Originally Posted by
Sifu Darkfist
As far as confucian effects on martial arts, i was asking more about how you feel the doctrine of filial piety might have helped or hindered the growth of the arts (regarding the absolute obediance of the student to the master.
It seems the MMA guys argue that the Chinese Ideologies would not allow for rapid evolution. I disagree strongly, I feel that Filial piety might have tempered and moderated foolhardy ideas that would have otherwise been rushed into in almost all aspects of life. I think that Confucuis firmly established that when you are the eldest it is your job to take the helm and to continue the growth of your family or in this case the combat art.
Where is the rapid evolution that you are expecting to see? We still have people who argue over which styles training and forms are closest and unmodified from the original system. CMA tend to take pride in the fact that their traditional style is unchanged from the old ways. As long as CMA pride themselves on adhering to the old ways, there will never be an evolution, which is likely part of the reason why the evolution is so slow. MMA has changed more since 1995 than hung gar has in over 100 years.
you are correct - the eldest SHOULD take the helm and continue growth of the combat art. However, when you have no requirement for combat, you end up with seniors who have never participated in combat. They are therefore teaching second hand someone else's combat experience. This only begets the brining up of more seniors with no direct combat experience. In the end, you have people acknowledged as masters, who have in fact never even had so much as a schoolyard fight. Over time, this will dilute the combat effectiveness of what you are teaching.
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