Philosophical musings on our arts

[Ranggalana]

But he does post here under several names.

His real name, is Guru Sejati.

He teaches free to everyone.

If demons listen to his teachings,
they are transformed into humans
If humans listen to his teachings,
they are transformed into gods

He teaches the secret of all ilmu
The ilmu of all secrets:

The ilmu is called:

Sastra jendra hyu ning rad pangruwating diyu.

the lelaku:

sepi pamrih rame gawe memayu hayuning buwana

(kesel ning ora kena leren)

Salam hangat,
Ranggalana.

[Russian Silat]

A greeting of peace to all,

I’d like to share a little more about the Ilmu of Untung Surapati, through the lineage of Pendekar Sartono. I’m a novice in this Ilmu, so any mistakes in this text are mine alone.

The basic theme of this Ilmu concerns the symbiotic relationship between the seen and the unseen. The foundation of this knowledge is the assumption that analogues exist between the physical and spiritual worlds. These analogues have a symbiotic relationship, such that the actions of one have an effect on the other.

Actions in the world influence the shape of the spiritual world, and energies in the spiritual world influence the world we experience with our five senses. It is like a feedback system, in which the spiritual sphere is the dominant partner.

There are relationships of power between these worlds. The Surapati Ilmu gives a model for understanding how energies flow back and forth, and exert their influence.

When I understand the dynamic of these relationships, I can begin to have a more productive interaction with the spiritual world, and have a larger voice in how is affects me.

Surapati himself had children who existed in both worlds simultaneously, so they understood these dynamics and imparted this knowledge to their father. Their mother had a jinn attached to her, and when she married Surapati the ceremony included establishing a relationship with her jinn also. The children, therefore, were half human and half jinn. They saw things clearly, and shared what they saw.

I know that some people are skeptical of such things- so be it. Skepticism is healthy, but if it rules your life, your world is small indeed. All angels, prophets, miracles and mysteries cease to exist for you. Doubt and skepticism is a sword which cuts in all directions with no prejudice.

There are two prominent applications of this Ilmu which I currently study. The first application involves inviting the presence of entities from the unseen world to inform, empower and teach you. These are the forces of nature, the elements, and ancestors.

All human beings have a spiritual essence which can exist independently of the body. When a person dies, all of their knowledge and potential continue to exist with their spiritual essence. Our Ilmu teaches that we should respect these ancestors, and invite them to teach us. They can do this through our intuition, by bringing us the teachers we need, and by physically entering our body to show us how to move.

All things in nature have a spiritual essence as well. The spiritual essence of a natural thing is the source of its power. This power can influence me too, if I open myself to it. This is an important way to learn the movements of Pukulan Cimande Pusaka. Our art has very beautiful, powerful movements, and this is accomplished by allowing the forces of nature to guide us.

But the energies of nature will only manifest themselves to you if you become a proper vessel for them to inhabit. Your physical habits and training attract sympathetic spiritual forces which will express their power through you.

Humans are often like antennas, or radios. The frequency to which we are tuned determines the signal we pick up. Pak Don Basuki recently pointed this out to me when he wrote “like attracts like”. If I indulge in foul language, intoxication, or other negative things, I make myself a channel for negative energy. This will of course spill out into my life in a negative way.

Humans are a microcosm of the Cosmos. The latest scientific theories now refute the big bang theory- they say now that the Cosmos has always existed, and that it is continually generated from the energy of black holes. At the center of every galaxy there is a black hole, and out of this issues forth matter, anti-matter, and energy. It is a portal from the unseen realm.

Humans are also portals of the unseen. Our power lies in the fact that we can choose what we wish to manifest. How? By simply choosing how we develop our talents, what our habits are and what we give our awareness too.

This is the principle of repetitive prayer. By constantly orienting ourselves to God, we allow God’s energy to rule our lives. God gives us this choice to either turn towards his powers, or turn away from them. This is why we are “higher than the Angels”. All divine powers in the universe are open to us.

But God is in everything. All pure, positive energy is divine. This is why we say “To relax the mind is to see with the spirit. All which comes to do no harm is embraced, but all which comes to do harm is destroyed, in order to preserve”.

So by learning the physical movements of animal styles, we set the stage for them and the elements to come and teach us directly.

Every person must find out their destiny, find out what things God has pre-disposed them towards. We all have a natural talent for a range of things unique to us. When we seek these things out, we are not really “expressing ourselves”, we are expressing God. Our purpose, and the purpose of all which exists, is to express an aspect of God’s will.

Allah asked Himself “why do I exist?” and His answer to Himself was creation. A friend of mine from Uzbekistan taught me that.

The circle of creation allows us to create alignments on earth which will resonate in the spiritual realm, then flow back to the earth. This process already happens all the time, the circle simply allows us to do it with intention.

The circle allows us to orient ourselves towards certain energies (natural energies, ancestral energies) so that these can teach and empower us.

To my mind, this is the essence of the Untung Surapati Ilmu.

I agree with a previous poster that Ilmu is just theater unless it works on “the unconvinced”. If it only works on your close friends and students, it is just a form of stage hypnosis.

The problem with performing Ilmu on the general public is that the results are unpredictable. A person off the street attended a PCP seminar in England, and wanted to see “proof” that the Ilmu wasn’t just some kind of trick. He ended up unconscious on the floor, and when he came to he was quite disturbed.

I attended a seminar in Detroit where we had a first-timer, a grappler MMA guy who also “was from Missouri” (in other words, he demanded proof). I knew this guy, he has a reputation for being one of the toughest guys in the Detroit MA scene. He ended up on the floor too, and had a bad headache for the rest of the day.

I am fascinated by these things, and glad for the opportunity to study and train them.

Peace,

Russian Silat

[Russian Silat]

A greeting of peace to all,

Pendekar Sanders has given me some feedback on what I’ve written, and asked me to expound on and clarify a few things. I thank him for this guidance.

In my previous post, I spoke of humans as being like antennas- we receive energy from that which we orient ourselves towards.

My teacher emphasizes that God has placed His knowledge in all of these sources as a special gift from Himself to humans, and our ability to access this knowledge is part of that gift.

God Himself is unknowable, so He chooses to make Himself and His powers known in various ways. He says, “God is un-named and unknowable until you die”. Before the time of our death, we cannot know God directly, and must know Him only through His expressions in our dimension.

Even the Prophet (Peace be Upon Him) had contact with the Angel of God, not God Himself.

The purpose of the world we inhabit is to lead us to this knowledge of God. If we live the right way, our life experience sets the stage for direct knowledge of God when we leave this world.

God put a spiritual force in all things. Each thing can teach us about that special dimension of God to be found there. It is our task as humans to seek out these lessons, because the end result will be true knowledge of ourselves and of God.

So in other words, life is a classroom designed by God. All things are here to teach us, if we open ourselves to their spiritual essence. God allows these things to transmit their knowledge to us, which is why humans are so special. Each stage of learning unfolds to a new, more profound stage, and the only way to follow this process is to start the journey of your own free will.

When we obtain knowledge of the tiger, the birds, the trees, we are in tune with God’s forces, and understand that this world is His holy creation, and that we should give thanks. We give thanks because the Creator has placed stepping stones in His creation, stepping stones which lead us to perfect knowledge of Him. These paths are especially designed for human beings, to bring us spiritual fulfillment through the full knowledge of God.

So if we want to learn anything, we seek out the lesson placed in creation by God. If we want to jump like a tiger, we seek out the tiger spirit for instruction. Nothing learns “from themselves”, we all look to the world in which we live. This is the way all things learn, this is the system of development the Creator has put in place for everyone. All of these powers are under the jurisdiction of God, there is nothing else, and it is He alone who makes it possible to learn from them.

When we relax the mind, we see with the spirit. Then we can embrace all the knowledge available in our environment, and this will lead us on our path of development. We can find and follow the thread of knowledge, which is the twelfth principle. To relax the mind, one must balance the elements, and be free from the internal prisons of misconception.

Peace,

Russian Silat

[Russian Silat]

Greetings to all,

So in other words, how do we rely upon God for his help, wisdom and aid? We learn from the teachers he sends us.

No one can absorb knowledge directly from God, this is simply not the way He organizes things. A hatchling eagle must learn from its mother the lessons of life, the tiger from its mother too, otherwise they will soon die.

We all must educate ourselves somehow. We cannot simply ask God to do everything for us, not go to school, not study with a Guru, not learn the collective knowledge of humankind.

God made this system, it is not for us to question His wisdom, only to seek it out, not to modify his ways, only use them to find ourselves.

God fills the world with knowledge and teachers so that we can help ourselves, as He wants us to. Only after we have sought out His knowledge in the world (even as far as China…) can we say “please just download the information into me”. We must first do our best with what God has given us, in order to honor His system, His gifts.

Only when I have done my best, explored the Cosmos to my own limits, do I have the right to enter the higher classrooms. Until then, we must be open to what is placed here to teach us, be it intuition, insight, accumulated knowledge- or even a tiger spirit!
 
Regards,

Russian Silat

[D]

I agree with a previous poster that Ilmu is just theater unless it works on “the unconvinced”. If it only works on your close friends and students, it is just a form of stage hypnosis.

The problem with performing Ilmu on the general public is that the results are unpredictable. A person off the street attended a PCP seminar in England, and wanted to see “proof” that the Ilmu wasn’t just some kind of trick. He ended up unconscious on the floor, and when he came to he was quite disturbed.

I attended a seminar in Detroit where we had a first-timer, a grappler MMA guy who also “was from Missouri” (in other words, he demanded proof). I knew this guy, he has a reputation for being one of the toughest guys in the Detroit MA scene. He ended up on the floor too, and had a bad headache for the rest of the day.

I have seen that many of these distance attacks only work on students who firstly believe in such things, secondly have faith in their teacher that he can do such things, thirdly have trained with him for some time and lastly have a weak mind.
I'm not saying such things do not exist, I'm just saying in most cases 99.9% there is hypnosis/ suggestion involved.

You say that a tough MAA was taken out with ilmu techniques by one of the PCP guys, what technique was used on him. If you are referring to poison finger/ marma strikes then that is a purely physical thing and not really ilmu.

[Russian Silat]

Greetings D,

Let me say again that the people in both England and Detroit were NOT PCP students, it was their first time training with us, and they were complete skeptics. These were both martial artists in very good physical condition, both doubters, and both ready to show us that the stuff couldn’t work on them.

My Russian students were also very skeptical at first too, and were ultimately convinced only by results.

It may be the case that 99.9% of what’s out there is bogus. Our stuff is part of the .1% which is real.

Poison finger strikes actually involve touching the opponent- what we do requires no physical contact, and can even be done at a distance. The two individuals of whom I spoke, neither were physically touched to produce the result. At higher levels, it can be done to a person who isn’t present, simply by having a very strong and vivid picture of them in your mind’s eye.

All silat styles realize that there are ways to increase the amount of energy (tenaga dalam, thanks Bram for the spelling) in the body. The movements, breathing and intention build up the energy, and release it into the opponent in certain ways. The nuance of Pukulan Cimande Pusaka’s movements are designed to generate this energy. This is why our whole body has to look like a big relaxed whip with writhing, internal movements.

When we have an abundance of this energy, we can use it to interrupt the polarity of the opponent’s energy flow. If you can imagine an electrical circuit, it must flow in a certain way to be effective, have a certain polarity. A trained energy fighter can use his stronger energy to go counter to the flow of his opponent’s energy, causing him to temporarily “short out”. You temporarily cause the polarity of the energy flow to their brain to reverse itself, resulting in a loss of strength or a complete loss of consciousness.

If you have two batteries, and one is stronger than the other, if you hook them up to each other, the stronger will draw energy from the weaker. When you increase your tenaga dalam, and apply it to a vulnerable region of your opponent, you simply drain his energy like a battery and reverse his polarity.

Pendekar Sanders has reported using this technique even to calm jittery horses down. I’m sure the horses weren’t “convinced” beforehand, or under any kind of hypnosis… but with Pendekar Sanders you never know.

If you run your energy in a sympathetic way, you dramatically increase the energy flow in another person, which heals and invigorates them. I already spoke of my student who had a chronic injury healed by this power. It also helps a true master to guide others to animal possession- when they invite any kind of energy into their own body, they can introduce this energy into the student, so that they can activate their own special animal circuitry. In other words, their energy body learns to feel and accept animal energies too.

If you choose not to believe these things, I respect your right to believe as you wish, but if you’re trying to convince me that my direct experience is wrong, I don’t think you will be too successful.

You can insist that something isn’t true until the cows come home, but if it’s true it will continue to be true regardless of what you think. You can try to explain it away in a hundred ways if you like, but at some point you will have to say “I just don’t know”.

Peace,

Russian Silat

[D]

Looks like PCP has incorporated Erle Montaigue's 12 Qi disruption movements. They do seem to have an effect. I dont think you can knock someone out with this method though.

http://www.taiji-qigong.co.uk/Articles/disrupt.html

[Russian Silat]

Or maybe he has incorporated stuff from Indonesia, or maybe the stuff exists in Indonesia and China. I can tell you that Pendekar Sanders has never studied anything but Indonesian Silat, so there is no other possible source for it in our style.

If Erle Montaigue can't use his stuff to knock people out, then it's definately not related to our stuff, because we can and do knock people out!

Thanks for the link just the same.

Peace,

Russian Silat

[Russian Silat]

I took a look at this site, and it advertises a video you can buy for alot of money that teaches you energy points to strike. This is nothing like what we do.

We do energy passes which have absolutely no physical contact with the opponent, and can be performed from a distance.

-Russian Silat

[f4iz]

Hi..
Mr. Russian Silat, can you tell us just in general how PCP practioners generate the energy ? You don't have to divulge the secret ilmu or anything just general explanation.
Is it thru physical practice, yoga like breathing technique, mantras, or meditation ?

Russian Silat :
We do energy passes which have absolutely no physical contact with the opponent, and can be performed from a distance.

In some part of Indonesia this is called Santet or Teluh. Usually related to black magic.

Thanks,
Faiz

[Russian Silat]

We sacrifice babies to satan, who then gives us total dominion.

Just kidding, I thought maybe that was what some folks wanted to hear.

Actually it is a combination of movement, breath and intention. Everyone has tenaga dalam, but when you do certain movements and breathing patterns, you increase this energy. Then, if you simply practice, the energy will flow and move as you wish it to.

When we do kembagan with the movements of Pukulan Cimande Pusaka, it has the dual effect of putting us into a trance and generating excess tenaga dallam. You can combine certain movements with holding the breath in, or holding it out. This creates positive and negative polarities which you can then direct in and out of certain centers of your body, such as your hands, when you inhale or exhale.

It feels as if I have created a vacuum inside myself, then the energy rushes to fill it, together with my breath. Then, it feels like there is a big potential inside of me waiting to be released, which I do with breath and through limbs.

Energy follows breath, and the feeling of holding the breath out and holding it in teaches us what the energy is supposed to do. You can use your mind to do all of this, the breathing techniques are just a bridge to help you understand what's going on.

There are visualization exercises and mantras which can help this proccess. Training the eye sight and powers of visualization takes place with exercises in the circle of creation, sometimes involving substances such as a flame, bowl of water, magic weaponry, and other things. This is very similar to tantra, where you sharpen your ability to hold a certain detailed picture in your imagination.

There are no real secrets per se; people try to make it seem secretive and mysterious so that they can impress people and manipulate them. It is just this- your energy follows the patterns of your consciousness. If you imagine your energy doing something, it will happen. Exercises, as I said, are just a bridge. You are training your imagination, your intent, and your acceptance of the reality of these things.

It is like the stretching of yoga- it is like a "clue" which gives you hints as to how to circulate your energy. You do something physical, but the physical teaches you the spiritual. This, in my mind, is what qualifies something as "pusaka".

Some people will have more talent at this than others, but everyone can have at least some degree of success with it.

We have a langka which is expressly for building energy, there is no combative application. Energy is drawn through the body, from father sky to mother earth, then concentrated in various parts of the body. The first part of the langka brings power, gravity to our blows, and a strong connection to the earth. The second part of the langka expands and invigorates the sphere of energy (aura) which surrounds us, and the third part of the langka concentrates energy in the limbs.

We also have a set of tenaga dalam jurus. The movements of the jurus are done with a special breathing pattern and mantras. The mantras are taken from the 99 most beautiful names of God in Arabic. The name is spoken while the juru is performed, and the effect takes place at a distance.

In essence, every time you perform kembagan it should be an energy building exercise. We try to do our movements fluidly, with proper relaxation and breathing, in a trance-like state. You must also visualize what exactly you want the energy to do.

Then your energy will follow what you're doing with your body. Then, your movements become quite different.

I've seen some Silat where the strikes and hands move very fast, but there doesn't seem to be any power behind the blows. Maybe if the person had a knife, but empty hands the stuff just looks like it wouldn't hurt too much.

If you see Master Sanders moving, he hits very fast, but there is a fluid power to his movements which is distinctive. This comes from every movement being informed by tenaga dalam.

He can hit you several time, very quickly, from a very close distance, and every time he contacts you it hurts BAD!!!

At a seminar he conducted in Russia he casually demonstrated a backhand speed punch on my held-up hand, and even though he was explaining something at the same time and didn't even put much force behind it, he actually knocked me back several feet, and my hand hurt like the dickens.

The guy who could knock a knife out of your hand from across the room had an unusual talent, I doubt I could ever attain to that. But training the energy makes my strikes faster, more relaxed and more powerful. And the tenaga dalam has given me a decisive edge on the street a few times.

Everyone will appraoch the energy work in their own way, and get different things from it. Doing kembagan in this art leaves one feeling refreshed, like you've just had a good massage.

So to answer your question, it is through physical practice with special breath and intention.

Best Regards,

Russian Silat

[Russian Silat]

Peace, Krisno, welcome to the discussion.

Regards,

Russian Silat

[f4iz]

We sacrifice babies to satan, who then gives us total dominion.
Just kidding, I thought maybe that was what some folks wanted to hear.

That sounds like a really cheap Indonesia horror flick 
Thank you for explaining the methods practiced by PCP.
I think that method is also found in other Indonesian Silat styles and even in Chinese Martial Arts thru Qiqong exercise.

The mantras are taken from the 99 most beautiful names of God in Arabic

Is that the same as Asma Allah or Asmaul Husna ? Do you need to belief in a certain religion in order to learn the higher level of the ilmu ?

Regards,

[Russian Silat]

Hello Godam,

You asked,

"Is that the same as Asma Allah or Asmaul Husna ? Do you need to belief in a certain religion in order to learn the higher level of the ilmu ?"

I honestly don't know the answer to your questions, I am not a high-level Ilmu practitioner.

I don't know if you need to be a certain religion, but I think you must accept the idea that the 99 most beautiful names are aspects of the Creator, and that it is His power which informs the techniques.

You would have to ask my teacher about these things.

Peace to you,

Russian Silat

[Russian Silat]

Peace Faiz,

I’ve been in touch with my teacher regarding your questions.

I also asked him about the link with the techniques posted above. His response is that he has been teaching seminars on these techniques for many years, long before these tapes were made by this person. He in fact did see the advertisement for the tapes when they first came out and attempted to contact this individual, to see whether he learned his techniques in Indonesia or not.

Pendekar Sanders says that these tapes seem to leave out certain key elements which make the energy passes effective, such as the tightening of certain muscles at key times, and the role played by the eyes. This may perhaps account for the fact that they cannot cause loss of consciousness.

My teacher says that another person by the name of George Dillman practices something which is similar to the PCP stuff, and we are on friendly terms with him. I believe one of our gurus actually gave some lessons at a few of his training camps.

Regarding mantras, and the 99 most beautiful names.

When any group of people believes in something, an energetic potential is born in the astral plane, and that in fact is real. Many of the old “gods” people believed in during pagan times had a degree of power exactly because many people believed in them and created an astral entity with the attributes of this “god”. That is the basic idea.

The same situation exists with mantras. People have used certain mantras for hundreds of years, so they contain the built up energy of many generations of belief. They are storage cells for certain types of energy, like astral batteries.

If you use those mantras, you have the energy of thousands, millions of people at your fingertips.

Here is the key…

In order to tap into the energy of these mantras, you must believe in them just as the people who originally spoke them believed in them. One doesn’t necessarily have to convert to a specific religion, but one must hold the same belief as those who used the mantra. If you hold an opposing world-view, it would be very difficult to access this energy.

This is why although I am not a Muslim, I have read and studied the Quran, I read Rumi and other Sufi poets, I study Al-Ghazzali, and I try to respect this religion, and not believe the lies told about it in western media.

I know that my basic world-view and beliefs are not in contradiction to the spirit of Islam, even though I do not conform to the letter of its dogma.

And I know that Islam teaches that all people are naturally born Muslim, that it is the natural state of spiritually healthy humanity.

This has an empowering effect on my ability to use the mantras which have an association with Islam, and on my openness to those aspects of Indonesian mysticism which are tied to Sufism.

Best Regards,

Russian Silat