Crane and other Bird Stances

[Lucky Bamboo]

Thank you sir for your explanation about "escape from daily life".

For what I consider "not resolving personal issues", is the superficial aspects of kung fu that is not time efficient, which is linked to its commercialism. The following is my personal anecdotes:

I have had a number of kung fu mentors/classmates/teachers over the decades who have unstable personalities, job, and family life. The daily form training, camaeraderie in the gwoon, and sparring has not helped them resolve significant, underlying personal issues. This is compounded by the fact that modern kung fu can be quite time consuming due to its commercialism (built in training inefficiencies to provide the sifu security of livelihood). This further reduces the time that some (not all) people should spend to address their personal life issues. This is compounded by the superficial philosophical/spiritual concepts taught at the gwoon. However this experience does not universally proscribe for all practitioners, just what I have encountered.


Many (but not all) east asian marital art practitioners eventually find that their emotional support from the gwoon stops when they stop attending or paying tuition. But this is not an outstanding issue, no more different from other modern hobbies where one pays to have temporary friends.
In the qing dynasty, kung fu schools were boxing fraternities where the classmates economically supported each other, and also provided mutual aid against violence. This is where kung fu became a part of daily life. And this is also why there was less milking and training of redundant and inefficient, time consuming exercises like stance training and acrobatics.

Hi, I think you made a lot of good points that can be addressed individually. For example, the people you mention that have unstable personalities. That is probably unlikely to be resolved by any outside source, especially if those issues are significant, as in going through a divorce or other personal issues, for example. Granted, being "unstable" is rather subjective but I don't think it's a fair expectation that any activity that doesn't directly address the issue will ever resolve it. I believe that martial arts training (Kung-Fu) is time consuming for the simple reason that achieving excellence is time consuming. In any endeavor, those who achieve excellence put in long hours over years. I think this is regardless of how the martial arts are presented in this day and age.

I think that marketing a so-called "traditional art" will always have it's challenges. Off the top of my head I can think of three Sifus, and two training brothers from my former lineage that have modified the image of their schools from the art they learned originally and the way they learned it (Kung-Fu uniforms, hand forms, traditional weapons, trapping, chin-na, lion dancing, learning Chinese culture and language) to a modern "kickboxing, san-da, mixed martial arts" image, incorporating words like "ultimate, or mixed martial arts" in their school names. It is a clear effort on their part to stay relevant and appeal to a broader public. Implying they feel their businesses could not survive teaching in the so-called traditional manner.

The way you are describing Kung-Fu clubs as they were in the Qing dynasty very much reminds me of the functioning and aim of men's lodges today. Granted I don't know much about them but I do know each one is it's own governing entity and members pledge loyalty to each other in some form. This includes helping a member that is going through financial hardship, in addition to charity work, helping the community, etc. Martial arts schools today are businesses, as it is an industry by definition. Just as with a job, one can loose touch with co-workers after leaving and one can stay in touch with others. Life does tend to pull individuals in different directions, even family, and it's work to stay close.

[bawang]

Hi, I think you made a lot of good points that can be addressed individually. For example, the people you mention that have unstable personalities. That is probably unlikely to be resolved by any outside source, especially if those issues are significant, as in going through a divorce or other personal issues, for example. Granted, being "unstable" is rather subjective but I don't think it's a fair expectation that any activity that doesn't directly address the issue will ever resolve it. I believe that martial arts training (Kung-Fu) is time consuming for the simple reason that achieving excellence is time consuming. In any endeavor, those who achieve excellence put in long hours over years. I think this is regardless of how the martial arts are presented in this day and age.

I think that marketing a so-called "traditional art" will always have it's challenges. Off the top of my head I can think of three Sifus, and two training brothers from my former lineage that have modified the image of their schools from the art they learned originally and the way they learned it (Kung-Fu uniforms, hand forms, traditional weapons, trapping, chin-na, lion dancing, learning Chinese culture and language) to a modern "kickboxing, san-da, mixed martial arts" image, incorporating words like "ultimate, or mixed martial arts" in their school names. It is a clear effort on their part to stay relevant and appeal to a broader public. Implying they feel their businesses could not survive teaching in the so-called traditional manner.

The way you are describing Kung-Fu clubs as they were in the Qing dynasty very much reminds me of the functioning and aim of men's lodges today. Granted I don't know much about them but I do know each one is it's own governing entity and members pledge loyalty to each other in some form. This includes helping a member that is going through financial hardship, in addition to charity work, helping the community, etc. Martial arts schools today are businesses, as it is an industry by definition. Just as with a job, one can loose touch with co-workers after leaving and one can stay in touch with others. Life does tend to pull individuals in different directions, even family, and it's work to stay close.

Hello sir thank you for your detailed response:

I believe one of your "kickboxing" associates in your lineage has gone through a divorce and is under financial pressure. It is understandable that they are pressured to commercialize.

Kung fu indeed takes time, but my personal opinion is that commercialism significantly extends that time. By being more honest and efficient, more students can find time to incorporate the spirit and philosophy of kung fu into their personal lives. However this means reduced learning time and tuition. Indeed the old schools were like lodges, they were literally called "tongs". With the continued extinction of kung fu in the post Bruce lee age, it leaves one to ponder whether there is an way to pursue the purer ideals of kung fu presented in the 1970-80s cinema.