MISCELLANEOUS

What is the ultimate goal of WingTsun? by GGM Prof. R. Kernspecht

Experiences of a WT-student by Wael Al-Sayegh

A police detective by Hans Schäfer

A judge who practices WingTsun by Ulrich Chudoba

What is the ultimate goal of WingTsun? Part 2

This time I will describe how the change takes place in WingTsun, and how we come closer to the final goal in WingTsun.

Two contrasting views in WT
There are two contradictory concepts in WT, and both of them are right:

1. The concept of the preventive (preemptive) attack,
which the beginner learns in our BlitzDefence programs ("The action is faster than the reaction")

2. The concept used by the advanced student on his way to becoming a master, namely reaction,
appearing to let the other party make the first move.
Only the master knows how difficult but also morally satisfying it is to be clearly in the role of the
defender, for only in his case can the "reaction be faster than the action".

To be successful with the 2nd, higher concept, it is however necessary to become a different person, and to sacrifice everything that previously gave us a feeling of security and superiority: first of all, our powers of resistance and our ego. Followed by our reliance on speed and strength, on practiced positions and movement sequences. We must allow the things that provided the basis for our self-assurance, pride and supposed identity to die within us.
Do you understand how hard it must be for somebody to give up something that has given him security and superiority for twenty or more years, replacing it with something as intangible and uncertain as the motto "Make weakness your strength"?
So we must first understand the principles of non-violence, harmony and the "strategy of no strategy", recognise their value, learn to love them and practice them at every opportunity – including our day-to-day life.
The principle must be more important to the would-be master than the technique. He must raise the principle of the lack of resistance that overcomes all onto the throne, while grinding individual techniques into the dust.
He must learn to abhor the things that made him what he was and no longer wishes to be, and to idolise what he cannot yet do but wishes to become.
This is what Taoism refers to as "killing" oneself, letting the old things that made up our personality "wither and die" in order to be reborn. With a new idea. In our case with the idea of invincible lack of resistance, as symbolised by water in WT.
So what is the ultimate goal in WingTsun? The goal behind all the intermediate goals?

Being reborn!
The first new idea with which we were reborn was the "small idea" of the SiuNimTau form, through which our teacher became our (KungFu) "father" (SiFu).
But this first idea is not the last we need to forget either.
In WT we learn things in order to forget them. This is how we develop what Bruce Lee called the "style of no style", the "technique of no technique", the "system of no system", and what I refer to as the "strategy of no strategy".
First of all we must learn all the techniques, for we can only forget what we once knew. It is only when everything has been forgotten that spontaneity and lack of intention develops (WuWei).
On the way to the goal we process many ideas that should actually live alongside each other and be given equal importance, but can only be absorbed in sequence, until we reach the final destination or final idea.
And as my SiFu would occasionally suggest, we then find ourselves confronted with nothing. Why with nothing? Because at the end there is no longer an idea, not even the tiniest one.
And then we suddenly understand the Chinese saying that the wise man has no idea.

Best wishes
Your SiFu/SiGung

Source: http://ewto.org

Experiences of a WT-student

by Wael Al-Sayegh

Walking into the WT center for the first time is like a finding a hidden treasure.You pass an underground parking entrance and walk down an alley, leading up to a small flight of stairs. You hear the sound of air-conditioning vents and the screeching of car tyres. You stop to ponder about the situation for a while thinking to yourself that it kind reminds you of a movie you once saw. Having second thoughts about whether or not you are in the right place you continue walking down this indoor alley way. You eventually see the front door of the WT Center and all welcoming sigh of relief hits deep inside.

The WT logo printed on the side of the entrance on a gold plate with a picture of a fist surrounded by a triangle adds to your curiosity. You twist the golden door knob and push the door open. The lighting all of sudden changes into a clear and bright surrounding, the air feels different and your eyes quickly adjust to the change. Mirrors and weightmachines are all you see. A dumbell rack on the side of the room catches your attention. Your are momentarily disorientated one more time until you realize that to the left is opening that leads to another area. You hesitantly walks towards this area and watch it grow bigger and bigger. You have now arrived at your destination, the kawoon.

Simplicity and emptiness. Were the first words that came to my mind when I first entered the kawoon. A rectangular room furnished with nothing but a Chinese Wooden Dummy, a few pictures on the wall with mirrors covering one side of the room. Being a former amateur boxer I was expecting something completely different. Where was the ring? Where were the bags, the leather, the speed balls, the ropes? How could anyone train in an empty place like this? The people there were from all corners of the world. I was kindly introduce to the members one by one. As a warm up, some of them were stretching whilst they others were going through their moves on their own. I sudied the movements they were performing from a boxing perspective and quickly came to the conclusion that this was a whole different ball game.

Sihing Hassan (The Instructor) came in and we began the class. We were paired up which each pair working on some different. In this scenario, if you could press pause for a minute it would like a sophisticated car assembles area. Each work station had a purpose, you could tell something was being developed in a constructive and attentively passed by all of them checking and correcting so that the desired quality was established.

The stations changed and rotations were made. Every now and then Sihing would take us out of our stations and explain a movement and its application. The mix of practice and reality was encouraging to me. Observing the other students hanging on his every word attentively with no distractions, was similar to the sight of medical student listening to their lecturer whilst conducting open heart surgery. Questions were openly asked and Sihing answered all of them. Reason and thought processes were encouraged here. It was not a question of do what I do, but rather it was a question of let me show you what I do, why I do it and the effectiveness of the movement in a realistic situation.

Before the class came to an end, we all performed group exercises using WT movments. I was left dazed and confused. I had thousand questions in my mind which had to be answered but there was time for everything. The hour and a half we trained passed like ten minutes. I decided then and there I wanted to study this fighting system more carefully before I could make a fair judgment. It all seem too effortless.

I signed up and came back the next session. The class was a diverse as the first. I have been going for over a year and a half now and I am still waiting for a class that is the same as the last. All my questions were answered by Sihing who was open minded enough to listen to my views first before commenting on them.

Talk is cheap in this kind of a game, your actions speaks louder than words, make no mistake about it action was why I came here in the first place. My long awaited first sparring experience with Sihing came soon after. Armed with my boxing skills and quick reactions I went into battle some what confident. In no more than five seconds, my confidence was transformed into grave fear. I was helpless, everything I threw just got used against me. I just wanted the feeling of vulnerability to be over. I knew then that this was what I wanted. A non fixed fighting system that can deal with anything that comes your way in terms of unarmed combat. A system that is realistic as the air you breath. Locks, grabs, pull downs, punches, kicks, ground fights are all part of the system. Its a set of simply principles that work in any situations.

The development does not happen over night. Its like anything else, you get as much out of it as you put in it. The only limits to that do exist are the limits you bring with you in your mind. The simple empty room I first looked at a year and a half ago is now a room of full of endless potential.

Wael Al-Sayegh
1. TG WT

A police detective

Police

Police detectives belonging to a mobile intervention squad, following a half-year WT training course.

I am pleased to confirm that you familiarised us with WT during a half-year training course.

All six officers in our group are convinced that WT is superior to other self-defence methods.

In addition, your training course contributed to an excellent sense of physical well-being and a positive mental attitude.

Hans Schaefer
Detective Superintendant
Mobile Intervention Squad VI
Group 17

Source: EWTO.ORG

A judge who practices WingTsun

 

I was 42 years of age and had never practiced any form of martial arts when Mr. Leinenbach introduced me to WT during an information event held at the State Supreme Court in Saarbrücken, Germany.

The following aspects of WT convinced me:

- WT teaches techniques that enable even a non-sporting type do defend himself/herself against attacks by physically stronger persons, or at least to gain time to flee.

- This skill can be learned within a short time, even without intensive training.

- WT teaches one how to react to sudden attacks without panic.

Today I am convinced that nobody would e.g. be able to keep me in a stranglehold successfully, and that this applies to anybody who has started learining WT, even if only 2 hours. The system is extremely suitable for physically weaker people, and particularly for women. I am still practicing WT, and have meanwhile achieved the first student grade.

Ulrich Chudoba
Judge at the State Supreme Court

Source: EWTO.ORG