Dogs Are Men’s Best Friends (人类的好朋友)

There are basically two types of large scale tin mining methods in Perak. The first is the gravel pump method (金山沟) and the next is the dredging (铁船). Many of those old times high voltage electricians in the local industries are originated from once flourished tin mine industry.

Ong is my previous factory colleague originally working on a dredger between Ipoh and Kampar. He was the supervisor of a dredger in charge of mining operations. And a dredger normally is used to dig up large quantity of tin ores on the surface of a piece of land. As the mining progresses, the place gradually turned into a piece of large manmade lake; and this dredger would appear to be floating on the surface of water.

Since a dredger is a piece of gigantic mechanical equipment, it is subject to wear and tear especially on the shovels and underwater mechanical parts. Normally divers are employed to perform the underwater repairs. As we all know that underwater works are dangerous especially under murky freshwater ponds. Drowning incidents amongst workers are frequent in those days because of breathing apparatus malfunctions.

This was one of those unfortunate drowning incidents happened in Ong’s dredger. Two experienced repair divers were found drowned and to the rescuers’ surprised, they found finger markings on the drown divers’ legs. Looks like someone or rather ‘something’ were pulling their legs thus preventing the unfortunate divers from resurface. The management later dismissed the case as an unfortunate incident of waterweed entanglement. And the case was closed.

Some years later, the tin mine industry was in a declining state and the mining company that Ong worked with has decided to close business. Since Ong was supervisor of the dredger he was the last to be dismissed. However, Ong was given the key to the dredger as he was required to return to the place occasionally to look after the equipment. You see, the whole dredger cost a lot of money at that time.

In order to prevent burglars and to keep himself company, Ong raised a few dogs. At least he would not feel so lonely at night. It was one of last few nights that Ong had to spend on the dredger. It was just passed midnight, and Ong was sleeping in the dredger control room and suddenly he noticed some black shadows moving towards him. The sighting of shadows was accompanied by surprisingly chilled breeze that blew towards Ong.

Almost instantly, Ong felt his feet were somehow frozen and he fell facedown onto the deck. While he was facing motionlessly there, he felt something was pressing his back and his face towards the deck as if the ‘thing’ wanted to suffocate him. At that point, Ong suddenly thought of his beloved doggies, so with all his might; Ong yelled out: “Lucky, Lucy, Ricky, Jacky and Nancy come!”

Perhaps what is said about “dogs are men’s best friends” is true. Those doggies immediately rushed to the control room. They halted at a distance from Ong for a few seconds as if being blocked by some invisible force, but after a short pause; they charged forward and then barked fiercely. At the same time, Ong felt the pressures on his back vanished and he was able to get up.

After the frightful incident, Ong dared not sleep for the night and luckily all his dogs were around to accompany him.

Now that Ong is in Penang, he said that the only thing he has regretted is not able to bring his doggies along. Well, it is impossible to house 5 dogs in a high rise apartment. 

It Is All About Physics (物理学与武术)

Kung Fu is no magic and everything can be explained. For example I always like to take Newton’s second law of motion (F = ma) to explain the effects of various Kung Fu posture on the striking force. I am not fond of science, so I would just list down this formula only:

Striking force = mass x acceleration

Acceleration = speed x distance

It is clear from the above formulae that the power of a strike is the product of one’s mass and speed over a distance.

Having said that, let’s review some of popular Kung Fu types in this world:

Weng Chun (永春拳)

Weng Chun is a type of Kung Fu made popular by HK action movies. It uses high horse stance (高马) and rapid hand movements to defeat one’s opponents. So, how powerful is this Weng Chun strike in the eyes of physics?

In order to achieve rapid hand movements, the force of the person should originate from his/her wrists and shoulders. If we were to fit all variables: the weight of one’s arm, the distance that a hand needs to travel to strike etc. We can roughly guess:

Weng Chun force = mass of arm x distance of arm x speed of strike

I am sure that you have already concluded that a Weng Chun fighter needs to make many strikes to topple an opponent. This is of course, a waste of energy. And we are talking about only one opponent.

Southern Shaolin Boxing (南拳)

Southern boxing (snake boxing, monkey boxing etc.) also includes the Japanese karate as the source of this type of Kung Fu is from a practitioner’s waist:

Southern boxing force = mass of upper body x distance of upper body x speed

Without spending too much effort, it is clear that the power of southern boxing is greater than Weng Chun. But there is a physical limitation to how fast our body can react. Having said so, with just one punch alone; great damage can be done compared to Weng Chun.

Northern Shaolin Boxing (北拳)

The northern boxing often makes use of the power of legs. Hence this also includes taekwondo. Again, let’s fit in the formula:

Northing boxing force = mass of lower body x distance of lower body x speed

Taiji Boxing (太极拳)

The traditional Taiji boxing used in actual combat is never soft. If indeed Taiji is soft, then it is not termed as martial arts. Basically Taiji boxing uses the mass of the body and the distance of the whole body to strike:

Taiji boxing = mass of body x distance of body x speed

The conclusion is also pretty obvious:

The most powerful type of boxing amongst of the three is the one that uses the whole body to attack; i.e. Taiji boxing.

Clearly the heavier a person’s physique, the more powerful he/she gets. Likewise a smaller size person can hardly match the power of a person of larger physique.

I had a colleague who is from Costa Rica and who was a former marine. The circumference of his biceps is much larger than the circumference of my thigh! This gentleman can lift a heavy M60 machine gun with one arm! I would never want to face such opponent for sure.

That concludes the discussion of the physic of Kung Fu. 

Mind Your Posture Please! (请站好来!)

It is easy to identify from the wear and tear of the sole of our shoes that which type of position we are predominantly in. If you fall into the above three, then practising martial arts or even rigorous exercises is not your bowl of rice!

There are 3 common posture mistakes that can cause a person to suffer from unidentifiable pains and discomforts:

1. If a person's body is constantly inclined forward, then the weight of him/her would be at the front of sole. This person is easy to fall not to mention that he would give a powerful punch by not hurting himself/herself first.
2. If a person's body inclining sideways, this would cause his/her weight to sway sideways. This not only cause lazy leg and shoulder pains, it is also cause deformation of the backbone. If he/she want to give a forceful punch, then he/she would first break his backbone first.
3. If a person's body inclined backwards, then he/she would fall when he/she wants to punch a person.
4. Even if a person is holding his/her body straight, he/she would put much pressure on his back and suffers backache in long run!

A master can test the condition of a person by simply asking he/she to stand straight and push his/her hands. Traditionally, if a person wants to learn martial arts, a responsible master would ask the person to stand correctly first before venturing into martial arts proper. It may take a person 3 years just to correct his/her postures! So the question is: are you willing to invest that much of time to correct your postures?

You Have Forgotten Me (你忘了我)

This is a funny but true incident that happened on my friend’s construction site just a few months ago:

Kenny is a construction project manager and he has a project in Kulim Industrial Park to build a factory near a hill slope. Somehow his work progress was delayed due to material shortages and most of all; the construction site has seen many big and small accidents. So much so that he was given a verbal warning by the local Health & Safety Authority as final warning before action is taken to close the site.

So, Kenny’s site supervisor, Goh is an experience guy; he figured that all those accidents were caused by local spirits dissatisfied because they are being disturbed by the construction work. Further no one has made offerings to them.

Kenny is a non believer but just to satisfy and console his fellow workers; he held a big offering ceremony and in addition, he also built a datuk’s (earth spirit) shrine. If you come to Malaysia, you will not miss those small red (sometimes green) houses for local earth spirits.

The offering and praying session lasted for one whole Friday morning and everyone was satisfied; they too thought the spirit community around the place should be satisfied too. Having said so, Kenny’s smile didn’t last for too long…

One week following the inauguration of the datuk’s shrine, a work’s inspector from Health & Safety Department came and visit. That was supposed to be a routine inspection to give green light to start construction work. But quite an unfortunate incident happened just when the inspector was about to leave the site, a steel spanner suddenly fell from 2^nd floor and only missed the inspector by one foot.

What else? The grimed face inspector ordered the site to be closed for another week!

Now that was indeed real bad news for Kenny as his project was already 1 month behind schedule, if the construction work does not begin soon; the whole project will be delayed. And the company will lose a lot of money.

As last resort, Kenny gave me a call:

Kenny: “Hey, Liew! Are you free to talk?”

Me: “Oh it’s you! What’s the problem?”

Kenny: “How do you know I am in trouble?”

Me: “You would never call me if have no problem for sure!”

After Kenny listened to what I had to say, he described his problem to me and I decided to perform an earth blessing ceremony using ‘Hayagriva torma cut offering’ (马头明王切割供). In Tibetan ritual, Hayagriva reacts as fast as a galloping horse and hence he is almost always evoked in obstacle removal session. On the other hand, the Hayagriva in Hinduism is very different with the Tibetan one.

On the agreed upon day, I visited the site with Kenny and his site supervisor Goh. I purposely asked both of my buddies to let me alone for an hour or so while I did the puja session and meditate.

An hour later, both of the guys returned to me and I started the conversation:

Me: “Did you forget to make offerings to some spirit?”

Goh: “Well, we had a big offering with mutton curry and yellow sticky rice. We even had the Datuk’s shrine setup as you can see…”

Me: “There is one spirit you have forgotten… and it is very angry!”

Goh: “What spirit?”

Me: “The mountain spirit, of course! It said that everyone has something to eat and a place to stay but it had none!”

After Goh and Kenny heard my words, they promised to hold another food offering for the mountain spirit the following week.

Do you believe it or not? Right after the supplementary food offering, Kenny’s construction progress went on very well; he even made up the lost time and with zero accidents on site since then. 

Ran Ngai (越南蛇姜)

The white turmeric (curcuma zedoria roscoe) has been used in Thailand for curing snake bite victims for many years. It is a little surprise to see it mentioned in Vietnamese snake ngai.

The snake ngai yant.

This is the mysterious Vietnamese snake ngai ritual. This ritual evokes the spirit of snake which can be quite difficult to be controlled. I have tried it, and you are warned.

The method:

1.      Find a snake in the wild or purchase it from known sources. Then dip the snake into rice wine until it is completely drowned.

2.      Draw the above yant on a piece of copper/aluminium/lead plate; or just draw the yant on the bottom of a big flower pot if the snake ngai is to be planted in a pot. But it is best that this ngai plant to be let grown under open sky.

3.      Dig a hole in the ground or pot with soil.

4.      Coil the dead snake with its head facing upwards and put the snake into the hole.

5.      Start burying the snake until its mouth is on the surface of the soil.

6.      Get a piece of white turmeric (curcuma zedoaria roscoe) in or above the snake’s head.

7.      Now continue to bury the white turmeric and dead snake and put the pot far away from children.

8.      The ritual should begin on the 25^th of the month with offering of one cup of sticky rice that is tainted with one drop of your own blood drawn from your ring finger (male: left, female: right).

When ready, first chant the mantra to invoke the 12 Thai snake deities:

“Dich si minh lo a ro bao rau him bau rau cach ph lui lu o lo a in lo lot”

Then recite the below khata to give birth to snake spirit:

“he he gia a sac a ay ni, a ha gia tay gia sai, hi san quant e re qui te, a mao cum hao mat mat.”

And recite the below Thai snake god name:

“ma a la hom” (108x)

The above ritual should be done for a consecutive of 100 days. Please be warned that the practitioner will be disturbed by this snake spirit during first few days.

After the ritual, the white turmeric should be let grow freely. It is said that this empowered turmeric can cure snake bite victims even hours after the person is dead. However, I cannot verify such claims and it is quite doubtful if it is true.

Snake ngai can be used for cursing as well. The method is just to dig up a piece of white turmeric and throw it near the enemy’s house. The person shall be harmed by this snake spirit.

If for some reasons that the sorcerer does not wish to plant this snake ngai, he/she can dig up the turmeric and boil it in hot water. After that, the white turmeric is dried under the sun for 3 days. Finally, this dried turmeric is wrapped with a piece of red cloth and it can either be carried around for protection or it can be worshipped an the altar.

This is perhaps a cross-boundary magic: Vietnamese cum Thai since Thai gods are evoked with Vietnamese :D

Curing Snake Bites In Miao Magic (苗法治蛇伤)

The Southwestern part of Guizhou is the home of many poisonous snakes. So the Miao tribes have many ways to treat snake bites. The below ritual I got from a Miao lady.

First one must setup an altar with a spirit tablet inscribing:

蛇科启教古今老少宗师位

(The now and then, old and young snake science masters)

Then he/she should get some green chiretta (穿心莲) or other herbs according to the master. The collected herb should be put in front of the altar to be empowered for 7 days.

In front of the altar, the practitioner should lit incense and candles then, he/she should chant mantra to request the presence of the lineage masters:

临临天将，与吾主张，压阴之将，孤阴之阳，霸王相战，强者为王，灵法坛中，诸将身旁，吾奉太上老君蛇科古今老少宗师，关师元辰，痛蛇科打启师挂，千千行兵，万万猛将，前不离三尺，后不离五分，千叫千灵，万叫万灵，不叫自灵。

(I call upon the masters of snake science)

Now, the person should draw the below talisman on his/her left/right palm using sword mudra for 49x while chanting:

 祖师住痛，本师住痛，弟子亲手来住痛。痛处即止，肿处即消，热处即凉。

(May all pains and swells be subsided)

After 7 days, the herbs are dip into strong alcohol (more than 50%) or vinegar for 100 days. After 100 days, the herbs are removed from the alcohol/vinegar and the liquid is stored in a tightly sealed container ready to be used in emergency.

Before the medicine is used, the person should recite the below mantra:

启眼望清天，师父在身边。

(I raise my eyes, the master is at my side.)

After that the medicated alcohol/vinegar can be used to rub at the snake bitten area, or some quantity of alcohol can be consumed too. Some people would use a knife to cut at the bitten part to draw some blood first be applying the alcohol/vinegar.

I have promised the Miao lady not to reveal this secret to others, but I supposed no one would put it into action so it is safe just to share. There is a whole set of mantras for calling, catching and releasing snakes that I have not mentioned, so I have not really broken my promise...

Underworld Journey Of Kam People (侗族过阴法)

Kam people belong to one of minority ethnics in southern China and Vietnam. My college friend, Eric visited Guizhou some time ago and he was one of lucky few that has personally experienced a very special type of magic ritual known as underworld journey popular amongst Kam people.

During Eric’s Guizhou visit, he coincidentally learnt that a local Kam shaman is expert in underworld journey ritual. So as to experience this mysterious underworld journey firsthand and at the same time he too wished to meet with his long deceased grandpa, Eric visited the shaman’s place after making an appointment.

At the Kam shaman’s place, the old shaman first used a piece of cloth to cover Eric’s head while the assistants started to burn incense. The shaman then recited some mantra and burnt some papers. Since Eric couldn’t see, he could only guess but he was sure that the shaman did burn something.

After a round of mantra recitations, the shaman took a few sips of water and blew onto Eric’s body. As recalled by Eric, not long after that he felt dizzy and slowly fell into a trancelike state…

At first Eric felt that it was pitch dark and in a dreamy state, he found himself riding on a galloping horse and after some time of travelling aimlessly, he suddenly saw a light source from a far. Slowly the horse reached a market place full of people; none of them is Eric’s acquaintance. At this time, the shaman asked: “where are you now?”

Eric answered: “I am at a market place.”

On hearing the answer, the old shaman started to chant some mantra and seemed to burn some paper too. After some chanting, the shaman said: “go further!”

So Eric continued with his journey on the back of the horse. The horse travelled across mountain ranges and it would stop at certain locations. When the horse did stop, the shaman would ask the same question: “where are you now?”

The questioning and answering session continued until the horse arrived at a red bridge, and his familiar grandpa was standing by at the other end. At this point, the shaman’s voice was heard again: “where are you now?”

Eric answered: “I am at the bridge. My grandpa is at the other end.”

The shaman said: “Good. Say whatever you want to but don’t cross the bridge.”

After a few minutes, the shaman started to chant mantras again and burnt some papers. At this point, Eric felt that a force was pulling him from his back and the surrounding became dark again until the shaman lifted the cloth covering Eric’s face.

According to Eric, he later had some conversation with the old shaman. The shaman told Eric that during middle of the 7^th lunar month, Kam maidens like to ask the shaman to bring them to ‘see flowers’ (看花).

The ‘flower’ in this sense refers to the maiden’s future husbands. Interestingly speaking when the maidens were too engrossed with their handsome partner and refused to return, the shaman would just bend his thumb. At this point, the maidens would yell out that their husbands are humpbacks and returned quickly.

 In another case, this underworld journey ritual is also being used by Miao tribe folks to diagnose sicknesses. When someone is ill, the shaman would be invited to visit the sick. Unlike the Kam shaman, a Miao shaman would go underworld himself and the shaman would see lights of various colors; different colors refer to different spirits that disturbed the patient. As to what type of spirits those are, the assistant would need to perform further divinations.

Interestingly speaking, the Taiwanese folks also have similar underworld journey ritual and it is still in practice now days. Eric knew that I like to collect minority ethnic mantras, so he bought me a present. The below is a mantra from Kam shaman to bless water:

“神水过乡，一遍，二遍，三遍。

不念不灵，井中舀来五龙排位之水，路上带来草鞋之水，江边讨来长流之水，河中舀来五鬼之水。一喷天开，二喷地裂。三喷人伤，四喷鬼绝灭！吾奉太上老君急急如律令！”

(The holy water passing through regions, once, twice, thrice.

It is only effective when I recited this.

The water collected from the well is water of five dragons.

The road brings the water of sandals.

The long flowing water is from river bank.

The water of five ghosts is from the stream.

Spout once, the heavenly gate opens.

Spout twice, the earth cracks.

Sprout thrice, human hurt.

Sprout fourth, ghosts extinct!

I carry out the master’s order hastily!)