Professor Cheng Man-Ch'ing

~ Teacher of Benjamin Lo ~

~ One of the greatest internal martial arts masters of modern history ~

"There is a secret. But it is so simple as to be unbelievable. Its nature insists that you believe, that you have faith; otherwise you will fail. The secret is simply this: you must relax body and mind totally. You must be prepared to accept defeat repeatedly and for a  long period; you must "invest in loss" - otherwise you will never succeed. I succeeded to my present state because I pushed pride aside and believed my master's words. I relaxed my body and stilled my mind so that only ch'i, flowing at the command of my mind, remained.  Initially, this brought many bruises and defeats. In fact, in some matches I was pushed so hard that I lost consciouness. But I persisted. I followed my teacher by listening to and heeding my ch'i. Gradually my technique improved. Then, and then only, did my responses sharpen so that neutralizing and countering were the work of a moment. My students either do not believe in this path, or, if they do, they do not pursue it eagerly enough."

- Professor Cheng, as quoted by Robert W. Smith (1967)