Pai Mei

His technique is real

I quote 3 entries from a message board discussion of Dim-Mak:
1."Dim Mak is a legitimate subset of the chinese martial styles. Essentially, it is precision striking, which takes advantage of anatomical weaknesses of the human physiology. Historically, It took ten years of hard study and practice in order to weild correctly. It was anything but easy."

2."First of all, Dim Mak (or Kyusho-jutsu in the Okinawan version) is not only effective, but is much more effective as a defensive/offensive technique than a random punch to the jaw. Sure, if you are strong enough, you can knock an opponent out with a strike to the jaw… maybe. Obviously boxers, oriental martial artists and shoot fighters hit and get hit in the jaw all the time, but knockouts are actually pretty rare. Sure it could happen, but not all that often, and not reliably enough to end the fight with a single strike. However, with the pressure-point techniques of Dim Mak/Chin Na/Kyusho Jutsu, a knockout, or at least an end to the fight, is virtually guaranteed… every time… if the technique is executed properly.

The idea behind pressure point fighting is that a strike to a single pressure point causes pain and a weakening of a limb or joint. A strike to two points causes the pain to be multiplied as well as to be referred to another spot on the body. Striking three points causes a knockout or extreme weakness, disorientation and inability to defend oneself from a follow-up strike (effectively ending the fight). Four points causes organ failure unless revitalization techniques are used to reverse the effect. Five points (and it has to be the correct five points in the correct order) causes death.

Now, you are probably thinking: “How can I hit three different points reliably to cause a knockout faster than the opponent can counter me with a single blow?” The answer lies in the anatomy of the human body. For instance, the pressure points known as Lung 7, 8 & 9 are within an inch of each other, on the thumb side of the inner wrist. A single strike can activate all three pressure points, causing a drop in heart rate, blood pressure and overall dizzyness and disorientation… effectively a TKO, and a move that ends the opponent’s ability to attack you (which is the real goal, after all). A friend of mine actually did this by accident a few years back during a practice in which he caught his opponent’s L7, 8 & 9 during a deflection of an incoming punch. It wasn’t even intended as a strike, just a deflection.

Another example is a cupped-hand strike over the eye. Properly executed, this can activate as many as 8 different pressure points (ST 1 & 2, LI 20, SI 18, UB 1 & 2, GB 1 & 14).

“But isn’t this too hard for the average person to learn quickly” is the next obvious question. The answer is yes and no. The fact is that most martial artists are already learning these techniques… they just don’t know it. As George Dillman explains, the techniques are already in the regular kata and bunkai performed by every martial artist from child to adult. They just haven’t been taught to recognize it as such. They are taught that the movements of kata have meanings that are simplistic at best, and downright rediculous and ineffective at worst. But when taught in the context of pressure-point fighting, they make perfect sense.

For instance, why would anyone use the weakest part of the arm to block a kick, as is commonly taught in every martial arts school as the “lower block”. Chances are that your arm will break before you can stop a full-powered kick. But if the same “lower block” movement is used to attack pressure points on an opponent’s attacking arm, such as Lung 5 or Heart 3, the movement begins to make sense and become effective. Taught in that context, it is clear that every moderately capable martial artist has the movements down pat. What he needs to learn is the real meaning behind the movements he was taught. This means an entirely new way of thinking about the movements of your fighting style. But the locations and directions of the major striking points aren’t that hard to learn… I picked up quite a bit of it in a few weeks, enough to make it an effective system for using what I already knew in real combat situations. It is no slower and often faster than the punch to the jaw, and ALWAYS more effective."

3.The Kyusho Jutsu techniques include a “punch to the jaw”. Kyusho just happens to teach the exact method, including direction, angle, and power with which to punch the opponent in the jaw for greatest effect. TW 17 is on the corner of the jaw, just behind the bone ridge and below the ear. TW 18-22 are around the ear. TW 23 is at the temple. CV 24 is in the center of the lower jaw. GV 26 is on the upper lip just below the nose. GV 25 is on the tip of the nose. LI 19 and LI 20 are at the corner of the mouth and the ridge of the cheekbone respectively. These are all the same spots that a “brawler” who just punches and kicks tries to aim for anyway.

Remember kiddies, the Boy Scout motto is "Be Prepared."