An Interview with Sam Masich

An Interview with Sam Masich by Ronnie Robinson Sam Masich, originally from Canada, is now based in Berlin, Germany and regularly teaches in Europe, North and South America. He has studied Taijiquan since 1979 working with a number of noted Masters including Liang Shouyu, Yang Jwing Ming & Jou Tsung Hwa. 6 Tai Chi Chuan & Oriental Arts What was your introduction to Taijiquan? 1 In 1979, when I was 17, I lef my hometown in north-western Canada and moved to Vancouver. I was passionate about drawing, oriental philosophy and sports - especially soccer. When I frst discovered martal arts I saw right away the chance to fuse the essence of all these interests into one actvity. Which martial arts did you begin with? I began with judo with Brien Gallagher but it was his taijiquan that I really wanted. I more or less tricked him into teaching me taijiquan. Once we got going with the taiji however, we trained both arts together. I actually learned the Yang long form in a judo gi afer judo sessions. I trained three tmes a week at one club and 2 three tmes a week at another - all with Brien. I Images: (Clockwise from above lef: Sam with...) also trained with him from 10am to 5pm, one- 1. Brien Gallagher and Raymond YM Chung on-one for more than fve years every Sunday. 2. Jou Tsung Hwa and Sam We never missed a Sunday session except for 3. Yang Jwing Ming, Liang Shouyu & Sam Christmas. Can you tell us a little about your teachers and what it was you 3 specifcally trained in with them? Brien was an ex-police ofcer and champion pistol shooter. Even now, in his seventes he is a champion archer. He’s been a natonal level judo and kendo compettor and won provincial championships in these and in karate sparring. He can ‘read’ people in push-hands with a few light turns of the circle. He has the sharpest eye and the fastest, yet sofest hand of any martal artst I’ve met. He’s also proudly Irish and comes from a long line of bare-knuckle fghters. He frst learned boxing from the priests who taught at his school. He is a superlatve martal arts trainer having coached all of his seven on to me. I felt a very strong connecton to toward the practcal pondering that informs nephews to provincial championships in judo. Master Yang and his teachings even before my work today. Finally, by his epic example, meetng him some years later. he gave me a sense that I have a responsibility With Brien I learned about martal arts in toward leaving the art in a beter state than I a general sense. Because his background While I am a tudi (formal disciple) of Master found it. included western, Japanese and Chinese Yang, I never learned his complete system. He martal arts, he easily navigated between the taught me deeper, principle-based material You also worked with Liang Shouyu? three worlds with ease. I had exposure to judo, as he knew I was already sitng atop a very I met Master Liang Shouyu in 1985 at an karate, kendo, boxing, Yang, Chen and Fu styles solid curriculum. Rather than messing with it, event to choose the Canadian natonal of taijiquan, and police self-defence training he had the foresight to help me fll in the gaps Chinese martal arts team to compete in the before I met my Chinese teachers. in my understanding and the means to take frst Internatonal Wushu Championships in me deeper and further in the directon I was Xi’an, China. I was there with Brien who had In taijiquan he is one of only two practtoners already going with Brien and Master Chung. managed to get me into the tryout through the certfed as Master ‘high-level’ by his teacher We focused on qinna, sword and bare-hand recommendaton of Master Chung. Grandmaster Raymond Y. M. Chung. Master applicatons, push-hands and neigong. He Chung had been in the same academy and helped me to beter understand the Chinese Brien and I were sitng watching the various trained alongside Yang Shouzhong (Yang characteristcs of Chinese martal arts - the wushu athletes and I was - not having seen Chengfu’s eldest son). He is a master of the full history, philosophy and the cultural meaning modern wushu performed by caucasians my curriculum of Yang-style taijiquan as well as and ‘feel’ of what I was doing. own age - completely impressed. As a former being a high-level baguazhang, xingyiquan and long jump, high jump and triple jump athlete I Wu-style taijiquan practtoner. A young hot-shot tournament champion does thought, “These guys are great - I’d like to try not automatcally possess humility regarding that!” You worked closely with Dr. Yang Jwing Ming, what did you learn from the vast scope of the art. Master Yang helped him? me to see things in perspectve and thus I did my form (and made the team) and was a Brien and I would refer to Master Yang’s frst temper the pride I felt in my achievements. bit fustered when I sat down. Then, a forty-ish Yang-style taijiquan book as the curriculum He would always say, “The higher the bamboo year old Chinese man stood up to perform. He which was very similar to the one Brien had grows, the lower it bows.” He taught me to moved for about ten seconds and Brien leaned learned from Master Chung and was passing respect the classical writngs and the symbolic over to me and said, “That’s real.” That was the concepts within taijiquan lore and steered me frst tme I saw Liang Shouyu move. Spring 2014 7 to distnguish between I know not every student will master every general Chinese martal arts move. But I also know that they can all make concepts and those unique satsfying progress and be fulflled in their to taijiquan. It is therefore practce. This is rewarding to me. Its very easy to misconstrue, important how I address and encourage them. exaggerate and undervalue They have to be made aware that they not aspects of the training. The only can do taijiquan, they can master it, even upside to this is a lot of if only some parts. I was fortunate with my creatve innovaton in terms teachers to have learned with each of them of approach and descriptve privately, behind closed doors. Although my language. The downside is classes are usually in seminar format, I try to a tendency to wander away talk to each student as if it were a lesson tailor from the root of the art. made for them. In what ways did he What can you tell us about your motivate and direct experiences with Jou as a martial your learning and how artist and as a person? has that impacted on Master Jou understood beter than anyone your teaching? that taijiquan and the internal arts thrive best Master Liang completely in community. He didn’t believe in cliques and defes categorisaton. He secretve teachings. By his very presence he is in every way a genius broke down the barriers erected by the self- in the feld of Chinese important and the manipulatve in martal arts martal arts: physically, society. One might have been tempted, on martally, intellectually, frst impression, to dismiss him as a harmless, civilly, spiritually. It's really kooky eccentric and something of a lightweight only when one reaches as far as martal concerns go. But he is to something of a high level in date, the only person to have bounced my this work that appreciaton head-top on a doorsill while pushing-hands. of Liang Shouyu can He practsed taijiquan with the fervour of an meaningfully begin. idealistc young student yet was one of the Like many individuals of most renowned fgures in mathematcs and enormous capacity, he has educaton in Taiwan. Yang Jwing Ming grew up developed his own way of studying Jou Tsung Hwa’s textbooks in high- organizing his understanding. Master Liang and I connected well on the 1985 school and in university. Master Jou taught trip to Xi’an where he was the team coach and me to be as serious as an eagle in my hunt for Master’s Liang’s personal system—in many I was one of the athletes. He helped me out understanding and mastery but not to take ways an homage to his martal arts master/ of a difcult jam at one point and set it up for myself too seriously, no mater what accolades grandfather— is called Shushan Wuji me to train push-hands in Beijing. When I came or critcisms might come my way. Xiaoyaopai. Shushan is a regional nickname back to Canada, Brien prepared me for about a for Sichuan Province and refers to the mystcal Which of your teachers had the most year, enabling me to study Chen-style taijiquan martal arts mountain Ermeishan. Wuji is infuence on you? privately with Master Liang who then trained the pre-primordial to taiji—the state of un- Depending on which aspect is in foreground, me in a very diferent way than I’d been used beginning and a reference to the fact that any of my teachers could be considered to. Stance structure, alignment, fexibility and Master Liang is now acknowledged in China the most infuental. Master Jou Tsung Hwa favour—he taught me the secret passages as the only living grandmaster of the actual impressed on me very deeply the noton between styles and opened up new ways of wujiquan system.

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