Question about mastering Wing Chun

You know how you guys always talk about "And then he became a Wing Chun master..." in all those articles. Well my question is, who tells you you are a master of the art? And let's suppose that you are one of those students who keeps on practicing Wing Chun but NOT in China or something, is it still possible to become an "official" master of WC ? I think this will sound probably stupid and superficial but since I'm new I can afford these questions :)

Ow and if you want to flame, don't reply :D

Wing Chun is h o l l y

>>>Ow and if you want to flame, don't reply<<<

Darn!! :D

:D

Wing Chun is h o l l y

Master is just a word and it not just a word.

First I will explain it's just a word.

In my lineage my Sifu is Ron Neeley, his Sifu is Lee Keener, his Sifu is Augustine Fong, and his Sifu is Ho Kam Ming. Technically Lee Keener is my Sigung, but when addressing him he insists on being called Sifu. I have heard Augustine Fong referred to as Master Fong, but he goes by Sifu Fong. He won't even allow people to call him Sigung. He says there is only one Sigung and that is Ho Kam Ming. And Ho Kam Ming (the Grandmaster of our lineage) is Sifu to his direct students and Sigung to everyone else. According to Ho Kam Ming the titles are meaningless. When he was learning from Yip Man it wasn't Master Yip or Grandmaster Yip, it was just Sifu. There wasn't a mantle to be passed down, it was just teacher and student.

Now as far as it not just being a word, two years ago I had the pleasure of meeting Ho Kam Ming. He corrected my Chi Sao. He did this by placing his arm on mine and feeling the energy. He then adjusted my position and checked it again until he could feel the energy flow. This is the first time I was able to do Chi Sao without shoulder tension. Also, when he grabbed me I could feel the energy in his touch. I can't describe it, but it's a feeling I'll never forget. So there is a level that is far beyond what the average practitioner does, but how to measure it, I don't know.

So what is my point? Who the h3ll knows. But I think it is, don't be concerned with the titles, concentrate only on the skills. And if no one ever calls you master, who cares? ;)

By the way, I am only stating what I have been taught in my lineage, not how all lineages view things or how they should view things. Any inference of that kind derived from this post is reading more into it than was intended

In my kwoon, nobody calls the teacher 'master' or 'sifu'. Fact is, Lou gets a bit ticked off if you try. My sigung (my teacher's teacher) is the same way - call him 'master' and he'll growl at you 'the name is John'. Lou has been training Wing Chun for over 10 years. John has 20 some odd under his belt. Or not, since we don't use belts, sashes, or any of that other ranking stuff, just 'I'm at level 2', or 'he's an advanced student'. Lou is a badass fighter. John is a scary badass fighter. Are they masters? They are from where I stand.

I may not be able to define "master", but i know one when i see them.

Hey Highlander, what changes did he make to your Chi Sao form to get rid of your shoulder tension? I have the same problem, especially on my weak side...

<HR>"It takes a big man to admit he's wrong...it takes an even bigger man to laugh at that man."

Starbuck ....... mainly bringing the shoulder forward and the elbow up. But the adjustments were so slight that you wouldn't notice them with the naked eye. One thing I have noticed when I start to fatigue in the shoulders is that my bong sao drops. If I raise it back up, the tension goes away. Most new students will keep lowering it and that makes it worse. Hope this helps, it seems to be a common problem, but it's all structure. Now I can Chi Sao for an hour without any problem.

Tzu' Chan,
Very good and legitamate question... and don't stop asking that until your dead. And never settle for an answer.

I'll probably get banned from the forum for spamming then :D

Wing Chun is h o l l y

my friend for that we must have wing chun federation and there we can see tho is masters and we can do more for progres in wing chun - just my opinion tiger_1 ;)

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