One obvious benefit is to know another famous art invented by a famous master.

Five-Animal Play is a very famous set of chi kung exercise. The inventor, Hua Tuo, was a very famous physician and chi kung master. Even if there were no other benefits, knowing a famous art invented by a famous master is sufficient reason to learn it.

At the very least, when someone asks, "Have you heard of Five-Animal Play?" we can answer, "Yes, not only I have heard about this very famous chi kung, but have learnt it."

When someone asks, "Have you heard of Hua Tua?" we can answer, "Yes, not only I have heard about this great master, known as the Sage of Chinese Medicine, I also have practiced the set of chi kung exercises invented by him to promote health and longevity, known as Five-animal Play."

But there are other benefits, more practical than merely having practiced a famous art invented by a famous master.

Five-animal Play was the seminal art for what is now called self-manifested chi movement. In other words, from what chi kung books and classics tell us, there were no external chi flow movements manifested from chi kung techniques before Five-Animal Play was invented. But since its invention and subsequent practice, practitioners manifested chi flow movements externally. Over centuries these outward chi flow movements became more and more vigorous, and today this type of chi kung practice has become a genre known as self-manifested chi movement.

It is worthwhile to note that while chi flow manifested externally is common in our school, it is rare in all other schools except those schools that specially practice a genre of chi kung called self-manifested chi movement. These schools that specially practice self-manifested chi movement are uncommon. We do not specially call our type of chi kung, self-manifested chi movement or Five-Animal Play. We call our chi kung Shaolin Cosmos Chi Kung, and self-manifested chi movement and Five-animal Play are two types of our extensive repertoire.

It is a great benefit to know both the starting point and the concluding point (at the present moment) of this great genre of chi kung. By comparing the start and the completion, or tracing its development, we can get benefits that we may not be aware of at the moment, but will prove to be very useful when the relevant situations arise.

When Five-Animal Play was popularly practiced in the past, it was more know for maintaining health and for curing diseases. Hua Tuo’s students who practiced Five-Animal Play were recorded to have strong teeth and sharp eyesight even at 90!

We have, I believe, brought Five-Animal Play, or its modern equivalent, self-manifested chi flow, to a new higher level. While maintaining its excellent health promoting quality, we have used it to overcome so-called incurable diseases, a great benefit, I believe, not available in the past, or at least not highlighted as we do now.

Practicing Five-Animal Play will enable us understand the reasons, and to experience the processes of this remarkable development. Practicing Five-Animal Play will lead to chi flow that is manifested as external movements. Depending on conditions of various internal organs and meridian systems, these external chi flow movements are manifested differently, and can be classified into five major types.

Movements resembling those of a bird are related to the heart, of a deer are related to the liver, of a monkey are related to the spleen, of a tiger are related to the lungs, and of a bear are related to the kidneys. When many people are perform Five-Animal Play at the same time, like during the coming Barcelona course, we can assess how valid is this philosophy.

If there are variations of differences, we can also find out from direct experience, what are the reasons. In this way, we can enrich both our understanding and practice of not only Five-Animal Play in particular but also chi kung as the whole. This is an invaluable benefit we can derive from taking part in the Five-Animal Play course in Barcelona. We become history in the making - for our own benefit as well as the benefit of posterity.

From the thematic dimension of chi flow, i.e. different types of chi flow due to different organ or meridian systems, we progress to the holistic dimension, i.e. chi flow for holistic health instead of specific organs or meridians. In other words, we progress from being concerned that chi flow movements resemble those of a bird or a bear, thus indicating or overcoming problems at the heart or the kidneys, to generating a holistic chi flow for health, vitality and longevity. We do not need to know what diseases our students or patients suffer from. As long as they have a good chi flow consistently, they will overcome their diseases, whatever they may be. If they are already healthy, they will have vitality and longevity.

Those who already have the skills to generate an energy flow or to go into self-manifested chi movement, have the benefits at the concluding end of this chi kung development. Those who learn the Five-Animal Play will have additional benefits of understanding and experiencing the source or beginning.

There is a debate still going on regarding whether Five-Animal Play refers to exercises imitating movements of five animals, or chi flow movements manifested from chi kung exercises. In other words, do the five animals refer to the cause or the effect of the art.

In the coming Five-Animal Play course in Barcelona, I shall employ both approaches. I shall teach exercises imitating movements of the five animals, and see what type of chi flow movements will be manifested and how these movements relate to the health conditions of the participants. Those attending the course will have additional benefits of understanding more deeply and from direct experience the reasons and processes involved in overcoming illness and promoting health, vitality and longevity.

The coming Five-Animal Play course in Barcelona will be both educational and enjoyable.

Question 11

Is 5 Animals Play a technique or a skill?

I’m asking this because I wonder whether it is possible for someone who has already acquired the skill of having a Chi Flow to spontaneously perform one of the movements from 5 Animals Play in a vigorous Self-Manifested Movement.

— Jacek

There are two schools of thought regarding Five-Animal Play. The orthodox school, which has been traditionally accepted throughout centuries, is that Huo Tua imitated the movements of five animals and taught them as Five-Animal Play. In this case, Five-Animal Play is a set of techniques. Students perform techniques resembling movements of five different animals to maintain health.

In the other school, which started as a result of archaeological finds in the 20th century, Hua Tuo taught his students chi kung exercises which manifested as chi flow movements that resembled five animals. In this case, Five-Animal Play is a set of skills. The type of chi flow movements manifested depended on the conditions of the practitioners' internal organs. In other words, the exercises taught were the same, but the movements manifested were different. There was no mention of what exercises were taught.

In both schools of thought, the five animals are the same. They are the bird, the deer, the monkey, the tiger and the bear.

In the technique-approach, exercises resembling movements of the bird affect the heart, resembling movements of the deer affect the liver, resembling movements of the monkey affect the spleen, resembling the movements of the tiger affect the lungs, and resembling the movements of the monkey affect the kidneys.

In this approach, when a patient is diagnosed as suffering from a disease related to a particular organ or meridian system, exercises resembling the movements of the appropriate animal will be taught to him. For example, if he has a heart problems, he will be taught exercises resembling movements of a bird.

In the skill-approach, chi flow movements resembling those of a bird are influenced by conditions of the heart, resembling those of a deer are influenced by conditions of the liver, resembling those of a monkey are influenced by conditions of the spleen, resembling those of a tiger are influenced by conditions of the lungs, and resembling those of a bear are influenced by conditions of the kidneys.

In this approach, the chi flow movements resembling a particular animal indicate that a related organ or meridian system is diseased, and that chi is working to overcome a problem in that organ or meridian. For example, if a student or patient manifests the movements of a bird, it shows that he has a heart problem, and that chi is working on his heart to overcome the problems.

Someone may ask: "Why does a patient suffering from a heart problem manifest chi flow movements resembling those of a bird?"

This was discovered by past masters over many centuries. As an analogy, it was discovered that when people were thirsty, they would manifest a desire to drink some water. Past masters, for example, discovered from empirical evidence over many centuries that patients with heart problems would manifest movements of a bird in their spontaneous chi flow.

Or someone may ask: "Why does performing exercises resembling movements of a bird contribute to the well-being of the heart?"

Again, this was discovered by past masters over many centuries. As an analogy, it was discovered by people that if a person drank some water he would quench is thirst. Past masters discovered, for example, that by performing exercises resembling movements of a bird, it would contribute to the well-being of his heart.

Yes, it is not only possible but also very likely that a person who already has the skill of generating a chi flow to perform movements from Five-Animal Play, and have some vigorous self-manifested movements. In practical terms this mean it is possible to every student in our school, as every student in our school has the skill to generate a chi flow.

It is worthy of note that generating a chi flow is a rare skill, though it is common in our school. In other words, although every student in our school can generate a chi flow, most students of most other schools cannot generate a chi flow.

So, for any student of our school, when he performs chi kung exercises resembling movements of a bird, he will have a vigorous chi flow. This is the technique approach.

Will his manifested chi flow movements resemble the movements of a bird. This will depend on a few factors.

If he does not have any health problem, presuming all other things were equal, his manifested chi movements will resemble those of a bird because his techniques induce this type of movements. If he has a heart problem, his manifested bird movements will be more pronounced. If he has a lung problem, even when the techniques he used were movements of a bird, his manifested chi movements will resemble those of a tiger.

If he performs any chi kung exercises but not those resembling movements of any of the five animals, he will have a vigorous chi flow. If he does not have any health problems related to his internal organs or meridians, his manifested chi flow movements may not resemble any of the animals. But if he has a heart problem, his manifested chi flow movements will resemble those of a bird. If he has a lung problem, his manifested chi flow movements will resemble those of a tiger.

However, even when he does not have any problems related to his organs, if he thinks of his heart, his manifested chi movements will resemble those of a bird. If he thinks of his lungs, even when he has no lung problems, his manifested chi movements will resemble those of a tiger. This is because like all our students, he operates chi kung at the mind level. By thinking of his heart or any other organ, he generates chi flow to that organ, and manifests external chi flow movements accordingly.

Most other students of other chi kung schools do not have these skills. If they think of their heart or any organ, nothing will happen. They cannot even generate a chi flow in the first place.