two real-life Zen kung fu stories

FYI: Zen stories are short parables which capsure the essence of Zen philosophy. recently, i've found myself as a character in them...


1. One day, after an intensive training session, Young Mega and 4Higher were relaxing with a discourse on hard versus soft. For example, what technique would win out of Sanda versus Tai Chi Chu'an.

"soft always beats hard", said 4Higher, "when you use the opponents own strength against them".

"But what if someone is too strong for the person to yield, and they connect a blow? Soft loses", argued Young Mega.

"that is a question of technique", replied 4Higher. "Look, which is harder, water or rock? Rock, but water can break and shape rock, as you see in nature."

Young Mega smiled and replied, "I'm pretty sure it's paper that beats rock".


2. After an evening meal following a long sparring session, Young Mega was beratting his training partner with claims of how strong his Kung Fu had become.

4Higher calmly set down his tea, turned to Mega and said, "it is not the squawking of its voice nor the flapping of it's wings that makes the eagle deadly".

Mega laughed and said ,"na, but its funny as!"

TMD in Hastings

what did u get up to this weekend? Went to hastings.
here are touristy photos to prove it

i think this iconic clock tower would be better if the sheep were real..
pleanty cool art deco architecture in the centre, lamposts even:

ha ha ha
but as per usual, we were there to paint big colourful words on walls.

looking good Gary!

not that great painting on unprimed wood, but i like the texture so left heaps of it exposed around my piece which is clearly influenced by traditional chinese art and cartoon dragons:
and then we did seconds...
this time i discovered a style of a lost civilisation!
don't worry Addy, i won't divulge the secrets of the hidden temple

Gee'd up

curved walls... ooosh yeah!!! this is in my friends studio, I painted last week

let em know

today was the last day of a workshop i've been tutoring... sun came out for us, i think springtime is hitting aucks!

back in

we have been virtually paintless for the last couple months... til now



sorry about the poor resolution... still sussin out new camera

Zen and the Bible

over the past year or so, i have been slowly but surely been reading my way through the Old Testament... Christians keep telling me to read the new one, but hang on, first things first!

Anyway, i have always been a fan of Zen Bhuddist philosophy, which goes perfectly with my Kung Fu training. We have a Christian friend at my Kung Fu club, the other day as she was leaving i says to her, "Bhudda bless you" and she says, "I hate Bhudda!"

there are no accidents or coincidences, which is why this is perfect timing with where i'm up to in the Bible, a chapter called "Ecclesiastes". Its my favorite part so far. Check these quotes, they are so Zen:

1:2 "Meaningless! Meaningless!" says the Teacher. "Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless".

2:15 Then I said to myself,
the fate of the fool will overtake me also.
What then do I gain by being wise?
I said to myself, "this too is meaningless".

4:4 And i saw that all toil and all acheivement spring from one person's envy of another. This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind

and my favorite:

4:6 Better one handful with tranquility, than two handfuls with toil...

so if you're wondering, what exactly is Zen? Here's a quote from some guy Alan Watts who seems to get it:

"Zen does not confuse spirituality with thinking about God while one is peeling potatoes. Zen spirituality is just to peel the potatoes."

mmm potatoes!

what happened?!

hey! what a slack dude ay... shocking even! Well, i been busy away from the world of blogging, spending too much time learning Kung Fu at a new club uptown.
I'll post info up soon about joining cos its well worth it, in fact it has changed my life!

anyway i lost my camera which is another great excuse for not posting in a while... i'll get a new one this week so this blog will be re-invigorated like my chi flow :)