How many of you have read the new article on Styles and Systems. This is something I have been saying for long time. I wonder how many people who have said they study a style are going to change up and claim they study a system now.
Hmm…
Mine is a system.
“Faltou luz mas era Dia, o Sol invadiu a sala. Fez da tv um espelho, refletindo o que a gente esquecia.”
What article?
“Master, here is a stick. Please beat me for my insolence.” - KC Elbows
The article on the Ezine:
http://ezine.kungfumagazine.com/ezine/index.html
“Faltou luz mas era Dia, o Sol invadiu a sala. Fez da tv um espelho, refletindo o que a gente esquecia.”
I too have always used this distinction.
System= comprehensive body of concepts and techniques.
Style= players interpretation of said concepts & techniques.
Peace 
Style/System
You say tomato, I say tomato. I say potato, you say potato…Let’s call the whole thing off!!!
“Life’s a great adventure, mate.”
Jacko Jackson
Ifist
The System I study = Shaolin Kung Fu
The Styles I practice = Hak Fu Pai and Bak sil Lum
peace
Kung Lek is right. System is a base of an art, which is called the same type of art universally. Style is a branch of that art, for example Goju-Ryu is a style of karate and Choy Lee Fut is a style of Shaolin kung fu.
wrong!
Brain Damage
I tried to read the article. My conclusion is that i am suffering from brain damage because it stoped making sense when he got into the 3 bridges. I don’t think that had much to do with the distinction. I think i will get my brain repaired and give it another try.
…
If the definition is as kung lek and yuen say then everybody must practice both a style and a system…except for those poor unfortunates who have lost the system and are only practicing a style?
“A wish to go to Heaven is the very beginning of falling into Hell.”
styles and systems
Well… At my school we mostly do wing-chun, but we also do drunken monkey for grappling, and we do a bit of tai chi at the end of each class… So I think the way those styles are combined and taught makes up the system I’m learning.
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I think I understood the article. Here’s some examples of the distinctions as I understand them.
Roy Jones Jr.:
System: western boxing
style: nimble counterpuncher with a strong, accurate left hook
Lennox Louis:
System: western boxing
style: outside fighter/boxer. Generally uses long arms and a long jab to outpoint his opponent. Uses a strong overhand right for KO’s
Tito Ortiz:
System: MMA-style wrestling
style: generally gets takedown from the clinch. Uses the fence to limit opponents’ options. Follows up with ground and pound utilizing lots of elbows.
Mr. Nemo
System: bagua
style: emphasizes angular footwork as well as circular. Prefers throwing to striking. Prefers the waist-level roundhouse over other kicks.
Styles suck (uh…just ignore my login name)
Now substance, substance kicks fanny!
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System vs Style…they are just words and it depends on the context in which they are used.
For example Nam Sil-lum Hak Fu Pai translates as Southern Small Forest (Shaolin in Mandarin)Black Tiger System but can also mean style. Shaolin is a generalized umbrella term for more than one system or style of martial arts either systemized, codified or developed from other systems or styles imported into the Temple(s) or systems or styles directly invented in the Temple(s). But if you are speaking about an individual’s ‘Style’ in his chosen kung-Fu System/style, then it refers to that individuals personal expression of the teachings he has learned in the system/style…and eveyone is different…the student’s performance will not ‘exactly’ match the movement and expression
of his sifu and the sifu will not be a carbon copy of the Si-Gung. We all have different body types, mentalities and personalities which will influence to some degree the expression of the movements of the system/style. So to re-itterate…There is no difference between System and Style when used in the ‘context’ of talking about the ‘charactersitics’ of the system/style…for example southern sil-lum vs northern sil-lum, but if you speak of an indivduals personal expression of that system/style…then that is his ‘style’ of expressing the system/style he has learned. If his expression of the system/style is so very different from the style/system that it goes against the characteristics of style/system…then it is no longer the system/style and the student had better get back on trac.
So..both system and style mean the same when used in the same context and one is not less than the other in advanced principals and techniques.
They (words) are only “A finger pointing to the moon..do not focus on the finger or you will miss all that Heavenly Glory”-Chan/Zen quote used by Lee Shao Lung (Bruce Lee) in ‘Enter the Dragon’.
As far a 'fighting/self-defense ability goes…it is the ‘man’ who ‘uses’ the system/style to defeat an adversary, not the other way around.
GHD
please read
A good kung fu system will have the whole pie not just pieces, it should have techniques to make you totally well rounded like left and right,upper and lower and inside and out. If you have no techniqes that require you to have total control over every part of your body then you are missing a little piece of a big picture and you are training in a style. Ask your self this is the system your are in is a total complete system or just a style of kung fu? do you have healing? accupunture?accupressure? bone setting? herbology?tui na? do you have internal? tai chi? qigong? meditation? and do you have complete combat skills? punches kicks? throws? jointlocks? pressure points?iron body? iron palm? ground fighting? when you look into the depths and if you research you will be quite suprised!
Kung fu is not always about fighting and what works in combat for that is just a small part of your training, it is designed to train the entire body as a whole. So you can not judge and delete what you think is right or wrong or what works for fighting becuse if you do you will weaken the foundation of a total complete system! that is why so many total systems have been lost and become extinct, and what remains are simply styles like so may of non chinese now practice.
Earth Dragn wrote: “If you have no techniqes that require you to have total control over every part of your body then you are missing a little piece of a big picture and you are training in a style”.
Yes you should have a complete style or system, but not having one does not make it a ‘style’ as opposed to a system…all it is an incomplete system/style. Style is not less than a system…they are both the same. And…very, very, very few people if any would have control of every part of their body…so by your definition there is no such thing as a system.
Non-Chinese…your being a bit racist there guy…are you saying only Chinese have the complete stuff…if you are this is complete and utter nonsense. A few systems/styles have sifu who have studied the healing and meditaion aspects you have outlined and I agree it goes to making a sifu that can better look after his students…but these are not required to make the system/style ‘complete’. And yes I agree that Kung-Fu is about much more than just fighting.
GHD
after reading your post Im a little confused about your point of view, I did say that the difference of a complete system vs. a style is that of internal/ external , healing as well as fighting. I did not mean that if your style does not teach kicking or hand tecnique that it is not a style, aikido has no strikes but it is a internal style of karate but far from a complete system.
As for the chinese people if you ask the old timers they will agree that teaching non chinese has its repercussions in the chinese community. In china masters usually only teach the true art to their family members and they hold their skills close to their hearts and beleifs that kung fu is much apart of thier heritage as caligraphy and cooking, and never should their superstitious ancient beleifs be wasted on lazy americans for that is how they veiw non chinese who try to learn and become part of their already dieing ancient culture and history.
[This message was edited by EARTH DRAGON on 10-08-01 at 08:49 PM.]
True it is the “man” who “uses” the system/style to defeat an adversary but the System/Style makes the man. In my opinion
I belive Bill Gates uses a system.