John Saw at Sydney Chen Zhonghua Taiji Academy – 8 March 2020
John Saw – My journey from a hotelier, gambler and Qigong Master to a faithful and loyal disciple of Master Chen Zhonghua.
I was born in Burma in 1935. I lived there till I was 29, had to leave everything behind as the country was taken over by the military. I swam across the Mekong river to Thailand in 1964. Started work at the Bangkok Hilton and after 6 years, decided to migrate to Australia.
In June 1970, I arrived Sydney with my wife and infant son and started work in a motel. In no time I got involved in gambling. Life was easy and had so much fun that by the time I was 60, I suffered a stroke due to smoking, bad diet and not enough sleep. My left side of the body was affected, my speech was slurred and I lost my balance. Through Qigong, I gained back my health, and I recovered fully after years of hard work.
After 20 years traveling around the world spreading our Qigong system, I felt restless, something missing. Even though I was an International Master of Lohan Qigong, I just couldn’t figure out what’s missing in my life.
Throughout my travels, I’ve met many great Masters and practitioners in Qigong and Taiji, and became friends but nothing really impressed me.
Then in December 2014, I was invited to attend a lecture by Taiji Master Chen Zhonghua at the UTS. I went along as I was free at that time and also curious as to what’s there for me to see. The first time I saw Master Chen, I was impressed by his demeanor, he was a humble man with twinkling eyes. When he started talking about his style called Chen Style Taiji Practical Method, I was a bit hesitant. I thought another Master promoting their style. The minute he explained the technique and showed us why it’s called Practical Method, I was blown away.
Mind you, I’ve travelled a fair bit and met many skillful Masters, but what Master Chen did with one slight movement of his body was incredible, seeing is believing I should say. He let people touch him and let them feel that he didn’t move his muscle. I was very impressed and decided to join his workshop that weekend. There again, I was amazed with his skill but most importantly, it’s his willingness to share his knowledge without withholding anything, thats got me hooked.
Since then, I’ve been to Daqingshan many times and attended his seminars yearly without fail.
I was accepted as a disciple in 2017 and my number is 257.
I went to Bali last Nov 2019 to join his workshop and again in February 2020 in Sydney. Master Chen never stop to amaze me with his willingness to share and spread this wonderful system.
The last day of the workshop in Sydney was my 85th birthday. Master Chen was kind enough to join my family and friends with some disciples to celebrate this special occasion with me.
Thank you Shifu.
Your disciple,
John Saw #257
John Saw – Burma Days
John Saw – Burma Days
John Saw – Gambling Days
John Saw – Qigong Days
John Saw with Master Chen Zhonghua at Daqingshan
John Saw with Master Chen Zhonghua at Zhenbudong Rizhao Taiji Acacdemy
John Saw Discipleship Photo in Sydney with Master Chen Zhonghua
Daqingshan Taiji Flame Torch Bearer 2018
Chen Zhonghua Practical Method Workshop Sydney 2020 February
{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
Thank you John for your great story. I am amazed by your recovery from the stroke. You certainly don’t look your age. Actually you look younger than I am. Hope to see you soon on the mountain.
All the best to you!
Very intriguing story. Touched a chord with me. I can still feel the exact awestruck feeling that I first met Master Chen. Wonderful to see the persistence for growth and development in you, John. Impressive and encouraging for those striving to follow a similar goal. Great effort. Thank you for sharing!
Very motivating and impressive life journey you have gone through.
Your perseverance in maintaining a healthy habit in life is a very good example especially for the younger ones like us.
Even though I just met you at the 2019 Bali Workshop, i felt thankful for knowing you. You have a jovial face and agile feet (especially when you shook my hands over at the certificate ceremony)
Hope to catch up with you again in near future.
It’s always such a privilege to train with you and learn from your wisdom and life experience, John.
Hey John, Matt here. I was remembering your kind tutelage and kindness when I arrived in Sydney 20 years ago and you took me down to Bronte beach. Without you I would have never ended up studying Buddhism. I wondered what you were up to these days. Amazing to see you are studying Practical Method now. I’d love to talk to you some time. I have a family now and live in Munich, Germany. Thank you for everything!
I have been martial arts for 50 years. My time training with you has been very helpful in my understanding of how the world (Universe) works. Your help has help me grow. As we all are growing.
My weakness’s are asthma and I found out after my stroke, that most of my life, I have a 80% loss of Xue flow to my right brain. Which can be a good thing, I.E. I look at the world from a different view. Sometimes my actions are misinterpeated (sorry or the misspelling) In one of your class’s you were talking about how a move was also a defensive move. So I thought that you want some to attack you so you could show what you were talking about. So I moved in acting like I was attacking. What happened?
Everyone else in the class moved in to take me down. Sorry. Thank you for all you have taught me. 🙂