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Chapters

Body

  1. 1. The mountain at the centre Song Shan 0:58
  2. 2. Thirteen staffs Song Shan · Luoyang 0:50
  3. 3. Five animals Qiao 1:04
  4. 4. Needle and fire Mawangdui 1:04
  5. 5. Help in time Guangzhou 1:06

Mind

  1. 6. The wall Song Shan · Luoyang 1:27
  2. 7. The snow Song Shan 1:11
  3. 8. The archer, the rooster and the knife Liezi · Zhuangzi 1:18

Spirit

  1. 9. Chen Village Chenjiagou 1:06
  2. 10. The crossing Taishan · Hong Kong · São Paulo 1:12
  3. 11. The master São Paulo 1:15
  4. 12. Stopping the spear Everywhere 1:17
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The Scroll

The scroll: twelve chapters in ink on paper, from Song Shan to São Paulo, with subtitles and the sources of every line.

The scroll unrolls on empty paper, one drop of ink becomes Song Shan, and a temple appears in a pine wood at the foot of the western peaks.

一 · 山 · Body · 0:58

The mountain at the centre

  1. First, the paper. Nothing has been written yet.

  2. In the middle of China stands a mountain: Song Shan, the Central Peak.

    History Wikipedia: Mount Song

  3. The ancients called this land the centre of heaven and earth.

    History whc.unesco.org: 1305worldheritagesite.org: 1305

  4. On the west side stands Mount Shaoshi. That is what Shaolin means: the wood of Shaoshi.

    History Wikipedia: Mount SongWikipedia: Shaolin Monastery

  5. In 495 Emperor Xiaowen built a temple there for Batuo, a monk who came from India.

    History Wikipedia: Shaolin MonasteryWikipedia: Batuoihchina.cn: 13786

A monk turns his staff on a ridge, thirteen monks walk down a mountain path, a stone stele keeps their names, and the temple burns and stands again.

二 · 棍 · Body · 0:50

Thirteen staffs

  1. Buddhist texts remember the monk Sengchou for his staff and his empty hands.

    History Wikipedia: Shaolin kung fuWikipedia: Batuo

  2. In 621 monks of Shaolin captured Wang Renze, who had seized the temple's land.

    History sohu.com: 920352422 121614014newworldencyclopedia.org: Shaolin Monastery

  3. So they helped the prince Li Shimin. A stele from 728 keeps his letter and thirteen names.

    History Wikipedia: Shaolin Monastery Stele

  4. A saying about weapons: the staff is the ancestor of a hundred weapons.

    History gcores.com: 182240

  5. In 1928 a warlord's soldiers burned the temple. In the 1980s it was rebuilt.

    History Wikipedia: Shaolin Monastery

An old physician beside a door that turns on its hinge; a student takes five animal postures as five papercut animals appear; the southern fighting animals answer on the back of the paper.

三 · 禽 · Body · 1:04

Five animals

  1. Almost three centuries before the temple, a physician lived in Qiao: Hua Tuo.

    History Wikipedia: Hua Tuo

  2. He told his student Wu Pu: the body wants work and movement, but never to exhaustion.

    Quotation Wikisource: 卷82下

  3. Then the blood flows and illness cannot arise, just as a door hinge never rots.

    Quotation Wikisource: 卷82下Wikisource: 卷29

  4. “I have a method: the frolics of the five animals. Tiger. Deer. Bear. Ape. Bird.”

    Quotation Wikisource: 卷82下

  5. Wu Pu practised it. Past ninety, his eyes and ears were clear and his teeth firm.

    History Wikisource: 卷29

  6. Later the south trained five others: dragon, snake, tiger, leopard and crane.

    History shaolin.org: five-animal-setWikipedia: Animal styles in Chinese martial arts

  7. Five animals to heal. Five to fight.

Bamboo slips unroll, a man digs a well in dry ground, a silk figure shows eleven channels as lights through the paper, and a bronze man lets one drop out at a needle.

四 · 針 · Body · 1:04

Needle and fire

  1. A book more than two thousand years old, the Yellow Emperor's Inner Classic,

    History en.unesco.org: 438

  2. says the ancients lived long because body and spirit stayed together.

    Quotation Wikisource: 素問第一卷

  3. “The sage does not treat the illness that has come. He treats it before it comes.”

    Quotation Wikisource: 素問第一卷

  4. “Digging a well when you are already thirsty: is that not too late?”

    Quotation Wikisource: 素問第一卷

  5. At Mawangdui, in a tomb closed in 168 BCE, silk texts describe eleven body channels.

    History ncbi.nlm.nih.gov: PMC5337347

  6. In 1027 the physician Wang Weiyi had two life-size bronze men cast.

    History Wikipedia: Wang Weiyi (physician)

  7. It is said that in exams the bronze was coated in wax, and the right point let out a drop.

    Legend viewofchina.com: bronze-men

A traveller takes a small book from his sleeve, a hand wrings a herb over a bowl, a physician bows to a line of different patients, and a master sets a student's arm in a Canton clinic.

五 · 救 · Body · 1:06

Help in time

  1. Around the year 340, Ge Hong wrote a book of remedies for emergencies.

    History Wikipedia: Tu Youyouari.nus.edu.sg: 20331-108

  2. Its title says “behind the elbow”: a book to carry in the sleeve, always at hand.

    History ari.nus.edu.sg: 20331-108

  3. It says: a handful of qinghao in water; wring it out and drink the juice.

    Quotation Wikipedia: Tu Youyou

  4. In 2015 Tu Youyou won the Nobel Prize. Ge Hong's recipe taught her not to boil the plant.

    History Wikipedia: Tu Youyou

  5. Sun Simiao, the King of Medicine: the great physician does not weigh rank, wealth or age.

    Quotation Wikipedia: Sun Simiao

  6. In the south, kung fu masters treated falls and blows: 跌打 medicine, “fall and strike”.

    History Wikipedia: Dit dawords.hk: 跌打

  7. In 1886, in Canton, Wong Fei-hung opened his clinic. His greatest fame was as a physician.

    History Wikipedia: Wong Fei-hung

A monk before an emperor, the same monk standing on one reed over a white river, and a cave high on the mountain where, over a long silence, his shadow sinks into the rock.

六 · 壁 · Mind · 1:27

The wall

  1. Another monk came from the west: Damo. A book of 547 places him at the temples of Luoyang.

    History Wikipedia: BodhidharmaWikipedia: A record of Buddhist monasteries in Luoyang

  2. Tradition tells that Emperor Wu asked him how much merit his temples had earned him.

    Legend Wikipedia: Bodhidharmatreetopzencenter.org: 886

  3. “None,” said Damo. Then he crossed the great river standing on a single reed.

    Legend Wikipedia: Bodhidharmachinesenotes.com: 35520metmuseum.org: 73645

  4. The conversation was first written down in 952, four centuries later.

    History Wikipedia: Bodhidharma

  5. Tradition tells that he sat in a cave above Shaolin, facing a wall of stone.

    Legend Wikipedia: BodhidharmaWikipedia: Shaolin Monastery

  6. Nine years. Without speaking.

    Legend Wikipedia: Bodhidharma

  7. It is told that his shadow stayed printed on the stone.

    Legend faena.com: the-legend-of-bodhidharma-and-his-shadow-impressed-in-the-shaolin-cavesohu.com: 414249523 299181

  8. The early texts say “wall-gazing”. A wall of stone, or a mind as steady as one?

    History encyclopediaofbuddhism.org: Bodhidharmaprojects.mcah.columbia.edu: 4823terebess.hu: bodhidharma-eng

Night falls on the paper; a scholar stands outside the cave while the snow, made of untouched paper, rises to his waist.

七 · 雪 · Mind · 1:11

The snow

  1. Tradition tells that a scholar, Shenguang, climbed to the cave and asked to be taught.

    Legend Wikipedia: Dazu Huike

  2. Damo did not turn around. Shenguang stood in the snow all night.

    Legend Wikipedia: Dazu Huike

  3. By morning, the snow reached his waist.

    Legend Wikipedia: Dazu Huike

  4. “My mind is not at peace. Master, pacify it.”

    Legend treetopzencenter.org: gateless-gate-case-41-bodhidharmas-mind-pacifying

  5. “Bring me your mind, and I will pacify it.”

    Legend treetopzencenter.org: gateless-gate-case-41-bodhidharmas-mind-pacifying

  6. “I have searched, and I cannot find it.” “There. I have pacified your mind.”

    Legend treetopzencenter.org: gateless-gate-case-41-bodhidharmas-mind-pacifying

  7. He received the name Huike and became the second patriarch of Chan.

    Legend Wikipedia: Dazu Huike

A man lies under a loom, a louse on a hair grows into a wheel, a rooster grows still as wood, and an ox opens into the spaces between its joints.

八 · 道 · Mind · 1:18

The archer, the rooster and the knife

  1. In the book Liezi, the archer Fei Wei tells Ji Chang: “First learn not to blink.”

    Text ctext.org: tang-wenzdic.net: 懸虱en.5000yan.com: piercing-flea-splitting-willowedb.gov.hk: KS3 03

  2. Ji Chang lay two years under his wife's loom, eyes on the treadle as it rose and fell.

    Text ctext.org: tang-wenzdic.net: 懸虱en.5000yan.com: piercing-flea-splitting-willowedb.gov.hk: KS3 03

  3. “Now learn to see the small as large.” He hung a louse on a hair in his window.

    Text ctext.org: tang-wenzdic.net: 懸虱en.5000yan.com: piercing-flea-splitting-willowedb.gov.hk: KS3 03

  4. In three years it looked as big as a wheel. His arrow went through it; the hair held.

    Text ctext.org: tang-wenzdic.net: 懸虱en.5000yan.com: piercing-flea-splitting-willowedb.gov.hk: KS3 03

  5. In the Zhuangzi, a king's fighting rooster. Ten days: proud. Twenty: it leaps at shadows.

    Text Wikisource: 達生

  6. Forty: others crow and it does not move. It looks carved of wood. The others run.

    Text Wikisource: 達生

  7. In the same book, Cook Ding: “After three years I no longer saw the whole ox.”

    Text Wikisource: 養生主chinesenotes.com: zhuangzi003

  8. “Now I meet it with my spirit, not with my eyes. My knife is nineteen years old.”

    Text Wikisource: 養生主chinesenotes.com: zhuangzi003

The Yellow River as a band of white paper, the loess terraces, and a figure performing the opening of Laojia Yilu against a large low sun, each posture leaving a pale trace.

九 · 陳 · Spirit · 1:06

Chen Village

  1. North of Song Shan runs the Yellow River. On the far bank lies the Chen family village.

    History chenbing.org: origin-of-tai-chiWikipedia: Chen-style tai chi

  2. Chen Wangting commanded the county garrison. When the Ming fell in 1644, he came home.

    History Wikipedia: Chen-style tai chiWikipedia: Chen Wangting

  3. The family tells that he joined his experience of war to the body's channels and daoyin.

    History Wikipedia: Chen WangtingWikipedia: Chen-style tai chi

  4. Zhou Dunyi wrote: movement at its extreme becomes stillness; stillness moves again.

    Quotation crta.info: 太極圖說與通書 - D6.12hk01.com: 168264

  5. In 2020 UNESCO inscribed taijiquan as heritage of humanity.

    History ich.unesco.org: taijiquan-00424

  6. Today a master from São Paulo studies Chen style in this village.

    Source: Pak Shao Lin and the master

From the single-whip hand one brush line runs south to Taishan, where the largest name card of the film is pressed, then crosses a wide sea of wave bands to São Paulo under the Southern Cross.

十 · 海 · Spirit · 1:12

The crossing

  1. In 1936, in Taishan in southern China, Chan Kowk Wai was born.

    History Wikipedia: Chan Kowk-wai

  2. Taishan calls itself the first home of the overseas Chinese.

    History Wikipedia: Taishan, Guangdong

  3. He began training at four. In 1949 his family moved to Hong Kong.

    History Wikipedia: Chan Kowk-wai

  4. Under many masters he studied Northern Shaolin, Yang taiji, bagua, xingyi and Choy Li Fut.

    History Wikipedia: Chan Kowk-wai

  5. In 1960 he crossed the ocean to Brazil and began to teach in São Paulo.

    History Wikipedia: Chan Kowk-waiperiodicos.uem.br: 7765

  6. In 1973 he founded his academy. In 1979 Gilmar Dantas became his disciple.

    Source: Pak Shao Lin and the master Wikipedia: Chan Kowk-wai

  7. In 1984 Gilmar founded Pak Shao Lin in São Paulo: the Little Forest of the North.

    Source: Pak Shao Lin and the master

  8. Grandmaster Chan Kowk Wai died in São Paulo in 2022, aged 85.

    History Wikipedia: Chan Kowk-wai

A boy in a São Paulo backyard grows into a master who stands alone on a ridge against the sun; fire rises and water meets it; houses keep their lanterns lit.

十一 · 師 · Spirit · 1:15

The master

  1. Willians Correia was born in São Paulo in 1981. He has trained since the age of seven.

    History actionkungfu.com.br: equipeYouTube: pj2mKW1Fyeo

  2. Brazilian, with his heart in the Chinese martial arts.

    Source: Pak Shao Lin and the master

  3. A disciple of Gilmar Dantas, he became a master at Pak Shao Lin in 2018.

    Source: Pak Shao Lin and the master pakshaolin.org: histsifuwil

  4. He has trained with many masters, in Brazil and in China.

    Source: Pak Shao Lin and the master YouTube: hi0id49GpHAvakinha.com.br: 5326998

  5. He is a kung fu teacher, a stunt performer and an actor. And a civil firefighter.

    History actionkungfu.com.br: equipe

  6. In Brazil a civil firefighter prevents and fights fires and gives first aid.

    History planalto.gov.br: L11901vriconsulting.com.br: ocupacao

  7. The sage treats illness before it comes. The firefighter works before the fire.

    History Wikisource: 素問第一卷planalto.gov.br: L11901

  8. Mencius wrote of neighbours who keep watch together and support one another in sickness.

    Quotation chinakongzi.org: page47chinesenotes.com: 108564

Dagger-axes lie on a plain while a king raises his hand; the brush writes 武 beside the paper figure from the snow; the master's name appears, the seal is pressed and the scroll rolls closed.

十二 · 武 · Spirit · 1:17

Stopping the spear

  1. In 597 BCE, after a great victory, King Zhuang of Chu

    Quotation zdic.net: 武aisixiang.com: 167843

  2. refused to pile up the enemy dead as a monument.

    Quotation zdic.net: 武aisixiang.com: 167843

  3. “Look at the character for martial,” he said. “It joins stop and spear.”

    Quotation zdic.net: 武aisixiang.com: 167843

  4. “The martial stops violence, puts weapons away and gives the people peace.”

    Quotation zdic.net: 武aisixiang.com: 167843

  5. The word 功夫, kung fu, first meant skill built from time and hard work.

    History Wikipedia: Kung fu (term)

  6. “My life is Kung Fu of Body, Mind and Soul.” — Master Avatar Aang Willians

    Quotation YouTube: pj2mKW1Fyeo