WCTIS

Kou Tou

I will utterly respect you, but I will never worship you, this is at the core of the Kou Tou Lesson.

  • Kou means Head
  • Tou means Ground
  • No religion is practised in the Wu-Chi School of Arts
  • No human worship is practised in the Wu-Chi School of Arts.

The following are types of human behaviours which have been divided into two groups to try and show a distinction between the two behaviours. Wu-Chi is wholly on the side of "Y" behaviours and wants you to practice these types of behaviours in your training.

  • X-Type Behaviours are for yourself
  • Y-Type Behaviours are for others
X-Type Behaviours Y-Type Behaviours
Reverence Respect
Loyalty Love
Worship Purity
Veneration Honesty
Adoration Truthfulness
Benevolence Contentment

The Kou Tou in Wu-Chi is using the highest levels of the Y-Type behaviours in a religious ceremony without crossing over into the X-Type behaviours.

Kou Tou is teaching students how to get rid of what is considered the first imperfection in Wu-Chi, which is the line that has been blurred in some groups when it comes to the difference between respect and worship.

IMPORTANT! The religious ceremony of Kou Tou is taught to show that an individual can do a religious ceremony with either the attitude of worship or respect. For example, in your personal religious ceremonies, you would have in your mind the attitude of worship, whereas in the Wu-Chi Kou Tou you should have the attitude of respect in your mind. So you should be able to participate in the Kou Tou without compromising the religion you practice, for you are not practising worship you are practising respect. This type of mental attitude can also be carried over into accepting other groups/religions without compromising your beliefs.

Rules

  1. The youngest graded students will stand and lead the Kou Tou using the Dwans.
  2. The oldest students should be at the front leading by example.
  3. Novices should stand off to the side in Da Ma until they have had the Lesson of the Kou Tou.
    1. The content that would be displayed here is for Shao Men.
  4. If you are leading the Kou Tou, never stand in front of the students, you must always stand behind everybody.
  5. Never do the Kou Tou towards a photo or statue/idol.
  6. Students should line up Oldest Rank to Youngest Rank.
  7. As a student, you have the right to challenge the decision of the person leading the Kou Tou if you believe they are doing something wrong.

Old ways of thinking to consider when performing the Kou Tou which will help to show that the Kou Tou is within the Y-Types of behaviours.

  • Left side is considered your humanity
    • In the Kou Tou, you are placing the left knee down first
  • Right side is considered your divine side
    • Grateful for your life
  • Both knees down means total submission
    • Having both knees down means the student is in total submissive position, and this is why no one should stand in front of the Kou Tou

Dwans

The one that holds the Dwans has the authority in the Dojo.

  1. One beat of the Dwans brings you up out of kung.
  2. Two beats of the Dwans means that the Kou Tou is over.
  3. Three plus beats are about everything; this is why we hit the Dwans 8 times at the beginning of the Kou Tou.

The Kou Tou broke down into its components

  Person Leading Kou Tou Students Preforming Kou Tou
1. Say "Kou Tou" and Hit the Dwans 8 times then pause for a second then
  • Students will line up oldest to youngest in the front of the training area
2. Hit Dwans
  • Left knee down on the floor
3. Hit Dwans
  • Right knee down on the floor
4. Hit Dwans
  • Sit down and place both hands palm down on thighs thumbs out
5. Hit Dwans then say: "Kou"
  • Turn both hands face up on thighs
6. Hit Dwans then say: "Chi"
  • Right-hand out in front of you palm up
  • Left-hand out in front and on top (in a cup shape)
  • Bring into Du Chi
7. Hit Dwans
  • Flick both hands out palms facing forward
  • Place both hands back down on thighs thumbs out.
8. Say: "Empty your mind of all outside thoughts"
  • Say: "I" (Quickly like the Japanese)
  • Clap both hands together three times
  • Rub hands together. Right, left, right
9. Hit Dwans
  • Place both hands palms down on thighs, thumbs out
10. Hit Dwans then say: "Kou"
  • Turn both hands face up on thighs
11. Hit Dwans then say: "Chi"
  • Left-hand out in front of you
  • Right-hand out in front and on top (in a cup shape)
  • Bring into Du Chi
12. Say: "Tien Tao", then Hit Dwans
  • Flick both hands out palms facing forward
  • Place the Left-hand palm down on the floor in front of you
  • Place the Right-hand palm down on the floor in front of you
  • Place your forehead on top of your hands
  • Say "Tien Tao"
13. Hit Dwans
  • Lift your head
  • Place Left-hand on thigh palm down thumbs out
  • Place Right-hand on thigh palm down thumbs out
14. Hit Dwans then say: "Kou"
  • Turn both hands face up on thighs
15. Hit Dwans then say: "Chi"
  • Left-hand out in front of you
  • Right-hand out in front and on top (in a cup shape)
  • Bring into Du Chi
16. Say: "Tien Fu", then Hit Dwans
  • Flick both hands out palms facing forward
  • Place the Left-hand palm down on the floor in front of you
  • Place the Right-hand palm down on the floor in front of you
  • Place your forehead on top of your hands
  • Say "Tien Fu"
17. Hit Dwans
  • Lift your head
  • Place Left-hand on thigh palm down thumbs out
  • Place Right-hand on thigh palm down thumbs out
18. Hit Dwans then say: "Kou"
  • Turn both hands face up on thighs
19. Hit Dwans then say: "Chi"
  • Right-hand out in front of you palm up
  • Left-hand out in front and on top (in a cup shape)
  • Bring into Du Chi
20. Say: "Tien Chien Shien", then Hit Dwans
  • Flick both hands out palms facing forward
  • Place the Left-hand palm down on the floor in front of you
  • Place the Right-hand palm down on the floor in front of you
  • Place your forehead on top of your hands
  • Say: "Tien Chien Shien"
21. Hit Dwans then say: "Kou"
  • Turn both hands face up on thighs
22. Hit Dwans then say: "Chi"
  • Right-hand out in front of you palm up
  • Left-hand out in front and on top (in a cup shape)
  • Bring into Du Chi
23. Say: "Respect"
  • Say: "Respect"
24. Say: "Love"
  • Say: "Love"
25. Say: "Purity"
  • Say: "Purity"
26. Say: "Honesty"
  • Say: "Honesty"
27. Say: "Truthfulness"
  • Say: "Truthfulness"
28. Say: "Contentment"
  • Say: "Contentment"
29. Say: "Chi Lai", then Hit Dwans
  • Right knee up
30. Hit Dwans
31. Hit Dwans
  • Hsing Li
32. Hit Dwans
33. Hit Dwans 2 times quickly  

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Meanings of the calls in Kou Tou

Respect your elders

Respect is a feeling of deep admiration for someone or something elicited by their abilities, qualities, or achievements. The younger student will be taught not to worship elder members of the school but instead, have a healthy respect for an elder.

Love the younger

You should love the younger and not believe you have some inherited right to feel superior over the younger because you are an elder.

The purity of yourself

Purity means that you should free yourself of all immorality.

Honesty with your hands

Honesty means that you should not steal.

Trustfulness of the tongue

Trustfulness means you should not lie.

IMPORTANT! You can have an honest liar, a person who will not steal but will lie or a truthful thief who will steal and then admit to stealing.

Contentment of the Mind

Contentment means when you are mentally or emotionally satisfied with things as they are.

Functional and Dysfunctional

The goal of the chart below is to stay in the functional middle where you can progress to the most fulfilling aspects of life and not drift to the dysfunctional left or right.

Functional Dysfunctional

The left and the right are representations of dysfunction in most circumstances, but of course, there are times where you will find yourself crying because of the loss of a loved one for instance, but when you find yourself crying for no genuine reason, then this is the sign of dysfunction.

Anger is a bit different there seems to be no good reason for anger.

The content that would be displayed here is for Shao Men.

Point of interest

The following is an extract from the 1987 movie The Last Emperor where they perform a Kou Tou to the young Emperor.