AKA, The Bastard Sons of Kung Fu, blah blah blah…
Times sure have changed.
Back in my day, a guy enrolled in one school and he stuck with that school till he either quit–therefore quitting from all martial arts study altogether–or he got hurt and couldn’t continue, or he achieved instructor/black belt/black sash status. In the two former events, he’d be obligated to forever call himself a student of that school, continue training on his own or just talking about it, pretend to his friends and family that he was some type of expert, and constantly promise his Sifu that he’d one day return to training, although he knows damn well he wouldn’t. If he achieved advanced ranking or instructorship, he was free to go train wherever he’d like for a second and third credential in another art. That is, unless his Sifu didn’t approve–in which case he must ask for permission to go train elsewhere. You see, back in the day, we practiced Wu De, we had manners and respect for our teachers, and knew something about loyalty. We were so lucky our teachers accepted us as students, we were indebted to them for life and owed them allegiance, honor, and edification. Those who broke from traditions were “kicked out” of their respective schools and systems, were “Sifuless”, Chinese martial arts ronin, unguidable, disgraced. Basically, they were Bastard Sons of Kung Fu. A damned shame.
Today, students know nothing of this level of pride, loyalty, and self esteem. They hop from school to school, teacher to teacher, system from system. Damn them if they dared study Kung Fu and some godless, non-Chinese martial arts. I once knew a guy who studied Jow Ga, boxed, fenced, did Judo, AND Filipino martial arts. Completely disgusting. God forbid, if this guy opened a school to have some students address him as Sifu, Guro, and by his nickname, “Moe”. So is this a dojo? A kwoon? A bothoan? Dude make up your mind! These days, students weave in and out of schools, studying a little of this and a little of that. Even if they do acquire instructorship, will they be Sifus or Senseis? Who do they think they are, Bruce Lee? Holy hell, some of these guys even learn by reading books, buying DVD courses, or *gasp* online classes! How dare these guys try and learn without pledging their loyalty, those bastards! They are robbing authentic Sifus (with authentic Chinese lineages) the honor of kicking them out the school and banning them from learning the art!
I hope you are at least bilingual and speak some sarcasm, I’m pretty fluent at it myself.
This is dedicated to the students who take a non-traditional route to learning the martial arts. Some do not live in areas where weekly study in a school is possible; they may not have Kung Fu systems, or the system they want to learn, near them. Some may work a schedule that is not conducive to full-time, in-person study. Some lack the finances or lifestyle that will afford them such a luxury. I have had students who traveled from other parts of the state, out of state, even out of the country, to learn from me. I have also had students who were enrolled in other schools but wanted to learn from me–but were bound by loyalty, guilt, contracts, or enough income to train in two schools. Some have inquired for years and finally traveled to learn for just a weekend, one for several weeks. I have more than ten students I teach online because of logistics. All were also students of other teachers. Some of them are “Bastard Sons”–Sifuless because of estranged relationships or autodidactism.
Ahem.
Autodidactism: The practice of study without the guidance of a teacher or formal education
The above is a rather simplistic definition for a very old, very common, very effective, and very valid form of education. Somehow in the modern day, we have come to believe that martial arts students must join schools and stay for years under one teacher, not change what he has learned lest he bastardizes the art, and remain under that tutelage until released from that teacher’s mentorship. Allow me to offer another view to this belief… Most of the masters that we admire did not learn this way. They learned from whatever sources were available: Uncles, village masters, traveling practitioners passing through, sparring partners, chance meetings with other practitioners and trading knowledge, books and manuals, even watching practitioners train and copying what they saw. Many of these were fleeting periods of time; the founders of many systems had very short educations. They learned for a few years or even months, then practiced for years, and eventually forged their own methods based on the hands-on experience they gained. I once met a man teaching Arnis who told me that his total Arnis education totaled about 60 days worth of classes. He had learned more in solitary practice and from sparring opponents than he had actually learned formally from teachers. I won’t mention his name because of his reputation, but he taught me his system in about 12 months. I can assure you that his art is more solid than most systems I’ve encountered. If you look into the history of many of the arts we admire today, the founders received minimal instruction compared to the way we learn today. Some of them credit one or several teachers. Many learned from so many sources they cannot give a lineal ancestry for their arts. I’ve met a few men, and I am one, who cannot remember the names of everyone they learned from. Many decades and generations before us, before those artificial virtues and moral codes we throw around existed–martial artists learned from whatever sources they could gain access to, and they did so much with it that a century later we are still in awe of them and their creations. Today’s Bastard Children of Kung Fu may be in step with our own Kung Fu ancestors.
Times have changed, we must accept that. I recall being criticized and ridiculed by my own Kung Fu brothers because another Kung Fu brother and I dared to teach a Sifu of another system our first form through videos and YouTube videos. The crazy thing is that he was so talented and athletic (not to mention his already-deep knowledge of Kung Fu), that within 6 months he could perform that form better than most of those who have been practicing our art for years! Today, after the lockdowns, nearly everyone is teaching online, including those who heckled us from the sidelines and those close to them.
20+ years ago I remember hearing martial artists ridicule those who authored books on their systems, saying that “you can’t learn from a book”. Yet we all have our own libraries of various arts and years ago we had subscriptions to magazines. Were we learning from them or not? Just reading for the hell of it? Were the books you read in high school and college helpful or were they for entertainment as well? Face it, each generation of whatever field we are looking at will criticize those who use the new technology as technology evolves. A decade ago we ridiculed online learning, today we utilize it. Even those of us who went through traditional training years ago, will supplement our knowledge with video, books, seminars. and online sources today. It’s just a matter of keeping up with the times.
I’d like to switch gears and address the ugly side of this “Bastard Son” thing: Estranged relationships in the martial arts. We are all human, and we are all adults. Even Sifus and masters of the art. We are all susceptible to personalities and their flaws. Jealousy. Insecurity. Conflicts of interest. Conflicts of personality. Power plays. Boredom. Differences of philosophy or virtues. Often, we will find ourselves in disagreement with classmates, students, teachers, school and system leaders. If this occurs, what should you do with your already acquired knowledge of the arts–or your love for the arts–discard them? In the 1990s I received a letter from the Philippines, involving two acquaintances–one the master, the other his student. In the 2000s on two occasions, I received emails (both from friends in fact) with the same situation: The master severing ties with the student over personal and/or business matters. I can’t remember how many times, I was notified of a student severing ties with his teacher. Most of the time, the breakup was somewhat civil but on a few occasions they were ugly and nasty. In each case, the students simply moved on and started their own lineages, sometimes after learning from and/or accepting rank from another teacher. These are what I would call the Prodigal Sons of Kung Fu–not necessarily because of anything to do with money, but because it’s similarity to the plot of Yuen Biao’s character in the movie “The Prodigal Son”: The son leaves from his father’s household to study and pursue real Kung Fu. Often, because the Sifu is only human, it is nearly impossible to obtain the best of martial arts study. So these Bastards must leave father’s house in order to learn what is out there waiting for him. In cases where the Bastard Son (or Daughter) achieves greatness, the bastard will be celebrated and welcomed back into the loving arms of the Sifu and school they left… even though armed with an art completely different than what was taught by the Sifu.
Bruce Lee has just entered the chat. But I digress.
And finally, we arrive to my favorite Bastard Sons. These are the students who actually have no clear Sifu. They learn from whomever will teach them. They pick up books, watch videos, practice with the students of other Sifus. Many who are formal students of recognized masters may look condescendingly upon these bastards. Many will laugh and ridicule. Look at that idiot, learning from a green belter in someone’s garage or back yard. Training himself and posting videos. He can’t even claim a single art that he’s really learning. Or worse–he’s learning from a DVD! But be careful. While you laugh, many of these bastards train a lot more than you do. Yes, you attend classes three hours a week. But my bastard friend is training 12 hours every weekend and putting in hundreds of repetitions. Many an establish master has been put on his ass by a nameless, wandering, unconnected, unallied practitioner. Don’t get me wrong, I believe strongly in attending classes and paying your dues on the floor with sweat blood and tears. Just don’t think that that is the only way to learn. Many of these bastards would make great students if they had the finances to afford monthly tuition or if they lived in a city where Kung Fu is being taught. They travel to learn from whoever is willing to share with them. And they practice just as much, if not more than, you. The way I see it, you are paying your dues to the art in one way, they pay their dues in another. Perhaps one method is better than the other. But in my opinion they are both valid. Remember that.
To close I’d like to share a story. A young man is learning Kung Fu from his uncle. His uncle is old, and he is sick. He studies for a few years, some say it was only a few months. The uncle dies. He and his brothers seek another, local master of a different system. They study with that teacher for also a short period of time–either months or a couple of years. While still a teenager, he travels to another country looking for work. While abroad, he gets into fights, and eventually learns yet another style from a master there. Not knowing how long he was in this country before his education began, we do know this: He was in this country just three short years. He returns home and he and his brothers train together, combining the limited knowledge from all three systems–when a job is announced. A call has been put out for a combat trainer for the military, but he must compete against other candidates for the post. He enters a 100 man contest, beating all his opponents and being awarded the job. By age 29, he is dead and his teachings live on. Today, 100 years later, the art created by this young man is practiced all over the world by countless thousands of practitioners on every continent except Antarctica. Don’t discount those who didn’t study the way you think your students should have studied.
Thank you for visiting the DC Jow Ga Federation.