Combat: How important is it to you that an art should be realistic?

Simon Wong: Let's talk about 'reality'. Once you have the spiritual element you can see the other side, people only see the external. I look at reality like this. You can create it. Heaven and hell is in "your mind". For example I remember a poster of a cup final that said "heaven or hell." One team wins the game the other loses and within the same football stadium there is heaven and hell. It is in your mind. If you have a pair of glasses and you don't know that the lens is cracked then everything looks wrong, you never stop to think that it is you that is creating the problem until you finally take the glasses off. Why go into a pub when you know that the pub has a reputation for trouble? That is not the best way to avoid a fight. Our martial arts ability is for when we have no choice, when you know you have to use it. The best defence is avoiding the problem before you get into trouble. Buddhists always think of the results of their actions before they do it but normal people they just go ahead and do it anyway. Wisdom is the best martial art in the art of fighting without fighting

Combat: You are also a Feng Shui Master. Many in the West are dismissive of it, yet you have had some very high profile clients.

Simon Wong: I remember a company that was very big on the stock exchange, Peregrine, an Asian company and the boss came to England and asked me to do the Feng Shui for their office in London. He believed in the principle and I told him what to do, within two years they had made a twenty billion turnover! Now I am not so keen to do this for companies on the stock market because they make so much money and give so little to charity.

Combat: Is there a genuine science behind Feng Shui?

Simon Wong: Feng Shui is very much like the martial arts, not so well known thousands of years ago but now there are thousands of people doing it, but how many people really know the secrets? Feng Shui is scientific, because within the earth we have magnetic fields and inside our body, within our blood we have iron. We know that with a magnet, north and north repels each other, north and south attracts like positive and negative energy. So with the better use of the energy in your home, you can gain success later, you make better decisions. If the energy is against you, it is like having a mobile phone but you cannot make use of it because the battery is running down and you cannot recharge it. When I learnt Feng Shui I had to try it for myself, to learn what worked, the correct application, just like my martial arts. Just like Kung Fu, Feng shui can damage people if used wrongly. Whether the toilet seat is up or down that's not feng shui, that's a simple hygiene problem! Some people talk such crap. When you have learnt Feng Shui, then you can criticise Feng Shui. It is not magic.