Well, I often asked myself this question as time passed and thought about posting this for a while now. I decided to post or perhaps vent about this topic because lately I haven't liked what I have been reading particularly on these forums.
What really brought me to write about this is the latest flaming posts about certain Shaolin Kung Fu monks by certain members of the forum community here. Another example, a flaming post in this section alone about a chinese master is easily seen here. As I began researching this and searching this forum alone, I realized that it's just not happening to the monks and some of their students but also often includes other masters from various styles and their students. So I said to myself, whatever happened to martial morals?? Does anyone still practice Wu de??
You know most professions have what they call a code of ethics. Police officers, lawyers, doctors, nurses and well..... even martial artists of course! What are ethics you may ask? The dictionary says ethics is "the philosophical study of moral values and rules". I think many people get confused and say it's all "freedom of speech" and ignore the ethics. Now, I agree that you can post or say your opinions just like the guy next to you can. You have the right to say just about anything you want, but you reap what you sow. A police officer can throw someone in jail for something as minor as a traffic violation, a doctor can prescribe any drug for any reason to anyone, a lawyer can negotiate your fate, a nurse can neglect to do his or her job at a hospital and martial artists can learn martial arts for the wrong reasons......or flame other masters and students because they think what they are learning is the "real deal" and the others are "fake". But is it ethical?
What's the point to all this? Try using martial morals in everything you do, not just in the school. You are who you represent. The posts criticizing martial art masters, styles and students are tasteless and just plain unethical. Some of these masters have 15 + years of learning and teaching martial arts. Who are we to discredit them and tell them what they have been studying for the last 15 years doesn't work or it's fake? If the style or teaching methods isn't for you then you find something else you like. Thanks for listening, ok reading.