Behind the Shaolin Butterfly Gung Fu System

A Better Way of Doing Shaolin Gung Fu

I was getting nowhere studying Kung Fu.

I had twenty plus years of Karate, knew aikido and a bit of Wing Chuna nd Northern Shaolin, but I wanted the temple stuff!

I wanted the things you saw in those great Shaw Brothers movies!

I wanted unique training methods wherein Kung Fu would burst over me and I would suddenly know the secrets of the universe!

One day this fellow walks in, gives his name as Richard, and wants to take Karate.

But I knew he knew something. His attitude, the calm in his eyes…he knew something.

So we talked, and it turned out he knew Tai Chi and Pa Kua, and…Shaolin.

Real Shaolin. Fut Ga Shaolin, which is ‘Five Monks,’ and is so named after the five monks who escaped the burning of the Shaolin temple hundreds of years before.

Now, why did he want to study Karate?

Well, actually, he didn’t. I mean, a little, but what he really wanted was a place to work out.

So we ended up trading systems.

I taught him Karate, and he taught me Shaolin.

Form by form, we went through, and the ancient mysteries, well, they didn’t burst over me, they sort of dribbled.

Don’t get me wrong, it was cool, it was exciting, but, it was also not very logical.

Same as any martial art these days, and more than most (it had had a long time to get messed up), the whole thing was made up of random sequences of motion.

Not everything worked.

Took a long time to learn.

I was in heaven, of course, dribble or burst. But I kept looking for the key to the whole thing.

And there, in one of the forms, was a sequence of steps, and suddenly the dribble did burst.

Man, I took that footwork and began matrixing it. Worked it from every angle, and plugged in Shaolin concepts one after the other.

That opened the door, broke the dam, put fireworks in the sky.

I remember spending hours and hours, late at night, working out in the middle of the street. Didn’t have a dojo in the house, so I just went out in the street, stepped out of the way of the occasional car, and worked my way through Shaolin.

Now it made sense!

Now it was EASY to learn.

And I didn’t give up any of the ancient stuff. Same moves are still there, same techniques, but everything is rearranged so that it makes sense, so that the chi still comes from the moves, but the moves come slick and easy and logical, arranged in perfect order.

I renamed what I was doing The Shaolin Butterfly. The footwork, you see, looked like the wings of a butterfly.

And that is how one of the oldest and most respected forms of gung fu, Fut Ga (Five Monks), became upgraded, empowered, and matrixed.

Checkout the Shaolin Butterfly Gung Fu at Monstermartialarts.com.

How I learned The Shaolin Butterfly Gung Fu

The Shaolin Butterfly Kung Fu

I was getting nowhere studying Kung Fu.
I had twenty plus years of Karate, knew aikido and a bit of Wing Chuna nd Northern Shaolin, but I wanted the temple stuff!
I wanted the things you saw in those great Shaw Brothers movies!
I wanted unique training methods wherein Kung Fu would burst over me and I would suddenly know the secrets of the universe!
One day this fellow walks in, gives his name as Richard, and wants to take Karate.
But I knew he knew something. His attitude, the calm in his eyes…he knew something.
So we talked, and it turned out he knew Tai Chi and Pa Kua, and…Shaolin.
Real Shaolin. Fut Ga Shaolin, which is ‘Five Monks,’ and is so named after the five monks who escaped the burning of the Shaolin temple hundreds of years before.
Now, why did he want to study Karate?
Well, actually, he didn’t. I mean, a little, but what he really wanted was a place to work out.
So we ended up trading systems.
I taught him Karate, and he taught me Shaolin.
Form by form, we went through, and the ancient mysteries, well, they didn’t burst over me, they sort of dribbled.
Don’t get me wrong, it was cool, it was exciting, but, it was also not very logical.
Same as any martial art these days, and more than most (it had had a long time to get messed up), the whole thing was made up of random sequences of motion.
Not everything worked.
Took a long time to learn.
I was in heaven, of course, dribble or burst. But I kept looking for the key to the whole thing.
And there, in one of the forms, was a sequence of steps, and suddenly the dribble did burst.
Man, I took that footwork and began matrixing it. Worked it from every angle, and plugged in Shaolin concepts one after the other.
That opened the door, broke the dam, put fireworks in the sky.
I remember spending hours and hours, late at night, working out in the middle of the street. Didn’t have a dojo in the house, so I just went out in the street, stepped out of the way of the occasional car, and worked my way through Shaolin.
Now it made sense!
Now it was EASY to learn.
And I didn’t give up any of the ancient stuff. Same moves are still there, same techniques, but everything is rearranged so that it makes sense, so that the chi still comes from the moves, but the moves come slick and easy and logical, arranged in perfect order.
I renamed what I was doing The Shaolin Butterfly. The footwork, you see, looked like the wings of a butterfly.
And that is how one of the oldest and most respected forms of gung fu, Fut Ga (Five Monks), became upgraded, empowered, and matrixed.

Check it out at MonsterMartialArts.com, or just click the link below.

http://monstermartialarts.com/martial-arts/6-shaolin-butterfly/

 

Monster Newsletter #298–A New Master Instructor!

Man!
When it rains it pours!
Another new Master Instructor,
talk about making my day!
So here are the words of the latest…

Dear Al,
I have purchased your courses on Matrix Karate, Butterfly Pa Kua Chang, Matrix Tai Chi Chuan, The Master Books, The Punch and the Master Instructor Course. I do not know why I waited so long to purchase the Master instructor course because it should have been the second course I purchased. Either way I have learned from each course. I am surprised at how much information and detail I have been able to absorb. I now can look at Pa kua forms for example and without being shown any application can already see the applications. My brain starts to process applications faster than I can say them.
Studying your Master Instructor coarse has taught me so much that I almost do not know where to begin. It has helped me to realize any shortcomings in my teaching methods. The coarse has given me a greater appreciation for my instructors and Masters. There were things in the Master Instructor course that I remember having been taught. As a result there are specific instructors I feel compelled to go back to and just say thank you!
Being taught by many different instructors has allowed me to first hand learn the importance of showing proper application of technique to a student. There were times I would learn a form but not know how to apply it. Another instructor would show application and I would look at the movements in the form with a newfound understanding and appreciation. They now had purpose. I like that your forms have application upon application. There is nothing mystical, just pure science.
The four powers were enlightening to me. After I purchased your book on The Punch I began to explore the powers. Seeing it in the Master Instructor coarse made me examine how the four powers work in all my techniques.
Looking at my Tan Tui forms I now understand and recognize them clearly.  I can now honestly say that I can take any move from my forms and apply it directly to my sparring. I’ve used techniques as simple as springing Leg form 2 to move guys across the floor. I was the guy you spoke about who would CBM by accident. I had a lot of lucky accidents. Now there is no accident. I have been able to move guys twice my size with ease.
The six (secrets) are amazing concepts and ways to analyze my techniques. Chin Na Fa techniques and any joint locking techniques are now easier to breakdown. There is so much technique to analyze that I can give myself a headache. Yet I cannot think of anything else worth getting a headache over. Thank You Al for your knowledge and experience!
Sincerely,
Luis Bonnet

You’re welcome, Luis,
and I thank you.

Now,
listen,
there are a couple of points here
that we should take note of.

One, applications as the key to understanding the art.
We can understand this from several viewpoints,
and Luis has summed them up beautifully.

After the Master Instructor Course
you should be able to make a technique out of anything.
Period.

Two,
the speed of absorbing the information.
Matrixing is not a system,
it is a method for absorbing systems.
Done properly,
and it is hard not to do properly,
you don’t learn with it,
it enables you to absorb,
which is not just an advanced method of learning,
but the way human beings are supposed to input knowledge.

Look,
children are taught to read
one
word
at
a time.
And hardly anybody
actually considers
how a grown up should learn.
Well,
that’s where matrixing comes in.

Third,
and I think this is incredibly important,
Luis has increased respect
for his instructors.

You know,
I get hate mail every once in a while.
It’s always from people
who have never taken a course,
and have judged me without knowing what I am doing,
and they miss the point…
I love and am in awe
of the instructors,
the masters,
the guys who started systems
who went before…
they were giants.
They ignored the gaps of knowledge in their own minds,
created their masterpieces,
and passed on the data.
Do you know how much strength of character it takes
to do something like this?

So they should be respected.

And,
people often overlook one other thing,
I am not out to destroy the art,
I merely want to enhance the arts.
Make them not a mystery,
make them so anybody can achieve
the incredible abilities
the martial arts have to offer.

Look,
compared to Joe Normal,
you are stronger and longer lasting,
you have patience and an ability to see
to the heart of things.
When bullies arise,
so do you.

Wouldn’t you want
everybody in the world
to be like you?

You should.

So,
get the rest of the world to do the martial arts.
Confidence and competence
leads away from fighting.
Being calm and patient
makes human beings.

The concepts of the martial arts
leads one to solutions in real life.
Wouldn’t you like people to solve problems
and stop the whining and fighting?

Man,
I could go for hours on this,
but,
I need do only one thing,
get somebody out there
to do the Master Instructor Course.
One person.
One more idea in the world
that people are good
and we deserve better
and we CAN get along.

One person.
Which one of you is going to step up to the plate?
Which one of you has read the Master Instructor Wins
and wants some of those wins for yourself?
Which one of you wants the abilities,
like being able to make an application out of anything,
the ability to absorb whole fields of knowledge,
the gratitude for those who have gone before,
the ability to take students
and even entire arts,
and transform them
into something the planet needs,
that mankind needs?

Which one of you?

The MasterInstructor Course

Congratulations,
Master Instructor Luis Bonnet,
and thank you for showing the way.

Al

:o)

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Supercharging For The Most Powerful Punch!
Leave a comment, it helps my statistics.

A loving heart is the beginning of all knowledge.
Thomas Carlyle

Internal Karate, Matrixing, And The Strongest Punch!

Using methods developed through Matrix Karate, it is possible to build Internal energy literally within days. The actual physics of the matter, the exact science, is very easy to describe. Of course, there are a couple of items that the budding student should note.

I’m going to start with the cautions for the simple reason that I don’t wish for my methods to cause injury to anybody. I found that it was very easy for over exuberant students to throw the shoulder out of socket when throwing punches. This destruction of the rotator cuff and associated elements can be avoided through utilization of classical form.

When somebody throws a punch and lets the arm bang against the confines of proper shoulder construction the tendons and ligaments finally give way. If you practice holding the shoulder back, however, as in classical karate, the structure remains intact and is not damaged. I recommend that you search for classical movements which do not hurt the body, but which utilize the whole body (turning the whole body into the motion).

Also, I discovered that as the power builds it is possible to give oneself whiplash. This is the result of throwing energy through the body and the neck not being able to support the sudden increased magnitude and flow of that energy. I advocate that people learn to minimize their effort, and this through the study of energy and relaxation as practiced by some internal styles such as Tai Chi Chuan.

There are other cautions I could give you, specifically to be careful not to grind the knees by pivoting on weighted feet, throwing the hips out when kicking, and that sort of thing. The cautions I have given you here, however, and the previous sentence, should enlighten you as to how to avoid such problems. Thus, let’s move into internal energy.

Take a pipe about 18 inches long, put a golf ball in it, and cap the ends. Tape the pipe to your arm, and perform strikes in such a way that the golf ball strikes the end cap at the same moment you end your strike. I know it sounds awkward, but soon you will learn how to move the golf ball smoothly through the pipe.

This is what internal energy feels like, and you can take this concept and apply it to blocks and kicks, and the entire motion of your whole body. Now get rid of the pipe and ball and practice getting the feeling of moving weight through your arm so that you feel energy wooshing through the arm and collecting, suddenly and with focus, in your fist. Heck, now that you know the ‘energetical’ physics of what is going on, you don’t even need that silly pipe and ball tool.

Pipe and ball or not, you are going to learn subtle motions that will help you increase your energy, and, if you are smart, you will learn the benefit of classical studies. The classics of karate, Kung Fu, or other arts, have been developed to give this type of power. With the degradation of art in the last few decades, however, it is only through Matrix Martial Arts that the physics are coming to light again.

The Craziest Self Defense Technique in the World!

I taught my son Karate. Taught him well, and he knew what good karate was. One day he came home laughing. I asked him what was up.
“I just learned the craziest self defense technique in the world!”
I asked him what it was.
“You jump high in the air, and come down and punch the other guy on the foot.”
Now, he was laughing, I was laughing, and you’ve probably got a chuckle ready to go as you read this.
Jump high to punch low? The foot?
What was wrong with the guy who told my son this technique?
Interestingly, I heard a coach on the Ultimate Fighting Championship recommend this technique.
Hmmm.
Fortunately, I avoid those techniques. Jumping high in the air just to get low enough to hit a foot is not one of the techniques you’ll learn in the Shaolin Butterfly.

Real Shaolin Gung Fu, As It Really Happened!

The era of the ultimate and real gung fu was about 1975 to 1985, give or take a few years. Of course, the time period could probably include the time period of 1985 to 1995, because that is when those movies hit the late night TV circuit. And, of course, chop sockies forever, because we can now get them on Amazon, though we should make sure it is a clean copy and that we have a good DVD player.

One could make argument that Bruce Lee provided the first chop sockie, and they wouldn’t be wrong, for his movies started the flood of kung fu flicks in America. The first real chop sockie, however, would have to be Five Fingers of Death, with the incredible Lo Lieh. Lo Lieh, who jammed his broken fingers into cauldrons of red hot iron filings until he could have his revenge.

The main chop sockie movie maker, though there were hundreds, would be the Shaw Brothers. They churned out hundreds of the things, and they convinced the world that if you had an idea and dedicated yourself, you could learn gung fu. The main man of Shaw Brothers was a fellow name of Gordon Liu.

Gordon Liu knew real gung fu, and I believe he was adopted into a family of movie makers. One brother was the director of these magnificent masterpieces, and the other brother was involved with stunt work. I think that was the situation.

Among his masterpieces, and I will name three here, was The Master Killer, also known as Thirty Six Chambers of Death. Mr. Liu always played endearing fools, tilting at windmills, who, through Kung Fu, came out on top. The Master Killer was his entry into the field, and it shoved him right to the top.

One of his gems was Return to the 36th Chamber, where he plays, surprise of surprises, an endearing fool. The plot is silly, the acting is farcical, but the idea that one can learn kung fu from the common tasks of life is incredible. And, when our bumbling fool returns to his village, entirely disillusioned, only to find out what those nefarious monks have done to him…well, the phrase ‘I Do Know Kung Fu’ becomes a clarion call and inspiration to all kung fu students everywhere.

My favorite of Gordon Liu’s movies is called Fists of the White Lotus. Our endearing fool is betrayed, practices for ten years so he can have revenge, only to find out that the bad guy has also had ten years to practice. This movie inspired Bak Mei of Kill Bill fame (played by Gordon Liu) and far outshadows such well meaning epics as Kill Bill and Crouching Tiger and that ilk.

The originals, you see, provide innocence and inspiration that are undeniable. You want to learn real Shaolin gung fu? Go find these movies, be inspired, and live life the way it was meant to be lived.

Why Shaolin Kung Fu Will Never Be a Submarine!

To understand why Shaolin Kung Fu will never be a submarine you must understand what a submarine is. A submarine is a shape designed to travel through a specific liquid substance. Because of this all submarines eventually come to be the same shape.

This is just the physics of the matter. The submarine is designed conical because that is the best shape for traveling at speed through water. Any other shape would cause the submarine to slow down, or travel inefficiently.

If the sub travels slower, it can be shot by enemy subs. If it has a different shape it cannot turn quickly enough to defend itself. This is all related to combat and combat functions.

Shaolin Kung Fu is taught by patterns, and the patterns are designed to travel through a different substance. The Shaolin forms are designed to travel through air, and with an eye to the effects of gravity. But such considerations do not limit the Shaolin master, but rather unlimit him.

The patterns, you see, are designed around the construction of the body, and the body can react to air and gravity in many different ways. The body of the Shaolin Master is trained to act other than a human body. The body of the Shaolin Master can take on the aspects of a Monkey, or a Crane, or any other animal.

Thus, the limit of the environment is changed by the body that is traveling through it. And the body traveling through it is changed by the considerations of the being operating the body. And, the person operating the body can change how he uses it on a whim.

A submarine can never change, and if you built a submarine in a different shape, the submarine would not work. But Shaolin monks are built to assume a variety of shapes. The key is the mind.

The ability to change shape, to shift the way one moves, is possible through enhanced intelligence. To learn how to use the body in a variety of ways enhances the intelligence. It may have taken great intelligence to make a submarine, but a submarine can’t do Shaolin kung fu, and will never be a Shaolin Kung Fu Master.

Six Steps to Martial Heaven!

Good morning!
I just did a whole buncha Tai Chi
up on the roof,
and
halfway through,
I get so heady
it’s hard to go on.
I mean…
heaven.

And,
what do you do after you go to heaven?
What’s left?
Why,
write a newsletter,
of course.
And who said heaven doesn’t get any better,
eh?

So,
in considering what to write
I found myself talking with the Rocket
up Canada way,
and we were talking about hips,
and this is a great subject for the newsletter

In Kenpo we never talked about hips,
we always just went with the speed of the hands
being sufficient to
put in the power.
So,
no hips,
except the wiggle at the conclusion of punch
that I sometimes speak ill of.

Then I went to the Kang duk Won,
classical karate,
and I learned to put the hips into the motion.
Slamming them like a door.
We used to practice this every class,
at the kang duk won.
Standing in a front stance,
pivoting into a front stance with a reverse punch,
back and forth
front stance to front stance,
slam, slam, slam.

At the conclusion of my Kang Duk Won training
I realized that I didn’t have to slam the hips,
just make small motions,
take them in and out of the technique,
just a shift of body alignment,
and this was what some people called
hip vibration.

Then,
a decade or so passes,
and I write the article on Karate and Internal power.
It’s on the site somewhere.
and the idea of concentrating power in the hips
is replaced by turning the body,
using it like a pipe half filled with sand,
to make all the sand on the inside
slam at the same time.

And, another decade or so passes,
and I realize that
I don’t have to roll the whole body,
I can just ‘slosh’ the tan tien
and
‘let go’
and energy will manifest
and be usable.

So,
here’s what we have

1 No hips (hip wiggle)
2 hip slam
3 hip vibration
4 body like a pipe
5 tan tien like a cup
6 let go

Now,
a couple of problems.
Tai Chi tries to go to number five
without doing the first four.
No wonder tai chi takes a decade or two

Karate goes to number three
and no further.
They need to find number three,
and then change arts.
And every art has this problem,
in addition to not understanding
the exact sequence
as I have listed it here.

You have to be able to do every step
and be able to teach every step,
or you have missing data.
Blank spots in your art.

It’s not enough to know there are blank spots,
you must actually force yourself to look at the blank spots.
But it’s not hard to do,
if everything has been written out for you.
Easy to understand english.

Of course,
(curses!
here comes the pitch!)
you might have to part with a small sum.

The Punch has this stuff in detail,
and gives all the data.

And,
if you really want to jump whole hog,
then you just need to purchase whatever art you need
to fill in the blank spots of your education.

There is a progression of hard to soft
on the list I have given to you.
So figure out what you need.

That simple.
And,
if you have question,
ask me.
I usually have an idea,
can at least hint you in some direction.

Now,
I need to do some rewriting,
but you actually have two choices
two different deals you could take advantage of
on The Punch.

Try this one
The Punch!
and if you don’t like it,
you could head over to
Punchemout(dot)com
and check out the deal there.

Whatever you want.

Now,
I get so many wins in the mail,
and I really don’t share them as much as I should,
so here’s one…

…I am know using kickboxing to teach force and the 40 monkeys to teach flow.  I am using your approach of teaching power and then flow.  I use a little matrix aikido to teach how easy it is to block circularly.
Yours in the “True Art”
James Sanders

This is just a snippet
of a win
from the wonderful James Sanders,
out Oklahoma way.
James has been around a long time,
and I wanted to share his win,
and give a bit of acknowledgment
to his hard work.

I really get a kick
when people explain
some of what they are doing.

I mean,
what am I doing it for?
It all has to get used!
Or why do it,
eh?

So thanks,
James,
and thanks to all you other
karatekas
and Tai Chi players
and Pa Kua-ists
and Aikidokas
and Kenpokas
and everybody who studies the art.

Through art one can find heaven,
and I wish heaven for all of you.

Talk to you later,

Al
:o)

PS–Google Al Case and a martial art and see what happens. Al Case Karate, Al Case Aikido, and so on.
And please leave a comment after you’ve read an article. This always helps my statistics.

Life is growth. If we stop growing, technically and spiritually, we are as good as dead.
Morihei Ueshiba

The Fastest Method to Reach Enlightenment

The four methods to achieve enlightenment are the way of the fakir, the way of the monk, the way of the yogi, and the way of the martial artist. In this bit of writing we shall discuss what is special about the way of the warrior. After all, enlightenment is a good thing, and it would be a good idea to speed up any individuals progress on the way to enlightenment.

It is said, of the four paths to enlightenment, that the way of the martial artist is the fastest. This is an interesting viewpoint of enlightenment, for one would think that a path dedicated to things war would be the slowest. After all, learning how to maim and destroy one’s fellow man would seem antithetical to pursuing enlightenment.

First, the warrior deals with worldly matters. He does not turn his attention inward to seek enlightenment, but does his searching in an open manner, seeking out conflict and learning to deal with it. This means, ultimately, giving up the desire for conflict, none of the other enlightenment disciplines seek out conflict in this manner.

Second, the warrior deals with what is real in the universe. We could have a good discussion concerning what is real, but in lieu of that mental exercise let’s just say that the universe is constructed of objects in motion. The martial arts are the only one of the four disciplines that deals directly with a universe filled with objects in motion.

Third, the warrior is much more active in adhering to his discipline of choice. I say this because the discipline of studying the martial arts is an active one. Simply, the warrior has something to do on his way to enlightenment, the other disciplines are somewhat lacking in the necessity for doing something.

Fourth, there is a built in guiding factor in the way of the martial artist. Simply, if a technique does not function, the result will be noted as a punch in the face. This ‘feedback’ device tends to make the artist more demanding in his seeking of perfection and enlightenment.

To conclude, let me say that every method of enlightenment has its strengths and weaknesses. Heck, that was something you already knew. So the point of this article is not to speak ill of other methods, merely to point out how glorious the one you are immersed in is.

You are the one, you see; you are the karateka and the kung fu student and the aikidoka and…the Tai Chi Chuan practitioner. You practice a method, and you are in a hurry, no matter how slow you think you move, to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Godspeed you.

The Three Distractions that Hold One Back from Achieving the True Martial Art.

There is only one thing that holds a martial artist back from reaching the True Martial Art. That one thing has one name…distraction. To the degree that one is not distracted, to that degree he will realize his goals, and to that extent he reaches the True Art.

When one learns the martial arts one learns these training routines called forms. On the surface, the form is a dictionary of applications, of having a curriculum which will teach him higher and higher ranges of art. It is under the surface, however, through the refusal of distractions that one must apply himself in searching for the True Martial Art.

When one can refuse to let his attention wander in the middle of the practice of kata one is cultivating his discipline. When one concentrates only on the unique moves within the kata, and does not allow himself to be led astray, then he is enhancing concentration. The end result of these endeavors is to be able to keep awareness in the martial universe, and not in the universe of trees and bushes and rocks and twigs and such.

The pieces of the form, the applications, are the middle arena of refusing to be distracted. This area, applying technique to a willing opponent, leads one from perfect thought to the execution of perfect idea even in the middle of chaos. When one holds to the physics of combat, holds to his mental focus, holds to the truths he has gleaned concerning his fellow man even in combat, then one is approaching a distraction free existence.

It is in the fact of kumite, however, that one must determine his most adamant refusal of the distractions of the real universe. One must focus on the other fighter, refuse the intrusions of a random world, and build the truth of his own awareness. When one lives as if in a tunnel when fighting his opponent, and can hold to the construction of that tunnel no matter the occurrence, then one has found the True Martial Art.

These three arenas, kata, technique and kumite, are the true gladiatorial property of the True Art. To the extent that one refuses to be distracted, that one becomes pure in the focus of awareness, to this extent one enters the True Martial Art. The real key, to all this, however, lies in the achievement of one singular and important fact.

The universe travels backwards. It is not the flotsam and jetsam of the universe that offer distraction, it is the knowledge that one must not actively go towards a distraction free existence, but, rather, relax so that no distractions can take hold in the soul. It is the emptiness of the universe, perceived by the unimpeded individual, that makes up the Path of the True Art.