Master James McNeil

The Lineage

Master James McNeil

Master James McNeil is the teacher of Sifu Ajay Kumra, and the reason this material is taught in Southern California at all. Grandmaster Chiao Chang-Hung sent his selected disciples to nine countries. McNeil was the only American among them.

He trained with Grandmaster Chiao in Taipei from 1983 until Chiao's death in 2001 — eighteen years of direct, personal instruction. After years of that work he received Master Chiao's sword, the certification authorising him to teach the complete Little Nine Heaven system, held by only ten instructors worldwide. He is the 34th generation holder of a line that ran, for most of its history, one Taoist priest at a time.

What He Carries

Little Nine Heaven came from Grandmaster Chiao, along with Hsing-I and Ba Kua. The rest of the curriculum came from four more teachers. Two of those introductions were made by Grandmaster Chiao personally:

• Master Pan Wing-Chow — the original Chen style Tai-Chi. Introduced by Grandmaster Chiao.
• Sifu Chin Cheng-Yen — Tzu Men Chuan and Iron Hand. Introduced by Grandmaster Chiao.
• Master Hsu Hong-Chi — Hsing-I, chi-kung, and the healing arts
• Master Haumea Lefiti — Splashing Hands
• Ralph Shun — further internal and external methods

Opening the System

Grandmaster Chiao was the first to teach any part of Little Nine Heaven outside the temple line. Master McNeil has continued that work, teaching Shih Shui and Taoist Lovemaking to students around the world and training a small number to the level of passing it on — so the method survives beyond any one teacher.

Southern California

Master McNeil teaches in Chino, California. Sifu Ajay trained under him, and the curriculum at this school is what was transmitted through that line — taught in the form it was received, without synthesis or modernisation.