It was a hot summer day in the practice hall of the Wah Lum Temple in Orlando. A young Danny Abrahms was trying to learn Chen Style Taijiquan from master Li Enjiu. Danny had been a student of the Wah Lum system for many years. He was quite eager to learn this new system but he was finding it difficult.
There were only a few students studying Taiji. They were surrounded by people practicing other forms and weapons. (Wah Lum is famous for its weapons repertoire. At that time, Danny had experience training with more than thirty weapons.) Suddenly, Danny heard a whip sound; he saw a white flash darting towards Master Li’s chest! Just as the white flash touched Master Li’s chest, Li turned sideways.
There was a loud crash, as a window was shattered! The spear dart at the end of a 9-section chain whip had separated from its chain, as the student was whipping it. The dart was traveling at lightening speed— it certainly could have killed Master Li had it struck his chest directly.
Everyone rushed to see if anything had happened to master Li. He was calm, quite normal and untouched, as though nothing had happened. Experience and quick reflexes had saved his life. When he heard the sound of the traveling dart, by instinct, he spontaneously reacted with the perfect response. He raised his head, and seeing the incoming object, turned his chest precisely 40 degrees. The dart touched his chest but was redirected to the window. What an incredible demonstration of martial skill, effortlessly averting the life threatening danger!
As a martial artist, you will recognize that this was by no means blind luck. One cannot dodge “bullets” with luck. The dozens of years of diligent taijiquan training had endowed him with the ability to act instinctively and appropriately in a dangerous situation.
Danny was duly impressed. With this remarkable inspiration, he was ever more motivated to pursue the path, to learn Taijiquan from master Li. Today he is an accomplished master of both Praying Mantis and Chen Style Taijiquan.
