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.
Namaste’ Students and Fellow Martial Arts Enthusiasts!
First let’s answer the question, “What is the meaning of Me’je Oruka and why is this language used in connection with the 7 Circles System?” Me’je Oruka actually means, ‘7 Circles’ in the Yoruba language of Nigeria, West Africa. I have a personal connection to this particular African country and language which you can read about on my Ile Awo Orisa website. The reason for this African reference to a system that is primarily rooted in the Traditional Martial & Healing Arts of the Shaolin Temples of China is to make you, our students aware of a very important principle and distinction between the 7 Circles System and the Me’je Oruka approach to that System.
In studying the history of the Chinese martial arts, especially those styles that are based on the movements of animals, you will often come across the idea that these styles were developed based on the notion of ‘mimicking’ the movements of various animals, for example, the tiger, crane, leopard, snake, and dragon that are found in the Five Animals System of Kung Fu which dates back to around the 13th Century, in the Henan Province, China. To ‘mimic’ means to imitate. For example, certain animals and plants can make themselves resemble or imitate another animal or plant in order to deter predators or for camouflage purposes. Perhaps this word, ‘mimicking’, is overused or misunderstood in reference to the Chinese animal styles of martial arts but nonetheless, in developing the 7 Circles System of Southern-Northern Shaolin Kung Fu, I wanted to instill an important idea into my students that would hopefully improve their martial arts training and their general life experience. An African Proverb can highlight this point.
“Do not try to fight a lion if you are not one yourself!”
This proverb points out the fact that the hunters and warriors of our ancient African Ancestors did not simply ‘mimic’ the animals in their environment. They actually tried to ‘evoke’ (bring or recall to the conscious mind) and ‘invoke’ the spirit of the animals that were the most powerful hunters and fighters in their environment. In other words, their goal was to conjure the spirit of the animal with such presence (the state or fact of existing, occurring, or being present in a place or thing) that they could exhibit all of the prized characteristics of that particular animal. This is why they would wear animal skins, claws, and teeth of the animals as amulets or Onde (things of power). They would become the animal. So Me’je Oruka calls you to go beyond mere mimicking and to learn the characteristics of the various animals in such vivid detail that you can conjure their spirit and their powers at will.
With this understanding, now look at the pictures to the left and consider the significance of the 7 Circles System (Me’je Oruka) and its seven animals, tiger, dragon, crane, monkey, mantis, snake, and eagle. Do you know these animals?Can you understand and sense their spirit?Can you conjure their spirit within yourself with such presence that you can, for that moment, become that animal in human form? That is what I am inviting you to strive for in your training. Books, magazines, movies, documentaries, and whatever other sources are available to you, use them to learn as much as you can about each of the seven animals in our system. Then consider your body type and attributes (tall or short, big or small bones, heavy or light, degree of flexibility, agility, temperament, etc.) and extract those qualities and characteristics of each of the animals that speak to you and that feel most compatible with who you are, with you own innate spirit.
Each of the seven animals has a particular nature that influences its offensive and defensive behaviors. In the martial arts we refer to these differences as styles. A style is simply a manner of doing something, standing, moving, running, and fighting. It is a way of behaving or approaching a situation that is characteristic of or favored by the particular animal or person. In the martial arts that would include training methods, favored techniques, and the degree of emphasis on begin aggressive and attacking, or being more defensive and emphasizing blocking, evading, etc. These styles are not really mutually exclusive but each animal style will tend to lean more one way or the other. There are hard styles and soft styles. There are also styles that emphasize external, physical strength and others that focus on internal training and the development in Qi (chi) and Jing (internal power).
A system is a set of things working together as parts of an interconnecting network. It is parts integrated into a whole. In the 7 Circles System certain characteristics of each of the animals is integrated into an interconnecting matrix of movement embracing hard and soft, offensive and defensive, external and internal.
Development and eventual mastery of this System cannot be achieved by pursuing your training as a pastime. You either have a passion for this way, or you don’t. Either you will dedicate yourself to the many hours of study, meditation, training, and practice that are required, or you will be like a hollow piece of wood that looks solid on the outside but lacks substance and strength on the inside. Another African proverb states:
“A man chosen to wield life and death on the battlefield must be an artist. If he isn’t, he is simply a murderer.”
We train in the spirit of Wu-Te, “We train for our physical, mental, spiritual, and social wellbeing!” We train in the hope that we will never have to use our skills to do harm to another. But if we must, if we are called upon by circumstance to do so, we intend to leave the battlefield with the enemy behind and with our life, our honor, and our respect intact.
One does not become a martial ‘artist’ by happenstance any more than a great pianist becomes great by occasionally tinkering with the piano. Strive for perfection or why bother to strive at all? Perfection is not the necessary end goal; perfection is the guiding motivation that keeps the artist moving forward. Kung Fu means to ‘master’ something. Seifu Andrew and I are inviting you into the way of mastery, the world of Kung Fu that can touch every aspect of your life.
Click here (7 Animals of Me’je Oruka) and review what I have stated briefly about each of the seven animals in our System. Over the coming months, we will discuss in greater detail each of the seven animals so that you can reach a higher level of understanding and achievement in your training.
To be continued:
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It is not simply practice that makes perfect. It is perfect practice and consistent practice that makes perfect.
