Pentjak Silat Fundamentals?

[Kevin Barkman]

I am wondering if anyone on this forum has experience with Pentjak Silat, and how it relates to short hand TCMA?

I recently had an opportunity to witness demonstrations of the Art - including 8 Jurus, and six of the forms (Naga, Harimau, Blakok, Manyet, etc.). I must say they appear to be a remarkable combination of Dragon / Hsing-I! I was told that this particular art was from Java - and therefore stayed more "upright" than some of its cousions.

There is not a lot out there on this Art - the principles of "Hakka" arts and these arts seem very close. The main difference seems that PS stays lower to the ground - more torso bend, more twisting.

Are there many different styles of PS, or several branches, or one main school? I am a little more familiar with Ind. Kun Tao, but only familiar with D. Draegor (sp?) comments.

Any observations / comments (MST?)?

Cheers - Smashing Bridge Barkman

[This message was edited by Kevin Barkman on 05-03-01 at 07:26 PM.]

[Kung Lek]

Hi Kevin.

Here is something of interest regarding the subject. I found it at http://www.pendekar.com

There are references at the bottom which may lead you further.

Perhaps you have seen this already?

anyway, peace

The Institutionalisation of Pencak silat Education in the Perguruan
By O'ong Maryono

Beginning in 1598, Dutch traders came to the islands of the archipelago and tried to gain control of the spice trade, competing with local authorities and the Portuguese traders who had arrived earlier in the archipelago. After taking hold of the spice production in Central Moluccas, Ambon and Banda, the co-ordinating institution of Dutch traders or United East India Company (VOC: Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie) affirmed its position on the north coast of Java with the construction of the fortress of Batavia (formerly known as Jayakarta, and now as Jakarta) in 1621 (Koentjaraning-rat 1994:62-63).
The presence of the VOC in Batavia posed a serious threat to the maritime kingdom of Banten, and to the inland kingdoms of Java. In particular, Sultan Agung (1613-1645), the third king of the Mataram Empire, was extremely concerned about this foreign expansion, and on various occasions clashed with the VOC. However, subsequent kings became increasingly dependent on the Netherlands, as the VOC supplied them with weapons and ammunitions in exchange for valuables and land. Such military provisions were needed to quash local rebellions and attempts to seize the throne (Ibid: 63-64).
These ‘modern’ arms in the form of cannons and guns were extremely effective and practical in use compared to traditional weapons, prompting the reform of the defence system of the keraton. Consequently, the role of pencak silat as an instrument of war slowly declined. After their heyday came a bleak time for pencak silat masters, who lost their place in the keraton structure, and faced political and socio-cultural changes at odds with the moral principles dear to them.
The situation at the beginning of the 17th century, wherein kingdoms were waging civil war and the keraton lost political significance, forced pencak silat masters to seek out new ways of life. Many eventually left the keraton and chose to become ordinary citizens in rural villages. Outside of the keraton they continued to teach pencak silat, sharing their knowledge and attracting followers wherever they lived. Following the keraton tradition, pencak silat was taught not only as a self-defence method, but also as a form of spiritual knowledge necessary to attain supernatural powers. In doing so, the masters preserved the humanistic values in which they believed, disseminating among the people the doctrine of manung-galing kawula Gusti , thus becoming guardians of Javanese royal culture outside of the palace (Candra Gautama 1995:70).
In due course, many informal teaching groups emerged in the rural areas of Java, allowing pencak silat to prosper, and be handed down to future generations. For the first time, the study of pencak silat was institutionalised within a traditional educational system, one that retained the pencak silat teacher as a guide and source of knowledge, as reflected in the term ‘perguruan’ (pencak silat school) which is derived from the word ‘guru’ or ‘teacher’. The perguruan became one educational option for the youth on the road to adulthood, as alternative to undertaking an ascetic search under the guidance of a spiritual teacher (orang pinter), or entering a pesantren to absorb Islamic teachings (Anderson 1972:5).
The classic, literary image of the perguruan portrays ‘a teacher of an advanced age, but still young at heart, ...teaching pencak silat jurus (series of movements) to a small group of students who wish to learn how to restrain themselves and attain invulnerability (ilmu kebal)’ (Lombard 1996(2):332). Usually, the students lived under one roof with their teacher, and received food and clothing. In exchange, they assisted their teacher in his work on the land, planting or helping with the harvest (An-derson 1972:5). The teacher imparted his knowledge and skill of pencak silat in stages, over an unlimited period of time, according to the individual ability of the student.
Because teachers kept their own techniques secret from one another, pencak silat disappeared from the surface, yet grew in the perguruan ‘like a snake in the grass’. In accordance with tradition, only students who underwent an initiation ceremony were accepted into the perguruan and allowed to receive pencak silat education. During this ceremony, the aspirant students swore allegiance to the school, and affirmed the existence of a moral and existential binding between them and their teacher, and with their peers at the perguruan.14 Students were thus united and found strength in feelings of mutual respect.
At the time when the perguruan based on this fraternity principle (perguruan persaudaraan) began to expand on the islands of Java, schools meant exclusively for family members still dominated in Sumatra. These family schools (perguruan kekeluargaan) were more firm in their allegiance to secrecy, since they aspired to preserve intact their family culture. The teacher kept his knowledge confidential, and refused to impart it to those who had neither biological nor customary ties to the family. Access to outsiders was made possible only to persons who were considered part of the family, or were adopted as such. For example, in West Sumatra if one wished to become a student, he had to undergo a ceremony to become anak sasian (nephew/niece), which involved making offerings of materials with a symbolic meaning:

A quart of rice and a rooster would be used for the initiation ritual.... to unify in a spiritual relationship the anak sasian and the teacher.... The rooster was used to signify that the members of the school should be ‘seciok bak ayam’ (singing in unison as the roosters), meaning that they should be living harmoniously; a bundle of betel leaves to declare unity of the members in an equal spiritual-material bond; a white cloth as a symbol of the purity of heart of each member in their purpose to live in a friendly way, defend one other, and let go all negative prejudices about their peers; and a knife blade representing the quality of their unity, ‘sedencing bak besi’ or ‘strong as iron’. (Department of Education and Culture 1982:12-13; see also Winsnoe Wardhana 1976:19)

Teachers were also not to impart their entire knowledge to their students, or in the language of Minangkabau ‘sepinjik tetap dipegang’ (withholding a little). A number of jurus had to be kept secret, because of concern that one day the student would challenge the teacher with what he had learned (Olahraga 1957:12). The caution of these teachers is also reflected in the adage: ‘if it is sweet, don’t swallow it straight away; if it is bitter don’t retch it straight away’.
Clearly, had all these cultural rules been followed to the letter, the schools would have expanded in isolation, without ever integrating with other schools. Also, pencak silat would not have been touched by any new, external influence, thus remaining static, or beginning to disappear altogether. Fortunately, this was not the case. During the 18th and 19th century, the development of pencak silat remained very dynamic and continued to be shaped by a process of acculturation among perguruan. In disregard of customary norms, the fraternal cord was oftentimes cut by students, making way for new and varied schools. It also frequently happened that people outside the boundaries of family or ethnic groups were accepted as students. There were teachers who taught those who were not related to the school, no matter the inevitable social castigation. Actually, many young masters wandered to other areas to learn from other teachers in order to enhance their pencak silat skills. In this way, interaction occurred among disparate regional styles, leading to the emergence of hundreds of new pencak silat schools. Although these new schools often sprung from the same source, they exhibited different characteristics.
Through this simultaneous process of acculturation and expansion, as the next article will show, pencak silat will reach its zenith after the VOC lost its domination over the Indonesian archipelago in 1799 and the Dutch colonial government was installed.

References:

1. Koentjaraningrat, "Kebudayaan" , Balai Pustaka Jakarta: 1994.

2. Chandra Gautama, "Mencari Keindahan Tenaga Dalam", Matra, Jakarta:1995.

3. Anderson, B, "Java in a time of Revolution; Occupation and Resistence, 1944 - 1946". Ithaca & London : Cornell University Press. 1972.

4. Lombart, D, "Nusa Jawa :Silang Budaya ; Jaringan Asia". Gramedia Pustaka Utama .Bagian 2. Jakarta 1996.

5. Department of Education and Culture, "Perkembangan Seni Bela Diri tradisional di Daerah Sumatera Barat", Depdikbud Jakarta 1982.
see also Winsnoe Wardhana, "Pembudayaan Pencak Silat Indonesia" Derektorat Jenderal Kebudayaan, Jakarta.1976.

6. Olahraga, "Apakah Pentjak Satu Saat Akan Kandas" Jakarta 1957

Kung Lek

[This message was edited by Kung Lek on 05-03-01 at 08:45 PM.]

[FIRE HAWK]

http://www.geocities.com/vandeelen/Pukulan/

[triskellin]

ooh, i'm intending to take up silat or escrima, and knowing that it may have fundamentals of dragon is more exciting now! the school i'm interested in is from the babakan school, and i did get a few urls from a silat practioner, but i can't remember them now. ack! i'll post them later on.

[triskellin]

i also read that it's based on mimiking animal movements, so that would be an obvious relation to kung fu, that it involves alot of indonesian mysticism, and that it's the foundation of escrima/kali/arnis. was also told that a 'true' school teaching the art was hard to find, cause it's meant to be really viscious.

[Crimson Phoenix]

Pentjack is like gong fu in the sense that there are countless schools or styles, not to mention that there is not one but two big currents: Indonesian Pentjack and Malay version Bersilat...I heard that Malay styles favor more a practice that can be compared to chinese internal styles whereas native indonesian styles would be more on the external side, but I lack expertise to verify that for sure...
Admitedly, there is a lot of animal inspiration, but this can be said of every south-east asian traditonnal style (like burmese bando, vietnamese styles etc...).
On the other hand, Escrima/Arnis/Kali have nothing to do with Silat, these styles are Filipino escrima styles born from a mix of native swordplay techniques and spanish school of swordplay (after the spanish school disapeared in Europe when the Italian school took over).
Silat has refined weapon technique of its own, mostly making use of the famous kris and kukri blades among less known or more exotic weapons...
That's all I can say for sure on that, I hope I have been of any help :-)
Phoenix

[CannonFist]

Crimson Phoenix:
I noticed that many think that the Malay version is called bersilat but that is not true, however the Malays tend to spell it as Pencak Silat. Bersilat simply means to perform silat. It is also not true to say that the Malaysian Silat is more internal while the Indonesians are more external. Both have arts that stresses more internal or external. Phillipines also have Silat in addition to their Arnis, Escrima and Kali. The term Kali and Silat is especially used in the Mindanao regions.

Trisk: Yes, Silat involves alot of Indonesian/Malay mysticism usually with Islam as a foundation. And of course the "true" Silat is usually not given out openly let alone to non indonesian/Malays and non Muslims. Many Silat styles claim that their highest level has relation to magic spells.

Because there is such a wide variety of silat styles matching that of even kung fu there are bound to be similarities to southern Chinese short hand systems. For example some styles of Silat actually uses similar coiling and uncoiling body mechanics to Bagua. One example is Harimau Silat from Sumatra, whic is Tiger style silat but it is nothing like the Chinese styles, Harimau Silat focuses on ground fighting. There is kind of Silat called Silat Pulut where it is usually performed in weddings. Its like a dance and the performers usually are not real fighters. However many "fighting" silat technqiues are very close to the Malay dances.

In general I find that the more common Silat styles are very efficient in their hand technques, they have also very good chin na but tend to go for the elbows joints, head and throat while using sweeps. And of couse there is a lot on vital point hitting. In terms of power generation I still think that the Chinese are more sophisticated.

The biggest link of Silat to the southern Chinese arts is especially through the Fujian arts both these arts have influences on each other. So it is not uncommon to hear the term Kun Tao Silat. Kun Tao is a Fujian term for fist.

[This message was edited by CannonFist on 05-04-01 at 07:51 AM.]

[This message was edited by CannonFist on 05-04-01 at 07:59 AM.]

[Crimson Phoenix]

Thanks for the precisions, I was sure this distinction between indonesian and malay practice (just as the distinction between internal and external or souther and northern in TCMA) was way too sharp to be true. thanks again for informing me on this...I knew the thing about bersilat, I just used this term not to confuse anyone...eventhough malay isn't a language based on ideograms, thereare still several ways to write a word...indeed Pencak sounds as Pentchack (and the writing's almost the same), so I used Bersilat, just like everyone uses kung fu instead of gong fu etc... even if it refers to the performance and not to what is performed...
I have seen filipino barehand styles and to me either they are completely different from Silat but bear an ****nyme, either they ARE malay/indonesian Silat...
Tagalog and malay/indonesian sound a lot the same, I don't know but maybe filipinos use the same word silat to describe their practice, just as we use "boxing" to refer to different practices like savate, muai thai, english boxing etc...
Good idea to explain where the term Kun Tao comes from too, people often forget there are lots of Hokkien that have migrated south to Malaysia, bringing their martial styles with them along the way...
Thanks again for everything!!
Phoenix

[Kevin Barkman]

Wow - thanks for the responses! Especially Kung Lek - great info. You can learn more on this forum about kung fu than any other possible medium!

Anyway, I didn't mean to imply a connection between any CMA and PS. I was just fascinated with seeing such similar body mechanics to what I practice (postures, striking principles, soft power, etc.). Differences were hand speed (PS is lightning fast - "slapping" their arms to stay connected and in touch with both arms, and the curious twisting to the ground - requiring great flexibility!

[Kung Lek]

Hi-

Yes, not a connection, but most definitely a parallel :D

peace

Kung Lek

[CannonFist]

Crimson Phoenix:
You are right about the more common filipino bare handed styles being different to the Indo/Malay Silat styles. I guess they had different development paths. And yes, there are many identical/similar words between Indo/Malay and Tagalog. However, I think its the language of the Mindanao that uses the term Silat.

Do you practise Silat, Filipino martials arts or Chinese martial arts??

[Buddy]

While my main system is Baguazhang, I now study Pentjak Silat Serak as well because of it's tactical similarities to Bagua. Serak is a complex and fascinating system that is based on geometry. BTW we will have Bapak Victor deThouars here in SE Massachusetts on June 9.
Selamat,
Buddy

[Crimson Phoenix]

Cannon, my principal interest is in chinese martial arts...however I'm deeply interested in Silat for several reasons...First, I simply think it's a fascinating system, elegant, deceiptive (in the good sense), original...second,a special person to me resides in Malaysia and I had the occasion to go there...first thing I wanted to do was try to find Pong Chye Kim in Penang (I didn't succeed LOL), then go see traditional silat performed on the east coast of the country...it was awesome...I also have a thing for asian blades, especially kris, which ties me a lil more to the silat side...also, filipino blade-play fascinates me for the same reasons, eventhough I must admit however that my knowledge of both filipino and malay/indo practices is limited (my knowledge in gong fu is too, but a lil less!) and I am always very careful about what I could say about them because I might be totally wrong due to a lack of expertise...I have bases, I can use a lil of my knowledge of TCMA too, but still I'm an amateur...
I do have the chance, however, to know someone who's really into it and was supposed to go to the world cup last november (I know, it is like the diff between gong fu and sanshou, but still).
All these reasons make me appreciate and respect these wonderful practices as I believe they deserve.
I'm happy to have found a genuine connaisseur of that in your person, keep on bringing us the good knowledge :-)
Phoenix

[JerryLove]

Double post, my fault.

[JerryLove]

Silat is a blanket term covering any fighting art in Indonesia (like Kung-Fu / Wushu is for Chineese MA). There are generally three major categories: Pentjack Silats are native indonesian arts with cultural or religious elements. Pukulan Silats are native indonesian arts devoid of such elements. Kuntao Silats are a belnding of Chinese and Indonesian fighting arts.

For the three combined, I've seen estimates as high as 1900 styles. There is a great deal of variation from style to style.

The statement that they are based on (later created) arts of the phillipines is untrue. Though certainly, there is no line running between the phillipines and Inonesia, so what you will see is a blend from one style to another to another (eg an island in Indonesia near an Island in the Phillipines, both will likely have similar arts).

Jerry - Clear Silat (http://www.clearsilat.com)

[CannonFist]

Crimson,

I too have similar interest to you. My primary interest is in the Chinese arts, but am also fascinated with Silat and the Filipino martial arts. The kris is truly an amazing weapon. Since the kris is one of the main weapons of Silat, I think in Silat and Filipino arts really excel in knife fighting. The knife fighting drills of especially the Filipino martial arts are more lifely as compared to many kung fu styles weapons training.

Pong Chye Kim, he was the one that wrote a book on Lohan style isnt't it, and is from the lineage of monk Shi Gao Ceng. I guess if you want Malaysian Shaolin it might be easier to find Wong Kiew Kit.

[This message was edited by CannonFist on 05-07-01 at 04:17 AM.]