No Knowledge Without Sacrifice

From Yun Hoi: http://www.yunhoiwingchun.com/

"There is no knowledge without sacrifice.

To gain everything, you must lose everything!"

Lord Buddha said these words. He was, of course, referring to enlightenment – gaining the awareness and experience of seeing things as they really are, free from illusion, free from attachment. How apt, though, it is, to apply these words to Wing Chun, and to gung fu! Our legendary founders would have known these words of the Buddha and been familiar with the sentiment contained in them. Wing Chun is the most popular and most well known of the Chinese gung fu arts. Therefore, I think there must be a lot of practitioners who have previously learnt other martial arts and, wisely, on discovering genuine Wing Chun, give up their previous art and follow the way of Wing Chun. Those who believe that they can mix true Wing Chun with other arts are unfortunately still mired in delusion.

When I hear these words of the Buddha, I think how much they apply to my own gung fu journey. I had to sacrifice a lot. I had to abase myself, suffer fools (I must admit not too “gladly”), expend my financial resources, cajole unwilling teachers to teach me, overcome racism against me, and, the “easy bit” – suffer physically. To gain the knowledge and skill that I have I had to de-attach – to detach – from previous teachers (some of whom I respected and even revered) and the knowledge and skill they had imparted to me. Yes, I had to not be arrogant and not assume that, on coming to learn the art I now practice and teach in mid-life, I knew about gung fu. It’s true, I did know a lot – but much of it was simply either in error or only a partial truth – a shadow of the real thing! I had to let go of my attachment – to my past, to my status, to my knowledge and skill – and to trust the true art to teach me.

Was it difficult? Yes! Very difficult! But I knew I had to do it! It took time but I persisted. I had to pay the price, you see? Economists call this the “response cost”, explaining that everything has a cost attached to it. This is not to say, as in the joke: that some people know the price of everything yet don’t know the worth of anything. It simply means that in making a choice you have to forgo other competing choices. In selecting an option, you discard the alternatives. If you are to live, you must choose. And, to choose is to sacrifice. The alternatives. What are you prepared to sacrifice? What are you too attached to? What are you prepared to lose, to give up? Are you prepared to lose your ego? It’s amazing how many people can’t do this!

When I was young and first learning martial arts I gave up a number of things – freedom, other opportunities, normal social life, future career options, relationships – actual and potential – and, my hard earnt cash. Yet, I didn’t see this as sacrifice in the sense of it meaning a loss. I thought things were good. It was only later that I realised some of the things I had sacrificed. The realisation came only on reflection very well into my life - perhaps in my late thirties or forties. I sacrificed but I also gained in return. It was not until I had trained decades, actually, before I fully realised all I’d gained. Much of what I’d gained I had to sacrifice to learn Yuen Kay San Wing Chun. But, now, in my sixties, I think it was not such a bad deal!

So, it is true:

There is no knowledge without sacrifice.

To gain everything, you must lose everything!

Wang XangZhai on the Essence of True Martial Art

Central Pivot of the Way of Fist

By Wang XiangZhai

As for jumping over walls and roofs, it is all fantasies from novels, you can only smile when you hear about it. As for those stories about crushing big rocks and resisting cuts of a saber, those are the worst absurd inventions. There is no point in discussing something like this.

There are people who don't possess abilities and their knowledge is shallow too. But they are quite sincere and honest. They master what teacher passes them, they have some achievements, they develop some specific skills. Although those skills are partial, many people don't listen to explanation of their basis, they only watch the effects and because their knowledge is shallow, they see it as something magic. They don't understand that this is a mistake. This comes from lack of knowledge, lack of thinking, lack of experience in some field. Even if sometimes they understand some bits, they are not able to understand it thoroughly and to reject their usual views. Each time when they encounter something difficult to understand, they see it as something supernatural. And if someone is practicing long time and achieves real understanding, it will become something familiar, easy to understand, and there is no need to seek for using supernatural concepts. It's the same in any field. Why should it be any different in martial art?

There is no limit for development of science. There is some knowledge and some skills. What kind of level of skill could be regarded as true skill, true knowledge? I'm not able to tell. But if someone knows about something and can do it, if he can do something and he understands he is doing this, it can be seen as a beginning of unity of knowledge and practice. If you don't understand something well, you will not be able to achieve the level of really deep skill. If you cannot do something in practice, it cannot be said that you have real knowledge about it. Knowledge and practice cannot be separated. It is the same in any science.

Martial art people of present time boast that they know so many forms and techniques. Even those who don't have much idea about martial art laugh at them. What a pitiful situation! Isn't it forms and artificial techniques which caused the fall of martial art? Unfortunately after several hundred years this way of practice has become habit. It is difficult to change this situation now. The wave is moving. And most absurd concepts, like theory of four manifestations and five elements, nine palaces and eight trigrams, mythical scriptures on turtle shell were absorbed. In result students don't understand the essence, stupefied by the rubbish which they hear, they follow illusions. How the true art would not be destroyed? 

Lately there are many people who speak about Buddhism, talk about spirits and demons, tell lies about cultivating Tao and how to meet immortals. This is extremely absurd and harmful. How dare they presently, in the era of science flourishing, popularize such wild, false heories and publish them in magazines? How is it possible that those plain idiots can commit such shameful deeds? What Buddha, if he knows about it, can think about this category of people, who popularize false views? There are many ways of earning living. Why must they use the weak points of society, deceiving themselves and others? When I'm talking about it, I'm so sad, sighing over the world and people. 

It can be said that the essence of martial art is as wonderful as principles of nature. It can be said that it is as deep as mysteries of heaven and earth. Practicing without understanding the principles, you will never reach the essence. Even if you practice according to the principles, you can learn for your whole life and you will never use up the opportunity of further development. Why keep secrets then? 

I don't call myself a a master. What is important is appreciating the spirit, the feelings, and not concentrating on names and titles. I'm teaching real stuff. Although I don't call myself a master, those who benefit from my teaching are treating me as a master. The empty title disappeared, but the essence remained. Has anything been lost?