Revealing the Fruit

In Chinese martial arts we always talk about roots and branches, fundamentals and techniques. In silat we say buah and bunga, or the forms (flower) and applications (fruit). On accomplishing a difficult task, we often take a moment to reflect on the fruit of our labor. And locals in the US wear fruit of the loom underwear. 🙂

I mention fruit because it is a symbol of so many things, the least of which, if you’ll allow a Christian creationist example, is the end of Adam and Eve’s innocence. The moment they sampled the forbidden fruit signified the end of one way of life, one way of seeing the world, and began quite another view altogether. The portal had been open and a new worldview had to be created.

With Eric, Russ and I now working together, we are able to pull our resources, our respective talents, and our time to travel a much agreed upon path of preservation of traditional martial arts from China, Malaysia, Philippines, Okinawa. We are endeavoring toward a common goal of not only preserving the rare treasure of fighting arts that have somehow missed the limelight, and the grandmasters responsible for upholding their traditions, but also to share them with the rest of the world in this Blog, Kung Fu Galaxy, DVDs and very soon… a series of new books!

We have decided to actively pursue the writing, publication and distribution of a new publishing imprint, “3 Cobblers Books” (do you like the name, guys?). The first titles will be in-depth historical and instructional books on Ban Chung Wung Chun (with GM Por Suk), Whooping Crane (with GM Liang Ji Lien), Tai Chor (with GM Ah Teck), and Chu Gar Internal Praying Mantis (with GM Liew Joon Mew).

We sincerely hope that the publication of these books will reveal the fruit of these rare arts, the fruit of the many decades of effort the respective masters have put into them, and the fruitful efforts of yours truly… the 3 Stinky Cobblers. But beware—once these rare, delicious fruits are revealed to you… your martial arts worldview will never again be the same. And that’s a good thing 🙂

Questions, comments, suggestions on what you would like to read, send me an email at markvwiley@yahoo.com or to Eric at white88ling@yahoo.com. We promise to consider every suggestion. We are in this together, and these arts depend on it.

Well, that’s all from me for tonight. It’s time for some plum wine!