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This is the History of Choy Lee Fut as told
by Master Chen Yong Fa, the direct descendant of Chan Hueng the
founder of the Choy Lee
Fut system of Chinese Kung Fu. |
This is the first time
a direct descendant of Chan Heung, the founder of Choy Lee
Fut has written publicly on the origin of the art based on
documents kept within the family. It is important that the
correct historical information be recorded and kept for a major
system of martial arts such as Choy Lee Fut, especially when
the tradition is still alive and well within the reach of its
followers. Although Choy Lee Fut is a relatively modern style
by Chinese standards (most of its practitioners would be only
sixth or seventh generation students), its roots can be traced
back to the Shaolin temple and as such, the knowledge it contains
can give a vital insight into the teachings of the original
Shaolin martial arts.
Now that a member of the Chan
family is in a position to speak out and offer his family knowledge
to the world, it is hoped that others in the Choy Lee Fut fraternity
worldwide will rally to his call and help to strengthen and to
spread this system of authentic Shaolin martial arts. |
Chen Yong Fa
My name is Chen Yong Fa, and I am a fifth generation direct
descendant of Chan Heung – the founder of Choy Lee Fut.
I was born in Kwangchow (Canton), China. At the age of four,
my grandfather, Chan Yiu Chi, and my father, Chan Wan Hon, taught
me the art of Choy Lee Fut. By recalling conversations with elders
of the family, and by reference to the writings of my ancestors,
I hope to write briefly in this article the origins of Choy Lee
Fut so that others may have a better understanding of our system
of martial arts.
Chan Heung’s First Two Teachers My great-great-grandfather,
Chan Heung was from the village Ging Mui2 in the district of
Ngi Sai, the county of Sun Wui, in the Kwuntung province. From
the age of seven, Chan Heung was taught martial arts by his uncle/village
elder3, Chan Yuen Wu.
Although only a boy, Chan Heung was strong and quick to learn.
He had a natural ability and quickly succeeded in gaining the
affection of his uncle, who spared no effort in teaching him
all that he knew. Within a few years Chan Heung’s kung
fu had made such remarkable progress that he was invited to set
up his own school for his uncle in the town of Sun Wui.
As time passed, and his reputation began to soar, he gained
many students. One day he discovered that another instructor
by the name of Lee Yau Shan had been invited to teach in the
neighbourhood. Lee was a disciple of the Shaolin monk Jin Sin,
and his skill was said to be formidable. Chan Heung, being strong
willed and a lover of a good fight, decided to test his skills.
He ambushed Lee as he was leaving a restaurant and tried to throw
him to the ground by putting both his arms around Lee’s
waist. However, Lee took the attack calmly, bent his knees slightly,
and lowered his chi and centre of gravity in such a way that
no matter how hard Chan Heung tried, he could not make Lee budge.
Lee then spun around, lifted his foot to trip and kick at the
same time, and threw him yards away. Lee was rather curious about
his assailant upon seeing that Chan Heung was able to leap up
uninjured after his fall. Lee complimented Chan Heung, then demanded
to know what school he belonged to, and the reason for attacking
him in such a sneaky fashion rather than challenging him properly
to a fight. Chan Heung felt ashamed, and replied that the attack
was his own idea in an attempt to test the inadequacy of his
own skill, and that he did not want to implicate his teacher
for his own defeat. Lee, amused at this reply, left Chan Heung
in his bewilderment.
Days later, Chan Heung learned that Lee had remarked that someone
as young and strong as Chan Heung, with such intelligence and
ability, was wasting his life and talent because vanity prevented
him from improving his skill. Chan Heung then realised the truth,
that there was no limit to the art of kung fu, and he immediately
resigned from his post as Chief Instructor, enrolling in Lee's
school instead. Chan Heung was Lee's disciple for five years,
and took his skill to a new height.
The Monk Choy Fook
One day, Lee Yau Shan and Chan Heung heard of a recluse monk
by the name of Choy Fook, who was living in a temple on Mount
Law Fou. This monk was renown for his skill in Chinese medicine.
Lee told Chan Heung that if the monk was so skilful in dit da
(treatment of muscular and skeletal injuries), he must also be
skilful in martial arts. Bitten by the bug of curiosity, Lee
and Chan decided to visit this monk immediately. On reaching
the temple gate, they encountered a man, old in years, yet tall
and muscular with a penetrating gaze. He claimed that he was
a disciple of monk Choy Fook and invited the two visitors to
enter the temple and take some tea with him while waiting for
his teacher's return from his daily rounds.
Lee Yau Shan got up and walked to the side of the old man's
stone rice grinder ... and kicked the rice grinder clean off
the ground. The old man watched with amusement. He then walked
up to the rice grinder and chopped off a corner of the top slab,
pulverising it with his bare hands and throwing the powder in
front of Lee.
While the two visitors were seated, the old man proceeded to
chop the wood to boil the water, doing so with his bare hands4.
Lee's curiosity was aroused. He commented to Chan Heung that
this old mans kung fu was quite good, and that if he was showing
off for their benefit it meant they must reply with some of their
own tricks. Lee got up and walked to the side of a stone rice
grinder5 that was lying next to the temple steps. He first loosened
the soil around the stone slabs, then stood back and kicked the
rice grinder clean off the ground. The old man watched with amusement.
He then walked up to the rice grinder and chopped off a corner
of the top slab, pulverising it with his bare hands and throwing
the powder in front of Lee, announcing that he was indeed Choy
Fook and that the powder was a memento for intruders who did
not behave in proper manner.
Lee, filled with respect for Choy Fook, thanked the old man
and left immediately, leaving Chan Heung behind to deal with
the situation. Being a guileless young man devoted to martial
arts, Chan Heung realised that this was an opportunity to further
his training under another teacher of superior skill. He immediately
fell on his knees in front of the monk and begged Choy Fook to
accept him as a disciple. Choy Fook surveyed Chan Heung in silence
- taking in the young man's mannerisms - and finally concluded
that the request was a genuine one. He smiled and said to Chan
Heung that if he wished to be a disciple he must obey the following
three instructions or else he must leave immediately. These were
the three instructions that Choy Fook ordered Chan Heung to obey:
1. Chan Heung must stay with him in the monastery for at least
ten years until the end of his apprenticeship;
2. Chan Heung was forbidden to use his skills to kill of to
maim, and must never be boastful of what he attained;
3. Chan Heung must kick the rice grinder back into its original
resting place. 6
Much to Chan Heung's delight the rice grinder fell back into
its old hole easily, and he became Choy Fook's disciple.
For the next ten years, Choy Fook taught Chan Heung kung fu
with great discipline and precision. Each new technique took
days to learn, and Chan Heung had to master each new movement
with speed, accuracy, power and understanding before the next
could be taught. Chan Heung found his kung fu improved remarkably,
and was very different to what it had been. The knowledge passed
down by Choy Fook, whether bare fist techniques, the staff or
wooden dummy training aids etc., was endless and full of subtle
changes, like nature itself. A combination of hard work, dedication,
natural ability, and the karma of a good teacher, enabled Chan
Heung to complete his training within the ten-year period.
Choy Fook Bids Chan Heung Farewell
One day Choy Fook hosted a banquet for Chan Heung and proceeded
to bid him farewell. During the festivities Choy Fook told Chan
Heung of his own origin. He was originally from Fukien Shaolin
monastery, which had been destroyed by fire. While he was in
Fukein, the Ching army invited 36 monks from his monastery to
help quash the rebellion in Tibet, which had been going on for
three years. It took three months to get Tibet under control
again. Fearing the martial prowess of the Shaolin monks, the
Ching government invited the monks to join the court as monk
soldiers. When the monks refused, the Ching government, fearing
future opposition, decided to eradicate the entire Shaolin monastic
order by putting the torch to the whole temple complex on the
25th day of the 7th moon in the 11th year of the reign of Emperor
Jung Jing7. All save six monks perished; Choy Fook was one of
them and escaped with his head on fire. He was nicknamed 'rotten
head' because of the burn scar on his head. Later on he made
his way to Mount Law Fou in Kwangtung province where he went
into hiding.
Choy Fook admonished Chan Heung that if one truly wanted to
follow the way of the Shaolin, it was necessary to seek the way
of the Buddha, as well as learning Chinese medicine and the 'six
magic spells'.
Choy Fook continued to say that Shaolin fighting arts had originated
with the founder of the monastery, Monk Dart Mor (Bodhidhama)
and later on had been improved by Monk Gok Yuen and others. Masters
from outside the monastery had also been invited to contribute
their skills. These included the famous Lee Sau and Bak Juk Fung.
With time and constant experiment Shaolin fighting arts were
further refined. Six years of Shaolin kung fu practice could
be regarded as a small accomplishment; ten years could be regarded
as a qualified accomplishment. Choy Fook said that he was not
quite sure whether it was Chan Heung's good fortune or his (meaning
Shaolin martial arts) that Chan Heung had succeeded in learning
all that he could teach, since he was quite resigned to the fact
that he might die in this wilderness, taking his art with him
to the grave. Although he was quite willing to send Chan Heung
home, Choy Fook continued to say that to be a true follower of
Shaolin, one must also seek the way of the Buddha as well as
learning the 'six magic spells'. Hearing that, Chan Heung decided
to stay for an extra two years until he was ready to leave the
monastery in the twelfth year.
At the time of his farewell, Chan Heung asked his teacher to
spell out his future. Choy Fook told him that although he was
not meant for the life of a court official (by sitting the martial
examination), he and his offspring would be leaders of men as
long as the Shaolin tradition was kept alive.
Amongst other advice given, Choy Fook gave Chan Heung a double
couplet which time has proven to be authentic:
"The dragon and the tiger met in heaven, to revive our
Shaolin ways"
"Teach you followers righteousness, let each generation
uphold and enliven"
When Chan Heung bid his final farewell, he was accompanied
by three of his brothers in learning all the way down the mountain
slope. They were Jeung Tin Cheung (nicknamed Courageous Jeung),
a monk from Mount Law Fou by the name of Tung Kwan, and a man
from his own Sun Wui county called Chan Chung Nin.
Chan Heung Returns to the Sun Wui County
Chan Heung returned to his village and set up a clinic to treat
the sick and help the poor. Later he was persuaded by the elders
of the family to set up a school in the village ancestral hall.
He called the place Hung Sing Gwoon and his clinic Wing Sing
Tong. At the time he reasoned that all the major branches of
Chinese martial arts originated from the Shaolin temple, such
as famous styles under the family names of Hung, Lau, Choy, Lee,
and Mok. Seeing that his brand of kung fu was also taught by
the teachers with the surnames of Choy, Lee and Chan, he thought
it would be right to synthesise their teachings and give it a
name that would commemorate and honour their deeds, instead of
selfishly calling it the Chan style. He chose the name Choy Lee
Fut, giving the explanation: Choy in the honour of monk Choy
Fook, who gave him much of his knowledge; Lee, in honour of Lee
Yau San, and at the same time commemorate other pioneers such
as Lee Sau, who came and expanded and improved the range of Shaolin
martial arts; and Fut, meaning Buddha, to commemorate the Buddhist
origins of the art, since all his three mentors could trace their
linage back to the Shaolin temple.
Three years later, at the invitation of his uncle and the local
overseas Chinese association, Chan Heung left his village for
the Northern Ocean.8 There he taught the overseas Chinese for
three years, followed by three years in Hong Kong to teach his
local country compatriots. He then travelled to the Southern
Ocean (Malaysia and Singapore) to teach in the Kwangtung Association
for several years. Upon his return to Mount Law Fou to visit
Choy Fook he discovered that the monk had died during his absence
at the age of one hundred and twelve.9 Interpreting that fact
that he had not been able see his teacher one more time before
his death as a meaningful sign, he chose to do penance by undertaking
the task of editing all his learning into one book in order that
there would be a written record for posterity, and thus preventing
the possibility of misinterpretation and ambiguity creeping into
the art. He named the manuscript 'The Manual of Choy Lee Fut
Fighting Arts'. 10
My great-great-grandfather passed this art onto his sons, Koon
Pak and Si Long (also known as On Pak). Si Long received only
the medical knowledge and the magic formula. He died early without
a male heir.
My great-grandfather, Koon Pak, passed the art on to his son
Yiu Chi and he in turn passed it onto my father, Wan Hon. Yet
it is mainly through the efforts of the first three generations
that the art of Choy Lee Fut has spread far and wide throughout
China, Hong Kong, Macau, south east Asia and the western world.
My father died in Canton in 1979, now it is my turn to carry
on the family's tradition of propagating the art of Choy Lee
Fut.
Written by Chen Yong Fa
Translated by Howard Choy
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