I believe that in Wing Chun, an individual should possess character and wisdom in addition to their fighting skills.
Unfortuneately, not every kwoon trains an individual to display character and wisdom.
How would you describe Wing Chun character and wisdom? Do you carry yourself everyday with Wing Chun character and wisdom? Can you call yourself a true Wing Chun man/woman? Why?
Let’s hear some opinions!
Continued blessings in your life and your training.
The key to understanding is to open your mind and your heart and then the eyes will follow.
That depends… is there an Instant Virtue drink that I can buy? I think that’s what is holding me back… 'cause everyone else seems to have instant virtuosity just from training Wing Chun.
Where can I find this drink, guys? Is it beside the “My Sifu’s Good, Therefore I Am Drink” or the “Lineage Before Validation Drink”?
I don’t need a sifu to tell me how to be “a good person” or instill some foreign dogma in me as part of my wing chun training.
wing chun doesn’t require a special set of values to be performed effectively. sure, it would be “great” if we could all sit around in temples and reinact hollywood’s vision of the “mysterious orient,” but it wouldn’t last long because maintaining such illusions is costly. furthermore, it’s stupid.
Despite everyone’s opinion as to whether or not they think their kwoon should teach character and wisdom, no one has made an attempt to answer the questions I posed.
1.)How would you describe Wing Chun character and wisdom?
2.)Do you carry yourself everyday with Wing Chun character and wisdom?
3.)Can you call yourself a true Wing Chun man/woman? Why?
Care to give it a try?
Continued blessings in your life and your training.
The key to understanding is to open your mind and your heart and then the eyes will follow.
Spectre, some of the virtues commonly associated with the martial arts include: discipline, hard work, ethics, morals, courtesy and good manners, respect for others, conflict resolution, avoidance of arguments, helping others, etc. I’m sure many of us aspire to these virtues.
Many schools try to instil these virtues and some of them are pre-requisites for successful completion of a martial arts curriculum, eg discipline and hard work (therefore people who already possess a certain character are often attracted to the attainment of high levels in the martial arts).
These virtues are not restricted to Wing Chun though - many martial arts try to instil them.
And you don’t need to possess many of these virtues (or even any, apart from the discipline and hard work required to attain the necessary skill) to be an efficient fighter in Wing Chun or any other martial art.
Also, I think that the moulds of our characters are probably pretty well set anyway by the time most of us take up martial arts in our teens or later, and are therefore more a reflection of our upbringing.
Max
Yooby Yoody
[This message was edited by Gluteus Maximus on 10-11-01 at 07:41 AM.]
[This message was edited by Gluteus Maximus on 10-11-01 at 07:43 AM.]
I wanted people’s opinion of what they feel Wing Chun character and wisdom were, if they feel that they possess it, and why.
No one was ever asked to accept anyone else’s notion of what Wing Chun character and wisdom are.
No one was asked what they thought of those Sifus that do teach what they feel Wing Chun character and wisdom are to their students.
Everyone has their own opinion regarding character and wisdom with regards to Wing Chun whether they feel a practitioner should possess the qualities or not. That is why my question asks what everyone else’s opinion is regarding this. No dogma passing here - so no - your comments are not constructive
Continued blessings in your life and your training.
The key to understanding is to open your mind and your heart and then the eyes will follow.
Then you are asking people to say they whether or not they possess something that, thus far, has not been defined. Do you want people to define these so-called Wing Chun Virtues for you, Spectre. Seems to me that you have your own ideas of what these “virtues” are, why not share YOUR opinion?
I agree with you. I firmly believe that in everything a person does there should be a high, moral character - not just from a martial arts perspective. We should also strive to obtain wisdom from all that we encounter or experience.
This is a Wing Chun forum so I just applied this question from a Wing Chun point of view.
While I believe that our character and morals as adults are less flexible than when we are adolescents, I think that we can still be influenced by our experiences.
Just an opinion though…
Thanks again for putting some thought into your post!
Continued blessings in your life and your training.
The key to understanding is to open your mind and your heart and then the eyes will follow.
Why not answer the questions with an answer instead of another question Meng Shuo?
I ask my questions out of curiousity and a genuine interest for other people’s thought process and understanding. Perhaps other’s have looked at something from an angle I have not yet thought to look from.
I do not ask my questions to impose my beliefs upon anyone here.
I do not ask my questions so that I can just mock their honest responses.
Everyone has a different opinion on Wu Sao, but the question can still be asked about what you feel the technical aspects are of the technique. I did not see you asking Whipping Hand why he would ask such a question without sharing his standpoint first.
“Perhaps other’s have looked at something from an angle” hmmm… how Wing Chun that is…
If Wing Chun is to produce/enhance/modify a certain “character”, since there a many facets, qualities, focuses, that Wing Chun can take, then there must be many “characters” within the Wing Chun community. What is to be this “character” or “morale” that you write of?
I live Wing Chun and I am a character. There’s your answer.
Character will manifest through the Wing Chun. Wing Chun will manifest through the character. The quality will manifest through the character. It’s unfortunate that it seems most people here don’t realize it. Everyone’s too busy putting on the “nice” facade. “Nice” is easy to do. Anyone can do it. But then, most people would not know who I am.
I hope your curiosity about my thought processes has been answered Spectre!
And I did answer your question by saying there is no such thing as “Wing Chun Character & Wisdom.”
There is such a thing as Wu Sao, however, and that’s why I didn’t ask Whipping Hand to clarify.
In an effort to be nice, Spectre, let me just say that any way YOU personally choose to define Wing Chun is fine with me, but I am not the least bit curious about the specifics.
Thank you for actually answering my question. I don’t have to agree with your answer just as you do not have to agree with mine - I just wanted a view point and you provided that.
And ask anyone who tries to respond to some of your negative posts and they will tell you that being ‘Nice’ is not always easy to do.
No one said that an individual who posts has to be nice. However, the opposite of ‘nice’ is NOT ‘Rude’ or ‘Insulting’.
Meng Shuo:
I actually did get a chance to see your thought process no matter how closed it may be.
I am not sure if your attempt at sounding philosophical was a failed one, but do you not think that just saying “there is no such thing as Wing Chun Character & Wisdom” would have been clear and concise even though it should have been prefaced with ‘In my opinion’?
If the technical aspect of Wu Sao are so clear and concise as you imply, why are there 2,969 posts on the subject? Obviously not everyone here agrees that it is so clear and concise.
And if you were not the least bit curious about my specific definitions, why respond to this post in the first place? You have wasted my time as well as others’.
Continued blessings in your life and your training.
The key to understanding is to open your mind and your heart and then the eyes will follow.
