Iron Dragon Kung Fu School

[SiGung Vincent A. Cabais]

I have just received an email from Sifu Judge concerning the topic "Rival Kung Fu Schools".  As I had initially believed... it seems that it is nothing more than arrogant students starting this mess!  I want all of you to see the message that he had sent me to share with you his position in his words.  The message is as follows:

 

"Greetings, this is Sifu Wayne Judge of Iron Dragon Hung Gar.  While you and I have not spoken since nearly a year ago, (I thought we had resolved everything then), I am unfortunately compelled to respond to a message posted in your online forum "The Verbal Kwoon" which was actually brought to my attention by one of YOUR students. 

  Let me start by making a statement and then I will address a few topics contained within your comments about me.  First off, my statement is this:  I bear no animosity towards you or your students.  While I may not agree with your methods, etc. it really does not affect me or my Kwoon and therefore I determined long ago that whatever you and yours does is your own buissiness and none of mine.  That said...

 

  There are several statements made which need to be corrected.  For starters I do not "verbally attack" you or your students.  All who know me know that this goes against my character and what I teach as well.  Second, this whole "Challenge" thing (OY VEY!)  I have stated when asked about such things that "I will accept ANY challenge at ANY time."  As I am confident in my abilities and it is looked upon as a duty to defend the traditions and name of my style at all times, if necessary with a physical duel.  I have never heard of this 3 day candle tradition.  Perhaps this was a custom that your master put forth?  Historically speaking, a master may be formally challenged at any time. (IE: My Great-Great Grandmaster, Wong Fei-Hung was constantly challenged throughout his entire life.)  I think that perhaps my willingness to take on challenges may have been taken a little further by overzealous students.

 

 Next, You claim my website makes reference that I am a "lineage holder under Kwong Wing Lam".  That is simply and blatantly untrue.  Is MY name on that lineage chart?  No.  I do not claim myself to be something that I am not.  In order to be a "lineage holder" one must first be inducted as a Disciple.  Discipleship is the most saught after title under any master and is not a thing to be made light of.  There are many Masters whom were never full disciples.  My master has thousands of students, but only ONE disciple.  Now of course a master may have more than one disciple, but more often than not it is a small number.  I am not a disciple, the lineage chart shows where my Kung Fu came from, I make no claims other than that.

 

  As far as you recieving complaints from other schools and instructors about my "dishonorable actions" I say NAME THEM.  This is ridiculous.  I am friends and regularly meet with Sifu Justin Meehan (St. Louis' longest established Chinese stylist with 35 years under his belt), Sifu Pete Shears, Sigung Cai Ying of the St, Louis Chinese/American School, Sensei Elliott Freeman (3 Rivers Aikido), Kwang Ja Nim (master) Young Chul Rho and Master Brett Rigdon of World Martial arts, ...on and on.  If there actually ARE any schools that complain about me its probably due to the fact that they dont like a Chinese style school moving into the area and taking their student base!  My "honor" is unimpuned, and my reputation is known among the martial arts community as one of the highest.  I take such a responsibility very serious.  I have no need to "Validate my existence" nor am I "insecure"  My success (soon to open my second school) and the many invitations I recieve to other schools speak for themselves.

 

  I must admit that my 3 senior students who travelled out to California with me last August to meet and recieve some training from my master found it somewhat amusing that I had "never been heard of"  Who exactly did you speak with? (hahaha).

 

  On a final note, it has been brought to my attention that at least on three seperate occassions students of yours have been very confrontational with students of mine.  I will relate the most recent event:  A student of mine that lives in St. Charles was shopping at a Best Buy in that area and began talking about Kung Fu with an employee (while looking at movies)  The employee was one of your students.  He asked my student if he studied Kung Fu to which my student replied "Yes, I study Hung Gar"  At that he says your student suddenly became very arrogant and combative holding his fist up to my students face and saying "You see these scars on my knuckles?!  I study at Shaolin Lohan!  You dont know sh*t about Kung Fu!"  My student was needless to say taken back by this strange outburst and tells me he simply stepped away from this unstable person saying "whatever."  However your student continued to follow him throughout the store, glaring and acting very aggressive.

 

  My student reacted appropriately by ignoring this person and to be honest I considered contacting you about the matter, but instead since no real harm was done, I let it drop.  The overall attitude I personally have experienced from a few of your students is one of smugness and arrogance.  In short one of ego.  As I teach my students, the primary enemies of a true martial artist are Ego, and Anticipation, for anticipation breeds restlessness and impatience and ego breeds a poor attitude.  Something to think about.

 

So, lets sum up shall we?  I neither have the time or the wish to promote such negative energy as is being bandied about on both sides.  Let me formally state that I bear NO animosity or ill will towards you or your students.  And lets leave it at that. 

 

Sifu Wayne Judge

Iron Dragon Kung Fu"

 

These statements made by Sifu Wayne Judge may be a lie.  But, I actually believe Sifu Wayne Judge!  It never made any sense why he would do such things.  All I want is cooperation and unity within the Arts.

 

I will be investigating who amongst my students are responsible for this arrogance and dishonorable behavior.  This goes directly against our “Code of Conduct” and against the values of ‘Shaolin’.  Suffice to say... when I find the students responsible there will be an appropriate punishment!

 

I want to take this opportunity to "publicly" apologize to Sifu Judge for the misrepresentation of this system that some of my students are guilty of.  I also want to wish Sifu Judge success with his new school that he is opening.

 

-Sigung Cabais-

[Patricia Welker]

I agree with Sifu.  It is very silly and dumb that members of the Shaolin Lohan School of KUn Fu are behaving  the way that they are.  It is very unprofessional.  If we are going to aquire more students, then the way to do that is not by harassing other schools, but by being kind and gaining a good reputation beforehand.  We can't just go into a hen house thinking that we are head cock.  When you do that, you tend to make long term enemies and that ends up causing major hardships.  I would also like to apologize to Sifu Judge.  I am very sorry Sifu Judge for anything that my fellow students have put your students through, and I hope that it doesn't continue.

[Brandon-Lee A Cabais]

I don't have much to say but... I find it funny about this, something he said in his email...

"As I teach my students, the primary enemies of a true martial artist are Ego, and Anticipation, for anticipation breeds restlessness and impatience and ego breeds a poor attitude."

About ego, he speaks that the enimies show ego and such. But his ego seems to be blown way out of proportion. I myself do not belive anything he said in his email, because of the previous things that were stated, and that I have heard of. I don't know what is wrong with this man. I agree with Sigung Cabais, there are to few of us. I may not be a great student, but I can see a bad instructor...

[Kendal Bledsoe]

Hey Kamui,  things being said like that help to escalate a situation instead of resolving it.  I do not know Sifu Judge nor really give a sh*t what he says but escalating a situation is never helpful.  Since you have never recieved instruction from this person how do you know that he is a bad instructor.

 

 

[Kendal Bledsoe]

Hey Everybody that Reads This!!!!!!.

     It seems that we can do some house cleaning on our side, but Sifu Judge needs to quit letting his students bad mouth our school.  Also Sifu Judge should know that it would be disrepectful for a Sigung to challenge a Sifu so if he really wants to make a formal challenge then he needs to call Sigung Cabais and Challenge him.  (Also having your students provoke ours by saying that our Sigung Cabais was to afraid accept a challenge is not a formal challenge.)

     What also needs to be taken care of by Sifu Judge is the rumor of Sigung Cabias having refused a challenge.  I know for a fact that Sigung Cabais has never refused a challenge in his life so it is somehow ridiculus that students of Sifu Judge are saying things like this.  This needs to stop.  I know of a student who went to take classes with Sifu Judge and said that people their were bad mouthing our school and saying that Sigung Cabais was afraid to take up a challenge made by Sifu Judge.   But sense all animosity is over with, then hopefully all the silly things being said between our two schools can be dropped.  Since we are all both Kung Fu schools and cousins with the same goal of promoting martial arts to the world then this can hopefully happen.

   I know that our students will stop harassing other students, however if things are not taken care of by Sifu Judge on his side then we will have to take legal action on our side for slander and financial loss made by Sifu Judges school.

Xie Xie, Kendal Bledsoe

 

[Harvey Meeker]

If someone from the Shaolin Lohan School of Kung Fu did act in an aggressive and confrontational manner towards another person for no reason (whether it is a rival school's student or just anyone off the street) then they need some serious attitude adjustment.  Everyone knows our basic tenets are completely against instigating conflict.

With regard to challenges, I know for absolute certainty that Sigung Cabais will answer any challenge at any time.  The ritual he follows when opening a school is a simple courtesy that he follows as passed down by Sigung Chiang that allows rival schools to easily make a challenge if necessary and so there can be no excuse that he did not make an opportunity available to them to do so.  Somehow I doubt that anyone was unaware of Sigung Cabais arrival in St. Louis or any of the other areas where he has opened schools, also it seems clear that everyone is now aware of his school's existence. 

While he has no desire for conflict I know that Sigung Cabais would answer any challenges that were made in an upfront manner out in the open.  So far, no such challenges have arrived.  Therefore it would behoove the students of all schools in the area to act in a civilized manner towards their counterparts at other schools so as to continue to support the wishes of their teachers.

-Harvey Meeker

[Dai-Sihing Kevin Sears]

As the senior assistant here in STL, I am continually being asked to respond on this subject. I put it here for all the world to see.

First, I ask that this not be allowed to deteriorate to something more ridiculous than it already is. Be respectful! I am all for the right to disagree, but keep in mind that Sifu Judge is a SIFU. He has earned your respect because of that. You should be respectful and polite in your comments. It is far too easy to make judgement from behind the wall of the internet, that would never be said to a real person. Keep this in mind, please.

Whoever the individuals are (on either side) who are responsible for these things are not conducting themselves in the correct manner, this is obvious. However, I do not feel that the responsibility belongs to one party alone. There is more than one student presently at our school who first inquired to the Iron Dragon and spoke with Sifu Judge personally. Again, inpolite things were said there. This angers me, but not in the way you might think. Anytime a student promotes a 'feud' they are wasting valuable time and energy that could, and should, be spent training! That is what any martial tradition is based on! You could have the best teacher, the widest curriculum, the most space, the greatest number of students, but if tou never practice it is all WORTHLESS. When any of us promote a 'feud' we rob only us and our tradition. When we act disrespectfully we shame not only us but our teachers and all of those who came before us, that is what it means to be part of a tradition; a family.

My personal solution is an in-person meeting with all who may have been involved with any problems. To sit down, put all aside and do our best to correct this problem before it gets any more out of hand. That is what civilized and honorable adults do. I think that we might find much of this based on second hand exageration and misunderstanding. I never wish to make rivals only friends. I just wish to practice and live my kungfu the way it was taught to me, because I love it, even if no one else does. I am sure that anyone reading this feels the same.

Again, lets work this out, there is no reason not to. Lets not waste anymore time and energy that we could train with. A famous Shaolin master once said "Kungfu is not about learning famous forms, or from well known teachers, but practicing in your chosen styles basic movements and principles until they have become internatized." From the lowest novice to the higest grandmaster, our honest practice is our foundation for life. Lets not waste any more!

Lastly, to the students of the Shaolin Lohan Schools. Always be aware of your words and actions. You represent your school, classmates, teachers, and tradition at all times, where ever you go.  If you are responsible for any proven misconduct, I will make it a personal goal to have the strictest discipline put on you, including expulsion. I do not appriciate YOU pulling MY name through the mud! May the Buddha have mercy for an negatitivity that I may have unknowingly put forth, I am sorry to all I, or students representing me, may have offended.

Thank you very much for you time,

Kevin Sears

[Troy Griffin]

Hopefully this brings an end to what in my opinion has been a whole lot of childish behavior.

From my perspective, a great deal of this seems like what my Grandmamma used to refer to as 'He said, She said sh*t!' (My Grandma was a tough woman; 5'10", 180lbs. and raised 10 kids, so cut her some slack.)

All the stories I've heard from Shaolin Lohan students about their encounters with Iron Dragon students, depict the Iron Dragon students as the egotistical aggressors, while the Shaolin Lohan students are the humble, peaceful victims.  But in Sifu Judge's e-mail, his student described an entirely different situation, where the Shaolin Lohan student was arrogant and out of control, while the Iron Dragon student was the one exhibiting rational behavior. It's funny how the stories change when told from different perspectives. I suspect that there is a whole lot of embellishment from both sides.  Not to mention that stories always seem change when told, and re-told, and re-told, and re-told...

The last time I was affiliated with this type of 'rivalry' was during my undergraduate fraternity days when I was 19 years old. Looking back on some of those situations today, I realize how incredibly dumb I was. There were times when my Fraternity Brothers and I literally fought rival Fraternities because they said our Fraternity was 'Wack' ( Wack/Fresh/Def ... See how old I am). And one of these fights actually escalated to where the 'opposition' pulled a gun. Luckily no one was injured badly. But how dumb was it to let mere words amongst supposedly educated people end in potential gunplay.

My longwinded point is that I'm a few years older than most of my fellow Shaolin Lohan students, and I've seen this before.  When we are young, passionate, and a part of something this great, we can sometimes be a little overzealous.

All my Kung Fu brethren (All Systems and All styles) ,  let's put everything in its proper perspective, carry ourselves with dignity and leave that 'He said ... She said stuff' to my 3 kids.

[Dai-Sihing Kevin Sears]

Upon re reading my previous statement I realized that, to some it may appear that in the majority of the post that I am addressing Sifu Judge. I wanted to clarify that I am specifically speaking to the students of the Shaolin Lohan Schools. I do not wish to offend Sifu Judge any further, I want to resolve the situation the best that it can be. The events of the past are gone and cannot be erased, no matter how much we regret them. I do not care about actions taken in the past, by anyone at this point, only to ensure that future relations are handled with the most care possible. We can only move forward, that was my whole point. If my previous statement caused no confusion I thank you for reading anyway. I just want my point to be clear.

 

[Ron Davenport]

Hey Everyone, My name is Ron Davenport, I am the personal assistant and desciple of Shifu Cai Ying. On behalf of our school " Shaolin Temple Kung-fu USA" located in St.louis and Illinois I would like to take a minute to comment on the earlier posts.

As all of you've mentioned earlier, we as teachers are just as guilty as our students when such incidents like these arise. Since the beginning of kung-fu there has been school against school or student against stundent, this is nothing new but the manner in which we handle the situation is where true gungfu skill comes into play. I cannot personally speak for anyone else but myself and our school / students. I am also guilty of he / she siad and what not, I think everyone has been at one time or another, not that this makes it alright but it should definitely teach us a lesson or two.

I am not for or against any one person / school, this has to be worked out between the participants involved but I feel that keeping an open mind and allowing parties involved to settle differences will encourage the truth to prevail.

I have personally spoke with Sigung Cabais, if there is a resolve, then it will be so. Hopefully things will work for the better of gungfu and not the destruction.

Thanks, Ron Davenport.

[SiGung Vincent A. Cabais]

I have received an email from someone claiming to be Sifu Wayne Judge’s former student.  The letter was interesting but the person asked me to keep their personal letter to me private.  I will honor that request.

 

However, the alleged former student strongly requested that I post the letter that Sifu Judge had posted for his students.

 

The letter (Fri Dec 05 12:25:13 2003) reads as follows:

 

“TO ALL STUDENTS:

This is an issue which unfortunately must be addressed. As you may
or may not know, recently it was discovered that Sifu Cabais of the
Shaolin Lohan school had made some scathing statements about me.
These statements are of course not true.

 

Sometimes to resolve certain "sticky" issues we must take a
different path than we might like to. I emailed Cabais to keep the
peace, it really is the right thing to do and its a waste of energy
to let such issues boil within you, sometimes you must release such
things. I rebuked his false statements and told him that I and my
school bear him no animosity and that we should just leave it at that.
He issued a "formal" apology to me today yet still qualified it
with the statement "Sifu Judge may be lying, but I choose to believe
him."

THIS IS OUR POLICY CONCERNING THE LOHAN SCHOOL FROM NOW ON: If
asked your opinion of the teachings of that school, answer honestly,
without being negative. The best thing to say is "Check them out for
yourself and compare it to what you see at our (or any other)
school. Or simply say nothing at all. If you run into a student
from there be polite, and as you always should, do your best to
present a good image of our Kwoon.

THERE WILL BE NO "BASHING" OF THE LOHAN (OR ANY OTHER)SCHOOL WITHIN
THE KWOON. Or outside of it. We all need to be more tolerant of
other schools, even if we do not agree with their teaching methods,
philosophy, etc. MYSELF included! Anyone who chooses to ignore this
will be EXPELLED.
We will have an open discussion on this matter over the next few
classes.

Live well and Train hard,
Sifu”

 

 

Have any of you ever known me to “make scathing statements” about someone?  I don’t understand how he is making that conclusion but it seems to be something beyond my personal control.  I mean… we have never met!  I don’t see how it is possible to base any opinion until there is some actual interaction.

 

Oh well.  I guess everyone is entitled to his or her own conclusions and opinions.  I am glad that he brought it up with his students.

 

-Sigung Cabais-