Misconception of a Teacher
Content
A Misconception of Martial Artists By: Lin Ai Wei
There is a misconception among many martial artists that states that a martial arts teacher, whether called a shifu ：：：：：：, coach, sensei, teacher, etc, somehow, in some way is wise. This may be because of old time martial arts movies depicting the martial artist as one who is calm, actually wise, and revered by his students and neighbors. This may have been true a hundred plus years ago, but certainly not today.
ue to the movie influence, and personification of old time martial artists, ! wouldn"t call them masters, for ! don"t believe in that word in reference to a martial artist, many in the #modern# world assume that if they practice a martial art, they will automatically attain some wisdom, or some position of authority. They also assume that their own teacher has the end all be all say so of how the world wor$s, how people are, the overall idea of the #Way# of things, as well as understanding of how the universe wor$s, etc. They seem to thin$ that since their teacher never e%perienced something, and believe that something to be false, it must be that way.
This situation is li$e a virus, a plague that sic$ens almost every martial artist out there. They then become copies, carbon copies as my old gongfu brothers used to say, of their teachers, and continue on the same ideas and behaviors as their predecessors.
The reason why old time martial artists were revered by friends and family and society, was because they actually did something beneficial for society& they actually studied, educated themselves on the classics of their historical cultural education, as well as cultivated righteousness, conduct, humility, virtue, and meditation.
This was part of their cultural educational heritage, thus they had the components to mature into the individual they were $nown for. 'owever, not ever old time martial artist was li$e this as well. (ome )ust li$ed to fight, argue, cause mischief, destroy and assume they are the best under heaven.
We have the latter now more so than before. Many people believe they are the best under heaven, that only their understanding of things is superior and that if they never e%perienced it, can"t understand something, then it must be false. (ad indeed.
A wa$e up call to martial artists out there is needed, perhaps not to all, but many.
A martial art teacher by any standard, any title or position, is nothing more than a person who teaches a physical activity. *nless they are educating themselves with righteousness, conduct, humility, virtue, and meditation as the foundation of their character, they will hold no insight into how the world truly is, and its not even certain that one who does cultivate the above will gain insight into anything as well. They )ust have a better chance of doing so.
A martial art teacher holds no #secret# to universal wisdom, nor is their assumed #common sense# the most superior. +racticing a martial art is not the means to becoming some type of superior person, or attaining some great wisdom. Martial arts doesn"t do that, but the right education applied to one"s martial arts practice may, and not every one actually cultivates that.
!t doesn"t matter how long one practices their art, proficiency comes from several conditions: practice, innate talent, contemplation, practice. (omeone can practice for ,yr and perform better than one who has practiced for -.yrs. +erform meaning apply, not dance.
/ot all martial art styles are intelligently created. (ome epitomi0e la0iness, applying direct methods for fighting, while some utili0e more in depth methods to allow a well rounded cultivation of person, mind, and spirit. Let it be $nown that all 1hinese martial arts hold the e%act same principles as each other. The only difference is preference in practice, which means which manner of practice one prefers to focus on.
They can all be mi%ed together, they can all be separated due to specific style of application and practice even. What must be understood is that a style is an offshoot, or an integration of principles from another style. 2ne can always find the similarities in every 1hinese Martial Arts style. There is too much close3mindedness when it comes to style efficiency. All are efficient, there is no superior style, no superior principle& only broadened perspective of the practitioner and proficient practice of the style.
Another misconception is that )ust because a teacher has proficiency in their style, this automatically ma$es them blameless, and even allows the student, or onloo$er to consider what mista$es a teacher may do as being something they can overloo$ due to the teacher"s proficiency in their style. ! have personally seen this happen time and time again. A teacher does something wrong, and students )ust brush it off as though )ust because he is the teacher, he doesn"t need to be corrected& or )ust because he is the teacher, he has the right to do anything he pleases, and if he is wrong, no one can tell him, but must go along and support his4her views.
(uch a shame this ta$es place. 1onfucian education teaches that when a parent or teacher is wrong, the student, or child, must find a way to let them $now of their mista$es without putting them down, without hurting their feelings. !t is the duty of a student and child to ma$e sure their parents, or teachers, are also given a heads up as to what is the right way of doing things so as to not hurt others, as well as themselves. 5ducation is important, because if you give a child, student, the wrong education, no matter how old they are,
they will accept your e%ample, and lead a life similar to that of your own.
!n conclusion, no martial art teacher is superior )ust because they $now how to fight. 6ighting is a very brutish, disrespectful action in any manner. !n this, ! mean learning fighting without proper control and cultivation of one"s character, mind, body and mouth, is a disservice, rather than a good one, and will only reap a bad harvest for future generations.
! was once told by a martial artist that there are no secrets, only that which isn"t $nown. But that person didn"t reali0e that, that which isn"t $nown is secret to those see$ing to $now it. They also told me that a boo$ on meditation must not be so thic$, for if it were, it is not proper. ! laughed at this comment, because that person had no clue whatsoever what meditation actually is, nor the slightest idea what cultivating the mind means.
7ust to set that comment straight, a boo$ on meditation must include commentary of the method, caution on states attained, and stories of e%amples of its application. !f not, the practitioner who receives the instruction with only the method, will be led astray, into the wrong path.
! hope this article brings a light of contemplation for many. The goal of this article is to shed light on misconceptions about martial art teachers. ! am one myself, and ! always tell my students to never believe a word ! say. That they must contemplate the ideas ! give them, see what wor$s for them, and find their own e%pression of application. ! remind them to not copy me, nor to emulate my style of movement, thought, etc. ! encourage them to ta$e whatever tools ! give, and ma$e it their own, ta$e the methods ! present, and develop their own ways of understanding them, utili0ing them, teaching them.
A teacher can not hold their students hands, not even for one moment, not even from the beginning. They show the student how to use a tool 8techni9ue:, and the student them self must practice using it, understanding it, contemplate the various methods of use of that tool.
! tell my students not to study the person who is teaching, but their tools of practice only. 'ence why ! had 1hristians, 1atholics, Muslims, 7ews, Atheists, Buddhists, aoists, etc, as my students all in the same room practicing with each other. 'ow; Because ! don"t push them to follow the traditions ! personally follow. ! don"t enforce them to light up incense at the alter to <uan <ong, or the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas before class, ! don"t enforce anything upon them. They begin class with practice, and end class with practice. !n this way, they reali0e that there is no true difference between each other, and that the only obstacle that separates us is our own views we hold to in our mind.
'ai /a Bai 1huan : ：：：：：
There is a misconception among many martial artists that states that a martial arts teacher, whether called a shifu ：：：：：：, coach, sensei, teacher, etc, somehow, in some way is wise. This may be because of old time martial arts movies depicting the martial artist as one who is calm, actually wise, and revered by his students and neighbors. This may have been true a hundred plus years ago, but certainly not today.
ue to the movie influence, and personification of old time martial artists, ! wouldn"t call them masters, for ! don"t believe in that word in reference to a martial artist, many in the #modern# world assume that if they practice a martial art, they will automatically attain some wisdom, or some position of authority. They also assume that their own teacher has the end all be all say so of how the world wor$s, how people are, the overall idea of the #Way# of things, as well as understanding of how the universe wor$s, etc. They seem to thin$ that since their teacher never e%perienced something, and believe that something to be false, it must be that way.
This situation is li$e a virus, a plague that sic$ens almost every martial artist out there. They then become copies, carbon copies as my old gongfu brothers used to say, of their teachers, and continue on the same ideas and behaviors as their predecessors.
The reason why old time martial artists were revered by friends and family and society, was because they actually did something beneficial for society& they actually studied, educated themselves on the classics of their historical cultural education, as well as cultivated righteousness, conduct, humility, virtue, and meditation.
This was part of their cultural educational heritage, thus they had the components to mature into the individual they were $nown for. 'owever, not ever old time martial artist was li$e this as well. (ome )ust li$ed to fight, argue, cause mischief, destroy and assume they are the best under heaven.
We have the latter now more so than before. Many people believe they are the best under heaven, that only their understanding of things is superior and that if they never e%perienced it, can"t understand something, then it must be false. (ad indeed.
A wa$e up call to martial artists out there is needed, perhaps not to all, but many.
A martial art teacher by any standard, any title or position, is nothing more than a person who teaches a physical activity. *nless they are educating themselves with righteousness, conduct, humility, virtue, and meditation as the foundation of their character, they will hold no insight into how the world truly is, and its not even certain that one who does cultivate the above will gain insight into anything as well. They )ust have a better chance of doing so.
A martial art teacher holds no #secret# to universal wisdom, nor is their assumed #common sense# the most superior. +racticing a martial art is not the means to becoming some type of superior person, or attaining some great wisdom. Martial arts doesn"t do that, but the right education applied to one"s martial arts practice may, and not every one actually cultivates that.
!t doesn"t matter how long one practices their art, proficiency comes from several conditions: practice, innate talent, contemplation, practice. (omeone can practice for ,yr and perform better than one who has practiced for -.yrs. +erform meaning apply, not dance.
/ot all martial art styles are intelligently created. (ome epitomi0e la0iness, applying direct methods for fighting, while some utili0e more in depth methods to allow a well rounded cultivation of person, mind, and spirit. Let it be $nown that all 1hinese martial arts hold the e%act same principles as each other. The only difference is preference in practice, which means which manner of practice one prefers to focus on.
They can all be mi%ed together, they can all be separated due to specific style of application and practice even. What must be understood is that a style is an offshoot, or an integration of principles from another style. 2ne can always find the similarities in every 1hinese Martial Arts style. There is too much close3mindedness when it comes to style efficiency. All are efficient, there is no superior style, no superior principle& only broadened perspective of the practitioner and proficient practice of the style.
Another misconception is that )ust because a teacher has proficiency in their style, this automatically ma$es them blameless, and even allows the student, or onloo$er to consider what mista$es a teacher may do as being something they can overloo$ due to the teacher"s proficiency in their style. ! have personally seen this happen time and time again. A teacher does something wrong, and students )ust brush it off as though )ust because he is the teacher, he doesn"t need to be corrected& or )ust because he is the teacher, he has the right to do anything he pleases, and if he is wrong, no one can tell him, but must go along and support his4her views.
(uch a shame this ta$es place. 1onfucian education teaches that when a parent or teacher is wrong, the student, or child, must find a way to let them $now of their mista$es without putting them down, without hurting their feelings. !t is the duty of a student and child to ma$e sure their parents, or teachers, are also given a heads up as to what is the right way of doing things so as to not hurt others, as well as themselves. 5ducation is important, because if you give a child, student, the wrong education, no matter how old they are,
they will accept your e%ample, and lead a life similar to that of your own.
!n conclusion, no martial art teacher is superior )ust because they $now how to fight. 6ighting is a very brutish, disrespectful action in any manner. !n this, ! mean learning fighting without proper control and cultivation of one"s character, mind, body and mouth, is a disservice, rather than a good one, and will only reap a bad harvest for future generations.
! was once told by a martial artist that there are no secrets, only that which isn"t $nown. But that person didn"t reali0e that, that which isn"t $nown is secret to those see$ing to $now it. They also told me that a boo$ on meditation must not be so thic$, for if it were, it is not proper. ! laughed at this comment, because that person had no clue whatsoever what meditation actually is, nor the slightest idea what cultivating the mind means.
7ust to set that comment straight, a boo$ on meditation must include commentary of the method, caution on states attained, and stories of e%amples of its application. !f not, the practitioner who receives the instruction with only the method, will be led astray, into the wrong path.
! hope this article brings a light of contemplation for many. The goal of this article is to shed light on misconceptions about martial art teachers. ! am one myself, and ! always tell my students to never believe a word ! say. That they must contemplate the ideas ! give them, see what wor$s for them, and find their own e%pression of application. ! remind them to not copy me, nor to emulate my style of movement, thought, etc. ! encourage them to ta$e whatever tools ! give, and ma$e it their own, ta$e the methods ! present, and develop their own ways of understanding them, utili0ing them, teaching them.
A teacher can not hold their students hands, not even for one moment, not even from the beginning. They show the student how to use a tool 8techni9ue:, and the student them self must practice using it, understanding it, contemplate the various methods of use of that tool.
! tell my students not to study the person who is teaching, but their tools of practice only. 'ence why ! had 1hristians, 1atholics, Muslims, 7ews, Atheists, Buddhists, aoists, etc, as my students all in the same room practicing with each other. 'ow; Because ! don"t push them to follow the traditions ! personally follow. ! don"t enforce them to light up incense at the alter to <uan <ong, or the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas before class, ! don"t enforce anything upon them. They begin class with practice, and end class with practice. !n this way, they reali0e that there is no true difference between each other, and that the only obstacle that separates us is our own views we hold to in our mind.
'ai /a Bai 1huan : ：：：：：
