The Martialist: The Magazine For Those Who Fight Unfairly

The Animals of Wing Chun

By Sifu Anthony Iglesias

It is widely believed that the origins of Kung Fu are rooted deeply in animal forms – movements studied and imitated by the first Kung Fu practitioners of the Shaolin Temple as they observed certain living creatures. You may hear from those who don't know better that Wing Chun is not an "animal style." The fact is, however, that animal characteristics are very much a part of Wing Chun Kung Fu's different aspects.

The five animals of Wing Chun are the tiger, leopard, white crane, dragon and snake. Each of these five animals is associated with one of the Chinese elements: fire, metal, wood, earth and water.

Each Wing Chun lineage pays respect to the five animals in its own way. Some kwoons have a snake and crane on their school banner, for example, while others use the crane and tiger or just the dragon. Regardless of lineage, the animal forms present in Kung Fu styles are part of both our movements and our thoughts. At the Syracuse Wing Chun Academy, we focus on all five animals and their characteristics.

The Dragon uses the strength of Earth, which is both firm and loose, hard and soft simultaneously. Think of the firmness of a mountain versus the looseness of freshly dug soil. The Dragon is strong and decisive.

The Snake is identified with the element of Water. It changes with the environment – hard like ice in the cold, soft in its liquid form when warm. Like the Dragon, the Snake possesses the duality of "hard" and "soft," but unlike the Dragon, it flows more in harmony with its environment.

The Tiger has the strength of Fire. Fire is like a bomb; it explodes on an opponent without hesitation. Fire is also intimidating. It puts fear in the opponent.

The Leopard is identified with the Chinese element of Metal. It uses the momentum of its body to generate power. Picture the arc of an axe as it swings into your body.

The Crane is associated with Wood. Wood evokes the concept of balance, which is important both mentally and physically. Without physical balance, there is no power in one's techniques. Without mental balance, we cannot function properly as integrated living beings.

Understanding the animals and their elements greatly benefits the Kung Fu practitioner. We begin by looking at the Cycle of Destruction. This five-element relationship teaches us which animal or element counters (or "destroys" the other).

How do we put this into practice? Let's say you are attacked by an opponent who uses a powerful, linear approach (fire). The opponent is much larger and stronger than you. If you try to "fight fire with fire," you will surely lose. If, on the other hand, you fight fire with water, you will extinguish your opponent's flames and increase your chances of survival.

When facing powerful tiger characteristics, then – aggressive, direct, overwhelming force – you become a snake, flowing around and past the attack, darting in to strike and then moving offline to quickly follow up, frustrating your attacker's intentions by refusing to fight him on his terms. You are, in fact, using precisely those characteristics that best cancel out his strengths, which turns them into weaknesses.

If, on the other hand, you face a challenging opponent who possesses the inner and outer balance of a crane, you increase your chances of success by fighting this animal form with the one that best counters that balance – the leopard. You use flexible power and momentum to best meet the characteristics the enemy brings to the altercation.

The ultimate goal of most martial artists is to learn to use all five animals at the same time, flowing effortlessly from one to the other as needed in the course of a fight. It is not good enough to know how to use each animal separately, for the dynamic ebb and flow of combat demands that we make the transition from form to form to meet changing challenges.

Through constant practice and properly constructed drills, one can develop instinctive reflexes – reflexes that take over the moment one makes contact with an opponent. This is one of the reasons the "touch reflexes" of Wing Chun, developed through chi sau (sticky hands) practice, are so important.

The purpose of this training is, ultimately, to lead the Kung Fu practitioner to enlightenment. The enlightened warrior understands how things work as well as how they work against one another.

In time, learning the nature and applications of the five animals and their elements permeates all aspects of the practitioner's life. This affects work and personal relationships as well as all other parts of day-to-day living.

Just as we do not meet stronger force head-on with force of our own in fighting, we eventually learn how to apply this principle to the parts of our lives that are not physical fights. Just as it is unwise to fight fire with fire when there is water at hand, we learn to avoid feeding non-physical conflict when there are conflict resolution strategies available to us.

The five animals and the five elements are more than just metaphors, more than just a means of teaching students.

They are valuable concepts that are at once lessons and strategies.