GJFFK

[TenTigers]

What does it mean?
What do the characters mean-and why use those terms?
What is the form for? What is it training/teaching us?

I posted this on the KFO forum as well.
I enjoy that forum. there are a few knowledgeable people on there, and a whole slew of clueless experts. I learn from both.
("yeah Rik, your Gung-Fu is evident of that.." )
ok, that's not exactly what I meant.....

[Asmo]

That forum is more waste of time then it has good posts IMO. The recent thread on tit sin had some good posts, but you have to go through pages full of nonsense. I know of a few people who gave up on that forum, I'm close too (never participating there anyway becuase of the crap).

On GGFFK, OK, just my understanding, but the I character refers to the pattern on the ground. OK I think we all agree on that (I hope).

The Conquering the tiger part is more open to interpretation, and below my current understanding.

If you want to perform the whole of GGFFK with power & intent it requires quite some lin gung to pull that off (so not just be able to reach the end of the form, but to properly use intent and power throughout). Decent stance training, power, understanding and being able the use of ging. Inexperienced student yet lacking these still have to conquer themselves by going through the necessary lin gung, hence, the requirement to conquer/tame the tiger within themselves.

Looking forward to replies

[Itinerant_Phenomenologist]

Ok... here's my $0.02... or possibly a full $1.00 given the length:

"Gung Ji" does literally refer to the pattern that we step during the practice and performance of the form. However the character "Gung" also means "Work" or "Labour". So we'll keep that in mind.

"Fook" literally means "to subdue", but it also carries with it the semantic connotation of "having the other party surrender in admiration" (as opposed to bitterness). We will also keep this in mind.

"Fu" obviously refers to the tiger. In a cultural context, Tigers were, and possibly still are, considered King of Beasts in East Asia. Even today the Tiger is used to denote great leaders and heroes. As the saying goes "There can only be one tiger to a mountain". But slightly more than that, in a more spiritual sense, Chinese consider the Tiger to be embodiment of the physical world, the "Yang" to the Dragon's "Yin" [Dragons being elevated to rulers of the skies and the waters... a spiritual being].

Also, remember that much of Hung Gar may be referred to as a Patriot's Style, and much of the purported legendary Shaolin is found within the style. Therefore, we must keep the Buddhist context in mind as well. Within Buddhism, the Tiger is considered an animal which embodies Anger... but not Good Anger (Righteous Anger), but more akin to Primal Rage (Anger with no regard). So... this is the final point we must keep in mind.
So

"Gung Ji"--> may refer to the pattern we step when practicing; may refer to the idea that we must put in labour and work; or it could refer to both ideas [both stepping pattern and the idea of needing to work]

"Fook Fu"--> may refer to subduing great heroes and fighters [in admiration... not in bitterness]; may refer to conquering the inner rage which we all feel [Buddhist context]; may refer to the toppling of the King/Emperor

[on this note I am confused because I was told by my uncle that the legendary Hung Hei Gwun was taught a Tiger system at the Shaolin Temple and, after leaving, created the GJFFK on his own... but some people have told me that he actually learned the GJFFK at the Temple so correct this for me]

If it so happens that GJFFK was created AFTER the leaving of the temple, then it is even more likely that the name refers to the toppling of the Emperor and thus we get to the Patriot explanation of the name. HOWEVER, seeing how it is a remnant of Shaolin, and therefore possessing Buddhist flavours, I will finally offer my personal interpretation of the form:

"Gung Ji Fook Fu"--> To Conquer the Emperor with Righteous Anger through Labour<-- The Buddhist flavour is in the "Righteous Anger" portion as that connotes that the "Primal Rage" the Tiger represents in Buddhism has been "Tamed" and properly directed for non-selfish reasons.

And as usual, I apologize if my text simply takes up space without really "wowing" anyone. But you all are a friendly lot so I doubt you'd make me cry over that... right?

[Asmo]

What I always understood was that FFK is the oldest bit of Hung Kuen we have, Gung Gee is added later. But I am misty on who added GGK before FFK... Something lingers in my head someone told me it was LSW, but I can be wrong on that.

Other then that, nice theory. Whatever works for you, no need to cry involved

[JE]

Our family largely looks at it in a similar way to what IP suggested. We use the saying Hong Long Fuk Fu - Subdue the Dragon, Tame the Tiger. This refers to the subduing of the Mind and the taming of the Body.

There is a poem at the top of 10K Buddhas in HK that says something like Subdue the Dragon and Tame the Tiger to find/see your compassionate heart... or something like that. (Sorry don't have the poem in front of me right now). Obviously 10K Buddhas has a Buddhist slant on the interpretation although you could easily look at if from a Taoist perspective as well.

We use a similar saying of Kyun Sim Jyat Jyu - The Fist and Zen are One. Again just linking the body/mind connection.

One of the things I encourage my students to do is Gung Ji 5x at full speed/full power with the ending ging lai being the beginning of the next performance. Doing that will definitely teach you the Fuk Fu portion. Not to mention what it does to your head...

[PM]

some interesting info here, thnx guys.

gung ji, "gung pattern" or "gung ground plan" refers imho especially to the footwork patterns of the first half (left, right, front, back). we have a lot of these "ji" in Hung Kyun - yat ji, yi ji, chin ji... usually the shape of the character is important, not the meaning

fuk fu, "taming of the tiger" is imho a buddhist term referring to personal transformation and development; it refers to our Siulam roots.

check out eg. http://www.amazon.com/Taming-Tiger-Teac ... 0892815698

how many of beginners are humble enough and willing sincerelly kowtow to their teacher, empty their cup? a cocky prick cannot learn much, trying to be a smartass before he even has become a beginner, sifu before he becomes a student. that is why i do not call 1 year student a student but "visitor". after that he qualifies to beginner.

the set and also the name is probably a combination of 2 sets, gung ji kyun and fuk fu kyun. especially fuk fu kyun is very popular in Southern China.

my sigung calls gung ji fuk fu kyun as Siulam Jing Jung, ie. "orthodox Siulam" - it is not jaap ga (MMA) as eg. fhsyk or syk. we have a saying in Hung kyun - yap mun sin fuk fu, literally "when you enter the gate, you have to first tame the tiger" (i can translate it at least in 3 ways with 3 different meanings). main task for the beginner, and everyday task for any level of student. that is why we practice on every lesson - even saan da one - at least 1 gjffk, no exceptions. even advanced students or sifus need to work on fuk fu, maybe even more (in the sense of above explanation) gjffk is our "seed set", kyun jung, like Lao jia yi lu, saam jan or siu lin/lin tau it Chen taijiquan, Baak hok/Ng jou or WCH

i have written an extensive piece on gjffk, wait for my Encyclopedy guys, a lot of other info there!

[PM]

[Frank Bolte]

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[Frank Bolte]

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[Asmo]

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[Asmo]

[Frank Bolte]