Pathgate Journal

“I was looking for a teacher and I found Buddha ...”

- Eldan Friedman (Israel) -

"My name is Eldan Friedman and I am twenty-nine years of age. Today I am surrounded by children who are learning Chinese Martial Arts from me in a unique way which relays a message of love, light and giving. The movements being taught give confidence in the power of goodness that exists in each of us. The practice releases the students from fear and connects them to their true nature and potential.

The people who knew me a year ago will find it hard to recognise me today. I grew up as a ‘good’ Jewish boy in Haifa, but I used to internalise insecurity and anger which led to an uncontrollable urge to hurt everyone with whom I came in contact. I was attracted to the desire for power which almost led to my ruin.

Fortunately, my encounter with Sifu Yeung revealed to me a new spiritual direction which returned me to innocence. I went through a metamorphosis, and today I teach to others the compassion and teaching that saved my life. My story here describes the miracle that can happen to each of us.

When I was a teenager, I enjoyed feelings of confidence and power. I wanted to be stronger and better than everyone else. I wasn’t weak physically, but mentally I felt restless and insecure, and I didn’t have enough will power and faith to withstand the struggles and pressures of life.

My first martial arts teacher was more an educator than an instructor of martial arts. Even though he tried to instil in me modesty, proper proportion and tempering of my ego, I found myself drawn to the direction of power. I was young and ambitious, and did not want to understand anything else. My feelings of inferiority were expressed by the desire to prove that I was better than everyone else.

I used to train about eight hours a day, but in an incorrect manner. I took the pure tool that I was given, and put brute power into it. The more I focused on the power, the more I was addicted to the sensation of power. I abused myself physically in training, and abused others. This ‘ugly seed’ was evolving without my being aware of it.

I used to project the anger within me to everyone in my surroundings, including my family. Girls did not interest me as human beings but as objects to absorb my anger and insecurity. I wasted a lot of energy doing nothing in order to show that everyone existed to serve me. My army service was filled with countless court martials and arguments, which all resulted in nothing - just a mindless effort to fight the system and be clever, in a sinister way. I continued on a mindless path - sleeping with as many girls as possible, going out and spending money without any restraint, smoking heavily ... the terrible anger within me grew, and with it the need to prove that I was stronger than everyone else.

After leaving the army I went to Japan and started working there. However, I dragged the sickness with me. I learned Japanese, made a lot of money, and spent it all. I took up body building, and I drank a lot of alcohol. I had everything, and I had nothing. Deep inside I knew that I had sold my soul to the Devil.

Driven by a dead calm of emptiness, I left Japan for New Zealand. My hair was long and wild, and I had the expression of someone who was looking for trouble. I moved from place to place with a terrible restlessness. After several months I realised I could not run away from myself. The pain and anger would always be with me. Deliverance would not come from a change of landscape.

That was about two years ago. I returned home, but nothing had changed. I stopped training and involved myself in relationships with women whose way of life was a reflection of my problems. There was no love, only cruelty, evil and emptiness. It was a period of getting up in the morning, hating myself and going back to sleep with the same feeling. It was a dead end situation.

After a while, I started teaching martial arts, but I knew that something was basically wrong with the direction I was taking, and in myself. My body was getting weaker, and my inner energy was slowly fading. I decided to look for another teacher who could bring me to another place. Then I was recommended to approach a teacher who was destined to change my life. That teacher is Sifu Yeung.

In September 1996, I went to England to commence my study with Sifu Yeung. A short time after I met him, I knew that I had found what I had been looking for. I was looking for a teacher, and in Sifu Yeung I found Buddha. He opened up my eyes to a better world, and gave me a new life full of happiness, light, faith and trust. Sifu also opened my eyes to the healing power of forgiveness and restored my faith in the goodness of human nature. I saw there the unbelievable, and had the privilege to discover the existence of a higher truth, and by following Sifu’s path, I was truly transformed.

Healing & Forgiviness

It began step by step. When I first arrived in England I had a sharp pain in my shoulder, which previously was diagnosed as an inflammation. The doctor in Israel had wanted to give me cortisone, but I had refused. Sifu immediately said that it was not a physical pain, but an emotional one that would pass once I learned to extend the power of forgiveness to both myself and to those whom I perceived as being responsible for my hurt. After a while, when I started to internalise this new path, the pain did indeed vanish.

We are used to the fact that when we are sick our bodies can handle the disease alone. Sifu showed me that even in the forgiveness process or healing process we need help from others. When I did my cleansing during a meditation workshop in London, my body could not handle the energies that started to release from it. Like a volcano erupting, I started to sweat and shake like an epileptic. Tears of pain came out without stopping. The pain escalated to a level beyond anything I have ever felt.

All that time I was thinking about what Sifu said regarding having faith in forgiveness. I found myself reliving the same pain I felt many years ago, the pain of the hurt I suffered from other people who had caused it. Unknown to me during my cleansing, Sifu had assigned three students to assist me in my moment of need. Under the guidance of Sifu, they harmonised my energy flow in unison, and directed my newly erupted energies to the ground. This they did unconditionally and without fuss. My body began to calm down and slowly started to recover from the shock. I now understood that a person cannot even handle his own cleansing alone.

At the height of my arrogance five years ago, I made a deal with the devil. I promised to surrender my soul if I would be granted power, money and success. Five years later when I did the cleansing in London, the sleeping beast inside of me awoke. The consequences could have been detrimental had Sifu not been present. I now know evil is real, and evil will try anything to make you lose faith in the power of goodness by offering more and more self-deceiving illusions.

When the cleansing was finally over I couldn’t walk for two hours, could not stop crying for half-an-hour, and it took me another hour to get my voice back. The feeling was like having my heart scrubbed with a lot of soap, clean and pure. Like a new born baby, this was the beginning of a new life for me.

I understand I have to change my whole attitude to life. In Israel I’m teaching kids in schools. I know now that if I want a better world for mankind, I have to give these kids something good for their souls. After all, they are the future of our world. But before I am in a position to extend my help to others, I need to learn whatever is necessary in order to be a man of peace - a warrior of the light.

We all lie to ourselves at different times in our lives. Somehow Sifu always finds a way to catch me in the corner, get the truth out of me and make me face the music. Each one of us needs a mediator who has the compassion and ability to help him. I found mine in Sifu Yeung. Alone I failed. I learned to trust and follow the guidance of Sifu who definitely knows more about life than I do.

Divine Warrior

Many people are amazed by Sifu’s ability in Qigong and Taiji. I think that the astonishing thing about him is his dedication to his mission. As Sifu said: 1000 kicks and punches will not make you a better fighter, but if you begin anew by learning to forgive those who hurt you, and those who wrong you, you will in due time be anointed with the true power which will transform you into a divine warrior. The power of darkness is huge, but the light is even stronger. It is all a matter of choice. In the end it all comes to one question: Do you want a better life for yourself? If the answer is yes, then what are you willing to do for it?

No happiness can begin until you find your original nature. And it’s never easy. The black holes each one of us has in his soul are hard to imagine, the size, the depth. It takes a lifetime of cleansing to become close to what we want to be. Sifu is helping me to open a new hole every day. For him there is no compromising, no middle ground, only to do the right thing. It is hard to be a man of absolute principles. We are not used to it. We become so artificial that even when we meet the real thing we don’t know how to feel. When it comes to the real thing, other things come with it - all sorts of mystic phenomena. I have witnessed countless cases when I was around Sifu Yeung.

Before I came to England I read about Sifu’s healing powers but only when I got here did I understand that somebody else, God, is connecting through Sifu. People came to Sifu for healing and Sifu cured them while he was teaching. He didn’t even have to focus his mind on only one thing at a time. One of Sifu’s senior students, William Ip was suffering quite badly from a heavy cold when he came to the lesson. Sifu looked briefly at him and William started to shake from the releasing of congested energy in his body. Afterwards he rejoined the lesson and even taught the beginners!

At a certain stage, Sifu decided to expose me to one of the most extraordinary experiences possible. He asked two of his students to attack him. They charged at him, and at a certain distance they were repelled as if they had run into an invisible wall of energy field. I asked him if I could also try, but he said that my body was not yet open enough energy-wise, and that I might get hurt. He said that the other students did not have the suppressed energetic density that I had, and therefore the impact could easily be dispersed. I insisted on trying, however, and of course had to learn the hard way. I ran at Sifu, and was thrown aside ninety degrees.

I have always been a very realistic person, always trying to adhere to logic and rationale. However, when around Sifu, I learned that logic follows a line of spatial, circular and integral perception. First I was in shock, but I got used to seeing people flying through the air in the lesson like gravity doesn’t matter. I myself weigh about 90 kilograms. He throws me about in the air like a weightless rag doll, with only a small movement of the hands.

Have you ever felt that you are running out of air in the presence of somebody, because his presence is so powerful and intense? On a number of occasions a question has occurred to me. Each time without my asking it, Sifu would give me the answer to my question as if he had read my mind. I must admit that it makes me think twice about any thought that rises to my mind.

I have learnt that the intellect which we rely upon to make judgements, can restrict us to relate only to things which we can see. I have come to understand about the intelligence of nature and of the body; which under optimal conditions can serve as a conduit for giving and receiving cosmic energy. This capability can be channelled in two directions - for good or for evil, for peace or for war, for giving or receiving, for loving or controlling. The choice is ours.

All these miracles are just small examples of what you really can do if your heart is sensitive and your faith is pure. Sifu is the best living example for faith in God that I’ve personally ever seen.

Energy Field

When it comes to inner power and energy field, even people who do not know anything about energy always feel better when they are near Sifu. In restaurants you can see people prefer to serve Sifu than other customers because they share a unique feeling of happiness near him. When you don’t treat people as ordinary people you will not get ordinary service. We are all unique, we just forget it, or overvalue ourselves.

We all have a hope for something better, even the most evil among us. The power of goodness is everywhere and so is evil. Sifu makes people feel secure near him, even if they are not aware of the reason why. His energies are so positive that people respond to him with love wherever he steps.

Sifu extended me his hand, and guided me in the right direction - a way that demands hard work to achieve total inner change, a change in the way of thinking and being. This change began to release my fear and connect me to the real Eldan - to my ability to love and to give to others, to find the uniqueness that exists in each and every one of us, so that we can enrich others.

Sifu uses his teaching to help his students to realise the action of mindfulness: physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually. The purpose is to cultivate a heightened state of consciousness which will set people free from their fear of human conditions. This way they can avoid the suffering that I experienced, and can realise their right to live in harmony.

Sometimes I think Sifu has no ego. In all the time I was in England I never heard Sifu take credit for himself. He always relates it to God. Actually, all the phenomena associated with Sifu appear not to be man-made.

Above all things, Sifu taught me the importance of being faithful to the path of the rightness of action and to never cease to apply myself mindfully at every moment for the promotion of the collective good of mankind. Being here and now means that we cannot turn away from reality, but face and deal with it as it is: ugly and beautiful at the same time.

Sometimes in the lessons I get flooded with emotions, without any possibility to control them. That’s what happens when you look in the mirror and see your real nature surrounded by demons. Sifu is the mirror and in him my true nature is reflected. I feel very lucky because I was on the edge of insanity when I met Sifu. Sifu has shown me a way to something better - now it’s up to me.

Workshops In Israel

Since I began my studying with Sifu Yeung, it has been my dream to bring him to my homeland, Israel. In February 1997, Sifu came to Israel to give a series of demonstrations and workshops. During the presentation in Haifa, the audience saw a video recording of Sifu demonstrating his abilities. Then seeing it for real was a big shock to everyone. They also had the opportunity to ask him many questions.

The next day was a full eight hour workshop. If the people thought they had seen something at the demonstration, then the next day was a revelation for them. Taiji, Hsing-I and Pa Kua teachers who came to the workshop said that it was the best display of martial arts that they had ever seen.

In spite of the difference of styles present, Sifu was able to demonstrate principles that are common to all internal martial arts. It was not so much what he said but the way he succeeded in reaching people and changing something in their way of thinking or way of practising martial arts.

Near the end of the day a person who looked a bit disturbed came to the Qigong workshop. He did not listen to what Sifu said and misinterpreted the form totally without paying attention to correction. I said to Sifu that the man has a problem, but Sifu corrected me immediately and said: “This man does not have a problem; I do, because I fail to find a way to reach him.” As a teacher, this was a whole different point of view for me. The rest of the participants were very glad for the opportunity to experience how to practice meditation for the first time.

The next demonstration was in Tel Aviv. The people who came were mostly martial arts teachers. After Sifu’s display, most of them got the answers to their questions. Some of them were observant of the Jewish religion, and were quite surprised when Sifu gave them a discourse on the life of Moses and his place in the Bible. It was a most enlightening experience. In fact, Sifu never ceased to amaze everyone he met with his insight and familiarity with the Jewish culture during his entire visit to Israel.

All the attendants to the Tel Aviv demonstration came to the workshop the next day. Once again, Sifu satisfied all of their questions regarding the further refinement of their own style.

During the workshop the sister of one of my students complained about a strong pain in her knee from an accident which had occurred five months ago. Sifu asked her to sit down and close her eyes. Sifu stood briefly by her side without physically touching her. A few minutes later, she opened her eyes and exclaimed she could feel the pain drain away from her knee.

The same thing happened again that evening when a student had a headache. Without saying anything to her, Sifu looked at her briefly and then asked her: “Where is the pain?” She replied in total surprise: “Gone!”.

The first four days of Sifu’s visit to Israel were very interesting but exhausting because of the intensity of it all. The last day, which was supposed to be a fun day as a trip to Jerusalem, became the hardest one for me to bear from a mental point of view. I personally do not like to be in Jerusalem because of the stress and tension projected by the place. This time as we came closer the feeling became even stronger, like the air was standing still.

The first destination was Yad Vashem, a memorial and museum containing the history of the Jewish people during World War II. I was not prepared for the magnitude of the atrocity that we were to see. After observing for a while, I could not take it anymore and I started to cry. It was unusual for me to cry, but it was simply too much for me. Sifu walked swiftly from one display to the next without missing anything.

When we came out he asked me: “Do you know why you cried?” I could not answer back. “Crying comes to those who feel unable to rectify the effect of past wrong,” he said. “Cry if you must, but do not confuse grief with the commitment to take up action to prevent atrocities like these from ever happening again.”

When we arrived at the gate of the Old City of Jerusalem, a policewoman warned us that it might be dangerous to enter as tension in the neighbourhood had been very strained lately. But Sifu assured us we would all be safe, and he only wished to sample a feel of the streets. He led us through the security check point and certainly did not look like it was his first time in the Old City! In fact Sifu walked down the street as if he were one of the local residents going about his daily business. If I did not know any better, I would say that he had been there before. When we got to a certain street junction, Sifu paused and asked “What is this place?” I said: “Via Dolorosa”. In reply, Sifu calmly said, “Jesus was here!” - like it was a known fact to him all along. I found myself in a state of utter bewilderment - Via Dolorosa was the street by which Jesus was taken en route to the place of his crucifixion."