This website is dedicated to the Students of Seifu A.S. Umar Sharif, MA. It is also dedicated to the promotion and propagation of the Traditional Afro-Asian Martial and Healing Arts. Our goal is to inform, educate, inspire, encourage, and motivate others to improve their lives by applying The Wisdom of the Ancients.
As your teacher and host, Seifu Sharif [aka: Xia` Xue' Gong] [aka: Tobi Alakoso] is dedicated to helping each of you to remember and nurture the Spirit of Wu-Te and the powers dormant within you.
Rules of Conduct
In The Traditional Martial & Healing Arts
Namaste’ Students and Fellow Martial Arts Enthusiasts!
Every social grouping must include some set of rules to govern the behaviors and interactions of its members. These rules are not necessarily to constrain the individual members but rather to allow for the creation of a safe environment that ensures that each member can experience free expression of their inner potentials, creativity, and desires without causing physical, mental, emotional, spiritual, or social harm to the other members. The importance of Rules of Conduct cannot be overstated when it comes to the teaching and study of the Martial and Healing Arts. Needless to say, students will be given access to knowledge that will enable them to cause considerable harm, even death. And in order to master this knowledge they will have to practice, not only on their own but also with a partner or set of partners. Having the right attitude and levels of discipline and self-control are essential for the health and wellbeing of the Pai (association, group, temple, family) as a whole.
A wise teacher will be very observant and selective when it comes to admitting someone as a new student. Their character and temperament will be closely observed in order to determine whether or not they can be entrusted with the knowledge of the System. This period of observation can take minutes, hours, weeks, months, and sometimes even years. This is the reason that the knowledge will be passed on in small segments. In the 7 Circles System of Southern/Northern Shaolin Kung Fu Wu Shu and Qigong the Lesson Plan is broken down into 36 Chambers, each providing more advanced knowledge and integration of the System. This allows the teacher to decide at any point that a student lacks the character elements, discipline, determination, self-control, humility, kindness, patience, or diligence to proceed to the next Chamber or level of knowledge, in which case the student may be held back at a certain level to allow time for additional character developments, or dropped from the Pai completely.
The following rules are those given to the Neophytes being trained in the Ancient Nile Valley Civilizations of Africa over 8,000 years ago. These rules pre-date the Ten Rules of Conduct of the Shaolin Temple Warrior Priest and are their basis. These are the Rules of the Grand Lodge of Luxor, which was the source of knowledge until its destruction in 548 B.C.E. Subordinate Lodges stretched from Assyria to Zimbabwe, from Rome to Burma, and from Palestine to Monomotapa (South Africa).
The Neophyte must:
Control his (her) thoughts.
Control his (her) actions.
Have devotion to purpose.
Have faith in the ability of his master to teach him (her) the truth.
Have within him (her) self the ability to assimilate the truth.
Be free from resentment under the experience of persecution.
Be free from resentment under the experience of wrong.
Cultivate the ability to distinguish between right and wrong.
The Traditional Martial & Healing Arts have a long history of bloody conquests, amazing feats, miraculous cures, and honorable deeds. From Africa, to India, Southeast Asia and China, Japan and Korean, from Brazil to Canada, the Traditional Martial & Healing Arts have helped to build empires, express religious beliefs, and provide for the health and healing of communities.
One who carries knowledge of the Science of Life and Death should be humbled by what they know. The Eight Rules of Conduct should serve as a guide for developing good character (iwa pele).
7 Circles System Principles (Iwa Pele - Good Character)
Humility (Irele) – show due respect to those who are your seniors in age, knowledge, training, or experience. Be humbled by what you know, and motivated by what you don’t know.
Kindness (Ore) – treat everyone as though they are in your care, and as though YOU are the one who could make a difference in their life. Be helpful where you can and a defender if you must.
Patience (Suru) – give your body and spirit time to catch up with your mind. Perseverance is necessary to accomplish great things. Give each person time to grow at his own or her own pace.
Diligence (Eto) – practice regularly and push your limits back as you drive yourself forward seeking the Master Within.
Rules of the Shaolin Temple:
Monk Chueh Yuan established these regulations. After abuses entered the temple, he laid down an ethical floor under the system to improve discipline.
A student must practice without interruption.
Boxing must be used for legitimate self-defense.
Courtesy and prudence must be shown to all teachers and elders.
A student must be forever kind and honest, and friendly to all his colleagues.
In traveling, a boxer should refrain from showing his art to the common people even to the extent of refusing challenges.
A boxer must never be bellicose.
Wine and meat should never be tasted.
Sexual desire cannot be permitted.
Boxing should not be taught rashly to non-Buddhists lest it produce harm. It can only be transmitted to one who is gentle and merciful.
A boxer must never be aggressive, greedy, or boastful.
Note the similarity between the Shaolin Temple Rules and those of the earlier Grand Lodge of Luxor. Also, in today’s modern society and changing value system rules number 7 and 8 must be viewed as guidelines to be applied based on the students own understandings. There are many reasons, even today, to avoid alcohol and the eating of meat. And at the very least one should exercise restraint in their sexual behaviors so as not to deplete their vital energies.
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It is not simply practice that makes perfect. It is perfect practice and consistent practice that makes perfect.
