Originally Posted by
SavvySavage
I know you're all going to read this thread but this is for the people that believe wing chun can be anything. I read a comment in another thread where someone said a move in bui jee is an incidental gillutine. Many believe that wck is principal based and made to mold over many different situations...but then practice the same basic static drills as every other wck school. If wck is so liberal and can be mma or street fighting...is it still wck?
Or is it mma? I don't mean the sport. Why practice all the stylyzed hand motions in the first place if it is supposed to be principle based? Why call it wck at all? Might as well call it kick-a$$. Will this new liberal way of thinking of wck cause us to lose our identity?
It's not so much that it can be "anything"; it's that your wck shouldn't be bounded by dogma. Remember the old "master the system don't let it master you" adage?
The idea that the system is principle based can also be descibed as simply learning to deal with energy and motion. That's all there really is in a fight. The shapes of the movements aren't new or exclusive by any means--just more identified and focused on by wing chun folks. A huen sao to tan sao can just as easily be threading for an underhook. A low lan sao is no different than an MMA fighter blocking knees with his forearm (instinctively). A seung kiu sao motion is almost reflexive in nature when someone is startled...the same could be said for wu / bong. It's just energy and motion. Hand shapes are one element, but what's more important is the energy contained within them. Is there structural support? Is there skill in the movement or wasted effort? Is it consistently reliable? Etc.
The saam bai fut movement at the end of biu gee is energy and motion. While I personally wouldn't take from it a guillotine, the movement itself (much like the huen / tan being likened to threading for an underhook) is still just E & M. So the fact that someone can extrapolate that sort of movement from wing chun just shows a different level of innovation for an art that will soon become extinct if it doesn't evolve with time.
In the business world there's a saying "If you're not moving forward--your moving backward". There is no "present" where you can just stagnate or rest on your laurels. The same goes for martial arts. If you're so satisfied with your system that you think it needs no further development, then you've condemned it and yourself to falling behind those that are looking to evolve. The same can be said about the skills within the system itself--however we're talking more broadly here.
WCK will always have it's tan sao, bong sao, fook sao--but those shouldn't be treated as endings but moreso transitions of movement while dealing with energy.
Anyway that's my take on it. Peace out yo!
Last edited by SAAMAG; 04-30-2010 at 10:13 AM.
"I don't know if anyone is known with the art of "sitting on your couch" here, but in my eyes it is also to be a martial art.
It is the art of avoiding dangerous situations. It helps you to avoid a dangerous situation by not actually being there. So lets say there is a dangerous situation going on somewhere other than your couch. You are safely seated on your couch so you have in a nutshell "difused" the situation."