Will the real Ching Cho Wo Serng please stand up!!!
The SAGA continues..........
Author statement:
No
disrespect is intended towards any of the Choy Lee Fut families. It is
your right to believe what you want, but the time has come for the Hung
Sing (Fut San) branch to step up and set the story straight. I ask for
your understanding in this situation, for I am forever a faithful Hung
Sing disciple- Sifu Frank McCarthy.
Within the grander scale of Choy
Lee Fut's history, there is an individual often referred to in the past
as "made up," "mythical" and even "Fictional." However, this
individual has been a part of Jeong Yim's Fut San Hung Sing Kwoon
history for over 150 years. The Hung Sing branch has been ridiculed
by members of the Chan Family of Choy Lee Fut for believing in such a
fictional character. Yes, i'll be the first to say, this has been a
very sore issue.
The Hung Sing Kwoon has been in the past
accused of fabricating the story of the Green Grass Monk, and others
have dismissed his authenticity since there was no available written
documentation on him. Still, we will always maintain, and never back
down from the fact that the Green Grass Monk was Jeong Yim's last
teacher.
As the author of this writing, I am
stating that until a few years back, the Chan Family steadfastly denied
the existance of the Green Grass Monk. That is, until I entered the
kungfumagazine.com forum and started a thread on the Green Grass Monk
which blew up and went off the charts. This argument had caused many
choy lee fut disciples to begin asking their sifu's alot of questions
about the Green Grass Monk.
I didn't realize how big it was, and
just thought it was contained to a random few. But CLF disciples
around the world wanted to know more about the elusive character the
Hung Sing branch keeps talking about.
Eventually, the Hung
Sing and Buk Sing lineages were completely tossed on our ears when a
certain CLF master claimed he found the Green Grass Monks name in Chan
Family records, and that the Green Grass Monk was the alias for Monk
Choy Fook.
We couldn't believe our ears. For decades, the Chan
family shot down the idea that the Green Grass Monk was a real
character. There are a few CLF masters who were privledged enough to
have access to Chan Family records and all have stated not to have seen
any kind of mention of the Green Grass Monk, period.
The following is taken from a Chan Family Choy Lee Fut site (which will out of respect remain nameless here):
Those
who said that Cheung Yim was CLF’s co-founder relied on the claim that
Chan Heung Gung sent Cheung Yim to learn from the mythical Green Grass
Monk (Ching Cho Wo Sheung). In CLF’s history handed down through my
Sigung Chan Yiu Chi, there was no mention of the Green Grass Monk.
Now, the following is also found on another Choy Lee Fut Masters website:
" I also discovered that the buddhist name of Chan Heung's teacher Choy Fook was Ching Cho (Green Grass)."
Today, i come across another
website, who first states that within his organization the Green Grass
Monk was never mentioned. But then he goes on to say that it's
possible that Fong Dai Hung is Monk Ching Cho.................
"The
existence of the Green Grass Monk could not be authenticated. However,
one of the Five Ancestors of Shaolin, Fong Dai Hung, who organized the
anti-Ching movement in Guangdong
and Guangxi provinces, used the Buddhist name Fat Mo. His Triad name
was Ching Cho. We have no way of verifying if these two Ching Chos are
the same person. My personal interpretation is that, if there was
indeed a Green Grass Monk, then it is likely that they were the same
person. However, I do not subscribe to the hypothesis that Cheung Hoong
Sing learnt more kung fu from the Green Grass Monk. Fong Dai Hung, was
focusing his energies and time on organizing and spreading the
anti-Ching movement not teaching kung fu on a personal level to new
students as we are accustomed to seeing in kung fu movies. My
interpretation was that Chan Heung Gung, a Red Pole, was liasing with
his kung fu uncle Fong Dai Hung, and it was natural to send his
lieutenants, including Cheung Yim, to deliver messages and obtain
instructions from time to time. Contrary to popular misconception,
there were not just five survivors of the destruction of the ShaolinTemple.
Much of the misunderstanding stemmed form popular novels and movies
about the Five Ancestors. The Monk Choy Fook was a survivor of the
massacre and he was a contemporary of Fong Dai Hung a.k.a. the Green
Grass Monk. Choy Fook had opted to retire from the material world when
Chan Heung found him on Mount Law Fo. Choy Fook did not take part in
the revolutionary movement but had connected Chan Heung with his
Shaolin brother, namely Fong Dai Hung."
This
is where the problems lay. How the heck is anyone from the Chan Family
going to lay claim to Jeong Yim's teacher. For all the decades that
the Chan Family denied his existance, it really doesn't look good to
now start claiming...."oops, we made a mistake all these decades. Choy
Fook is Ching Cho." That is so wrong. And I am not trying to rock the
boat here, but the Green Grass Monk has, and will always be a character
or individual within Jeong Yim's Fut San Hung Sing Kwoon lineage,
period.
What happened? if you can't beat them, join them? Up
to the 6th generation of Choy Lee Fut practicioners, eveyone knew that
the Chan Family claimed old Greenie didn't exist. But now he does?
And instead of being Jeong Yim's teacher, he's actually Chan Heung's
teacher Choy Fook?
HOW IS THAT POSSIBLE? Choy Fook had a scar
on his head, and Jeong Yim's Green Grass Monk did not. Choy Fook was
on MT. Lau Fu, yet Jeong Yim's Green Grass Monk was from the Pak Pai
Mountain in ShenJiang. Choy Fook didn't teach FUT GA, but Jeong Yim's
Green Grass Monk taught him Fut Ga. In the above statement Choy Fook
had no involvement in the revolution, but Monk Ching Cho is Cai De
Zhong, a.k.a. Xing Yin, a.k.a. Ching Cho.
Another issue is that
while the Chan Family was busy denying that the Green Grass Monk
existed, Fut San Hung Sing Kwoon disciple Chen Yilin was instructed by
Premier Zhou to document the history of the Hung Sing Kwoon, and to
make sure the Green Grass Monk's name was included. While Chan Family
disciples were busy discrediting the Green Grass Monk, Ancestor Tablets
containing the Green Grass Monk's name on it were discovered amongst
the rubble of the Japanese invasion of China.
Various Shaolin
based websites mention the Green Grass Monk, but make no mention of him
being Choy Fook. But they do mention that the Green Grass Monk was the
abbott of Shaolin after Gee Sim, and was responsible for developing the
Wooden Man halls and managing the 36 chambers of shaolin.
The following are excerpts from various gung fu websites that make mention of the Green Grass Monk, but yet, nowhere do they mention that the Green Grass Monk was Choy Fook.
Walks Luo Hantang outside, hits 木人 the lane another saying, the
Mt. Songshan Shaolin Temple destroys to the fire, Cai Dezhong five
people flees, but also has the cloud ancestor master with to
spatial... him in order to train the outstanding 绝顶 few forests
master, except appoints the big disciple apricot to hide the Zen
master (other name green grass buddhist priest)... -----------------------------------------------
"The other five however, went on to fight in
the revolution. During this time, to hide their Shaolin connection,
they named their fighting style after themselves. This accounts for the
5 famous Southern Families Choy, Li, Mok, Hung, and Lau;
Fut was carried on by Gi Sin’s top student Ng Ging who later changed
his name to Ching Cho Wor Seung (Green Grass Monk)."
"Since Master Jee Sim had already passed away, the head monk Ng Ging Wo
Seung, also known as Ching Cho, was in charge. He had one hundred eight
martial monks in the temple who were enraged by Chan Man Yiu's
ultimatum. It was decided that the monks would fight back. One night,
the monks separated into five groups. They attacked by the main road,
but using arrows and even stones. The monks killed more than one
hundred soldiers."
It is a shame that the Green Grass Monk was considered a fictional
character, in essence disputing the authenticity of the Fut San Hung
Sing Kwoon and the Choy Lee Fut that was produced within this branch.
Due to Jeong Yim's training under the Green Grass Monk, Jeong Yim was
responsible for putting the FUT into Choy Lee Fut.
In
conclusion, the Green Grass Monk is connected to the Fut San Hung Sing
Kwoon only. He has and will always be apart of our history.......NOT
THE CHAN FAMILY. First it was who established the first HUNG SING,
claiming that Chan Heung was using OUR Hung Sing, when he was really
using Great Sage Hung. and NOT Hung Mun Victory which later changed to
Glorious Victory. Now they want to absorb OUR Green Grass Monk into
their history and steal him from us.
here is the Hung Sing Fut San Branches history of the Green Grass Monk Monk Ching Cho
I will end this on one question........
WILL THE REAL CHING CHO WO SERNG PLEASE STAND UP?
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