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Thread: Li Pi Quan

  1. #46
    Join Date
    Jun 2005
    Location
    Tonawanda
    Posts
    57
    I would have to agree. It is very nice of them, especailly concidering they've never asked for anything in return. In a previous posts it seemed you had met Bokfu, but I must've read wrong. I replyed mainly because of the generation question, but it doesn't sound like you heard it from somebody trying to start a political argument.

    Have a good one,
    Rich
    God bless the child that can hold his own.

  2. #47
    Join Date
    Jan 1970
    Location
    San Jose, CA, USA
    Posts
    42
    Hey, Kevin, Rich, and Electric Mantis....

    Onyami

    I just read your post and I will get the telephone number of Master Zhuo Xienfu's Eight Step Mantis school there in Taiwan. I should be able to round that up for you from my Sifu John Chang later and I will send it off to you in a pm. I think that it will be interesting for you to see the form done in person if you stop by there, since Eight Step Mantis is really a different look from other mantis styles. I have never met Master Zhuo, but I can say from what his peers and my sifu tell me, he is a true gentleman and excellent martial artist. It should be a pleasant visit for you.

    As far as the Li Pi form, it is an excellent beginning form, since it is filled with apps that can be used immediately in defense by a beginning student (as well as advanced artists). I think that this is why the form is seen being used in so many styles of mantis and why you will really see a lot of variations in it. It is not as simple as it looks if you break it down to understand what everything is, which is typical of gong fu. Of course this all depends on what depth you want to look... surface of the water or below where the fish live, you know.

    Regards,
    Bokfu
    "They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."
    Benjamin Franklin

  3. #48
    Join Date
    Jan 1970
    Location
    San Jose, CA, USA
    Posts
    42
    Electric Mantis,
    Just a note to fill you in, and a quick thanks for Rich stepping up for me here while I was away from the forum. I just help pass on information from my sifu, John Chang and some personal insights to a group in New York because they are really interested in learning Eight Step Mantis according to Grandmaster Wei Hsiao Tang. My sifu, John Chang teaches as closely as possible to the way he was taught by his sifu, GM Wei, so it works out nicely. It isn't that important who was previous teachers under whom, but rather the fact that they want to start carrying on a lineage of Eight Step to keep it alive with a less varied approach. We are presently sharing information digitally long distance. As it is, Sifu Chang has been getting some requests for seminars from different parts of the country, so maybe we will end up in that area if Sifu's time allows.

    As far as lineage goes, I really don't care that much about it outside of just getting as much information and knowledge from my teacher passed on from his teacher. I believe that if I did claim anything, I would be more apt to claim a descendent of Grandmaster Wei because my sifu and I feel his teachings were very important/useable and I feel a more direct link to him. I have seen so many people recite lineages over and over connecting themselves to great Masters in martial arts and find that they are inept at martial arts. I just want to grow and understand what this kung fu stuff is all about with my sifu's help!

    Almost forgot to answer the questions on Li Pi two man set. It is sort of a loose following of the one man version of Li Pi. The thing is that you sort of share the form with the other person you are doing the form with. You will be doing a portion of the form which follows the single man version and then you will have some additional moves to perform. At that junction, your partner will pick up the form doing the moves which are part of the one man. You switch back and forth picking up pieces of the form until you finish. It is a fun two man form: I actually enjoy doing this form over any other two man form that I have learned.

    As far as Eight Step looking so different to your style, it is true we have different style of stances... that is because we are pulling from softer style martial arts. I have mentioned them before. You know, Hsing I, Bagua and Taiji. I look at our style like taking an effective hard style martial art covering of mantis and putting it over an even more effective soft style of martial art like Hsing I. The hard style will work on its own but then if you follow the internal portion, it is that much more effective. So the stances are a hint of what is hidden inside I guess. Take care E. M..

    Bokfu
    Last edited by bokfu; 11-22-2005 at 03:26 PM.
    "They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."
    Benjamin Franklin

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