Quote:
Originally posted by Vapour
It's all depends on what you mean by the word "lineage"
Among (some) traditional chinese masters, they differentiate students between normal students and closed door students. To become closed door student, you have to go through certain religious ritual and only then your instructor become sifu. You only get full transmission of the knowledge of the style afterward. Full transmission could be neigon practice or secret forms or it could be tiny bit of detail in the technique which was left out in the normal lesson.
So if your style has this baishi system, lineage is very very important. If your style doesn't, it's more of a issue of respect to the predecessor which is no less important.
Baisi is not necessarily a "religious ritual". In fact, it's very rarely religious at all.