Roy:

> Most of the "old" masters in China were well-known for their excesses
> (mostly sex and drugs). Yip Man was a heroin addict. His son, Yip Chun
> smokes constantly and seems to get by with less than an hour of sleep.
> Cheng-Man Ching, the recent Yang-style master, was no picture of
> radiant health. Therefore, I'm not too surprised that a few of the
> masters of Internal Martial Arts in China drop like flies while still
> in what should be their prime.


Wasn't Yip Man Bruce Lee's master? I don't think the way external
martial arts were practiced in ancient times was beneficial to
health. They certainly became excellent fighters, but the trainings
were too exhausting and, by stressing too much on power, they injured
their joints. So, when they grow older, they usually turn to internal
arts, not really because internal arts are more "advanced", but
because they just have already inflicted too much harm to their body.

BTW, Cheng-Man Ching was one of the first masters to reveal the real essence
of Tai Chi, i.e. a real art of fighting (the techniques are not performed
slowly, but with speed and power). But practicing that way too much is
not necessarily beneficial to health.

Concerning sex, I read that an excess is incompatible with the
practice of meditation: one shouldn't have sex 24 hours before or
after meditating, otherwise it could even be dangerous. Moreover, Chi
Kung contains many sexual techniques, aimed at increasing the body's energy,
but these techniques were teached only to the most advanced students, who
wouldn't waste their energy in sexual depravation. That't why many masters
became angry when Mantak Chia revealed many techniques that were still
kept secret.

> In his book "Manger Vrai", GCB claims to have been a student of
> Selvaraj Yesudian. He points out that Yoga did not help this
> Yoga "Master" from dying of a heart attack while in his prime.
> It is arguable that this individual was really an adept, and
> he was not a hindu (was a christian) and was not bound by many
> of the hindu precepts regarding diet and discipline.

> Aajanous Vollenplanitz uses Vishnudevananda as a role model
> to trash yogis. Again a poor choice. Vishnudevananda stopped
> Hatha Yoga practice after he gained visibility in the West.
> His diet was really bad. He aged most ungracefully, and died
> a few years ago of septic fever in India.

> I suspect that if you weed out the money-making charlatans
> and the excesses-prone individuals, the Chinese Internal
> Martial Artists and Indian Hatha Yogis have a good record
> of health and longevity.

You are right to point out that maybe lifestyle and diet are more
important than exercising. Legends say that some masters went to the
mountain, ate practically nothing, fed only on pure air and lived
200 years and even more; and that maybe some of them fasted many years,
during which the process of aging was stopped, because the Chi of the air
is pure, whereas the food Chi is not. Of course, I don't believe that,
but I think the ancient masters were conscious that they poisoned
themselves with (probably cooked) food, so, the less they eat, the longer
they live. What seems amazing to me is that they had never thought about
eating raw... Contrary to the Essenes who, by many spiritual aspects,
were very close to Yogis and Chi Kung practitioners, and considered food
as important to find harmony with Mother Nature.

> Personally, the last few weeks of raw diet have done more
> for me than years of martial arts or yoga.

During my cooked years, I confusely felt that my body was continuously
intoxing because of too much stress (but I didn't suspect cooked food),
and that it needed regular cleansing. However, the garbage bin filled
quickly, hence my frustration. I became a kind of training-addict: I had
to practice every day, but that didn't leave any time for my body to rest.

Now, I am not such an addict anymore, but I still feel the need to
practice, and I am convinced that proper exercising is necessary to
attain higher levels of health.

> But then,
> I am not a master of either. (Maybe "Web Fu", the art of
> long distance intimidation :-)

We are all Web Fu addicts here...

Best,

Jean-Louis.