reneritchie
11-13-2002, 12:07 PM
With all due respect, what is done and/or said between the Sifus should stays among the Sifus.
Leaving specific people and threads out of it, this is an interesting topic to me and one I've pondered. In my understanding, much like a regular family, a 'sifu' is simply someone who has todai (children, so to speak). It does not convey status, nor skill, nor wisdom. And, like you can have 15 year old boys becoming fathers with little or no idea what to do with a child, or 30 year old men who have carefully planned their futures, you can have (and my city does) 2 year students who just want to teach without much in the way of what to teach vs. men who've been doing the art for decades and have real methods for imparting skills. Likewise, I know of several people 30-40 years into an art with no desire now or ever to teach (my friend's neighbor, a Nam Tong Long man, is like this). Would the 2 year 'sifu' deserve any consideration the 40 year practitioner would not?
IMHO, everyone who comes onto a message board comes on with equal footing - worthy of the same respect and consideration, and required of the same example, as everyone else.
I think the Chinese martial family concept encapsulates this beautifully. Though we have 'sifu' (teacher/father), we also have sihingjay (teacher/elder brother/sister) and sidaimui (teacher younger brother/sister). All are teachers, and we can all learn from them.
Thus, I don't think there should be a rigid or authoritarian hierarchy where some are 'sifu' and others not (indeed, in China, 'sifu' is a term often used for cooks and even taxi drivers!) but rather the same tea-table analogy we use in other forums, where while we may have relationships with some, or opinions on relative worth on others, we keep those to ourselves and concentrate on the topic at hand.
(There was an old story from a fictitious writer in Inside Karate many years back where a man came to a class and insisted the people there call him 'sifu'. Since the man was not their teacher, and he refused to be called Mr., they just called him Bob).
RR
Leaving specific people and threads out of it, this is an interesting topic to me and one I've pondered. In my understanding, much like a regular family, a 'sifu' is simply someone who has todai (children, so to speak). It does not convey status, nor skill, nor wisdom. And, like you can have 15 year old boys becoming fathers with little or no idea what to do with a child, or 30 year old men who have carefully planned their futures, you can have (and my city does) 2 year students who just want to teach without much in the way of what to teach vs. men who've been doing the art for decades and have real methods for imparting skills. Likewise, I know of several people 30-40 years into an art with no desire now or ever to teach (my friend's neighbor, a Nam Tong Long man, is like this). Would the 2 year 'sifu' deserve any consideration the 40 year practitioner would not?
IMHO, everyone who comes onto a message board comes on with equal footing - worthy of the same respect and consideration, and required of the same example, as everyone else.
I think the Chinese martial family concept encapsulates this beautifully. Though we have 'sifu' (teacher/father), we also have sihingjay (teacher/elder brother/sister) and sidaimui (teacher younger brother/sister). All are teachers, and we can all learn from them.
Thus, I don't think there should be a rigid or authoritarian hierarchy where some are 'sifu' and others not (indeed, in China, 'sifu' is a term often used for cooks and even taxi drivers!) but rather the same tea-table analogy we use in other forums, where while we may have relationships with some, or opinions on relative worth on others, we keep those to ourselves and concentrate on the topic at hand.
(There was an old story from a fictitious writer in Inside Karate many years back where a man came to a class and insisted the people there call him 'sifu'. Since the man was not their teacher, and he refused to be called Mr., they just called him Bob).
RR