JOW LUNG LEARNS HUNG GA & BAHT GWA GWAN

[Tailik]

JOW LUNG LEARNS HUNG GA & BAHT GWA GWAN

Learn Hung Kuen (a kung fu style) first and then learn Choy Ga

Master Jow Lung passed away 30 years ago. He was born in the 17th year of the rule of Qing emperor Guang Xi in Guangdong Province, in XinHui county, in ShaFu village. At this time, XinHui was one of the more financially blessed areas in GuangDong (Canton) province, with lots of rivers, meaning the area reaped a large bounty of rice and fish each year, making the county rich. In general, people from this county go overseas to earn their living. People who stayed earn their living by farming. JiangMen is the largest village of this county. Lots of boats filled with goods constantly arrived there, and businesses were booming. The culture of the people who lived here was aggressive, and most villagers were interested in martial arts. It has beautiful landscapes, and the land was filled with good spirits. Due to these good spirits, each generation of villagers here would produce celebrities and people of big names.
Unforunately, some of the villagers in this area were short-tempered due to their aggressive culture, and so they would fight amongst themselves over very small details. Due to this constant fighting, people had no time to take care of their homes and fields, and so the farms and fields became deserted and life became poor.

When Jow Lung was young, his family was extremely poor. He was born with a unique gift of extraordinary strength. Jow Lung’s body was of massive build, even as a youngster. His uncle, Jow Hung was a famous master of Shaolin Hung Kuen Kung fu, a style, which originated from the Hung Family. Jow Hung saw that Jow Lung was a strong, smart young man, and that he was interested in learning martial arts. Therefore, Jow Hung decided to teach his very able nephew martial arts.

Jow Lung practiced day and night, and never felt tired of practicing martial arts. From the first lesson his Uncle gave him, Jow Lung trained in this style for ten years, at which time he was a teenager.

One day, Jow Lung went to the city. His family had something they wished to tell him, and so they came from their village to the city to look for him. When they encountered him, Jow Lung asked why they came, and his family informed him that his uncle was very sick, and had something to tell his prize pupil. When Jow Lung arrived at his uncle’s home, Jow Hung was in bed. At this time, he was very old, and had been sick for several days.
Jow Lung approached his uncle’s bedside and asked, “How are you doing, uncle?” Jow Hung sighed, and replied, “I am very old and sick, and I will not live for much Longer. You are young and smart, and will make great achievements in the future. Today, before I say goodbye to you, let me share with you some words of wisdom. Please sit down.”
So Jow Lung sat down on the side of the bed to listen to his uncle. Jow Hung held his nephew’s hand, and said, “Dear nephew, you are still young, and you have no worldly experience. Let me tell you what you should know. When you deal with people or things, be humble, because there are so many extraordinary people in the world, like the grains of sand in a riverbed. So, if you are arrogant, and short-tempered, you will become a failure, lose your reputation, and will have no chance to fix your situation.”

Jow Lung nodded and said, “Uncle, I will keep your words of wisdom in my mind.” Then Jow Hung continued, “Uncle has been teaching you for more than ten years. Most of my martial arts knowledge has been taught to you, yet there is still a style you do not know: the style of Baht Gua staff. I do not have much time to live, but I’ll teach you it, and hope that you practice it on your own. Do not stop practicing this new style. After you have mastered it, and enter real life, be humble, and find work. Make the Jow family a famous one. Then, even in death, I will smile.”
Upon hearing this, Jow Lung was in tears. He said, “Don’t worry about it. I will keep what you have said to me about the world in my heart. I will be a good man, and I will not let you down.”
Jow Hung smiled, sat up in bed, and attempted to get up to go the practice room to teach Jow Lung Baht Gua staff. But due to his illness, Jow Hung almost fell as soon as he got up, and was forced to sit upon the bed again. Jow Hung decided instead to pick up his pipe, to use for demonstration of Baht Gua Gwan. Jow Lung concentrated intently on watching the demonstration, and attempted to understand it. Because of his more than 10 years of martial arts skills, and his incredible intelligence, Jow Lung was able to keep the movements in his mind. He picked up a double-headed staff, and practiced what he had seen in the practice room. Jow Hung would make comments from the side of his bed about his nephew’s performance as he practiced.
A few days later, Jow Lung had completely mastered the moves of Baht Gua staff. At the same time, Jow Hung not responding to medicinal treatment, passed away from his illness.
Jow Lung and his fellow kung fu students were very sad, and wept openly. They took care of all of the funeral arrangements, placing Jow Hung’s body in his coffin, and performed the funeral ceremony for their master.

[Daifong]

This goes to show that, when there's a parallel lineage from Wong Feihung, when we present our information and compare our understandings, history is corroborated, and it can help prevent modern notions about Wong Feihung's curriculum from wandering all over the place, ok!

Thank you for the valued perspective, Tailik!

[jow yeroc]

Thanks for posting this Tailik sifu.. Keep those stories coming, man!!

[Tailik]

thanks Daifong and jow ye roc. i've been busy the past year with work, but i hope to continue translating some of the jow ga history for online.

Daifong i agree 100% with what you wrote regarding sharing & corroboration. i think the more we share our history the more opportunities we'll have to help each other fill in the pieces. often i've read information from other styles which related to our own history in jow ga. been a police detective for many years and in order to convince a jury that something happened you need a lot of corroboration for credibility.

[Tailik]

The script which is being written includes this part of Jow Lung's story with the addition with the environment, social, and political elements of this period.