Peaceful Fight Kung
Fu : Student Issues
Welcome to the items that you will need to consider
before thinking about becoming a student of Peaceful Fight. Firstly, the
obvious one. The club is based in Kidderminster, Worcestershire, UK, so
if you live in Guatemala it might be a bit too far to travel ! Decide for
yourself whether you are close enough to travel over (and I suggest if you
have to travel for greater than 45 minutes both ways then it is too far
for routine training).
The other thing you should consider is that although
Peaceful Fight is taught as a fully functioning fighting art, the martial
side of the art is of very little consequence to me and is only one part
of a "big World" view of the arts that the system teaches. The
objective of the Peaceful Fight system is not to make you just a fighter.
Don't get me wrong, you are likely to become a fighter during training but
this is really just a coincidence of training, not its objective. The ability
to fight is certainly a critical life skill for those 5 or 6 times in your
lifetime that you need it but you'll spend is a lot more of your life in
between these fights than within them. Peaceful Fight tries to present a
strategy for the whole of your life which by definition has to incorporate
violence / fighting etc (ie they are part of life) but the strategy extends
far beyond this limited definition of "martial arts". Essentially
the system acts as a possible pathway to considering the Chinese concept
of Tao, which means "The Way". As to whether you think this pathway
has any value to you is solely up to you but it is the only thing I teach.
In a nutshell, Taoism is about doing the right thing at the right time.
A simple concept but how do you know what to do ? Well, the Tao is best
understood as a feeling and studying Peaceful Fight helps you find this
feeling. If you can feel the "right thing to do" within Kung Fu
then you can feel it at any time, every hour, every second of your life
(ie all of the bits between the fights). You can then "feel" the
choice that is aligned with the Tao and this is the right thing to do. The
only value of the "fighting" that the system teaches is to release
you from much of the fear that stops individuals from doing the right thing.
It even gives you the option of being nice to people which seems to be anathema
in this modern society ! Obviously this view and objectives of the art will
only appeal to a very small proportion of visitors to the site. Think carefully
about whether the system objectives are within your heart and mind. To give
you some help, here is a list of a number of other motivations that martial
artists sometimes have. Judge your ideas against them and don't be ashamed
if it turns out that you have these objectives; you are you and I am me,
and it takes all sorts to make a world. If you do prefer some of the objectives
below then it is probably the wrong time to learn this particular art. Good
luck in whatever you do follow and you are always welcome to return at a
future date if your objectives change in the future. However, if your objectives
in learning a martial art are any of choices given below then it is probably
best we part company now.
Objectives In Learning Martial Arts : It's Your
Choice, and So It's Your Future
1) If, you want to be feared / respected by the
general populace due to the superiority (and showiness) of your fighting
prowess, then this is not the art for you. Much of the way of the warrior
has been diluted and romanticised in modern times to such a degree that
the days of being admired as a warrior are long gone. If you want wider
world respect, you could do something far better with your life than martial
arts to achieve it. Love your partner every day you see them, bring up your
children to have self worth, humility but belief that they might just change
the World, fight against ignorance and prejudice, care for the needy - the
list of things more useful than spreading fear is endless
2) You want to go into competitions and win plaudits
for the number of points scored, metallised plastic cups on the mantelpiece
or the amount of blood spilled on the mat. Peaceful Fight is not designed
for "play" fighting and can't function within the competition
arena. If you feel that it is worth potentially hurting someone else so
that you can decorate your house with awards then this is not the art for
you. All trophies tarnish with age but you should work to ensure that your
life does not : which one is of greater value to you ? Do you really need
that cup to show that you were once a someone ? Does the tarnished surface
now mean that you no longer of any value ? No, your value is within playing
your part within the wider Dao, every minute, every second of your time.
Only you can play the part of you (be that good or bad) to full effect so
play it truthfully and well and you will still be "someone" special.
3) You want to "look good" whilst performing
your art, and so need a flashy uniform / sash awarded by the leader of the
system to make you feel like you've achieved something worthwhile. Better
still if it is presented by someone in an even flashier uniform than the
one you wear. If these are your thoughts, this is not the system for you.
Why should it make any difference to you if I say that I think you are such
and such a grade and so can wear a certain colour ? I'm not anyone special
in the World (and certainly not any more special than you are). You are
probably better than me at, for example, playing the guitar, but I'm not
waiting for you to tell me what "grade" I am in that. Your life
is yours and it is the whole of your being that is important, that is, mind,
body and spirit. For example, how do you rate successfully bringing up a
family against the value of your next grade ? Sorry, no contest, however
flash the sash / uniform might be. Try to find contentment in assessing
your own ability, not judging it against someone else or someone elses views.
It should be the Kung fu of Life that you are trying to perfect, not the
Kung Fu of the next fighting technique ! We all have special skills to offer
in the World but that does not make us better or worse than anyone else,
just different. Find where your skills are needed and then apply them with
a good heart and good intent not just to impress someone else.
4) You are looking for the various "secrets"
of Kung Fu so you can kill a man at 10 paces or want to spend your life
breaking bricks. There are plenty of really good videos out in the public
domain to learn "secrets" from, some of which maybe are secrets
and many of which are now common knowledge (but secrets sell better). That
said though, the best "secret" of killing a man at 10 paces is
to invest in a gun or crossbow. If this is why you want to train, maybe
invest in a VCR or DVD player at the same time. As for the bricks, there
are various local brick companies from which to get supplies: you really
do not need Peaceful Fight to teach you to use the Yellow Pages. Unless
the masters of the past were significantly different to the present state
of humanity (maybe they had 6 arms to be able to strike faster or two heads
to be able to do all of that "thinking" that they have done) then
all of the "secrets" live within you already. Don't expect someone
else to tell you everything, think for yourself. You never know, you might
find a secret of your own.
5) You have an overwhelming desire to "win"
or be better than anyone else at everything you do or compensate for any
weaknesses by undermining others to make yourself look better. If you have
this mentality, you'll hurt someone (or they will hurt you) whilst your
ego is still in kindergarten. If your ego won't let you let it go, sorry,
but there's nothing for you within Peaceful Fight. Work towards being proud
of who you are for what you are, not by judging yourself against someone
else and then we can talk some more.
6) You want people to recognise the fact you do
Peaceful Fight so you can have an "interesting" story to tell
about yourself. Sorry, Peaceful Fight should merge into your life very quickly
and so is generally invisible. Who wants to be a martial arts bore anyway
? If the arts is all you can talk about, take it from me, you are missing
out on something (I have met many of the local title holders of the "Martial
Arts Bore" title and was probably in the running myself for a number
of years but then I got a life). I love the arts and can talk about them
for hours (and hours) if anyone wants to but even friends and lovers can
only take so much of that! The only way anyone else will know about you
training in Peaceful Fight is if you tell them or they turn up at the club.
This is because the system objectives are to help with your "life"
not just with your ability to "fight". If your life gets better
you just seem to be happier and no one ever puts that down to learning the
martial arts (they thankfully normally assume you've got a new lover and
that's a much better reputation to have anyway !).
7) If you have the view that you want to do an
art for 25 years and would be proud of still not understanding it all after
that time then that would be seen as wrong thinking within Peaceful Fight.
That 25 years could be so much better spent doing other things (like living
a life aligned with the Dao). Put another way, whilst you are doing your
25 years of training you are not doing 25 years of other things. Is this
a worthwhile sacrifice ? Is it time served within an art which convinces
you that one player is better than another or the knowledge that they espouse
?
Peaceful Fight is based on helping students see
and feel the nature of the Dao (the way) so they can find it within their
life. They might find this feeling after having been training for one week,
one year or it might never occur, all dependent on the particular student.
(For those students where it never occurs, it is likely that they have objectives
other than those of the club but do not wish to admit this to themselves).
The Dao underpins and runs through all things and once a student can understand
and manipulate this, what else is there to do ? Once the Dao has been found,
students should seriously consider leaving the club and getting on with
applying the Daoist theories to their real lives. There are more than plenty
of chances of learning Daoism away from a training hall and once they have
learned the feeling I have nothing else to teach them. Why keep coming back
if you have achieved this ? If they want to return once in a while to make
sure they can still "do it" in the fighting bits then that's fine.
8) You want to be able to learn and name 1000s
of techniques so to be able to discuss them with players from other arts.
Well, the techniques that occur are often described in terms of "traditional"
martial arts parlance or often in medical terms. However, Peaceful Fight
is not about the number of techniques you can perform. There is only one
move (a waist shake), one concept (make a better World with a good heart
and good intent) and one mindstate (aligned with the Dao) and once you've
got these, there is no need to learn more "techniques" for anything
other than academic interest. The only advantages of 25 years of training
might just be the friends made on the way and the better health that you
should have. However, you don't need to be in a martial arts club to make
friends do you ? As for good health, few things beat having a positive outlook.
Find someone to fall in love with / cherish and spend your time with them.
When you feel "flabby" do some exercise but otherwise just enjoy
your life. So much better than waving your arms and legs about in 1000 different
ways just to say that you can.
So, to reiterate, check your own objectives for
wanting to pursue this art. If you have any of the above traits / objectives,
then it's probably best that we part company at this point. Any of the above
will distort your ability to learn Peaceful Fight and so I'd be wasting
your time (and you would be wasting yours too) and so would rather not take
your money. If we are parting company at this point, good luck in whatever
art it is that you end up pursuing and I wish you good luck and good health
for many years to come.
Invitations to Train
Peaceful Fight is not an "open" club
and so not everyone is invited to train. Visitors are welcomed but it is
not possible to just walk in and train. Whether a potential student is invited
to start training or not (and hopefully ultimately stay) is determined by
the student body as well as myself. In order to help us determine a student's
suitability, the students and myself undertake an "interview"
to assess a new students motivations / ideas etc. Part of this interview
is to assess a students thoughts / ideas and to see what makes them "tick".
If you have read this far then at least you have staying power ! Always
remember that this art is a student based art and you are training solely
for you so you have to understand yourself to get the most out of it. The
requirement for an interview should help you to fine tune your own thoughts
as much as give the club the opportunity to assess you. Note, there are
no "right" answers, but a student should be prepared to say what
they really think ! Please follow the "Cautionary Tale" and "Disclaimer"
links below as your views on these two items form part of the interview.
These items are deliberately placed this far down the text in order that
only serious students (ie those who have read this far) look at them. Sadly
for many people, the Cautionary Tale would make this art interesting to
them for all the wrong reasons. Just in case after reading the cautionary
tale you decide that all of this "cloak and dagger" stuff is bullshit
to get you interested in the system, let me assure you that that is not
the objective. If having this introduction has made you more interested
/ intrigued about how "dangerous" this art must be to need all
of this lead in, you are missing the point of this system (and so maybe
should leave now). One of the modern ways in which to increase student numbers
in martial arts is to claim that your system is more deadly, dangerous or
down right unpleasant than any other. However, are these "accolades"
really how you want to be remembered in the future ? They certainly aren't
things I aspire to but if you do, be careful what you wish for as they might
come true. Just to state explicitly,
these types of claims have never been (nor never will be) the "selling
points" of Peaceful Fight as the fighting system is only one staging
post on the way towards understanding your own humanity, the nature of Taoism
and your place in the world. If Peaceful Fight is to be remembered for anything
in the future, then these objectives are what I would like the students
to embody. Yes, they will be able to fight, and fight well, but so what
?
There are many more important things in life than
martial arts such as friends, family, love and compassion; why not spend
your life perfecting them instead ?
Disclaimer
Cautionary Tale
If you have decided that this system might be for
you, then I look forward to seeing you soon. Bring along your ideas and
we'll talk about them.
If you have decide that this art is not for you,
then I wish you well in your studies / life wherever they might be.