Wing Chun
A little historical perspective seems in order:
The larger heading, "martial arts", should first be clarified. "Martial" refers to war and warriors, and the skills, implements, methods, techniques and strategies related to winning in conflict, in small or large scale. "Artist" refers to the ability to express oneself with imagination, talent, elegance, control, skill and meaning. The two terms together create a spectrum of potential manifestation, ranging from the completely dehumanized killing machine on one end (so brilliantly used psychologically by Vlad Tepes to survive against Ghengis Khan's vastly superior forces), to the extreme other end of the spectrum, where one's goal is not to kill, injure, or even control the opponent, but to bring the opponent to enlightenment through dynamic interaction with loving wisdom and compassion (as exemplified by Morihei Uyeshiba, Soke [founder] of Aikido). The latter, of course, requires considerably more skill, and much more than anything physical, it requires evolutionary development from the practitioner in the individual interior ([the beautiful] cognitive, emotional, moral and spiritual developmental lines) and the shared psycho-social worldspace of multiple interiors ([the good] sensitivity, compassion, and appropriateness). The truth is not limited to the physical, in this instance in particular, and in my opinion, with respect to all great art, and arts in general. The truth in relation to the martial arts is an interesting subject, as some things that sound true aren't, and some things that sound like b.s. are in fact true. One "needs the standard to check, and the eye to see", to tell the difference, to know which is which.
Wing Chun is the style in which Lee Jun Fan, known to the
world as Bruce Lee, was trained. His Master, Grandmaster Yip Man, taught the
400 year old, heretofore secret style (previously kept within family/village
boundaries) openly to the public for the first time ever in Hong Kong, in May of 1950. The
chinese martial arts styles are traditionally transmitted from master to senior
to intermediate to junior to beginner, as teaching those below one's skill
level is an excellent way to review, refine, test, "to make it yours, to
make it alive", and experiment with, what one has learned. Wing Chun is no
exception to this tradition, and Bruce Lee's senior instructors under
Grandmaster Yip Man's tutelage were Cheung Chuk Hing ("William"
Cheung, who, to my knowledge, now lives and teaches in Australia) and the late,
great Wong Shun Leung ("Wong", also known in Hong Kong as "King
Of The Boxers", who sadly passed away a few years ago) who lived and
taught in Hong Kong. Bruce Lee's training partner and friend (they went to St.
Francis Xavier High School, as well as training together) was Cheung Hok Kin
("Hawkins" Cheung, also “lovingly” referred to by some of his
students as the “Evil Genius”), my Master, with whom I personally studied for
eight years.
Wing Chun is the original "Style of No Style", not so much a set of techniques, as a set of theory, an incredibly scientifically advanced and comprehensive multi-dimensional set of dynamic theory that includes biomechanics, psychology, philosophy, geometry, physics, and energy control. The growth path of the evolving practitioner is to first grasp some basic concepts, and then try to manifest them with one's body, always returning to the theory to check for accuracy, constantly refining and striving to improve both one's theoretical understanding and one's physical application skill. While most other martial arts seek to add more and more techniques, forms, and rituals to one's training program, in Wing Chun the goal is to pare away, distill to it's core meaning, strip a movement down to it's essence, using the classic Wing Chun principles of "Economy Of Motion" and the "Shortest Distance" between two points, towards the end of becoming nothing, not a pretty picture or painting (representing a style, however beautiful), but a clean, clear mirror. Grandmaster Yip Man is said to have tailored his emphasis of theory and application to suit the body type, and character and personality of his private students, which is absolutely believable to me, personally, in light of the fact that Cheung Chuk Hing, Wong Shun Leung, Ho Kam Ming, Tsui Shun Tin, Duncan Leung, and Fung Han all FEEL totally different (I was incredibly fortunate to be able to "feel the hand" of each of these Masters, on travels with my Master and at his school), each with their own prioritization of values, expertise, interpretation, emphasis and _expression. Near the end of his life, Yip Man, confirming that he had indeed given something to everyone, but everything to no one, said of his handful of top students, "If you put together everything they know, you'll have what I know."
While in most other
martial arts, there is a "right" and a "wrong" way (Bruce
Lee is often quoted as referring to this adherence to tradition at the cost of
evolution as the "Classical Mess") of positioning and moving the body
(the body-mind equivalent of the immature logic that has trouble with
wave/particle duality), in Wing Chun's higher stages, form is not the top
prioritized value, that shifts to energy control and extremely fine angular and
positional manipulation in four dimensions [3-d space plus time], very much
like setting up an opponent for the checkmate in a game of chess (an excellent
three dimensional game [2-d plane plus time] for the development of strategic
aptitude). Highly skilled Wing Chun practitioners can "play", or,
more technically "chi sau" (referred to in English as "sticking
hands"), while blindfolded or in complete darkness. This training method
has been said by many to resemble the antennae of insects while communicating, each
limb sensing and responding seemingly independently.
The Wing Chun Style was developed, according to Chinese oral history
(which is just that - oral - however, Shaolin Temple ruins support parts of the
story) by a woman, the Buddhist Nun, Ng Mui, one of the Five Elders of the
Shaolin Temple. The Five Elders, each of whom taught a different martial
"curriculum" and did not previously share their style's secrets,
decided, in response to threats of war and defections, to share all their knowledge
to create a new style that could overcome all the existing styles. The fastest,
most direct, efficient and deadly style (records of assassinations were
discovered in the "Wing Chun Hall" at the Shaolin Temple, in the
aftermath of the Temple's destruction) that a smaller person could effectively
use on a larger person. The Nun, Ng Mui was chosen to synthesize the new style,
according to it's stringent design philosophy: not a style or technique, but a
method, a theory-based way to counter and defeat any attack, a mirror where the
reflection is faster than the object, AND it must be able to be taught in one
third the time of the traditional, older styles (typically, 10 years of
"hard" style, followed by 8 years of "soft" style, for a
total of 18 years). A "Style of No Style".
We
must remember that, however perfect the theory, it must still be manifested
into an imperfect world by imperfect people in unfavorable conditions, so the
specialized training to imprint the body-mind must be very carefully
constructed to approach the instinctive, a priori, before--thought kind of
speed and efficiency needed to survive the attack of Shaolin trained
mercenaries, defectors from their own temple. The attack came before enough
Monks were trained, and the Temple was destroyed (it has since been rebuilt)
and most of the monks were killed, however, the Five Elders each successfully
fought their way out and went off in different directions. Ng Mui went to a
village where a beautiful woman, coincidentally named Yim Wing Chun, was going
to be forced into marriage by a local bully and criminal. Ng Mui told Yim Wing
Chun to challenge the bully publicly to a fight at a specified time and date
(giving Ng Mui time to train Yim Wing Chun in her new art). The bully was
soundly defeated, and the style has been transmitted down a fascinating family
tree, as documented in the book, "Genealogy Of The Wing Chun (Ving Tsun)
Family, published in 1990 by the Hong Kong Ving Tsun Athletic Association,
Ltd., headed up by Leung Ting, who also heads the largest network of Kung Fu
(Wing Chun, his spelling
is Ving Tsun, to "brand differentiate" his from other teachers
systems) schools in Europe. The first edition of the Genealogy is a cultural
treasure to those in the Wing Chun Clan/Family. Bruce Lee and his students are
listed on page 63; my Master, Hawkins Cheung, and his students (where I am
listed) are on page 75.
Thank you for reading!
Eliot