March & April 2026 Newsletter
Newsletter for March and April 2026
No Classes
There will be no classes held at Rising Dragon for Easter Weekend: No classes on Saturday April 5. Happy Resurrection Day!
Testing
Friday April 17 at 5 p.m. Awards Ceremony 6:00 p.m. Higher rank testing will start earlier usually around 3 p.m. but check with your teacher or your test invitation.
White Lotus Spring Tournament
Join the excitement and challenge of our annual Wisconsin State tournament in coordination with Be Martial Arts and several other schools that compete! This year the tournament is being hosted at Be Martial Arts at 11222 N. Cedarburg road on Saturday April 25, 2026 from 8 to 12 approximately. Grab an application at the Rising Dragon school! For more info contact: 262 236 5595 or info@bemartialarts.com or talk to Sigungs at Rising Dragon.
Event Competitions *All event special $200 by APR 11*
Traditional: Forms & Sparring ($60) Forms Weapons ($25) Combat Sparring ($25) Creative: Forms ($25) Forms Weapons ($25) 3 Board Breaking ($35)
Fitness: Judo ($25) Flutter Kicks ($25) Palm Strikes ($25)
Start Times:
Tai Chi 8:00am / External Competition 9:00am
Friendship Month
During the month of April each student can receive up to two Buddy Passes that lets two different friends come train for a whole week for free at Rising Dragon! Get your buddy passes from the Sigungs at the school. These certificates must be used by the end of May 2025!
The Dragon’s Breath
(Grandmaster Pai’s Dragon Code Poem Series Continuing)
The third stanza of the dragon code reads:
Forgetting all categories / And Letting Energy That Wishes to Exist, Exist
These words from Grandmaster Pai bring wisdom to a judgmental world. We as people love to categorize everything to help us understand and feel control. In Alaska, for example they categorize snow into over 40 different types. In libraries we try to categorize books into genres. All that is well and good to help us manage things. Even so, it is not perfect – books often can have more than one genre. And here in Milwaukee we don’t worry about the many types of snow – we just wonder if it is June yet so we don’t have to worry about shoveling. The real problem is when we try to categorize people, not things– people are often more complex and we cannot see their motives and their heart in matters. We are bound to make mistakes if we categorize people by outward appearance, location or station in life. Humorously we in Milwaukee often categorize all Illinois drivers as “bad” to put it nicely. But I’ve seen Milwaukee drivers just as bad if not worse at times. And when we assign value based on culture, race, gender, etc. we are quite blind as we have lost sight that real value comes from the inside, not the outside. I remember a passage from the Hebrew scriptures, where a new king is to be chosen. And everyone is looking at the outside values – one was handsome and tall, another a greater charismatic leader. But God chose the person whose heart was after His own heart. And He said, “Man looks at the outward appearance, but God looks at the heart” (I Samuel 16:9). For those who believe – all of us are made by God, for God. And in the image of God we all have amazing value. That is what it means to me to Forget All Categories. And for those who still judge on outward appearance – well we can’t really stop that – just let that Energy That Wishes to Exist, Exist. All we can really decide is how we judge others, not how others do. Inside or Outside?
– Sigungs Steve and Melodie
Pai Xeung Lum/ Feng Huang
Upcoming Events
No classes for Easter Weekend, Saturday, April 5th
Testing Block 2 Friday April 17 at 5 p.m. Awards at 6 p.m.
White Lotus Tournament Saturday April 25, 8-12 at Be Martial Arts 11122 N. Cedarburg
Block 2 Focus
Week 1 (March 2-7): Basics
Week 2 (March 9-14): Forms
Week 3 (March 16-21): Sparring
Week 4 (March 23-28): Fist Sets
Week 1 (March 30 – April 4): Weapons and Info
Week 2 (April 6 – 11): Forms and Fist Sets
Week 3 (April 13 – 18): Review
Week 4 (April 22-25): Tournament Prep
