Throughout ancient Chinese and Japanese history there are numerous legends involving weapons that contained supernatural powers. Our weapons training in Bali, is an infusion of Qi, Spirit, meditation and more. Once the student has a good grasp of the 8 Mother Palms and most of the 8 Animals, they will be ready to begin training with weapons. Our weapons training here in Bali is not a common one. It is not meant as strictly means of self-defense. It is actually a spiritual experience. In fact, for many Asian culture's weaponry is actually a way to get in touch with the feminine side. Beyond this, there is a spiritual aspect. In Asia there is the Keris, which is, a symmetrical dagger that the Asians believe is also a spirit. This same mysterious culture pervades Thailand, Brunei, Malaysia and is even in the Philippines where it is called the Kalis. The Keris is said to possess special magical powers. Sometimes the locals will bring their Keris to a person who can communicate with spirits where the Keris has even been filmed moving. In modern day Japan there are hundreds of cartoons depicting swords with magical powers. Even in the US there are movies like Ghost Sword who go into this mysterious world of ghost like weapons.
I have a female student who has been training Qigong in Bali here with me for a while. She has a deep seeded fear of weapons, in particular the knife. Due to this fear, she instinctively felt she needed to train in it. Her instincts were right on. I told her she needed to embrace her fear and eventually that fear would dissolve. If we take the knife training of Black Jaguar Baguazhang the knife becomes an extension of us. It becomes like the wild cat’s claw. There should be no separation between the practitioner and the knife. It should feel as if it is a part of your body. Eventually after meditation training, knife Qigong training and then combat training her fears will likely subside and even change into something completely different as this corresponds the changes that the iChing reveals to us.
Weapon Meditation Training
We have multiple meditations to do with our weapons. For the knife we have stillness meditations where we sit in stillness holding the knife with both hands. The knife pointed upwards towards the sky to link with heavenly energy or hold the knife so the tip of the blade is pointed downwards at the earth to connect with earth energy. We have meditations to infuse our spirit into the weapon and become one with it. We always offer our gratefulness to the weapon along with a special prayer.
5 Element Knife
We have a way to express the different elements with sword and knife. For example, and Earth strike would be going towards the earth in a downward striking motion. Water sword and knife movements are circular, flowing, coming out and returning. Metal sword and knife movements are chopping like movements, cutting straight through. Fire sword and knife movements spark out like a dancing flame. Wood movements resemble that of an arrow as it stabs forward.
Through the various stages of weapons training you can see clearly it is not just about picking up a weapon to fight, it is a much deeper experience. Through deeply understanding your weapon through meditation, understanding the elements, the spirit and the abilities of you and the weapon you will create a spiritual manifestation unlike one you would ever expect.
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