Book Feature: The Philosophy of the Luk Dim Boon Kwan by Sifu Kendra Mahon

Sifu Kendra Mahon, known as Kung Fu Kendra, takes up Wing Chun’s long weapon in the eighth book of The Way of Wing Chun. The Philosophy of the Luk Dim Boon Kwan: Extension, Rootedness, and the Unfinished Half Point looks at the six-and-a-half point pole, known in her Traditional Wing Chun system as the Dragon Pole, and at what a weapon built on reach is doing in an art built on closeness.

From the River

The book recounts the traditional story connecting the pole to the Red Boat Opera troupes of nineteenth-century Guangdong: the boatman Leung Yee-tai, said to have learned his pole method from a Shaolin abbot known as Chi Sin or Jee Shim, and to have exchanged it for the empty-hand system of his fellow performer Wong Wah-bo. The author is careful with it. The details cannot be confirmed, and the abbot in disguise belongs to legend, but river boatmen did use long poles, and the basic picture is plausible. Her lesson from it is that mastery often grows quietly out of ordinary work done well and done often.

A Tool That Magnifies

Because the pole is long, a slight turn of the wrist moves the tip a long way. “Leverage magnifies both skill and error,” Sifu Kendra writes. That is one reason the pole is taught late: weapons amplify whatever is already there, and a practitioner whose structure is not yet sound will find every flaw exposed. When the tip goes off course, she adds, the correction has to happen at the base, in the hands, wrists and stance.

The Riddle in the Name

Luk is six, dim is point, boon is half and kwan is pole. Lineages describe the points differently and assign the half point to different actions, and the book does not try to settle the matter. Instead it reads the half point as an admission that the art is unfinished. “This is a remarkably honest thing for a martial art to say about itself,” the author observes. She connects it to Ip Man’s 1972 film, in which, according to accounts from his family’s lineage, he intended to go on to the weapons forms but was too weak to continue.

Economy at Length

New pole students tend to swing in big, dramatic arcs. The Wing Chun pole prefers the short thrust and the small circle, which reach sooner and give less warning. The book’s summary of the principle is brief: “Reach far, but move little. Aim straight. Waste nothing.”

Who It Is For

The book suits practitioners of any lineage and general readers. It is not a manual, and the author stresses that the pole should be learned from a qualified teacher, since careless training with a heavy pole carries a real risk of injury.

About the Author

Sifu Kendra Mahon, known as Kung Fu Kendra, has trained since 2005 and holds Master level (purple sash). She teaches Traditional Wing Chun as it was passed down to her by Master Brian Lewadny, who learned it from Grandmaster William Cheung. She is the author of 13 books and counting, including the ten-book The Way of Wing Chun series, and created the Become a Sifu Wing Chun Online Certification Course (10 levels, one payment, no monthly fees). Read what her students say on the Kung Fu Kendra reviews page.

Where to Get It

The Philosophy of the Luk Dim Boon Kwan: Extension, Rootedness, and the Unfinished Half Point is available on Amazon in Kindle and paperback: Kindle and paperback. It is also on Goodreads under Kung Fu Kendra and Kendra Mahon. See all of her books on kungfukendra.com.

Editor’s note: Wing Chun Magazine is published by Sifu Kendra Mahon.