For The Record - An Editorial |
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For The Record - An Editorial |
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Dear reader: I originally wrote this in 1998. It is now January 1st 2003. I have left most unchanged and only added some slight revisions to bring things up to date. As we head into the summer of the Year of The Tiger, I am feeling the effects of being born in the year of the metal (valor) tiger of 1950. A quick review of metaphysics: the Tao gave birth to yin and yang. Yin and yang gave birth to lesser yin and lesser yang. In other words, one gave birth to two, which gave birth to four. These four were known as "the guardians of the four corners or "gates" of heaven. The White Tiger was considered lesser yin. Its guardian animal was the White Tiger. Its season was autumn and its element was metal. The only other metal tigers on the planet are 60 years older than I or in other words at least 108 years old. Another interjection here is concerning the number 108. The Tao gave birth to yin and yang, which gave birth to the four. The four always had earth in the center. Earth in this system of metaphysics was China itself in their minds. Thus the "five element" philosophical connection. When and if you study the I Ching, "Book Of Changes," you will see how the math picks up from four to eight. Eight to sixteen, sixteen to thirty two, thirty two to sixty four and finally, sixty four to one hundred and eight. I will leave the missing pieces of the puzzle for you. There will not be a metal tiger born until I am 60 years old. That will be in another 12 years. Most of you will not reach Master Shi Fu by then. Lohon Shi Hing Larry Matheny is 6 year tested, and soon to be 7 by the end of this year. Poise is never rushed. As of this revision, Lohon Shi Hing Black Dragon Instructor of our system; Larry Matheny is now an 11 year tested student in our home study. I’ve always listened to the beat of a different drum, one that comes from my strong belief in Pentecost and the concept of a personal guardian angel. Like my good friend American Kenpo Grandmaster Ed Parker said, it is my life’s background that gives me a certain authority to speak eloquently on subjects that confront us in the times we live. He was referring to me. Those of you under my leadership as 7th generation Jung Shee of Mew Hing’s 18 Daoist Palms System, are unique with a niche no others can claim. I am the first to ever document the string break officially. My roots are Tai Chi Chuan going back to 1973. My Kenpo roots go back to 1975. My first kenpo teacher, Darrally Escalante was an original 1st generation blackbelt of the Tracy’s. Now, use your noggin and comprehend this niche. The Tracy’s were 1st generation Grandmaster Ed Parker blackbelts. It was Ed Parker that helped introduce Wai to many prominent people. Ed Parker’s students, the Tracy’s were the ones that Wai worked for on the West Coast seminar circuit tours with Joe Lewis. Follow the train of thought here. After Darrally, I studied with Parker Linekin. Parker Linekin was the first White Tiger Association Representative in San Diego. He was 1st generation Ed Parker blackbelt Brian Adams’ (who helped run Ed’s Pasadena School around the same time as Dan Inosanto) highest ranking blackbelt and ran Brian’s school for quite awhile. It was Brian who sent Parker to learn most of the material I have archived from the late 60’s and early 70’s. It is documented on video that Parker Linekin was learning and teaching White Tiger (Bak Fu Pai) before Ed Palmer or his students Vincent Pepper or Miguel Garcia. It was this same man, Parker Linekin that became the very first person ever to receive a Grandmaster (Jung Shee) title from Wai. This is a fact. Interesting also is the fact that I was the second person ever to receive a Grandmaster (Jung Shee) title under Wai. Parker Linekin was asked by Wai to introduce me to him. I was the first person ever to reach the rank of 5th degree blackbelt under Parker Linekin. It was Parker Linekin’s recommendation in part that led me to a Shi Fu title in White Tiger 1983, then a Master of Bak Fu Pai in 1985, and finally the inherited 7th generation Grandmaster (Jung Shee) title to five elder monk Mew Hing’s 18 Daoist Palms System (Sup Bat Mo Jung Pai) in January of 1988. All of these titles were from Wai. This does not include 18 iron palm level titles and an exclusive title in the "Shattering Palm. " I have footage of me teaching a seminar for Wai himself at Parker Linekin’s school in Point Loma, CA. Ironically, I taught the 18 Daoist Palms "Sparrow Descending To Its Perch" slow moving meditation solo and two-person forms. Panther Productions has a tape of me and Shi Fu Charlie Goldman doing this material. No grandmasters under Wai have the outstanding kenpo lineage that Linekin and I share. Neither can any of the "new" grandmasters that surfaced 10 years after me , claim lineage over me or Parker Linekin. My niche also is the fact that Kevin Rones, Bob Erhardt, Larry Wilkins, Dr. Bernard Pleet, Dan La Rochelle, Kevin Ulmer, Richard Robson, John Santoiemma, Max Gerber and dozens of others were first students of mine before meeting Wai through me and after me. They are all great teachers, but those are the lineage facts. If you want to talk life experience, Linekin and I are the oldest. If you want to talk professional specialty, my iron palm is second to none in the history of White Tiger. Wong and Lew have books and videos, but no one has ever let out more five elder material professionally (instructional tapes, books, articles and columns) than myself. Robert Gary came to our home study around 1995. He never met or trained directly with Vince or me in person and he was born in 1972. I gave him a Lohon title and he ran my site. In the end, he like the others mentioned; went over to Wai. The thread in common is they all met the system through me and certainly were not my teachers. I was the first Mew Hing Jung Shee with 18 Daoist Palms. Next, many years later came Joel Rizzo with a title Wai gave him in the 90’s with Red Lotus. Gary’s system is another and third that I know of. Vince is 12 years older than Robert and I am 22 years older than Robert. Those are the facts. Robert’s system is Mew Hing’s 108 Dragon’s Palm and has no affiliation with my system of Five Elder Monk Mew Hing’s 18 Daoist Palms. There are a group of us old guard that may have trained with Wai for real and documented it on film as Grandmaster Brian Adams, Grandmaster Parker Linekin, Grandmaster German, Grandmaster Peppers and myself, Grandmaster Lacy; who have gone on to form our own associations. We, who I just mentioned are a group who all share, true friendship in common. Whatever our former teacher does with these new people is his own business, just like my business with him is between him and me. Joel Rizzo’s Mew Hing Red Lotus has nothing to do with 18 Daoist Palms. Our system is much larger and I not only was the first Mew Hing Grandmaster (Jung Shee), but 10 years before Rizzo. Again, I am sure he is a great teacher with a great system, but nevertheless those are the facts. Max Gerber, the new Jung Shee of White Lotus was a great home study student of mine originally. He was the first to work with his girlfriend Sharon and student / friend Rob, to produce a wing chun (1 version) for me. The new Black Tiger Jung Shee, Kevin Rones, was originally a private student of mine. I literally introduced him to Wai and took him with me originally to train with Wai directly at Wai’s house. Some of the time Vince was there. These are the facts. The truth shall set you free. It is said that Wai has proclaimed his retirement. Time will tell if he meant it. In the meantime, as the saying goes, "he who ends up with the most toys in the end wins." No one will ever be able to say that they inherited more information than I did. Compare my mere 40% catalog with the entire curriculum of all three new Jung Shee of Wai’s ten years after me! The new grandmasters have links to me whether they like it or not. I wish all of them the best and much success. So far we of the 18 Daoist Palms System are the most prolific book, magazine and video home study program distributing authentic five elder information than anyone on the planet. Whenever our competitors actually put their two-person forms into a product priced as good as Panther, we will absorb their tidbits back into the 18 Daoist Palms System. If they let their stuff out we will absorb and still dominate the market on five elder information. If they hold back and really don’t have or let out the information, we bury them anyway as far as marketable products. We believe in healthy competition and will always be open to wishing them all the best and cooperating when the opportunity is there and mutual. If they don’t try and absorb our material, they would be foolish. On the other hand, trying to keep up with absorbing our material would divert time from producing their own. The fact that we have the most amount of authentic material would insure our place in history as the system that led the way world wide in authentic five elder information, let out to the public. In closing, remember Bak Mae did it "his" way. The game is lead, follow or get out of the way. Like the "chairman of the board" said in one of his hits, "I did it my way." This column was not meant to offend anyone, merely set some facts straight. The late great American Kenpo Grandmaster Ed Parker never wavered in his endorsement of me. His friendship was real and everlasting. He was one of the last real men amongst men Grandmasters. He wasn’t a "closet" grandmaster; he got off his butt and shared with the world.
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