By Kai Lewis
My journey in Pencak Silat Panglipur began in 2012, the year of the Water Dragon. Kang Cecep Arif Rahman was coming to the States for his first USA tour. The original Panglipur student, Kang Nicholas Portillo, brought Cecep down on his own efforts after training with him in Indonesia. I had been training in a Kuntao Silat Indo-Dutch-Chinese hybrid system and Filipino martial arts for several years and until then, but never had a chance to train in an authentic Pencak Silat system with a Guru from Indonesia. I was fortunate to train with Kang Cecep privately for a week and had only seen youtube videos of Cecep until then and everything I experienced superseded my former impressions. His speed, power and precision was only matched by his generosity and humility. He invited me to train with him at his village in Garut, and spend more time learning the system from the ground up. Kang Cecep asked me what I wanted to learn and I told him “teach me the basics from the ground up as a beginner student,” he was slightly surprised since most Westerners tend to cherry pick, steal techniques or just want status right away without doing foundational work. I didn’t want my previous training to cloud my mind or create false impressions in my nervous system.
So I busied myself learning the history, training and developing the movements he had taught me and reviewing the videos to auto correct. It took me two years to train with him again. In 2014, Kang Cecep was chosen to act and help choreograph the fight scenes in the movie, “Raid 2,” where he portrayed the assassin wielding the Kerambit curved blade (they single handedly made the Kerambit a viral weapon). The kitchen fight scene alone would become one of the most memorable fights in movie history. Lucky enough, even though this put a halt on my training plans, Cecep and the movie crew flew down to Austin, TX for the premiere of “Raid 2” at the SXSW film festival. Without missing a beat, I drove up to see them and trained with Kang Cecep for a second time in his hotel room. Close quarters training takes a whole new meaning when you are in a hotel room and have to move in tight spaces. Meeting Gareth Evans and Iko Uwais was great, as Kang Cecep introduced me as his student Kai, we all laughed since Gareth was wearing a “Cobra Kai” t-shirt, ‘Strike first, strike hard.”
Finally, over the summer of 2016, I was able to journey into the ring of fire. I made plans to train and live with Kang Cecep as part of his family for the whole summer. Being completely immersed in the culture, training full time and learning the language, helped change my whole view on the art of Pencak Silat and life in general. Fasting from dawn to dusk, training 5-8 hours a day, massage and taking cold showers was a great way to test the physical/emotional/mental connection. My body and mind was forged high in the mountains of Garut in the shadow of Volcanoes. The sound of running water, constantly in the background became a gentle reminder to adapt, evolve and flow.
One of the major inspirations of 2016 was visiting Kampung Bali in Garut, where I got to see a museum of Sundanese royalty that had artifacts and ancient weapons, I dubbed “the house of 1,000 blades.” There were 100s of Keris, Kujangs, Goloks and other exotic weaponry from a long time ago. The energy and vibrations of the place was mesmerizing and had heirlooms that were 1000s of years old. The caretaker talked about maintenance, meditation, prayer and offering of incense, tobacco and coffee to appease the energy that was contained inside. One of the main principles I remembered when the Sundanese people were constructing buildings, was that the ancestors would only build from trees that had fallen naturally. Something that is missing from modern people as we tend to take from nature without letting nature give to us freely. In Pencak Silat what we inherit is passed down as a gift, not a privilege to take or something you pay for. Patience, practice and perseverance is the key to thrive and make the art sustainable.
At the end of my 2016 trip I was officially initiated into the Panglipur Galih family by Kang Cecep. A mixture of local flowers, water and herbs were poured into our eyes to clear our vision and awaken our inner vision. 7 natural foods and 7 human made foods were presented as the concept of ingredients passed down through the generations as well as family recipes. One must integrate these concepts for oneself, mimicry is the beginner step onto the path of evolution. Mimicry is not the path to self mastery. To help promote Pencak Silat locally, I created the Panglipur USA organization in 2016 after passing my Level 2 Coach test under Kang Cecep Rahman and with the approval of Chairman Haji Nana at Panglipur Pusat HQ in Bandung.
During the summer of 2018, Kang Cecep had his first international Kasundan Silat Camp. There I was introduced to my 2nd major influential teacher in Minangkabau Silek, Pak Syofyan Nadar, of Harimau Singgalang system from West Sumatra. Pak Syofyan movements were both very smooth, subtle, deadly and he moved with the grace of a tiger. Kang Cecep himself had himself gone to learn from Pak Syoyfan directly and was incorporating some of these elements into his multi-style system. He encouraged me to continue studying with Pak Syofyan and learn directly from the source to broaden my own understanding and feeling. I was also introduced to several other high level Pencak Silat teachers at camp: Abah Azis came out to share his subtle and wonderful art of redirecting, blending and emptying energies of Cikalong. Kang Rafijen shared with us his Maenpo Peu-peuhan explosive striking, misdirection techniques and quick movements. Pak Gending shared a segment of Cimande solo and two partner offense/defense drills.
Meeting the international Panglipur family that Kang Cecep had spent years developing was amazing. We had teachers and students from Europe, Brazil, Singapore, Malaysia, USA, Japan, and other parts of the world. We got to break bread, and learn with local Panglipur students and teachers; sister Dian, brother Adjat and brother Tira were a few that showed up. We visited the mysterious Baduy tribe, performed at many local festivals, trained outdoors at sacred sites and visited other Panglipur branches in Bandung. The training in the mountains, at local hot springs, sleeping outdoors in the jungle and studying weeks before camp gave me the tools necessary to develop myself to the next level. At the end of the camp I was surprised by Kang Cecep and he ranked me to Level 3 Coach in the Panglipur Galih martial arts system.
My experiences traveling to Indonesia in 2018, being part of the Kasundan family and participating in the silat camp left a great impression on me. How the community should work together and support each other to elevate everyone. Kang Cecep brought in all these different teachers and encouraged everyone to go train under them. He wasn’t trying to collect students, wasn’t competing against others and definitely wasn’t trying to be the main star of the movie. They actively teach the martial arts, philosophy and health aspects from primary school and beyond. A majority of the females practice martial arts and are very inclusive to outsiders coming to train. Panglipur is a village art, it’s a generational heirloom passed down, you will see people from the 8 year old boys to 80 year old grandmas moving to the music and doing martial arts
These experiences have profoundly shaped my outlook and motivation for training on a deeper level. One must go beyond the mundane, suffer willingly through pain, discomfort, and persevere to reach a higher level of feeling and understanding. Without guidance of a qualified teacher, the path becomes hazardous and our own ego will tend to self sabotage and become our own worst enemy. Rasa (feeling) and Hati (heart) must guide you forward onto the path of evolution. There is also an acronym for the word Panglipur: Pek Aranjeun Neangan Guru Luhung Ilmu Pikeun Udagan Rasa, which translates to: “Please, you are looking for the quality scientific expert teacher who can help us reach the higher feeling knowledge”.
