Narrated By Fellow Initiate Chiu, Miaoli, Formosa Recorded By Resident Disciples, Hsihu Center, Formosa
Brother Chiu is a top student of Tai Chi Master, Mr. Liu Hsi Hung. Many people from the Formosan police force go to him to learn martial arts. Although he had attained a high level of proficiency in Kung Fu after practicing relentlessly for more than twenty years, he could not break through further. Not until he met Suma Ching Hai and practiced the Quan Yin Method, was he able to advance to higher levels.
Once Master asked Brother Chiu to practice martial arts with Her. Brother Chiu was lucky to have an opportunity to 'exchange a few moves' with Master, but he was most surprised. Although it was the first time She had tried, Master showed that She had captured the essence of Tai Chi, both with respect to the use of 'Chi' and in Her style and form. Other people can practice diligently for decades without achieving such results. Immediately this martial arts expert had total and utmost respect for the great spiritual Master, Suma Ching Hai, and verified that She is indeed a very rare Master among masters in all fields. Since then he has become even more sincere in following Master on the path, and keeps telling everyone he meets that practicing the Quan Yin Method is the highest form of Kung Fu.
Brought Up In A Martial Arts Family
From birth, Brother Chiu was brought up by his family with a martial arts background. For several generations, his family members were extremely enthusiastic about practicing the martial arts. During his childhood, in order to learn various martial arts methods, his father and uncles arranged, at great expense, for recognized experts to come from Mainland China to teach them Kung Fu. For more than ten years, in order to pay tutors' living expenses and wages, they sold virtually all of the properties handed down to them by their forefathers. But even this was not enough; his uncles' 'blood brothers' (also studying under the same teachers) had to sell their possessions in order to meet the costs. Under these difficult circumstances, each member of the family cherished the opportunity and practiced earnestly. The big family's traditional Chinese estate, from which the sounds of Kung Fu practice were always to be heard, was like a martial arts school. Very often Brother Chiu's father and uncles had to train by sparring against each other. He recalls that in one of the houses on the estate there was a closed room with only one small entrance. His father and uncles were often called into that dark room by their father or martial arts tutors to spar. No one could tell who was among the group crowded into the room. Whoever lost, or could not bear it any more would emerge from the small hole. The training was indeed very strict.
Brother Chiu was weak and frequently ill when he was young. During his first year in school, he was ill so often that he took dozens of days off in a single term. He was so feeble that he would faint after standing under the sun for only a short time. It was because of this that he later practiced martial arts much more diligently and untiringly than did other people. He studied the Shiaolin method when he was young and changed to Karate at fourteen. Through the strict training of a Japanese Karate teacher, less than half of the five to six hundred students in his class remained after less than two months. Only fifty were left after eighteen months. The teacher's requirements of his students were extremely rigorous. If one was absent without an acceptable reason, he would be beaten by the teacher with a wooden staff the next day. During the practices, each move had to be repeated five hundred times. Frequently, the students had to train against each other. Bruised noses and swollen faces were a common sight. Their fingers were disfigured in the course of hard training such as smashing bricks.
In the days when he studied at the martial arts school, Brother Chiu was never absent. He felt that he should approach everything he learned with all his heart and undivided attention, and that he must not be afraid of hard work or be impatient if he wanted to succeed. Consequently, he accomplished the third duan (level) in Karate after only several years of study. During this successful period, he visited many martial arts schools throughout Formosa to find people who could test his skills. One day, when he was twenty years old, he visited a Tai Chi school and watched a lesson. When he saw that the moves of Tai Chi were very delicate and lacking in force, he felt condescending toward it. He wondered what was so great about Tai Chi that made everyone praise it highly. After the class, Brother Chiu remained unconvinced and asked boldly if he could pit his skills against the teacher's. To his surprise, once the forceful karate moves came into contact with the soft Tai Chi moves, his power was completely absorbed like a rock sinking to the bottom of the sea. All of his attacks were restrained and thus rendered ineffective. He was soundly beaten by the Tai Chi teacher on the spot. Brother Chiu was totally convinced after losing the duel. He never thought that Tai Chi was so profound and incredible that it could use four ounces of force to topple that of a thousand pounds. Immediately he wanted to become a student of that Tai Chi teacher. The teacher saw that he was very sincere and so said to him, "If you really want a teacher, I will introduce you to the head brother of our school." That was how Brother Chiu began to learn from the supreme Tai Chi master, Mr. Liu Hsi Hung.
Having only just begun, Brother Chiu was given special permission to practice with Master Liu's peers within the school. This made him happy on the one hand but apprehensive on the other. He was happy because he could make rapid progress, and apprehensive because Tai Chi is a totally different style than Karate. Tai Chi neutralizes force with softness, with an emphasis on being loose, soft and tender. Karate is exactly the opposite, using force to counteract force, stressing ferocity, intensity and toughness. Now that he had begun to practice Tai Chi, he could not mix it with what he had learned before, which was an extremely difficult change. He was afraid that he would not be able to adapt in a short period of time. However, as long as one has the sincerity to learn, one will be able to overcome even greater difficulties than this. Brother Chiu said that, for over twenty years, he has been very cautious and has not used a single Karate move, dedicating himself to the study of Tai Chi's profound essence. This has the same significance as what Master said in one of Her lectures, "In spiritual practice, you can freely choose your own ideal method and teacher . However, once you have decided to follow any one path, you must focus all of your attention on it. You must not diverge or step on two boats at the same time; that is an incorrect attitude for practice. In this way, you cannot concentrate your strength, and cannot make progress in your practice. You might even cause yourself trouble."
Through Diligent Practice And Concentration A Great Student Outshines The Teacher Brother Chiu encountered many trials when he first began to practice with Master Liu's peers, who purposely wielded a heavy hand on him during their sparring sessions. Very often they pushed him hard, sending him tumbling left and right, in order to cut down his arrogance. Sometimes they intentionally talked disrespectfully about his teacher, commenting that the teacher's skills were mediocre, just to see if he would become angry or lose faith in his teacher and leave for another one. All of these tests motivated Brother Chiu even more. He was determined to practice diligently. Each day he was absorbed in the world of Tai Chi, putting in at least thirteen hours of practice. He never went out shopping or to the movies or restaurants, cutting himself off from all worldly pastimes. He hardly spoke a few sentences in a whole year. His colleagues, friends and relatives all said that he was weird. Because of this diligence, his Tai Chi practice caught up with that of his master's peers' within two years. Consequently he received Master Liu's special attention and coaching. On many occasions Master Liu had Brother Chiu stay behind after a session so that he could teach him individually and explain many important points and details about the moves. It was not for any reason but this, Master Liu said, "I would rather not accept those students who are not serious. As long as you are sincere and earnest in your practice, I will teach you the best that I can. If one is not sincere and hard working, he can not comprehend no matter how much I teach him." This is the same as what Master has taught us, "I would rather teach a few disciples who are truly sincere in their intention to practice than waste time and effort to teach tens of thousands of disciples who seem hustling and bustling but do not truly desire to practice."
With fortitude, he quietly worked hard on his martial arts for almost twenty years, and attained a very high level of proficiency. However, he eventually became stuck, unable to take himself one more step forward to surpass that level. Then he thought that perhaps he could break through this physical level and advance to a higher spiritual level by means of meditation and spiritual practice. Many times spiritual masters wanted to take him as their disciple, but he declined. One day, a relative of his (who was a fellow initiate) introduced him to Master's books. He was delighted once he started reading them. He thought to himself that She was the spiritual teacher he had been looking for. Not long after that, Master lectured for two days at the Dr. Sun Yat Sen Memorial Hall in Taipei. He went to the lecture on the first day, but missed the second day because he had to work at home. His relative (the fellow initiate) told him, "Reciting Master's holy name produces an immediate response." So, on that day, he continuously and sincerely recited Her name. In the evening, while he was administering acupuncture to a patient, he suddenly had a vision of Master lecturing in a very beautiful and august hall. He could see clearly even the color and style of Her attire. It was too much of a surprise to him that he could have such an inner experience while he was working! When his wife returned home from the lecture, he asked her about the color and style of the clothes Master wore that evening as well as the decor of the hall. It turned out that they were exactly as he had seen in his vision.
He had abundant spiritual experiences when he took initiation to formally become Master's disciple. He felt that he had been very lucky all his life, being able to find the best methods and teachers for both his martial arts and spiritual practice. It happened that not long after his initiation Master held a seven-day retreat, which he attended. On the third day, while he was doing Quan Yin, he felt an incredible force rushing up his back, like a big rolling wheel or ocean wave, all the way to his head. He was rejuvenated, relaxed and full of energy. In more than twenty years of martial arts and Qi Gong practice, he had never had such a break through.
On the evening of the first day that Master created the Nectar River at the Hsihu Center, he had a vivid dream about Her and everyone else building the river. He was at the scene too. Master said, "Let's go, We will go up to fetch some beautiful stones." Then She took him and several resident disciples to a place in heaven to look for beautiful stones. A few of those stones had extraordinary shapes and he recognized them when he came to see the completed Nectar River. It is no wonder that many fellow initiates have had miraculous experiences after they took water from the Nectar river home to drink, for the materials used to build the river came from high levels in heaven.
The year before Brother Chiu came to receive his initiation, Master suddenly showed a great interest in martial arts, especially in Tai Chi. For more than a year Master had been asking whether there were any Tai Chi experts among the fellow practitioners in Formosa, who could come to teach the resident disciples. Several came forward to apply for that position, but none were accepted. After Brother Chiu received initiation, one day he took the initiative to ask if he could teach the resident disciples to practice martial arts. Master quickly accepted him! After that he had many opportunities to be close to Master, and got to know Her better. He said that whenever he saw Master, he felt very excited, like a child who meets his parents after having been apart from them for a long time. Very often he could not hold back his tears. On those occasions, he would quickly find a tree to hide behind and cry. The reverence he pays to Master is beyond words; Master once said about him, "The first time I saw him, his face had an ominous look, and he was very serious, as if he had not laughed in years. After practicing for a few months, that murderous look in his eyes gradually disappeared, and he began to smile!" He forgot that "grown men don't cry." The more he practiced, the more he became like an innocent child. Normally he does not chat with people, but when fellow practitioners visit him and talk about Master, he can talk forever.
When Master first instructed him to teach Tai Chi at Hsihu, it was a holy mission to him. In order to be able to concentrate fully and do a good job, he resigned from all the teaching activities for which he was paid, and offered his lifetime of expertise without reservation. Brother Chiu feels that studying martial arts is a great help to one's spiritual practice. Especially in the case of Tai Chi, which uses gentleness to overcome brute force. It is different than other schools of martial arts because it involves less violence. Futhermore, it can train people to improve themselves physically and become full of energy, so that they do not easily become drowsy during meditation, or get back aches. Then it is easier for them to focus their attention, to enter into samadhi and to better enjoy the bliss and pleasure of meditation. Receiving initiation was a crucial turning point in Brother Chiu's life, with regard to uplifting the standard of his martial arts, changing his personality, and so on. It is a joy that he can never stop describing. He has also had the 'indescribable' spiritual experiences that are mentioned in religious scriptures.
The most memorable incident since he has followed Master on the path during the past few years was the occasion when he was scolded badly by Master in front of many people in Hong Kong. He recalled, "At that time, when I was suddenly scolded loudly by Master, I was so stunned that I jumped backwards. That jump might not mean very much to most people, but it has a great significance to a Tai Chi martial arts practitioner." Brother Chiu always thought that he was very good at martial arts. He could remain immovable even when pushed by several big men joining force together. However, the root he had grown from more than twenty years of hard practice had been pulled out by one shout. The chain of scolding that followed made him not know what to do with himself. He had never been scolded like that in his life. He always felt that whatever he did, he did with great seriousness and best effort. He was even prouder of the fact that he was a perfectionist, not allowing himself to have any flaws. He felt that he was most respectful to Master, and that he was a model disciple. No matter how he dwelled upon it, he could not work out why Master had rebuked him that way. For every day of the six months after he returned to Formosa, he struggled within himself, trying to work out why Master had scolded him. He still felt that he had not made any mistakes and that he had been perfect. On the other hand, he knew in his heart that his most trusted and revered Master could not possibly scold him without any reason.
In such a conflicting and complicated state of mind, where he knew that Master was absolutely right, but could not bring himself to admit that he was wrong, he frequently could not bear the impossible knot in his heart, and become so frustrated that he cried aloud while meditating. He even hit himself in penance. Then, one evening after six months, a brother who had been Master's attendant happened to visit him to discuss some matters. During their conversation, the brother told a story about his journey with Master on the path. "Once, Master took a few disciples and myself to the riverside of San Di Men in Pintung for a retreat and to relax. Watching how caring Master was to other brothers, I became very jealous, even to the point that I had some misunderstanding toward Master. As bad thoughts emerged in my mind, immediately I was severely scolded by Master. She would not even allow me to be beside Her. I had not made any mistakes at that time, so none of the other disciples knew why Master had reprimanded me. I was the only one who understood. In fact, I knew that I should not have these jealous feelings, but I could not suppress them. Many times, in order not to destroy the serene atmosphere of the retreat, Master let me do some work at Her side again. However, once I had generated the bad vibrations I was immediately ordered to go away. I was shuffled back and forth that way each day. At that time I thought that Master must be exercising supernatural powers. Otherwise, how could She know so clearly what was in my mind? I kept making efforts to overcome this unwanted trait, but the more Master chastised me, the more jealous I became. It went on for a good few days, and I could not smile even if I wanted to. Every day I felt, both physically and mentally, as if I was carrying a large rock on my back and in my heart. It was so heavy that I could no longer bear it. There were a few times that I thought about leaving Master. I did not want the turmoil in my heart any more. One night about a week later, I sat as usual on a rock beside the river to meditate and repent. As midnight approached, I was suddenly enlightened in some way and the knot that had been in my heart for days was untied. I felt relieved and bright in body and mind. The invisible boulder pressing on me vanished at that moment. Warm tears streamed out of my eyes, and I greatly sympathized with Master. Why, for no reason, did She have to bear all kinds of mental abuse and misunderstandings given by Her disciples? I told myself at that time that I should see Master first thing in the morning, to apologize to Her and tell Her that I had worked it out. That night I couldn't wait, and wished that the dawn would come sooner. Early that morning, as the first light of day appeared, I suddenly sensed that someone was moving about outside my tent. I got up and saw that it was Master. At once I dashed out of the tent. Master was smiling as She sat placidly on a hammock nearby. Happily I ran over to Her and said, "Master! I finally figured it out last night. I am very sorry that I have troubled You during the past few days. I was going to apologize to You first thing this morning." Master said with a joyful smile, "I received this message in the middle of the night. I am happier than you are to learn that you have overcome this obstacle. I wanted to come to see you last night, but it was too late and I didn't want to wake you. That is why I came over so early this morning." Master continued, "It's not that I didn't know that it was very painful for you to experience such torment in your mind over the past few days. I even worried that you could not bear it and would leave the path. I might have forgiven you then, not scolded you and said sweet words to you. But I could not do that, for otherwise you would never have learned this lesson. I wanted to let you surpass the bad habits that you have acquired over your past lives. I was even more nervous than you were." After listening to Master, I was filled with warm tears, and forgot even to say, 'Thank You.'"
'Inner Power' Improved
After listening to the brother's story, Brother Chiu emotionally revealed the inner struggles that he had endured over those six months. He said, "Having gone through these struggles for more than six months, I only figured things out last night while meditating, and untied the knot in my heart. The joy I had was undescribable, just as you have said. I didn't expect that you would come to tell me this story. Had you come a few days earlier, I could neither take it in nor understand it. What a coincidence this is!" It must be Master's arrangement. When I mention Master now, I am almost in tears. What an embarrassing thing it is! He went on, "Actually, from the beginning, I was wrong to look for the reason that Master had scolded me. Even if Master had wronged me, I should not be angry. This is not how I should treat ordinary people, let alone my Master. It was all because I thought too much of myself that I felt unhappy and was concerned throughout this incident. I could not see through the fame and defamation, praise and sarcasm. Spiritual practitioners should not be moved even when blown by the 'eight winds.' Then it was only a breeze and I wavered for more than six months.
I always thought that I was a perfectionist, that I was better than others in everything. I could not accommodate even one tiny mistake. I tied myself down too much. I minded too much. That in itself is a kind of imperfection. Now that I can see the truth, I feel that I'm useless. I see everyone as being better than I am, but this way I feel happier and freer.
Not long after I overcame this inner struggle, I faced a situation where I had to help in a difficult assignment. There were times when I was scolded so much that I hid away and cried, but these unhappy feelings passed away in no time. Being scolded by Master once, I have become immune! It's no wonder that Master jokingly said, "If you can bear my 'Lioness' roar,' you can handle any situation, anywhere you go."
It was a surprise for Brother Chiu that his inner power to take scolding had increased so much. It surpassed his attainments in the martial arts, which had been accumulated over thirty years. He said, "I remember that when I was learning Tai Chi under Master Liu Hsi Hung, sometimes I could not practice correctly the moves that he taught me, neither could I understand the essence of the moves. I felt too embarrassed to ask, and Master Liu did not correct my wrong movements even though he was watching at the side. I tried many ways and exerted my greatest effort, but I still could not appreciate their true nature. A few days later, Master Liu would then come over and give me some suitable instructions, and then I would understand! I feel that in many lessons one must first try to experience extensively, to explore and to learn from various situations. When the time is ripe and with the precise guidance from the teacher, we will truly understand. Last year I was shocked to learn about the passing away of the Tai Chi Grand Master, Mr. Huang Hsin Shien, I was filled with bewilderment. He had applied himself to Tai Chi for his entire life, and reached a level that no one can surpass these days. Now all that is left is his great name; the rest is gone. It suddenly made me change my perspective on life. I am very lucky to have met Master and followed Her to walk on the path before my life comes to an end. So now I will not have lived this life for nothing!"