Gavin Casey works with a major International Merchant Bank in the City of London . He has twice represented Britain at the US National/International Invitational Chinese Martial Arts Competitions in Orlando and Baltimore. He is an International Taiji, Xingyi, and Pa Kua Champion.

"The first time I witnessed Ven. Lama Dondrup Dorje demonstrating internal arts I was immediately aware that this was an extraordinary person whose ability was far beyond anything I had ever seen. I had read of past Masters of transcendent skill in books, but had always viewed the claims for their abilities with scepticism until I witnessed Sifu accomplishing these self same acts that were considered by many to have been lost.

In the summer of 1995, I accompanied Sifu to Baltimore where he was invited to perform at the Master Demonstration of the 3rd World Wushu Championship - the largest event of its kind ever staged outside Asia. In preparation for such a demonstration, most people would have been training for some time in advance. However, over the entire two-week period of our stay in America, Sifu did no more than occasionally stretch for a few seconds at a time, or demonstrate no more than a few movements from a form, usually to illustrate some oversight of technical detail in our practice. Yet on the day of the demonstration, he went out to give an awe- inspiring display that left an increasingly amazed audience breathless. He demonstrated the application of Ling Kong Jing - Void Power - the ability to disrupt the structural integrity of an attacker's energy pattern so that the assault can be neutralised and redirected without physical contact. My fellow student and I found ourselves flying through the air in all directions, as if we were being jolted by invisible wires, or overwhelmed by gigantic waves of energy. Two of the guest demonstrators complimented Sifu afterwards, remarking that his performance reminded them of Morihei Uyeshiba, the Founder of Aikido, excepting only that Sifu required less elaborate body movement.

There is no end to the use of Sifu's energy field. One day while we were trekking around in Baltimore, I became extremely tired. Noticing this, Sifu beckoned me to walk alongside him. When I did so, I felt a pulse of energy coming up from the ground into me with each stride. This eased my tiredness almost immediately and left me refreshed and revitalised for the rest of the day.

At one of Sifu's Qigong teaching sessions in Newcastle, Sifu suddenly said "watch" and all attention was immediately directed toward him. The air in the room became alive with electricity. Sifu's head and face started to change, the top and sides of the skull expanded upward and outward. There then appeared a brilliant aura of white light around Sifu's head, which completely obscured my view of the wall and the windows behind him. At first I was completely transfixed by what was happening, but then the radiance emanating from Sifu overwhelmed me and found myself stumbling back, and had to lean against the wall for support. Then where Sifu's head had been, a different visage took shape and as it did so, I was struck with the impression of the presence of an ancient and profound scholarly wisdom. The face, which had manifested itself, was the source of this feeling. It was an image of tremendous age and power with brilliant black eyes, which were like fathomless wells of antiquity. A matter of moments later, everything returned to normal and Sifu was back with us in his familiar guise. All of the students present just stood there, too overcome to even move or speak. Afterwards we discussed what we had witnessed and everyone concurred with my overall impression.

During a particularly intensive session, when explaining how to tune into the frequency of a form in order to manifest the spirit and character of the form, Sifu began to demonstrate the Woo Yu-Hsing Style Taiji Form in the usual manner he had been teaching us. Firstly Sifu demonstrated while wearing his glasses. As he began, I felt an aura of calm spread through the room and the air around Sifu shimmered strongly. As Sifu progressed through the form, I felt patterns of energy moving through my body. Then Sifu removed his glasses and started the form again. Immediately the energy present in the room became much greater, but also changed in quality. It affected me much more on a mental and spiritual level, and I sensed a different presence coming through the form. As Sifu started the form, his face changed to that of a different person, the area around the Sky Eye became bright and appeared to be projecting outwards. Energy was also extending from Sifu's eyes, Sifu had become the physical, mental and spiritual embodiment of the form.

Sifu's teaching is of the timeless wisdom of Dharma but he has the unique ability to explain and give commentary in a manner that is immediately relevant to the stresses and difficulties of life in the world today. On many occasions, when I have asked Sifu for advice and followed what I was told there was immediate and great improvement. Even situations that appeared intractably difficult were able to be dealt with in a harmonious fashion when following Sifu's instruction."