History of Sifu Cai Wen Yu's Genealogy

 
 

Sifu CAI WENYU was born in a family of martial artists, and he began training while still an infant.

GONG FU means "time of hard work", which is something he learned from an early age by observing his relatives training on a daily basis.This inspiration made Sifu's training a daily need for him.

He trained year after year, ignoring the elements, for the training of internal Gong Fu is traditionally made in contact with nature. That's so because in such conditions the first thing to be strengthened is the spirit.


As a child, he developed the habit of waking up at 5:00 a.m. to train SAN TI SHI ZHONG and walking in circles ( BAGUA ), using a tree to mark the center of the circle.

This training alone took him five years of practice. Sifu CAI JIN BAO (Sifu CAI WENYU's father) used to say that BAGUA ZHANG's circle is the spirit of BAGUA.

The circumference must be made with eight steps, which are related to I-CHING's philosophy. This system enables the practitioner to feel the energy of nature and of the universe.

Sifu CAI WENYU is now teaching in Brazil. For three years now his disciples are following the same training system; and in a very short time the students of CAI WENYUY Association already can make their bodies breathe (His QI GONG system has six levels, and the first level is body breathing).

Sifu CAI WENYU introduced orthodox BAGUA ZHANG and internal martial GON FU in Brazil.

Sifu CAI WENYU's school of orthodox BAGUA ZHANG has two main features: first, its teachings and terminology come directly from the founder; second, the founder is a fifth generation master, which very few masters can claim to be nowadays.

Why is sifu CAI WEN YU's school of BAGUA ZHANG called orthodox?

In China, the practice of BAGUA ZHANG is very popular, for there are associations all over the country. There are 20 to 25 different families of Bagua Zhang. Many families were originated from the third or fourth generation, making new adaptations to the system from their original concepts. For that reason, the orthodox Gagua Zhang families were reduced to a few.

When DONG HEI CHUAN died, he had many disciples, among which the greatest are: YIN FU CHENG TING HUA, LI CUNYI, LIU FANG CHUN...

LI CUNYI was born in SHEN XIAN , HEBEI. He was a disciple of grand-master LIU QI LAN, and grand-master GUO YUN SHEN (both XIN YI QUAN), and later LI CUNYI was introduced to grand-master DONG HEI CHUAN by his friend CHENG TING HUA.

LI CUNYI reached a very high level of bagua zhang and XIN YI QUAN, for three grand-masters taught him a lot (LIU QI LANG, DONG HEI CHUAN, and GUO YUN SHEN).

LI CUNYI was considered a national hero during the Boxers' revolution in 1900. His mastery of the saber (broadsword) rendered him the nickname "DA DAOLI" (great sabre LI).

LI CUNYI also had great disciples. Among them, the most famous was SHANG YUN XIANG, also known as the "Buddha with Iron Feet". Today in China many bagua zhang and XIN YIQUAN associations are part of SHANG YUNXIANG lineage.

Sifu CAI JIN BAO was sifu SHANG YUNXIANG's greatest disciple.

He inherited a very rare book of XING YIQUAN, approximately 200 years-old; this book was written by several masters throughout the generations. For that reason, the contents of this book are very important. Very few people are prepared to read and understand this book, however, for it's completely written in poems and philosophical terms.

To be a fifth generation disciple is a privilege of the few nowadays, for the closest one is to the founder, the less knowledge is lost. However, an even greater privilege is to maintain the tradition of orthodox teaching.

In addition to that, sifu CAI WENYU is also the third generation of the modern gong fu style YI QUAN, which was created by grand-master GUO YUN SHEN's disciple, grand-master WANG XIANG ZHAI.

Sifu CAI WENYU was a direct student of grand-master YAO ZONG XUN, and he also trained directly with HAN CI HUANG, DOU SHI MINH, WANG BAO QI...all of them great disciples of the founder.

Sifu CAI WENYU always says knowledge has no boundaries; it belongs to the humankind, and those who teach must love what they do, and love their students as well.

Internal martial arts are not like other martial arts, or the sports. People of all ages can practice them without risks. On the contrary, they can revitalize and restore health to those who have lost it, making every practitioner as healthy as a child.

Despite the short time of work, CAI WENYU Association has already expanded through several cities of Brazil, and even abroad, with a branch in Germany; the goal of our association is to pass on an art that's almost extinct to those who love the martial arts.