day 53: sifu's manifesto, legs, & chang quan

concepts:

• ancient terms and concepts
• ancient knowledge versus modern knowledge
  
• copycats versus true understanding
• bridging the old and new
  
• revolution
  

forms:

• bagua kicking drills
• tantui (lines 1-10)
• pao quan
  

today was the first day back from the month break. there was a low turnout today (for bagua, it was me, John, and Eric), largely because everyone was still traveling.

John and i had arrived early, and had taken a number of minutes reviewing bagua qi-gong levels 1 and 2. we also discussed level 3, comparing notes about our understanding of it. i hadn't done this in the past few weeks, so it was good review. i'm still finding bagua qi-gong not that productive (i'm not getting the chi sensations that other people are saying they're getting, and i had much more success with the tai chi qi-gong that Phunsak had showed me back in August). despite this, i'm reluctant to stop practicing it, since i'm finding it's pretty easy to forget things unless you do them on a regular basis.

Sifu's manifesto

Sifu began the day by discussing what seems to be a manifesto. he appears to have been doing quite a bit of thinking about his legacy in terms of kung fu, and he discussed his ideas in broad strokes today. i suspect that this is a work in progress, and likely something that will be filled in with details in the time ahead, but at this time he seems to have settled on the over-arching themes of what he wants.

the lead-in was a question regarding Chen tai chi. originally, he had not planned on teaching it within the year he has left in Los Angeles, and was instead focused on his Yang tai chi class at UCLA. but he said he'd been thinking about this over the past month, and he realized that there are not many instructors teaching the version of Chen he knows (the old frame...as in old, old, pre-Chen Fake)--to his knowledge, there's him in Los Angeles, and then 2 others in Taiwan. because of this, he feels that it would be good to teach his Chen tai chi before he leaves. but he said this is something we would discuss as a class.

from this, Sifu decided it would be a good time to present some thoughts he's been having about his plans for the future. he didn't use the word, but i'm choosing to call it a "manifesto," since it seems to assert the kind of aspirations and guidelines usually given in one.

ancient terms and concepts

to summarize his comments, Sifu started by noting that traditional kung fu instruction utilizes terminology and concepts derived from Asian cultures, which reflect the way in which those societies understood the world and natural phenomenon around them. this understanding was based on years--often centuries--of empirical observations regarding the relationship between disparate factors. with respect to kung fu, this often meant that a person who wanted to master kung fu also had to comprehend the meanings of the terms and concepts from Asian culture in relation to their application in martial arts.

Sifu argued, however, that the persistence of ancient terms and concepts over time has led a tendency towards mysticism in the modern era of kung fu, in which modern practitioners use ancient terms and concepts without actually ever being able to clearly define what they mean. this leads to students of kung fu discussing martial arts in vague generalities without actual understanding of what anybody is talking about. this creates a number of problems:

• diversion--often, practitioners devote more time to discussing abstract ancient vocabulary than they do to actually improving their skills (something contrary to the entire basis of martial arts)
• subterfuge and deceit--the level of obscurity in terms and concepts is used as a tool by disreputable instructors, who rely on them to either hide their own lack of understanding (subterfuge) or to lead students into believing that they have not learned anything (deceit).
• manipulation--mysticism allows instructors to claim "true" understanding and mastery by belittling or patronizing others for not being able to "understand" the language the instructor is using. this then enables the instructor to manipulate the public, often for the purposes of personal gain, whereby the instructor continually asks for more money to teach the "real" meanings and "deeper" understanding of kung fu
• misunderstanding--the ultimate result of mysticism, of course, is complete misunderstanding of kung fu, both in concepts and practice, with followers frequently being led astray from the original purpose of kung fu: combat.
  

to illustrate, Sifu demonstrated a basic tai chi pushing concept with Eric. he said that traditional teaching methods would stress the "lowering of chi" and "concentration into the lower dantian." these, unfortunately, are relatively abstract (as in not material), and so tend to be the source of prolonged confusion with modern students. Sifu pointed out that in this case, the dantian is really nothing more than the modern "center of gravity" and the lowering of chi is just calling attention to lowering the center of gravity. he demonstrated the pushing technique, and explained that all it was doing was placing the practitioner's center of gravity beneath the opponent's to create a mechanical advantage.

according to Sifu, this is a very basic technique, and one that should be easily mastered by students. the reason it is not is because they are taught using ancient terms and concepts that are no longer recognized by modern students. Sifu argued that for these kinds of situations, instructors should just make things more clear using relevant (i.e., more modern) explanations of traditional principles.

ancient knowledge versus modern knowledge

apart from mysticism, another problem Sifu sees is the obsession with ancient knowledge in teaching kung fu. he believes that this doesn't really give credit to modern practitioners.

too often, the tendency is to believe that ancient masters held superior understanding of kung fu relative to modern ones. in a way, this is true, in the sense that history is full of eras wherein knowledge (about everything, not just kung fu) was destroyed, leaving successive generations bereft of traditional wisdom. but Sifu says that this ignores the nature of ancient knowledge compared to modern knowledge.

he returned to his point about ancient knowledge being based on empirical observation. he said that this gave societies of that time enough insight to establish how things worked. unfortunately, for the most part, that was all. this means that traditional knowledge--and the terms and concepts tied to them--are actually limited in terms of what they can convey.

in contrast, modern knowledge is based on analysis, with theory being tested through experimentation (in essence, empiricism is matched with theory). this means that modern societies not only see how things work, but also can determine why they work. this means that modern knowledge, from a certain perspective, is actually greater than traditional knowledge.

the contrast is one that i would explain this way: ancient knowledge, using empirical methods, could deduce correlation and causation with respect to phenomenon in the world; modern knowledge, however, uses empiricism with theory to determine correlative and causal relationships, but then takes the additional step of investigating what allows such relationships to exist.

for illustration, Sifu again used the same tai chi pushing technique against Eric. the effectiveness of the technique (i.e., its ability to push the opponent backwards) is typically explained by ancient perspectives as "drawing chi from the earth" and "rooting the chi." Sifu argued that this may have been a useful way for ancient societies to understand how the technique works, but it does little in helping to understand why.

he said that it is easy to see why by utilizing modern science, such as basic Newtonian physics--vectors, force, mass, acceleration, speed. here, the body mechanics of the technique position the body so as to exploit Newton's 2nd law (for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction), meaning that the practitioner utilizes the opponent's assault in combination with their own force down into the earth, creating a combined reactive force that transmits back into the opponent.

Sifu said that modern science has given us a greater level of comprehension than was available to ancient societies, and that as martial artists we should be willing to use this to help us. he referred to Newtonian physics, thermodynamics, mathematics, biology, kinesiology, and medicine. all these things, he believes, are tools that ancient scholars did not have--but which we do, and so should be allowed to enable us to improve ourselves (including our mastery of martial arts).

copycat versus real understanding

Sifu continued, stating that an additional problem he sees in kung fu is the quality of teaching. too much of it, he said, fails to give students a real understanding of kung fu. many times, students will learn techniques and forms and names and principles, but they never learn the reason why all these things work or the reason why these things were created.

according to Sifu, this is dangerous. because it means that generations of practitioners are nothing more than "copycats" who have copied everything they know from their masters. while in some ways laudable (because it may reflect admiration, dutiful study, and attention), it is ultimately damaging to the state of kung fu. this is because "copycat" followers lack the deeper understanding of how and--more importantly--why things work. this prevents them from fully applying kung fu.

Sifu offered some reasons for this. part of it is instructors (e.g., those who insist on "hiding" knowledge or having "secret" teachings, or who are just simply incompetent), part of it is students (e.g, those who are content to be "copycats" and poseurs), part of it is teaching methods (e.g., application of traditional methods when modern ones might be better), part of it is history (e.g., instructors are aging and dying before passing on everything they know, or who are caught in societal upheaval preventing education).

Sifu asserted that real understanding is fundamental to martial arts. true mastery requires a grasp of how and why things work, since this enables the practitioner to then adapt their knowledge to confront and resolve unknown challenges. moreover, what may work for person may not work for another (because of different body types, biomechanics, infirmities, etc.), and so will require modification to be effective. real understanding, according to Sifu, means the ability to manipulate knowledge to given situations while still preserving (or even enhancing) an effective outcome.

for Sifu, poor teaching does nothing more than breed copycat students. for him, quality teaching produces students with real understanding. in his opinion, there is too much of the former and not enough of the latter.

bridging the old and new

next, Sifu said that there has to be an evolution more reflective of modern times of kung fu and kung fu instruction. kung fu was never meant to stagnate, much less become corrupted. nor, for that matter, was kung fu instruction ever expected to be fixed.

referring to history, he pointed out that even within the curriculum of styles he teaches, we can see a progression over time in kung fu, with long fist being the oldest, and bagua being the youngest, but with clear traces of influence stretching from long fist to tai chi to baji and piqua to bagua. this reflects a continuing evolution in martial arts thinking, which means that it is a living art form following human society, and so to continue living it requires the contributions of new practitioners. this led to a point: if kung fu is to live--and live well--it must have good contributions, which calls for good practitioners capable of providing such contributions...in other words, this means practitioners with a real understanding of kung fu.

likewise, he says he believes that kung fu instruction must also evolve. the lifestyles of the past gave instructors the luxury of students who lived with them or who could devote hours every day to learning, allowing for much gratuitous usage of time in teaching method. in contrast, modern lifestyles simply do not allow this, with modern students being burdened by the demands of careers, education, families, bills, etc. modern instructors are not free as their historical predecessors to be as gratuitous in time, and must become more efficient and pragmatic in teaching methods, otherwise they risk never producing the kinds of practitioners needed to sustain kung fu as a living art...and thereby risk having kung fu die with them.

Sifu said he's lived long enough to see both the old and the new, both in kung fu and kung fu instruction. as a result, he sees himself as the bridge between past and modern generations. he feels this even more so because of his own background as well as his engineering education, which allows him to understand the traditional perspectives along with modern scientific ones.

Sifu stated that he sees this as his position: to be the bridge that conveys the knowledge of kung fu held by past masters to a new generation, with the goal of creating modern masters with a real understanding capable of carrying on kung fu into the future. this seems to be his mission.

revolution

Sifu finished his thoughts by arguing that he wants to start a kung fu revolution, particularly in terms of teaching. he thinks that it would be good to encourage other instructors to share his mission, and thereby combine their mutual efforts to better sustain kung fu as a living art for successive generations.

but to do this, Sifu sees the revolution being in teaching, with the adoption of more pragmatic, more efficient, as well as more relevant teaching methods. in his words, we need to "cut out the bullshit" and just teach how things work and why they work, with no obscure language, no insistence on ancient terms and concepts, no holding back of knowledge, and no politics. again, to cite his words: "what's wrong with having students actually understand things?" he repeated his prior points, saying "we can't live in the past. modern times aren't like the past. we have to adjust to match the present, otherwise we'll lose everything."

i think there's a way to describe what Sifu is saying: kung fu instruction has to be be like kung fu...in a fight, survival requires that a fighter adapt to the situation facing him (or her); likewise, kung fu as a living art has adapted and changed over time to reflect the situations facing it; so by extension, kung fu instructors need to change to match the situations of modern times.

bagua kicking drills

Sifu left us to free to practice whatever we chose. John, Eric, and i talked about it for a moment. i asked if we could backtrack a bit in the curriculum and cover the kicking material. i'd missed all of this (i'm guessing it had been before everyone learned xiao kai men, and i began just when everyone was finishing xiao kai men). i asked if either John or Eric remembered the leg form for bagua, but neither felt comfortable with their recollection of it.

Eric suggested that we review (for him and John, at least--for me it's new) the kicking drills. this was agreeable for everyone, and we began going through them. there was a good number, with me counting a total of 12 drills:

• leg swing front & back
• leg heel snap kick front & back
• side swing kick
• bicycle kick front & back
• knee strike in & out
• full sweep front & back
• short sweep front & back
• foot sweep front & back
• crescent kick long in & out
• crescent kick short in & out
  
• double front kick
• moving front double kick
• tornado kick
  

this took a little while. i was not familiar with any of them, and i've never seen them in class. i found these quite enjoyable, since they give a pretty good set of exercises to improve range-of-motion, balance, and coordination (which is probably what they were originally meant to do, anyway). some of them are almost identical to track technique drills i've done (especially the front & back leg swing, and side leg swing).

tantui (lines 1-10)

after we finished with the kicking drills, we took a break and spoke again about what to review. Eric suggested it would be good to go through long fist, since it had been a long time since we'd reviewed it.

this was the first time i've gone through the entire set of tantui lines with the opening and closing. i found it pretty valuable, since it effectively served as a session to polish a lot of the rough edges i've been having. Eric and John gave me a lot of pointers that corrected the mistakes i've been making, and this should me practice them (it's one thing to practice, but you want to practice in a way which means you're learning right).

pao quan

we finished the day with pao quan. Eric offered to show me the beginning moves, and so the 3 of us went through the opening leading into the iteration of the 1st line from tantui.

at this point, Sifu returned from working with the baji students and then asked to see what we'd done in pao quan. after watching us go through what Eric had shown, Sifu asked us to repeat it again, but this time joined us.

Sifu made comments as we went through the moves. in particular, he emphasized that in long fist (or, chang quan) the moves are supposed to be exaggerated, and so this means extending to a point that might seem dangerous in a combat situation. he showed us that we needed to really go down low in our stances, and then really reach in our motions, so that our movements were open and fully extended.

he also noted that in long fist, the general rule is that legs lock when standing, but that the arms never do. this is not always true, but tends to be a predominant pattern.

Sifu then challenged us to learn a few more moves of pao quan to really test our memory. this was a bit of a struggle, and we ended up having to repeat things a good number of times to get things down. obviously, since they'd gone through this before, Eric and John had a much easier time, and ended up stopping to watch (and correct) me.

we continued this while Sifu worked with Jonathan Shen, who has been learning chao quan. this is the next long fist set after pao quan, and is the highest-level set for long fist in the Wutan curriculum (as far as i know...although i should note that tantui, pao quan, and chao quan are all part of what is known as jiao men chang quan, or "islamic long fist," and so there are many other forms of long fist, with each presumably having their own arrangements of set forms).

after awhile, we all decided to call it a day. Eric had to be somewhere by 1:30, and it was know 1 pm. in addition, Sifu was giving private instruction at 1pm, and the students had already arrived. without anyone else to go to lunch with, John and i decided to just hold off on the usual post-class meal and wait until next week--which Sifu said would be meeting at 10am over by the original place by the school buildings (apparently, the current location by the playground was only meant to be temporary, but continued on longer than anyone had originally intended).