Dr. John Painter is legendary not only because he has mastered the internal martial arts and built a successful career in the global martial arts community, but also because his life has been full of astonishing events. Yet, few would ever guess that, due to an immune deficiency, he might not have lived beyond age fourteen — until, as he tells it, a tree saved his life.
Earlier, I had the privilege of interviewing Dr. John Painter about his childhood. He shared how his life was saved and how he first began to learn Chinese Internal Martial Arts.
Master Li, Long-dao, a Chinese soldier and an expert in Chinese Internal Martial Arts, escaped Communist China and settled in East Texas in 1957 with his family. He was able to do so with the assistance of John Painter’s father, who was an attorney. After arriving in Texas, Master Li opened a Chinese restaurant and happened to live next door to the Painter family.
John’s father was an avid football fan and had played the sport during college. One day, when John’s parents were traveling to Dallas to watch a football game, Master Li came over to babysit John and his little sister. John was not feeling well that day. Seeing this, Li examined his face, felt his pulse, then went back to his home and returned with soup specially prepared for John. He also advised John to avoid eating beef and instead stick to chicken and vegetables.
Later, Li invited John over to his backyard and asked him to stand beside a pine tree, look at it calmly, and hold his arms by his sides with his shoulders relaxed. Then Li, Long-dao simply left him there. John was baffled by this strange instruction and eventually went home, thinking Master Li must be a bit crazy. But Long-dao returned and brought John back to the backyard again. This time, he demonstrated his extraordinary skill: he smashed bricks with his palms. Even more astonishingly, he could project his energy to break a specific brick in a stacked pile.
This was long before Kung Fu movies became popular, so young John had never witnessed anything like it. He was shocked and deeply impressed. Eager to learn the “trick,” he begged Master Li to teach him. Li, Long-dao told him to start by looking at the tree without tension for a long time. Gradually, he showed John how to hold his arms in various positions while standing still. Then Li instructed him on how to walk slowly around the tree while practicing post-natal breathing techniques.
After a month of diligent practice, John could stand for an hour at a time. It was then that Li, Long-dao began teaching him the Li Family’s internal martial arts. But this master was no ordinary soldier — he was highly accomplished in his family’s martial tradition and had once served as a trainer in the army of Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek, China’s leader during World War II in the fight against the Japanese invasion. Li first taught John his version of Xingyiquan, an art based on the Five Elements from Chinese philosophy and medicine. He then introduced him to his families own version of Taijiquan, Wubao (Five Treasures) Taijiquan. As John progressed, Master Li taught him the Li family Nine Dragon Baguazhang (Eight Trigram Palm), Snake Boxing for ground fighting, Blue Heron Fist a Tibetan method of boxing techniques (focused on pressure point striking and Iron Palm training), Qigong, health massage, acupressure, and many more arts and techniques.
John emphasizes that the Li Family’s internal arts are taught in a very different way from other Chinese internal martial arts. The training focuses on combat techniques and fighting skills, with less emphasis on forms or memorizing long moving sequences at the beginning. Unlike external martial arts, the Li system insists on cultivating inner stillness and Qi before learning body maneuvers and techniques. Master Li even encouraged John to invite friends to train together so they could spar. Li also taught them how to make their own practice equipment for fighting drills. He even demonstrated how he used his treasured Broom Handle Mauser pistol and carved wooden guns for boys to practice safe shooting drills.
Through his dedicated training, John’s health improved dramatically. Eventually, his doctors proclaimed that his health problem was completely resolved. But John would later realize that his life had changed in more ways than simply recovering his health.
Armed with his knowledge and skills, John went on to become a bodyguard for some wealthy business men and even a Dallas based Mafia boss he also provided security for the famous television talk show host Phil Donahue. He worked as a fight choreographer for action films, opened the first Kung Fu school in Texas that was open to everyone not just Chinese students. John was inducted twice into the Inside Kung Fu Magazine Hall of Fame, published Internal Art Magazine, trained and coached law enforcement officers, wrote extensively on the internal arts, judged tournaments, taught over 4,000 students worldwide, and was inducted into the Texas Martial Arts Hall of Fame and received numerous other honors.
Yet for John, the most important lesson he learned from Master Li was not about martial arts alone.
John recalled two incidents from his school days. In the first, there was a big boy named Johnny who was feared by all the other kids. One day, Johnny bullied him as he got off the school bus. Later, John wanted to take revenge. When he told his teacher Li, the old master advised him — with sharp irony — to not only kill Johnny but also to kill Johnny’s entire family. Shocked, John thought that was far too extreme. Li then said sternly, “If it’s not that serious, don’t do it.” Taking this lesson to heart, John instead struck up a conversation with Johnny at school without showing fear. They eventually became good friends. John later discovered that Johnny’s parents often fought and his father beat him out of frustration, which explained his bullying behavior — he was simply passing on the hurt.
In high school, another big kid once tried to punch John in the face during lunch. John saw the punch coming, turned his head, and the blow missed. Instead of fighting back, he asked the boy if he wanted to hit the other side of his face too. The boy realized John must have good fighting skills and wasn’t afraid of him. Instead of escalating, the boy said, “Let’s get something to eat,” and they ended up befriending each other.
In Chinese, the character for martial (Wu) is made up of two radicals: weapon and stopping. The ultimate martial power comes from knowing how to stop aggression before it starts. As Master Li always said, “Unless it is serious, don’t fight.”
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