For 2024 Tiger Claw Elite KungFuMagazine.com Championship – An Auspicious Weekend, click here.

For 2024 Tiger Claw Elite KungFuMagazine.com Championship – May the Fourth be with You! click here.

Ever since we first added a second day to the Tiger Claw Elite Championships, Sunday has been the mellower of the two days. In the past, Sunday focused on the internal divisions, mostly Tai Chi but the other internals like Xingyi, Bagua and so forth were also included, and those are intrinsically mellow. It has also included showcase divisions and workshops. And inevitably, load out.

Last year, Sunday shifted to external with the inclusion of the First North American Shaolin Duanpin. However, despite being a Shaolin layman disciple, our return from the pandemic was so exhausting for me personally that I bailed out on most of that (see 2023 Tiger Claw Elite KungFuMagazine.com Championship and Kung Fu Tai Chi Day). This year, our Songshan Shaolin Division received formal recognition from Shaolin Temple to become one of the official Shaolin Kung Fu Games. I take great personal pride in this, so I was totally there for this.

The Shaolin shift affected my attire. Ordinarily, we drop our formal wear on Sunday to adopt more casual garb. But this year, I went from western formal to Shaolin formal by donning Shaolin robes. I swapped my Jerry Garcia power tie for a stone mala that the visiting Shaolin monks gifted me last year. As a Shaolin disciple, I felt obligated. After all, like Jerry ties, I have an abundance of Shaolin robes and I seldom wear them.

Also like Jerry ties, I collected Shaolin robes. Most of my robes were acquired from the Shaolin area. I know, I know, this flies in the face of the austere minimalism and non-materialism espoused by Chan Buddhism. But I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again – ‘I am the ‘real’ fake monk.’ I never took full bhiksu vows. I am a layman disciple. I first took layman vows at San Francisco Zen’s Green Dragon temple and again inside Shaolin Temple. The distinction between layman disciple and monk is important; many lose sight of this within the Shaolin sangha.

I donned my black robes. Most Shaolin robes are saffron or grey, but I have a black set from one of the shops around Shaolin Temple before the great tourist trap purge around the turn of the millennium (if you don’t know about that, read my book, Shaolin Trips). I was delighted that my robe received compliments from several Shaolin masters. Underneath, I wore my master Shi Decheng’s school shirt. Even though it was totally obscured by my top, I’m obligated to represent.

It occurred to me that all I had to do was add a Jedi cloak and I would’ve been good May the Fourth. Luke’s outfit in The Empire Strikes Back wasn’t too different. Maybe next time…

Mass Simplified 24 Taiji

In the wake of Kung Fu Tai Chi Day, we’re still staging our ribbon cutting and our Mass Simplified 24 Taiji recital to open Sunday’s activities. The ribbon cutting is still awkward to me because it’s a cultural translation error, but it has grown on me like translation errors often do. I refused scissors and opted for my EDC Leatherman knife, which I really need to sharpen. My cut was true, but my blade was dull, so I only sliced part way through. However, with so many VIP cutters, no one noticed. Note to self: sharpen my EDC before TCEC every year.

Prior to the Mass Taiji recital, my dear old Kung Fu brothers Jeff Hung and Stephen Chew pulled me aside to do the traditional Sun style Taiji form. Back in the late eighties and early nineties, we all studied in Sun style together at Lam Kwoon where. I had trained directly under the founder’s daughter in Beijing in 1995 and 1996. Grandmaster Sun Jianyun was the daughter of Sun Lutang. For years, working at Lam Kwoon was my full-time job, and Lam Sifu decided that our legally required break should be two recitations of Sun Taiji. We did that together every working day. I enjoyed the style but fell out of practice with it. During the pandemic, I rediscovered it. And ever since, I try to recite it at least once a week. That’s not nearly enough, but it’s better than nothing.

Amongst my local Lam Kwoon brothers, Jeff and Stephen have remained the most active in the Wulin. We cross paths a lot at various martial gatherings and it’s always a joy. They have supported my Dragon crew for years, but recently have shifted from being ‘behind the scenes’ operatives to being judges. This year, they both stepped up to be Ring Coordinators, and Stephen even tried his hand as a Head Judge. I’m so proud and honored to be their martial brother. So many of our martial siblings have quit. It’s reaffirming that some persist.

Before things got started, we jumped on one of the blue ring carpets loaned to us from Kungfu Dragon USA and recited the form together, something we haven’t done in a long time. And it was such a pleasure.

Later, I joined the first practice run of the Mass Simplified 24 Taiji recital. Mason Tong was calling out the moves as Priscilla Zou lead the group, and I just could not synch up with what was going on. I could not find the groove. Zou is the daughter of Champion Zou Yunjian, and a champion in her own right having captured gold at the 2022 8^th World Junior Wushu Championships in Indonesia, among other accolades. It was nice of her to be the pace car.

But for me, it felt wrong. Maybe my Shaolin robes were interfering with my recital. I confess that – no – I had not reviewed it at all, like I always say I will beforehand. Over the last year, I completely forgot it again. Whatever the case, I gracefully excused myself having other tasks requiring my attention at that moment. Reciting Sun with Jeff and Stephen was enough of a Taiji nod for me this year. That was more authentic for me personally.

On this TCEC Sunday, I was here for Shaolin.

Shaolin Kung Fu Games

We first launched the Songshan Shaolin Champion as a showcase division in 2011 for the third Tiger Claw Elite KungFuMagazine.com Championships. It was our second most popular showcase division ever after WildAid. In 2018, the Shaolin community had grown so large that we expanded it to the Songshan Shaolin Division, which was as well attended by competitors as the Traditional Kung Fu and Modern Wushu divisions. This allowed for divisional Grand Champions, just like in Kung Fu and Wushu, so instead of one Songshan Shaolin Champion per TCEC, there were 10 Songshan Shaolin Grand Champions (five age groups multiplied by two genders). We ran it once more in 2019, but then the pandemic shut us down. That was until last year when we relaunched.

I’ve been the principal architect behind the rules since the very beginning. Before I studied at Shaolin Temple, my root Kung Fu style under Lam Sifu Bak Sil Lum (a.k.a. Northern Shaolin). Prior to the influx of Songshan Shaolin, Bak Sil Lum was the prevalent Shaolin style especially here in the S.F. Bay Area, so I wrote the rules in such a way to distinguish the Bak Sil Lum (and other Shaolin-based) forms from what was coming from the Songshan temple. Songshan is the mountain range where the original Shaolin Temple is, which is why we labeled it so. That’s not a condemnation of Bak Sil Lum or any other Shaolin style. In 2018 and 2019, I designed another showcase division, Ku Yu-Cheung Bak Sil Lum Championship, to cater tp my root style. And that was very successful too. But after the pandemic, there wasn’t enough impetus to continue it. Many of my showcase events are one-offs. Bak Sil Lum got two. And maybe someday there will be enough support to do it again.

In the fall of last year, Shaolin Temple launched the Shaolin Kung Fu Games, which I covered in a four-part Shaolin Trips series, ending with an exclusive interview with the Abbot Shi Yongxin. The temple held Games on six continents, and we were present for the North American Games, held in southern California. The champions from those Games will compete at Shaolin Temple for the World Shaolin Kung Fu Games in July.

While the Shaolin Kung Fu Games are from the Shaolin Temple itself, I can’t help but wonder how much influence our Songshan Shaolin division had upon its creation. What I do know is that when the rules from the Temple were first presented in English, they weren’t adequate to handle the practitioners outside of Shaolin, the Shaolin diaspora, what with its unique developments in different cultures. Styles like Bak Sil Lum propound completely different forms but are still a Shaolin style. Consequently, for the first Continental games, they used our Songshan Shaolin Division rules. That’s right – they used the rules that I wrote. It’s a small, mostly anonymous contribution (unless I tell you about it here) to the grand history of Shaolin. Nevertheless, I’m very proud to have played such a part in this.

At the First North American Shaolin Kung Fu Games last year, our Publisher Emeritus Gigi Oh accepted a position as the Secretary General of the Shaolin North American Association. This imbued us with the power to stage the first National Shaolin Kung Fu Games at our Tiger Claw Elite KungFuMagazine.com Championships. The Games have three levels: National, Continental, and Worlds. I have yet to hear of any other national level games, so I’m claiming ours as the first until someone tells me otherwise.

The Abbot sent us a letter of endorsement and Shaolin Temple sent us some glorious medals and trophies. Several monks and masters came out to support and judge, bringing their students to compete. For the most part, it ran smoothly, but like with any tournament, it wasn’t without issues. Like I’ve said before ‘It wouldn’t be Shaolin if there wasn’t some conflict.’

One Shaolin master called us out on the ring size. He cited the classical Shaolin saying that the practice ground should be the same as what an ox needs to lie down (quan da wo niu zhi di - 拳打卧牛之地). I’ve heard that many times before, but I honestly have no idea how much space an ox needs to lie down. Must I bring an ox to measure now?

The first rule of honorable competition is to play by the rules. If those rules outline a larger space than it takes for an ox to lie down, competitors are obligated to abide. Our Shaolin rings were approximately 20’ x 30’ which I’m guessing is bigger than an ox bed. Those are the rules. That’s how games work. Maybe we’ll change it next year, but I’m sure that’ll elicit even more complaints. I’m guessing that an ox bed is fairly small, like 10’ x 10’ or less, right?

There was another rather volatile argument between two Shaolin masters right in the center of the main floor. That was unfortunate because it was quite the Shaolin spectacle. Tiger Claw President Jonny Oh acted as peacemaker, which is something he is quite good at, and separated them before things went to blows. He called me over to help.

As my loyal readers know, my karma work is as a volunteer medical provider at concerts, sports events, and festivals, with organizations like Rock Medicine. My specialty there is crisis de-escalation and managing combative patients, which can range from belligerent drunks to drugged fighters having bad trips. This is my 37^th year doing this sort of work and I’ve faced all manners of scenarios, even a few armed gunmen. However, standing between two angry Shaolin masters was a new one. I didn’t engage. I didn’t want to escalate the situation. I just broke their line of sight – kept them from giving each other the stink eye – and thankfully, they both relented.

Nevertheless, it was right in the center of the competition floor, so it was hard for any spectator to miss. That was unfortunate. The Shaolin order is Buddhist, and like any religion, it propounds peace. But the Shaolin order is also a martial one. Obviously, Shaolin masters know how to fight and when triggered, they can be severe. I’ve been at tournaments where Shaolin masters have gone to blows. I’m just grateful that hasn’t happened at TCEC yet.

It was Shaolin that led me to committing to karma work. Beyond volunteering at events, I also work to preserve nature, which led me to create our most successful showcase event so far, the WildAid Tiger Claw Championship.

WildAid Tiger Claw Championship

The WildAid Tiger Claw Championship has been my pet project since 2010, the Year of the Tiger. This too, is part of my karma work and it goes back to the previous Year of the Tiger in 1998. I even wrote about it in another TC Media magazine in an article titled “Jackie Chan Saves the Tiger” (see World of Martial Arts, NOV+DEC 1998). That was part of some volunteer work I was doing with Asian Conservation Awareness Program, a precursor to WildAid to which Jackie was connected. If you didn’t know, Tiger Claw is the parent company of KungFuMagazine.com’s publishing company TC Media (thus the ‘TC’) so when the Year of the Tiger came around again, I proposed this showcase championship in honor of our company mascot.

The intention of the WildAid Tiger Claw Championship is to generate awareness of the plight of tigers in the wild, as well as a donation to WildAid. All proceeds from this event are donated directly to WildAid. Tiger Claw created a custom trophy which was donated to the event and the winner was amply featured within our print magazine, Kung Fu Tai Chi. We also solicited donors to add prizes and over the years, we’ve given away items like an iPad and an ocean cruise as extra bonus prizes. We provide WildAid with a complimentary table so they can help educate our competitors and spectators about tiger preservation, along with other endangered species like elephants, pangolins, sharks and more. Sadly, the Chinese community is one of the worst violators when it comes to exploiting these rare animals, killing them for ancient unproven ingredients in Chinese medicine.

By 2015, the WildAid Tiger Claw Championship was so successful that we added two more divisions, the WildAid Tiger Cub Champion (11 & under) and WildAid Teen Tiger Champion (17-12). The championship has been held every year, with a break for the pandemic, and over the last dozen championships, we’ve generated over $16,000 in donations for WildAid.

However, last year WildAid was rebounding from the pandemic just like us. Our contact at WildAid was unable to staff a table at TCEC, so my daughter Tara stepped up. She volunteered with me doing a WildAid booth for Earth Day when she was a kid and is currently studying law with a focus on animal issues.

I reached out to WildAid late last year in preparation for this year but received no answer. Since the pandemic, my work for KungFuMagazine.com has been part-time. I have a fulltime job with YMAA, so to keep up with KFM, I work 50+ hour weeks now. That’s my excuse but honestly, it was my fault for not being more aggressive in making contact. As it turned out, my previous WildAid contact had moved on, and I wasn’t getting through. My emails weren’t bouncing, so I thought she was just ignoring me. Unfortunately, the poster deadline snuck up on me before I could confirm WildAid’s participation, so the earliest promotions relabeled the event as the Tiger Claw Champion as I scrambled to find another donor recipient. Fortunately, WildAid responded just in time. Ella Milani put together a team so for 2024, it was delightful to have a fully staffed WildAid table once again.

However, there was another change. Previously all showcase division competitions were held on the main stage. However, this drew complaints from the main competition floor for our Teen Tiger and Tiger Cub competitors. Those competitors are many of our strongest. Accordingly, they compete in multiple divisions on the floor, and to have them called away to the main stage had been causing delays. A decision was made to have the youth WildAid rings on the floor instead of the main stage.

This did improve the efficiency on the floor; however, I still prefer to see the WildAid kids on the main stage. Whether they realize it or not, they are doing karma work by participating, and I feel that should be showcased and encouraged. Also, our cameras are focused on main stage events so many of this year’s WildAid kids weren’t in our YouTube spotlight. In all fairness, I understand the need for efficiency on the floor, and abide by the change. Perhaps the WildAid competitors can chime in here because I don’t know what we might do next year. 

I’ve got to give thanks to Tiger Claw – mainly Jonny and Gigi – for putting up with my showcase championship experiments for so many years. It’s always stressful because it’s new, and only a few competitors are brave enough to take the chance, so getting enough competitors to warrant the expense can be a struggle. Pushing the envelope of what we do at TCEC keeps things spicy like chili crunch.

Epilogue

Two weeks later, I was reciting Sun Style Taiji with my dear Kung Fu brothers Stephen and Jeff once more, as well as a few more of our martial siblings. Several of us had gathered at the grave of our master, Sifu Lam Kwong Wing, for a belated Qingming (tomb cleaning) ceremony. Again, it was a pleasure, as well as a flashback to TCEC and our youths spent at Lam Kwoon. I hope we will be able to continue to recite Sun Taiji together whenever fate crosses our paths again, for many years to come. 

That same weekend, when I thought I might get a little time for rest and recouperation, Shaolin summoned us. Gigi received a document from Shaolin Temple – the rules for the first World Shaolin Kung Fu Games, scheduled for July 12-14. The translation was rough and inconsistent, and Gigi wanted help smoothing out the English by a native English speaker (me). Some fundamental English formatting concepts elude Chinese translators like capitalization, which doesn’t exist in Chinese at all. It took me the whole weekend, because naturally, it was due yesterday.

Nevertheless, World Shaolin Kung Fu Games rules are fascinating. It documents what the Shaolin Temple of Songshan officially recognizes as the Shaolin Kung Fu curriculum. I was honored to serve Shaolin once again, especially in this even more anonymous capacity (unless I tell you about it here), and I’m eager to hear the reactions of the Shaolin sangha when it is released to the public.

And no, there were no stipulations about an ox bed sized competition ring.