Understanding these will help you a lot in understanding why the various “hands” in Wing Chun work, such as Bong and Tan, and especially how making someone “wrong” works in terms of the physics.
What Happened When Bruce Lee Challenged His Original Kung Fu Master
Article from Screenrant with some additional details on Bruce’s last interactions with Wong Chun Leung.
“The sparring continued for a while longer, and once it was over, the two engaged in a friendly argument over who won, with neither being willing to admit that the other was better.”
What Happened When Bruce Lee Challenged His Original Kung Fu Master
They’ve basically added a few more comments from Wan Kam Leung, one of Sifu Wong’s top students and someone who was there for these interactions (there is footage of Wan sparring with Wong on the set of Enter the Dragon). I met him a few years ago at a Sifu Gary Lam function at Lam’s studio in LA (before masks!). Sifu Wan was very impressive and interesting to watch up close. His modified version of Wing Chun is hard to describe but very functional! He has added a lot of controlling actions that are part Chin Na and in part more reminiscent of internal styles like Tai Chi, with an absorb character. I’ve heard he has done some security work, so in that context, more Chin Na makes sense.
Steven Moody with Wan Kam Leung and Gary Lam
Awareness and Fighting
“Qi Magazine: What are the principles of I-Liq Ch’uan?
Grandmaster Sam Chin: I-Liq Ch’uan is based on T’ai Chi and Zen principles. So you can say it has its roots in Taoism and Buddhism.
It is based on non-assertion, non-resistance, and an understanding of yin and yang. The training is being mindful, which means neutral, formless and in the present, to become fully aware. Action and reaction are based on mindfulness. If not, then they are based on mental habitual reflex, which is the mental expressions accumulated from past experience. In this case you are not in the moment and not with the condition as it is. When you are in the moment you can flow. Flowing is to be with the conditions, not backing off, or resisting, just sensing and merging.
From flowing you can observe the condition as it is, and then merge, to be as one, harmonizing with the environment and the opponent. When you harmonize then you can take control. Mindfulness is the cause, and awareness is the effect of being mindful. We need to understand the learning process, which is merely to recognize and realize; it is not to accumulate or imitate as that is just building another habit.
From Zen we need to empty ourselves so that the nature of all things can reveal itself to us.”
Qi Magazine Issue 41, 1999
