Touch - but do not touch!Master Zhi
The One Hand Form
My parents had died when I was six years old and my grandparents then brought me to the Buddhist Monastery high in the mountains. For some reason, the monks accepted me straight away without question. I was too young to question or wonder why. But! As I grew into a young man I began to wonder why they accepted me and took me into their home.
No one told me .. at the time .. that my father had been the Master of the one punch form practiced by the monks at the temple. Touch .. but do not touch form. He later left the temple to marry my mother and bear a son. The monks at the temple called me little Xin. I don't know why they called me that .. because I was tall for my age.
For six years I swept the courtyard and the temple floors .. maintaining cleanliness and helping in the kitchen and the garden. Whenever I could sneak into the central courtyard when the monks were practicing .. I would hide and watch them until I knew I had to return to my chores.
When I was thirteen Master Zhi asked me if I desired to learn the Temple's one punch form. I thought I had seen everything there was to see at the Temple in the years I had lived there. What did he mean? The one punch form?
Touch - but do not touch!
There was a wall at the Temple I knew nothing about. It was just a wall! Right! It was a place I had thought was for the monks meditations. If I saw monks standing close to the wall .. they did not move and they seemed deep in silence and inner reflection. The wall was called: The One Punch Wall.
The monks would go to the wall and depending on their levels of Chi and inner advancement it would take them months .. to a few years .. to twenty years practice to carry out their task and achieve the touch with no touch.
I did not know at the time that my father had created the No-Touch Form.
Master Zhi brought me closer to the wall .. but I saw nothing out of the ordinary. It seemed like a normal stone wall of the Inner Temple Complex. Master Zhi had me touch the wall with my hands. I ran my fingers and the palms of my hands across the wall.
The energy was different! Master Zhi watched me and smiled!
I stepped back .. looked more closely .. as I touched the fine indentations on the surface of the wall. These fist forms were created by the monks at the point they achieved the one punch form or what is known as the one hand form after the monk has achieved his aim.
During practice the exercise is a punch .. known to initiates as the one punch form. Once the monks have realised their no-touch intent the practice is known as the one hand form. I touched the surface of the wall again and again. I could feel their energy.
After that I was allowed to study and watch the monks practicing the one punch form before the wall. Day and night each monk would practice his own unique inner form in front of the wall .. perfecting the no touch one punch form. When an indentation appeared .. they would never face the wall again. Their form had changed energetically into the the one hand form.
The one hand form could be applied to any form of martial arts.
Beyond The One Hand Form
While I was practicing at the wall .. I noticed a head monk practicing each day beside me. He was rather large and heavy and yet he always moved with speed, flexibility and elegance. How long had he been practicing? My heart fell into my feet and I began to truly despair.
If this older monk had not mastered the one punch form after all these years! Then! What chance did I have? After a few months I sheepishly asked Master Zhi about the older monk. Master Zhi smiled .. trying not to laugh. "It took you three months to ask this question!" he said ironically.
"Sifu does not need to activate the one punch form," Master Zhi answered, "Sifu is beyond the one punch form .. and so if he touches the wall with his chi he would probably bring down the whole Temple."
Master Zhi walked away .. leaving me in a state of inner shock!
After that day I practiced with Sifu .. always observing his state of mind and his state of Chi. I never wanted to achieve the one punch form .. I wanted to spend my life at the side of Sifu and learn from him.
One day an indentation appeared in the wall before me.
I bowed to Sifu and later began training in silent hand.
The form I was to create.
No one told me .. at the time .. that my father had been the Master of the one punch form practiced by the monks at the temple. Touch .. but do not touch form. He later left the temple to marry my mother and bear a son. The monks at the temple called me little Xin. I don't know why they called me that .. because I was tall for my age.
For six years I swept the courtyard and the temple floors .. maintaining cleanliness and helping in the kitchen and the garden. Whenever I could sneak into the central courtyard when the monks were practicing .. I would hide and watch them until I knew I had to return to my chores.
When I was thirteen Master Zhi asked me if I desired to learn the Temple's one punch form. I thought I had seen everything there was to see at the Temple in the years I had lived there. What did he mean? The one punch form?
Touch - but do not touch!
There was a wall at the Temple I knew nothing about. It was just a wall! Right! It was a place I had thought was for the monks meditations. If I saw monks standing close to the wall .. they did not move and they seemed deep in silence and inner reflection. The wall was called: The One Punch Wall.
The monks would go to the wall and depending on their levels of Chi and inner advancement it would take them months .. to a few years .. to twenty years practice to carry out their task and achieve the touch with no touch.
I did not know at the time that my father had created the No-Touch Form.
Master Zhi brought me closer to the wall .. but I saw nothing out of the ordinary. It seemed like a normal stone wall of the Inner Temple Complex. Master Zhi had me touch the wall with my hands. I ran my fingers and the palms of my hands across the wall.
The energy was different! Master Zhi watched me and smiled!
I stepped back .. looked more closely .. as I touched the fine indentations on the surface of the wall. These fist forms were created by the monks at the point they achieved the one punch form or what is known as the one hand form after the monk has achieved his aim.
During practice the exercise is a punch .. known to initiates as the one punch form. Once the monks have realised their no-touch intent the practice is known as the one hand form. I touched the surface of the wall again and again. I could feel their energy.
After that I was allowed to study and watch the monks practicing the one punch form before the wall. Day and night each monk would practice his own unique inner form in front of the wall .. perfecting the no touch one punch form. When an indentation appeared .. they would never face the wall again. Their form had changed energetically into the the one hand form.
The one hand form could be applied to any form of martial arts.
Beyond The One Hand Form
While I was practicing at the wall .. I noticed a head monk practicing each day beside me. He was rather large and heavy and yet he always moved with speed, flexibility and elegance. How long had he been practicing? My heart fell into my feet and I began to truly despair.
If this older monk had not mastered the one punch form after all these years! Then! What chance did I have? After a few months I sheepishly asked Master Zhi about the older monk. Master Zhi smiled .. trying not to laugh. "It took you three months to ask this question!" he said ironically.
"Sifu does not need to activate the one punch form," Master Zhi answered, "Sifu is beyond the one punch form .. and so if he touches the wall with his chi he would probably bring down the whole Temple."
Master Zhi walked away .. leaving me in a state of inner shock!
After that day I practiced with Sifu .. always observing his state of mind and his state of Chi. I never wanted to achieve the one punch form .. I wanted to spend my life at the side of Sifu and learn from him.
One day an indentation appeared in the wall before me.
I bowed to Sifu and later began training in silent hand.
The form I was to create.
