Second Way Kung Fu

One of the slightly less obvious parts of Peaceful Fight is that no one can actually "master" the system by just copying what is taught by any individual practitioner. This is because although Tao is the same for all of us (ie we are part of the "10000 things" formed from Yin and Yang which reflect Tao), the route an individual takes is solely the route of that individual and no one else can ever fully align with that. Put another way, me, Doug Wagstaff will be the sole and only ever "Master" of Peaceful Fight because no one will ever be as good at being me as I am (ie Peaceful Fight and me are one and the same). Copying me exactly would (at best) result in a student who acted as a "Mini-me" or inferior clone of my personal views / ideas. Many people would agree that one of me is enough for any World to put up with(!) so why would anyone want to try to be the same as me when a "perfected" version of themselves would be so much more desirable ?

If you think of Taoism and its relationship to Peaceful Fight / Kung Fu generally in this "big picture" way, it quickly becomes fairly clear that any individual following training will come to a point where they are following Taoism very closely. However this does not mean that their Kung Fu / explanations / viewpoint will look or sound anything like Peaceful Fight. This change is inevitable if a system teaches freedom and chaos (which are two of the building blocks of understanding and finding "faith" in Taoism). By coincidence, my path happened to take me into Chinese medicine, faith, self discovery / self healing / self acceptance and France (and continues to take me forward everyday) but that was my path; no one else has to go this way. Peaceful Fight aligns with my Taoism and all it shows is a route towards an understanding of Taoism. Each week, training links an individual more closely with both their own personal Tao (and also the greater Tao) based on the individuality of the student. From an instruction point of view, this individuality is reflected within the level of "Tao" seen within their physical movements. The physical movements that a student undertakes reflects both the mental (and eventually spiritual) aspects of Tao that a student has internalised into the subconscious. The more freedom and chaos that are embraced, the more aligned with Tao movement becomes. By "fine tuning" the feelings of physical movement within the subconscious, it can fine tune the mental and spiritual aspects of the individual (if the student so wishes). As said at numerous places on the site, training is solely concerned with helping a student appreciate Tao and then to utilise this knowledge to develop themselves to follow whatever route is "right" for them for their life. This is why Peaceful Fight has no concern about continuing some sort of diluted clone of "Peaceful Fight" (ie me) into the next generation or growing the club to become more famous because these will (or will not) be a consequence of Taoism. The Tao is not mine to give or withhold - every person carries it with them already, I just point out the obvious ! As such, for me, it is better to align with Tao than to chase these (more conventional) goals.

One way of measuring the "success" of the Peaceful Fight system is when students get a sort of "Eureka" moment when they actually fall fully into Tao. This initially come in elusive "flashes" of alignment but these then become more sustained until eventually it happens all the time. Once this moment has happened, a student is no longer "under instruction" as such but just following their own path to appreciate and understand Tao. Some students try to race towards this moment and then fool themselves that they have got there but it is not something that can be chased as it will arrive of its own accord. Nothing within Tao can be rushed; just let things follow their natural order. It might happen tomorrow or might never happen. Either way, accept the situation if it the "right" one for that moment.

The first student to actually get to this sustained Eureka point where they understand and can rationale their own Tao is Ken MacKay. Ken has been the type of student any instructor would be proud of and has trained, argued and discussed his way to his own version of Taoism over the last 2 years or so. We've got to that point now (August 2003) that he knows all my arguments / explanations / criticisms (and I do this last one a lot !) even before I've said anything. He might not yet be able to do everything that he would like to be able to do with his Taoism but there is no "ultimate goal" within this journey and it is certainly not a race. Change is the only permanence within the Tao and just as Peaceful Fight routinely changes whilst retaining the central pivot of Tao, so it will be within Ken's Taoism which will change and develop as he becomes more free within it. Most importantly, he has internalised his understanding and sees how, when I say I only ever teach one thing each week (ie an understanding of Tao) that I wasn't joking. To the outsider it might look like we've done 1000s of moves (even though I only teach one !) but all the way through I've only ever been doing one thing (ie aligning with Tao within the moment). Ken sees and feels this, and, in reality, that is all there is to Taoism - no mystery, no secret, just a matter of doing (what eventually becomes) the bleeding obvious all the time !

As I've alluded to, Ken doesn't do / see / conceive Taoism in the same way as me and he would have been always be restricted by trying to fit "my" mould. To this end, "Second Way" Kung Fu (ie the reflection of Ken's personal Taoism) has come into being. To help explain his views, it is likely that Ken will eventually have his own website but he's done a brief writeup below to give some details of how he sees his position. If you have any questions / comments for Ken, feel free to send them to me and I will forward them directly to him (and if for some reason you wish to send Ken a confidential discussion (ie the ones starting "I always knew Peaceful Fight was shite.....") which you might prefer me not to read (!), send me your E-mail address and I'll ask Ken to contact you direct. Just in case you do feel the urge to ask whether Peaceful Fight or Second Way is the superior fighting system, you've missed the point. We are both equal within Tao and that is what matters, not who can beat the other senseless !).

Second Way : A Definition by Ken MacKay

Context

Within PFKF, there are a number of core elements, which students need to understand and incorporate into their training, and life. These Tao-rich areas are described frequently and in many different ways at the regular training sessions, many of which are described or alluded to in Doug’s web site.

Doug has described to me that once my “personal system” has advanced to a certain point (or even once I can feel when I am responding correctly), then
certain new issues come more to light. Amongst these, my personal character flaws and strengths are reflected in my martial system. Examples of this are
my analytical nature and weak lower back jointly (excuse the pun!) make my initial waist shake slower than would otherwise be the case.

Doug has now urged me to explore my own system. Of course the Taoist core remains, but if we truly consider anyone’s ultimate system to be totally
student-centred, then at some point, it will be at variance with PFKF (which of course, in absolute terms- is DOUG).

My intention is not to start a PFKF offshoot club, but merely to give my personal system a unique reference, the Second Way, so that Doug, myself,
and other students do not get confused during training (physical and philosophical) when we discuss components of the two systems.

At the current moment (July 2003), I think PFKF very closely coincides with my own goals, but perhaps as time marches on, some differences may become
apparent. Doug (kindly) has suggested that students may be tempted to follow aspects of SW during training, rather than PF. I don’t see any differences
in our systems at present, but perhaps our training, communication styles and priorities are different. Certainly Doug has a wealth of knowledge and
experience within TCM and other fighting systems that are currently beyond my understanding.

Choice of Name

Perhaps this will be of little interest to most readers, but…

The two elements that I find our critical to PFKF are touch and balance. Both of these elements have a physical and energetic dimension, which are
naturally included in my definition. I could not think up a name that could easily include both these words (or variants) without sounding pretentious
and/or long-winded. All I wanted was a name that described myself, and would always describe my system, so I took a step backwards, and went for the simple approach!

Peaceful Fight Kung Fu is a remarkable system that gently evolves in harmony with Doug’s transforming life. I have been training with Doug for exactly
two years and have been greatly affected by following this path in its many guises. Doug’s system is the first opportunity I have been given to follow
the Taoist path, and I certainly would not be in a position now to trust in myself (and break, just a little from PF) without Doug’s full support, encouragement and wisdom in physical, medical and spiritual issues. The choice of Second Way is therefore primarily distinguished from, and out of respect for Doug, and my First Way: Peaceful Fight Kung Fu. The Second Way is also a simple reminder to me that there is always a second way of looking at the same point. Whether yin/yang, the principles of pang and sung, and indeed just about every aspect of my training to date relies on an understanding of balance. The second way, more broadly, demonstrates (as does any Taoist system) that a student does not have to follow a traditional martial art. They need only follow their own path. Of course a bit of guidance is always helpful, and arguably, quite necessary for the majority of us starting off down the martial art road.

Running off at a slight tangent, I watched a Bruce Lee documentary recently that described, from the horse’s mouth, the background and his intentions behind his Jeet Kune Do system. His philosophy and physical system, with no unnecessary ties to tradition, and priority to improvise movements according to student and circumstance seemed well in keeping with the Dao. I think JKD and many other well thought out systems have suffered (particularly if they are associated with inspirational martial artists) as they become popular, instructor/student relationship has to change, and the original intentions of such systems are lost in time. The point here is that there are undoubtably thousands of instructors and students, famous and unknown, who have great systems. It is a shame that once publicised, non-altruistic motives, sociological pressures and scaling problems may come to the front, and the systems themselves may become diluted and lost.

Doug has said many times, and I have to agree, that the perfection of your own system is a personal journey. Only you know when you have done it right, you don’t need an instructor to tell you. The instructor is a guide, not your master.

Ken

HOME