White Crane beginner form, Lok Lik Kuen

[Flying Crane]

 

[Xue Sheng]

How many empty hand forms are there in White Crane?

 

[Flying Crane]

How many empty hand forms are there in White Crane?

I’m not sure actually, and it depends on the specific lineage.

Ng Siu-chun named his adopted son, Tang Ja-Meng as his successor, but there were other students of his who were older and decided to split on their own. I believe some forms may have been developed in the context of specific lineages. One of our beginner forms (not one that I’ve posted) is specific to Luk Chi-Fu lineage, who was my sifu’s first teacher. Sifu later became disciple of Tang Ja-meng.

What I know is that Lok Lik Kuen has several variations, taught at beginner, intermediate, and advanced levels. I’ve learned several variations, and only practice a couple of them and may have forgotten one. Sifu told us that he has created his own version of that one as well, but I’ve not seen it and I do not know if he has taught it to anyone.

At beginner, we have a minimum of four, depending on how you count them. The really long one, chuit yap bo Kuen, which I posted a few days ago, is sometimes broken into two parts and the second part then goes by the name dai saat. Also, a couple versions of Lok lik Kuen could be taught at beginner, so you could count perhaps six sets at beginner, but I count it as four.

Intermediate has four, including a version of Lok Lik Kuen.

Ive not learned beyond intermediate, which is still a whole lot of material, and plenty to be a teacher.

I’m not sure how many are at advanced, and disciple level, but I think about four or five each. Sifu gave us a list of the sets, but it is packed away right now. Also, in his book, he mentions a couple of other forms that were not on his list, so I don’t know what their status is. And some of the forms are “little”, as in Siu Ng Ying, little five animals, which implies there is a big five animals, or else simply five animals. I’ve not seen that kind of counterpart in the lists or otherwise mentioned, so I don’t know if some things were dropped in history, or what.

At any rate, I would say in our lineage we have about 15-20, thereabouts. They all tend to be long, but Chuit yap bo Kuen is the longest.

We’ve got a good number of weapons too, but at east a couple were brought over by Sifu from his early Choy Lay Fut days.

 

[Xue Sheng]

I’m not sure actually, and it depends on the specific lineage.

Ng Siu-chun named his adopted son, Tang Ja-Meng as his successor, but there were other students of his who were older and decided to split on their own. I believe some forms may have been developed in the context of specific lineages. One of our beginner forms (not one that I’ve posted) is specific to Luk Chi-Fu lineage, who was my sifu’s first teacher. Sifu later became disciple of Tang Ja-meng.

What I know is that Lok Lik Kuen has several variations, taught at beginner, intermediate, and advanced levels. I’ve learned several variations, and only practice a couple of them and may have forgotten one. Sifu told us that he has created his own version of that one as well, but I’ve not seen it and I do not know if he has taught it to anyone.

At beginner, we have a minimum of four, depending on how you count them. The really long one, chuit yap bo Kuen, which I posted a few days ago, is sometimes broken into two parts and the second part then goes by the name dai saat. Also, a couple versions of Lok lik Kuen could be taught at beginner, so you could count perhaps six sets at beginner, but I count it as four.

Intermediate has four, including a version of Lok Lik Kuen.

Ive not learned beyond intermediate, which is still a whole lot of material, and plenty to be a teacher.

I’m not sure how many are at advanced, and disciple level, but I think about four or five each. Sifu gave us a list of the sets, but it is packed away right now. Also, in his book, he mentions a couple of other forms that were not on his list, so I don’t know what their status is. And some of the forms are “little”, as in Siu Ng Ying, little five animals, which implies there is a big five animals, or else simply five animals. I’ve not seen that kind of counterpart in the lists or otherwise mentioned, so I don’t know if some things were dropped in history, or what.

At any rate, I would say in our lineage we have about 15-20, thereabouts. They all tend to be long, but Chuit yap bo Kuen is the longest.

We’ve got a good number of weapons too, but at east a couple were brought over by Sifu from his early Choy Lay Fut days.

And I thought my flavor of Yang Taijiquan had a lot at 3 empty hand sets and 4 weapons sets. But it can vary in Yang Taijiquan based on lineage as well. But I guess it makes up for having fewer forms by having one empty hand form that is supposed to take 15 to 20 to 30 minutes...if you do it right

 

[punisher73]

Thank you for posting those! I am a "similarities" kind of guy when viewing various forms. Not having been trained in White Crane to know the intricacies that I may have missed, it reminded me of the Jow Gar power rotation that I am more familiar with.

 

[ShortBridge]

This is Tibetan crane, right?

 

[Flying Crane]

Thank you for posting those! I am a "similarities" kind of guy when viewing various forms. Not having been trained in White Crane to know the intricacies that I may have missed, it reminded me of the Jow Gar power rotation that I am more familiar with.

I think it probably is. Details may be different, but the overall approach is similar.

 

[Flying Crane]

This is Tibetan crane, right?

Yes.

 

[Steve]

Pretty paver stone driveway.