One of the most elusive characters within Choy Lee Fut’s history was a Shaolin monk who went by the name of "The Green Grass Monk", or Ching Cho Woe Serng. Not much was ever known about this monk due to his involvement in the revolution. However, actual literature of the Hung Mun Secret Society list Cai Dezhong (Choy Dak Jung) as the head of their later 5 ancestors of the Triad, and to have been established between 1767-1787. Ever since the founding of Jeong Yim’s Fut San Hung Sing Kwoon in 1851, this branch has maintained the belief that the Green Grass Monk played a major role in the development of Hung Sing Choy Lee Fut since the information was transmitted directly by Jeong Yim himself.
According to the history as it was passed down within the Hung Sing Branch, Jeong Yim was kicked out of the Chan Village for being an outsider and beating up some of their own. His sifu Chan Heung — who was only teaching the Choy and Lee styles at the time — was supposed to have learned from the Green Grass Monk but didn’t have the opportunity and sent Jeong Yim in his place. Under this monk Jeong Yim learned the deadly art of Fut Ga and eventually went back to Chan Heung and shared what he learned and together they completed the Choy Lee Fut Style, and had taken the system Chan Heung started, and took it to new heights. That, according to the Fut San Hung Sing Kwoon, is said to have been how Choy Lee Fut was created.
MONK CHING CHO WO SERNG (GREEN GRASS MONK)According to various sources, Cai DeZhong was one of the last of the Ming Loyalists. His monasterial name was Monk Ching Cho Wo Serng (Green Grass Monk) and given that it was very common during the revolution the Southern Chinese to have numerous aliases, he was also known as Monk Ng Ging. He and a few of his colleagues fled from Henan and re-established a new Shaolin Temple at Gau Lin San under Abbott Gee Sim. He is also the one who is said to be the one to originally design the Lo-han Hall as a student's final test sometime during the reign of Ching Emperor Qian Long 32 years (1736-1796). Within the walls of the Southern Shaolin Temple Cai DeZhong established the Fut Ga Hung Mun (Buddhist Hung Mung Society) which was the secret headquarters for the revolution and was a safe haven for freedom fighters.
At the end of the Ming Dynasty, the Ching Emperor Hong Hei felt that the Southern Shaolin Temple was too strong for its own good and would eventually become a problem for him. He then sent Generals Chan Man Yiu and Jeong Gim Chow along with more than 3000 soldiers to evict all of the monks from the temple and burn Shaolin down to the ground. The two generals were well aware of the reputation of Shaolin Monks, and decided to set up camp at the base of Gau Lin San (Jiulian San) to collect information.General Chan happened to come across the owner of a local hotel who turned out to be a disgruntled ex-shaolin disciple named Ma Ling Yee a.k.a. Ma Chut. He was severely punished for breaking the 100 year lamp at the temple which left him with a bitter taste in his mouth. Ma Chut revealed he knew the secret escape route for the monks and would be able to show General Chan where it was. The escape route was very clever and if Ma Chut never exposed it the monks would have gotten away, so General Chan Man Yiu paid a large sum of money to Ma Chut for the information he provided.
General Chan then packed the secret entrance with explosives and sent word to the monks that they had a total of 3 days to vacate the temple or be killed. At the time Abbot Gee Sim had already passed away and left Cai DeZhong (a.k.a. Green Grass Monk, and Ng Ging) in charge of 108 fighting monks who were enraged at the ultimatum they were given. The monks were not going to give in and decided to fight back and protect the temple. Therefore, they broke into 5 groups and attacked and killed at least 100 soldiers by the main road.
After their attack, the monks retreated back into the temple to re-evaluate their situation. All agreed to stay and booby trap all the entrances. When General Chan ordered his troops to begin burning down the temple Monk Ching Cho (Green Grass Monk) sent his monks into the escape tunnel only to be killed by the trap set up by General Chan. Including Monk Ching Cho, 5 monks survived the destruction of their temple and Monk Ching Cho instructed Wu Dak Dai, Fong Dai Hung, Ma Chiu Hing, and Li Sik Hoi (Lee Yau San's Teacher) to all meet at the Wu Loong River. It was at that moment Monk Ching Cho stormed down Gau Lin San and killed Ma Chut the traitor for giving up the location of the secret tunnels and the death of his fellow monks.
As instructed, Wu Dak Dai, Fong Dai Hung, Ma Chiu Hing, Li Sik Hoi and Cai DeZhong all met at the river to discuss what to do next. These five went on to organize the Hung Mun Secret Society and originated the slogan Fan Ching Fu Ming (Overthrow the Ching and Restore the Ming) as well as to be recognized as the 5 ancestors within the Hung Mun. While each one agreed to secretly promote the revolution they spread out across the land and made a vow to each other to keep a low profile. It is at this point the it is believed Cai Dezhong (Green Grass Monk) traveled to and possibly spent his last days on the Pak Pai Mountain which is located in the Kwangxi Province.
Around 1841, 17 year old Jeong Yim was on a quest to find an elusive monk who went by the name of Green Grass. He lived somewhere on Mt Pak Pai at the Shajian Temple and Jeong Yim was hoping to complete his gung fu training under such a great master. Once he found the Green Grass Monk he proceeded to learn the deadly art of Fut Gar. One of the major contributions Monk Ching Cho made was teaching Jeong Yim a hand form called "In and Out Bagua" which contained a total of 1080 moves in it. Being too long to teach to the younger generations this hand form was later dissected into 3 separate forms called Chueng Kuen, Ping Kuen, and Kou Da Kuen by 1st generation successor Chan Ngau Sing.By the time Jeong Yim learned all that the Green Grass Monk had to teach, his sifu still had one more gift to give him. Jeong Yim completely supported the revolution, and with this the Green Grass Monk revealed that he was none other than Cai DeZhong, Chief founder of the Hung Society ( according to the London Brithish Museum was established during Qian Long 32 years based on original and official Hung Society documents maintained in their possession) He then explained to Jeong Yim he wanted him to change his name from Jeong Yim to Jeong Hung Sing. The words Hung (same as in Hung Society) Sing (Victory) were a reference to the Hung Society winning the victory in overthrowing the corrupt Ching government. But due to too much negative attention this was later changed to the currently used Hung Sing which means "Glorious Victory".Also, some say the current Hung in Hung Sing means "Wild Goose"; if this were a cover-up of the triad's original usage of "Hung" then it makes sense why Jeong Yim chose that character. In Chinese the goose represents longevity, and this too can also be a secret meaning referring to "long life to the Hung." After that, the newly named Jeong Hung Sing gave his word to support the revolution and set up shop in Fut San becoming the founder of the Fut San Hung Sing Kwoon teaching his gung fu to many of his revolutionary brothers, and quickly became one of Southern China’s greatest fighters.
Jeong Hung Sing Honors His WordIt is not known when Cai DeZhong passed away, but because of his doings, Jeong Hung Sing honored the Green Grass Monk's request to continue to fight for the people's rights, and work hard at overthrowing the corrupt Ching Empire. The Fut San Hung Sing Kwoon was steady at work with their involvement in man
Evidence of Jeong Hung Sing's loyalty to the cause of the people can be found in the pair of couplets that hang on the walls of all Fut San Hung Sing Kwoon descendants. The first one reads "The graceful Staff flies above like a dragon moving its tail", and the other reads "A strong fist releases out like a tiger raising its head." When you put the first word of each couplet together they form the word "Ying Hung" or "Hero", in other words, Hero of the people.
2 comments:
Having a degree in History, I can tell you right off that the Choy Li Fut History is somewhat amiss. What exactly that is, is hard to tell. But Chinese Historians are not credible, as they often mix History and Mythology, and the Poetics are often an obstacle, though they are a nice aesthetic.
Mythology is "Broken History", and as such, only about 1%-3% is actually accurate. The trick is figuring out which 1%-3% is true, in any myth. And since we're talking in terms of long ago, or at the least several generations removed, it's often subjective.
Choy Fok and Li Yau San seem to be a given. I don't think anyone would question it. That leaves Chan Yuen Woo and this so-called mysterious "Green Grass Monk." I believe Doc-Fai Wong is correct in stating that the Green Grass Monk does not exist in the form that it is usually presented, with a young kid knowing a little Kung Fu and yet being the hero. No way.
However, given the Chinese love for Song and Poetry, "Green Grass Monk" could take on another form. For instance, the Shaolin Temple could have been considered a place not only for Buddhism, but also a place that is fertile for Martial Arts, in which case, "Green Grass" and not a barren desert. Then you only need to know the name of the Monk, and according to Lee Koon Hung's work, that Monk gave up his name and wished to be called "The Green Grass Monk."
Going on the premise that where there is no agreement, there is conflict; and where there is agreement, there is peace. There is only one other solution that no one seems to be discussing. Was Chan Yuan Woo the Green Grass Monk? Did he need another identity? And if so, why?
Choy Li Green Grass Monk doesn't work as a name for a Kung Fu Style. Neither does Choy Li Chan, and Chan Heung was using First Names, not Family Names. Choy Li Fut, however works very well, and everyone agrees on that.
Therefore it seems to me, that either the Green Grass Monk did not exist; or Chan Yuan Woo might have another name, a more poetic one, as in "Green Grass Monk." Or if Green Grass is a poetic term for the fertile fields of the Shaolin Temple for Martial Arts, then Shaolin Monk.
One thing is certain, the closer one gets to the truth, the more likely there will be less and less debate about it. I used to think it might be Choy Fok, but what if it's the other Shaolin Monk with a secret name?
One last thing to note on what I said above, is the "Fut" indicates the Buddhist Art/Origins of that 3rd Shaolin Monk. Yet, at some point, "Green Grass Monk" seems to "hide" that beginning. One might do that if one's enemies were present and you didn't know who could be trusted among the population.
But there could be another reason, to keep the Shaolin Temple out of harm's way, which as we know didn't work. If that's the case, we're talking someone earlier than Jeuong Yim or Jeuong Yim himself. If Jeuong Yim is the "Green Grass Monk", who could or would dispute it at that time? If you do, you would expose all involved to certain dangers from the Qing Forces and Authority.
Seen in that light, then Chan Yuan Woo is the 3rd Monk, and the Green Grass Monk is a name used to throw authorities off track. In other words, let the Qing Forces chase ghosts.
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