Today our martial arts class held our annual Sifu Day celebration. We call it Sifu Day. It is more widely known as Guan Yu‘s birthday, which is traditionally on the 24th day of the sixth month of the lunar calendar, which for 2026 falls on August 6. According to Sifu Lee, it is okay to celebrate such holidays early, but you don’t want to celebrate them late. So this year we celebrated on the Saturday immediately before the official date, which was today.
This was our first Sifu Day celebration without Master Lee, who passed away in early September of last year. We said a few words, had a moment of silence, then demonstrated several of the tai chi and kung fu forms which Sifu had taught us over the past forty-plus years. Two of Sifu’s children (who are in their sixties) attended the ceremony and thanked us for keeping the school going through the difficult period of the past eleven months.
Sifu Day is also the anniversary of Sigong Chiu, Chuk Kai’s passing on Sifu Day 1991, at the age of 91. Master Lee was also 91 when he left us, so there is something to be said for the regular practice of tai chi and kung fu.
Afterwards, our head instructor Rick invited the other instructors to his house to burn the offerings of lucky money and incense. We bowed to the altar, had a moment of silence, then each said something about what we most admired about Sifu. Then we burned the lucky money, bowed again, and drove to Pho Soc Trang for lunch with several of our students and family and friends.
To say today was bittersweet is to overly simplify a great many complex emotions. Master Lee was our teacher, but he was also our friend, confidant, leader, father figure, and an example to which we all aspire. He was kind, generous, funny, and patient. And an unparalleled martial artist. And one of the nicest people you could ever hope to meet.
I miss him. Every day.
We will keep Master Lee’s class going for as long as we have students to teach. And in the absence of students, we will sue that time to improve our own practice. Just as Sifu did.
Reading
I finished Robert Jackson Bennett’s City of Stairs, which was quite good. Will probably pick up book 2 before the end of the month.
Writing
Yesterday I filled in the last page of a journal I started on January 1 of this year. This was the 44th volume I have filled in the 33 years since I started keeping a regular journal back in 1993. One day I will transcribe these words for posterity, assuming I can still read my own handwriting a decade from now. As with most of the previous journals, The last thing I wrote on the last page was a poem. It might eventually be a good poem. Right now it needs a lot of work.
Weekly Writing Prompt
Subject: Music, Evolution
Setting: Academia
Genre: Procedural
Listening
Dread Zeppelin singing “Black Dog”.
Interesting Links
- “Could a crash halve share prices?” (Richard Murphy, Funding the Future)