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| The Style: Internal & External For most, even very experienced martial artists, it is often difficult to understand Ling Gar. According to Sifu Lyn, "It isn't easy to explain Ling Gar because it can't really be understood in terms of forms, techniques and principles. Any more than you can know someone through their portrait. Depending on the skill of the artist one may get a sense but that's all. Family styles are like family portraits, generations of wisdom put into form but still just a picture." Sifu Lyn stresses that although the movements of the style may look deceptively simple there is a tremendous amount of understanding required in its approach and techniques. "External Ling Gar is very brutal, direct and ruthless, not very pretty (compared to northern Kung Fu forms). The intent simply is to quickly kill or cripple the opponent, nothing flowery or esoteric. The style stresses getting the most direct benefit per movement. Immobilize the attack right away, disrupt his timing then finish with a break/dislocate down the centerline. It's all open hand - trapping, tearing, breaking, grabbing; stances are used for joint manipulation, to trap and to offset the attacker's center of gravity." He demonstrates by having a student attack him. The student begins to throw a very fast punch at his head. From a relaxed neutral position, hands at his side, Sifu Lyn shifts his body, effectively pinning the attacker's other hand and legs while simultaneously "striking" with a palm heel to the shoulder. The movements are so fast and so slight they are virtually impossible to see and seem almost insignificant, yet the student's body buckled and fell backward 3 or 4 steps, his face in visible pain. He described feeling as if an electric current had shot through his shoulder numbing his entire body. Sifu Lyn's explanation of the demonstration begins with "immobilizing an attack from its origin", the heart of Ling Gar. "Put in its simplest terms, an attack originates basically from the shoulder, elbow, hip or knee. Using Bruce Lee's analogy of 3 beats, traditionally, the first beat is the opponent striking. The second beat I block. The third beat the opponent strikes again. It's not a Chinese movie though where you can block everything that's coming at you. Already my chances for winning this contest are nearing 0. Most Kung Fu styles defend and attack simultaneously using beats 2 and 3. Family style (Ling Gar) upsets the opponent's timing by immobilizing the attack on the first half beat. "One day, soon after my cousin (one of Abak's sons, Ling Yin Shi mentioned above) came over from China, I asked if we could go outside and spar. I took a stance to get ready and in the same instant he threw a spearhand poke right at my eyeball. I barely jerked my head back in time and it still left a big gash just below my eye. Had I not moved he would have definitely taken it (the eye) out. I was pretty upset. He and I were like brothers. I asked him what was going on, I thought we were only practicing. He replied, 'There is no practice, either do it for real or not at all.' I learned a valuable lesson about the philosophy of the style that day. Even about the defensive position of taking a stance. I had already wasted the first beat preparing to block." Ling Gar teaches to protect and strike not block. Defense literally derives from proper offense. According to Sifu Lyn, "The principle is to immobilize the attack not block it. If you think 'blocking' you'll always block and never strike." Mental Component This is just one aspect of the principles of Ling Gar that Sifu Lyn often refers to as the style's "mental component". Obviously to immobilize an attack, Ling Gar must be a "close-in" style. Its aim is to control and attack on the inside centerline, requiring fast reflexes, tremendous timing and extraordinary "presence" of mind and body. Sifu Lyn emphasizes, "It takes a lot of foundation for the physics and principles of family style to be even understood, much less applied. A lot of students come in having studied many styles but lack foundation. It's not what you've studied but what you know. It's a way of life, it's how you feel, not a set of fancy moves, not something 'you get', not certifications, belts or achievements. It's about quality of life, peace/tranquillity of mind and personal development. It needs to come full circle." There are ten precepts of Ling Gar: Inner Strength, Poise, Fluidity, Precision, Speed, Patience, Tenacity, Cunning, Ruthlessness and Spirituality. Interestingly, they are also the qualities necessary in Ling Gar's application. To many it seems surprising and contradictory that a style as severe and ruthless as Ling Gar would have such a strong and essential internal component. However the qualities necessary to practice Ling Gar (i.e. the mind/body "presence", timing, reflexive response etc.) have always been hallmarks of internal styles. Sifu Lyn tells a story that also addresses this seeming contradiction from a different perspective. "During the Cultural Revolution my cousin's master was attacked in an enclosed area by a gang of 12 fully armed thugs. Barehanded he killed 6 of them and crippled several others before being killed. It gives some insight into the severity and mental component of the style. When asked about such things though, Abak, the grandmaster of Ling Gar, would always say that anyone could hurt someone, the real skill was in healing. To have to hurt someone and then turn around and heal that person without malice, prejudice or pretense was the real teaching (of Kung Fu). Abak would often say that making a friend of an enemy was the surest way to defeat them." Sifu Lyn won't describe Ling Gar in terms of moves, techniques or practices. In his words, " it's not very meaningful or useful. A lot of training in Kung Fu is self-discovery. A teacher can only give you the tools. What it comes down to is personal discipline, mental strength and determination. These are developed, cultivated not explained. There is an exercise in a Kung Fu system called 'Light Skills' where the student has to jump out of a hole. It's not about 'Sifu, how do I do it?' You have to get in the hole and try to jump out. In 5 years you can jump out of a 10-foot hole but not because you figured out how.
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  Lyn putting on a demonstration at Sacred Heart University 1987. Lyn: "I didn't want to do this originally but they were black belts and were certain it wouldn't be a problem since their style trained with heavy contact.
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If you are further interested in Ling Gar Kung Fu, Tai Chi or Qi Gong, Vincent Lyn has made an instructional video about these arts. 
