A TOOTH FROM THE TIGER'S MOUTH:
Martial Origins, Modern Alternative

China, 1899. The Empress Dowager sits on the Imperial throne. Flood and famine devastate the countryside. Anti-foreign sentiment grows and the lives of European diplomats are threatened by fanatical martial arts societies. The country is on the brink of the Boxer Rebellion. Amidst this turmoil two men, one from the North and one from the South, both martial arts warriors and healers, became legends.

Sun Lu Tang was one of the most famous boxers of the Northern nei chia or "internal;" school of martial arts. By the time of the Boxer Rebellion, he had already studied with some of the most famous martial arts masters in China. Tales of his encounters with bandits and his effortless victories in challenge matches with rival masters still inspire today's generation of kung-fu enthusiasts.

Some of the most compelling stories about Sun revolve around his compassion for those injured in combat and his ability to heal them. On one occasion he defeated a group of bandits and then resuscitated them and set their dislocated bones. Another time, a large powerful student attempted to injure the diminutive Sun. Sun lightly struck an acupuncture point on the student's arm incapacitating him. The next day the arm had turned black. Sun administered an herbal remedy and the student recovered with a humbler attitude. Sun was not only familiar with acupuncture and herbal medicine. He also practiced Taoist health exercises reputed to harmonize the functioning of the internal organs. Sun attributed his robust health in old age to these exercises. Even in his seventies, his speed on the steep mountain paths of Northern China outpaced students decades younger.

Wong Fei Hung, Sun's counterpart in Southern China, developed a reputation as a peerless fighter and skilled physician. His exploits are today immortalized in the films of Jet Li. Wong initially learned kung-fu from his father, one of the famed "Ten Tigers of Guandong" (the 10 top martial artists in Southern China) His father passed on to Wong many of the secrets of the fighting monks from Southern Shaolin. When his father was challenged by a rival master, the 13 year old Wong took his place easily defeating the challenger. He later studied with other great masters in Southern China. His many exploits in helping the common Chinese people made him famous by the early 20th century. Wong founded a clinic known as Po Chi Lam, "Precious Iris Woods", a reference to his skill with herbal medicine. At Po Chi Lam he taught martial arts and the related medical skills of acupuncture, herbal medicine and bonesetting. Wong's "Hung Fist" flourishes today and his herbal recipes are still used to treat training injuries.

Fighting skill and the physician's art seem like odd bedfellows, yet in China they have been linked for nearly two millennia. The skills exhibited by Sun Lu Tang and Wong Fei Hung, were the distillation of centuries of warfare and civil strife. Martial arts medicine was an outgrowth of warfare. The treatment of battlefield injuries had to be simple and effective, so that soldiers could be treated on the battlefield and return to combat as quickly as possible. In armies composed of martial arts adepts, even training for warfare could be incredibly brutal. Dislocated joints and broken bones were not unusual and sprains and contusions commonplace. Over centuries martial arts masters, Shaolin monks, and Taoist recluses developed hundreds of herbal formulae that could treat everything from spear wounds to fractured ribs.

Military commanders were also accomplished martial artists and often well versed in practical medical skills. Marshall Yue Fei, China's renowned military leader in the 12th century, studied all the warrior arts including traditional medicine. The effectiveness of Yue Fei's troops is attributed to their rigorous training in the martial arts and Yue Fei himself is credited with the creation of several unique kung-fu styles as well as the 8 Brocade Health Exercises presented later in this book...

...The medical feats of Sun Lu Tang and Wong Fei Hong are not just the stuff of stories. Many injuries can be treated easily and cheaply with knowledge of a few basic principles and readily available herb formulas. Although I have studied at modern acupuncture schools and today run a busy clinic specializing in athletic injuries, the most effective treatments I know come out of 30 years of study and research in the ancient martial arts traditions. Like Sun Lu Tang, I treated an arm that turned black from a martial arts strike. A simple poultice of San Huang San (3 Yellow Powder), one of the formulas covered in this book, resolved the problem in two days. I have treated non-healing fractures that mystified doctors using formerly secret Shaolin formulas that aid the knitting of broken bones. I have seen countless sprained ankles heal in a fraction of the usual time using Chinese sports medicine. Western medicine can offer little help for these types of injuries. I was not a licensed practitioner of Chinese medicine when I first treated these injuries. I was a martial arts instructor with a rudimentary knowledge of Chinese sports medicine, With this book in your hands, you will have at your fingertips far more information than I did.

Chinese sports medicine has always been as the Chinese saying goes: "a tooth from the tiger's mouth", knowledge difficult and even dangerous to obtain. It has survived centuries of change and upheaval because it works. The goal of every athlete and every active person in every time and place has been to get back to the activities they love as soon as possible. In our busy modern world this has never been more true. This book can help you do this.

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