Tai Chi Chuan Mastery

[brassmonkey]

Thought I would share with the forum a great link I got off Cyberkwoon.com: http://www.taijiworld.com/WTBA/grading.htm
For fun review the guidelines and tell us how you rank in kung fu mastery. At first I thought I was a canidate for 8th degree as I'm pretty sure I could perform Yang Cheng Fu's form blindfolded with a glass of water on my head but then I looked at requirement for 7th degree about being able to defend against continuous attacks from my own teacher and I don't think I'd be alive for the 8th degree test. So to sum it up im a 6th degree in Tai Chi Chuan, uh yeah right.

[Repulsive Monkey]

This list is a bit silly really. It by no means indicate whether or not you are a master. It misses out other requirements and nuances which should be in place, and seems to systematic by far to incorporate all aspects of Qi cultivation, sensing abilities, and other general energy developments. If any one trully believes that this list is the ultimate truth in becoming a Taiji Master then they are sadly deluded. What a poor advertisement for that website/school!.

[Kaitain(UK)]

I can understand the reasoning behind having a system of grading - my instructor and I have discussed this a few times and came to the following grade structure

1)don't know the sequence of postures of the form
2)know the sequence of postures of the form

Everything else is meaningless, and since everyone knows who has and hasn't finished learning the basic form what's the point in grading it?

"If ignorance is bliss, why aren't more people happy?"

[Fu-Pow]

There is no such thing as a "master", it is a matter of perception. To your students you may be a "master" but if you start calling yourself that then you are basically saying there is no room for improvement.

Fu-Pow

http://www.geocities.com/fu_pow/vmrc-halloween-3.jpg


http://www.makskungfu.com/images/Graphics/Choy%20Lay%20Fut%20red.gif

[grounded]

I completely agree about the 2 stages of mastery- knowing a little and then knowing a little more. It always gets me a little edgy when an internal martial artist insists on being called master...

we are all students of wuji”

[dedalus]

That's a bit funny since I've never seen a uniform, belt or even a fee structure enforced in any of the Australian WTBA groups I've visited!

One instructor told me the WTBA belt system was developed to appease the demand of the USA students for objective markers of rank... :rolleyes: But maybe that's a touch facetious ;) The statement on the webpage notes that the grades are in line with the Australasian standard, and if you want to be a teacher over here (with insurance etc) you have to be certified at one of those levels. I guess thay've just slotted the syllabus into that framework.

As for the higher requirements (like the glass of water ;-)... maybe there's a bit of Ashida Kim-style parody going on :D

[Repulsive Monkey]

I have heard of belts before (well only once really) in a rather poor book on Taiji by someone called Douglas Lee (I think!?).Its a little too simplistic and unrealistic to rank internal arts as ones master is really the only one who is going to be able to chart your advancement with comparable exepriences, which of course are usually based against his/hers. Secondly, I concur with everyones comment on mastery on this one. I have always been told that to remark on one's own efforts of having reached the status of master is limiting and in fact damaging to ones further advancement. My master once told me that a Grandmaster that he had been researching/studying with had recognised that he had reached the status of Master, yet never calls himself or claims that he is publically or in adverts, merely that he just teaches Taiji. In this way by just calling himself a practioner he retains his present motivation more clearly in just researching Taiji.