Sifu Jurgens Lamprecht

With my many visits to China in my quest to further my kung fu knowledge two things have become clear to me. Firstly, I will never get used to the way the Chinese drive in the street, and secondly there are certain key wushu historical facts that will never be agreed upon.

Wushu styles always try and claim the oldest lineages and family trees for themselves. First means best, right? I wonder sometimes. Personally I’m more interested in the truth and a firm believer in rating the practitioner rather than the art. His/ her character and maturity would add to his/ her overall skill. Having said this I can’t ignore that certain styles and disciplines have been tested more than others. The old saying – stop telling and start showing has always been a good guideline to rate practitioners.

For me it has always been the balance of both. I truly believe that certain disciplines are bottled for certain environments eg. Kung-fu weapons’ training has lost almost all its martial applications, for today, it is predominately used in form competitions and for fitness and coordination training. In today’s times one could argue that the need for traditional weapons and their uses has almost vanished. Same goes for Tai Ji training. It has become “cool” to do Tai Ji on the beach and to impress one’s company with lengthy chats about how well one understands this art form or how many books one has read or written. Meditation this and “cool” moves that. Yet it’s impossible for most to bring everything together and connect the martial, philosophy, chi management and history.
You see, it’s about how the art is bottled for each practitioner and his environment.
In 1998 I had the privilege of being ordained as a 35th generation Shaolin Layman Disciple under the very credible charismatic 34th generation Shaolin Warrior Monk, Grandmaster Shi Yan Ming.

My disciple name, Shi Heng Tong - meaning to travel the world for knowledge - was given to me after a very intense and interesting ceremony when Grandmaster Yan Ming visited South Africa. It was at that stage the most humbling yet proudest moment in my martial arts’ career.

Since then I have continued my training in New York at the Shaolin Temple USA under my Shaolin Sifu. Many Shaolin forms, weapons and Qi Gung sets as well as Ch’an Buddhism were covered over many years. Many of my senior students joined me for training in the USA with huge enthusiasm and great success.
Because Grandmaster Shi Yan Ming is such a strong Sanda (fighting) practitioner I have learnt a lot on that front and enjoyed some professional and amateur tournament successes over the years. I’ve always had such a profound respect for martial artists that understand the importance of the martial ability in their art.

As I got older I started to lean closer to the softer arts. With Grandmaster Shi Yan Ming I learned the Shaolin Chen Tai Ji form with its applications and the Shaolin Chi Gung sets, which also assisted me with my hard chi gung demonstrations.
In 2003 while visiting and training in Deng Feng City in China I had the privilege of meeting a Wudang priest. Even though I had heard and even seen some Wudang forms performed in competitions my knowledge on the style was extremely limited.

True Wudang masters are few and far between and even those forms seen in competitions are often cheap knock-offs of the real deal. I was fascinated by the way this man carried himself. His philosophy on life was all encompassing practicing Traditional Chinese medicine, wushu and Taoism. It would only be years later after some serious Wudang training that I would come to understand what the priest was trying to explain to me with such patience that day. Without getting into too much detail it had a lot to do with choosing my Dao (path). Since then I’ve had the opportunity to be taken in as a student of Grandmaster You Xuande. My disciple ceremony took place in China at Grandmaster You Xuande’s temple in Yin Shan Village.

On a winter’s day in December with snow and freezing temperatures my Wudang generation name You Li Fei was bestowed upon me. Some of my senior students who accompanied me to China for training were witness to one of the oldest and sacred agreements between Sifu (master) and Tho Di (disciple). This 14th generation Wudang Grandmaster has brought up many Wudang masters. Some of his students head up Taoist Temples in the majestic Wudang Shan (mountains) and others stay with him as he passes his valued knowledge on to them. Grandmaster You is very selective with who he teaches and training with either him or any of his senior students has always been awe-inspiring. It is with this training in China (sometimes 3 trips a year) over the past few years that a more in depth understanding for the softer styles (Tai Ji, Hsing I, Bha Gua Chang) was instilled in me.

My Dao has been interesting and fulfilling. I believe I am training with the best kung-fu masters in the world in the form of Shaolin Grandmaster Shi Yan Ming and Wudang Grandmaster You Xuande. I’m often asked whether both styles can be studied together. Of course! They compliment each other in their differences by way of their strengths and weaknesses. I’m a much better martial artist and person because of both styles.
In my opinion both Shaolin and Wudang are complete systems on their own but conveniently some overall basic wushu training techniques are shared by both. It is a well known fact that the Shaolin in the north of China is the external (yang) style where the Wudang in the South is the internal (yin) style of wushu. Both of which have influenced hundreds, if not thousands, of martial art styles all over the world. The truth is that the yin/yang relationship is present in both styles. They are, however, approached and expressed differently.

I believe we all have different needs and choosing one’s Dao is a very private and personal affair. What I can tell you is that the oldest most credible system is worthless in the hands of those who don’t understand it just as the best talent is wasted on a meaningless untested system. Identify your needs first then proceed in finding the art suited best to serve those needs. Sounds selfish yet one cannot invest successfully and knowingly into something that’s out of one’s character.