Originally Posted by
Shaolin Wookie
Part of the problem involved here is the almighty trade union/govt. regulation mentality of the Chinese vs. the free market mentality of America. Chinese martial arts has a very disgusting history of using the government as a bargaining chip in business affairs (think of the Shaolin/Emperor connection, whereby these "poor" monks lived off of the largesse of public expropriation by despots, thereby justifying governmental theft and the suppresison of liberty). Crossing the Pacific didn't change things. Even GM Sin, for instance, tried to claim a patent for his forms in court in order to fight a former student who was teaching without GM Sin's authorization. GM Sin lost (if I recall correctly)---and rightly so. How could he claim property in another person's memories? He could only claim property in the curriculum, the courts claimed (and I think this, too, is an injustice). GM Sin taught some of his forms out across public access television in Kentucky. Seems to me that he believed that others could learn mere forms from video--just like HSK's teacher--but was somehow ****ed off that others felt they could teach without a certificate (a license for business). What makes GM Sin or HSK Warrior's teachers so great that they--and only they--should have the right to say what should be taught? If this very narrowminded menatlity were the norm, (well, it is the norm in public schoolhouses), then NOBODY would ever learn anything new, and we'd all be slaves to our ancestors. (again, a very Chinese notion).
"Learning" is never a top-to-bottom enterprise. Yes, you often need a teacher if you wish to learn, but not always, or else nobody would learn anything new. Experience and Theory go hand-in-hand, but you may learn more from one than the other at times. But "you" are always the central figure in the learning process. If you don't wish to learn, then you won't. And if your teacher tells you that you owe him for life just for what he has taught you, then you may politely decline payment and tell him that he is wrong. Maybe he'll learn something new--something valuable.
And if someone claims that his teacher was the **** when it came to tiger-crane, and that his lineage is the source of that info, then you may mark down the historical relevance of that fact. But nobody owes anybody anything in this affair.
And we might--in theory....note that I'm strictly speaking in theory here--tell a sassy sourpuss who has a lineage on his back and an axe to grind, to simply **** off, and do so politely--in his own room and off of the KFM forum.