Good morning.

I would just like to add a short note to my last post. It appears to me that the current trend of focusing on the business potential of teaching, almost to the exclusion of the martial arts, is essentially a product, and the fruition, of the current capitalist and business orientated society. If some of the core values of business are not that of the martial arts (i.e. modesty, self-sacrifice and standing for principles even at personal expense) it takes a lot of willpower to convert to the way of thinking of the martial arts. This is not least because it very easy to get ‘corrupted’ by taking the easier path of adapting to western ways. The real problem is thus; where do you stop? It’s far easier not to teach the etiquette, so people don’t do it; it’s easier not to teach the Chinese names, so people don’t teach them; it’s less effort to teach the history, so people don’t bother. But what do you have left – a system that has no soul, no understanding and resembles a mere shadow of its original self. If you want to have the benefits of a system you have to take it in its entirety. Only then can you decide if you want to ignore something. I can certainly say this from personal experience – bringing the traditional system into England without changing it to fit the mindset of westerners was by no means an easy task. It’s quite sad that it’s a lot easier to market a class by telling people what they want to hear rather than telling them what they truly need.

If you look at it in this light, it is not surprising that places such as Hungary harbour some of the top martial artists and fighters, as their interest is solely in the art. This was the feeling during the Communist period, where it was not possible the make money teaching martial arts, and has remained the same in the 17 years that have followed since the collapse of the USSR. It was my dream to try to make this the case in England as well and I happy to say I feel it is getting closer and closer everyday.

Having taught both the Western and Chinese system I can genuinely say that students were happy under both. However, for me the biggest difference when I look back on it now is that under the Western system this was a kind of superficial happiness - in a way that people who are told what they want to hear can never be fully satisfied. But what I feel now (and this also applies to myself) is that this feeling comes from within; its not words that make the distinction but what they feel the art gives to them. This may seem like semantics, but I believe the disparity is huge.

Sifu