Kungfu asn an effective fighting art

[ovine king]

another ancient thread dug up from the depths of the archives....

anyway.

as the guy above said, thinking you know is bad.

just as bad is knowing a little and thinking you know a lot.

as is knowing a little but not being able to exercise that knowledge.

simply knowing something, anything, no matter how big or small is, in terms of martial arts, if you ren't able to do that thing.

on a basic level, everyone knows how to box.

we all know what a cross is, what a jab is, an uppercut, a duck etc etc. we also, know how to do them (good or bad) and we also probably know the mechanics behind putting them all together to box but that doesn't mean we can actually box.

knowing something isn't by any means enough.

[dtstiachi]

Yes, but thinking you know something when you actually don't is worst of all...

I'm not talkingabout thinking you know something. I'm talking about actually learning and knowing a style with which you can competently defend yourself with. I would much rather know how to fight well with Tai Chi (any style, mine is Yang) than to just try to fight withough knowing any techniques. Yes thinking you know something will get you hurt or killed, but that isn't what I am talking about. I am talking about the advantages of knowing a particular style of martial art that you can use do defend yourself vs. not knowing anything and just swinging away at anything and everything.

[ravenzoom]

I think he is full of himself. Not that I don't respect his opinions, but the way he sees it, Shaolin Kung Fu is the most efficient fighting alive. I beg to differ. I'm not saying it is not effective, but to say that other martial arts couldn't beat a Shaolin Kung Fu practitioner is pushing it. He seems to be one sided and that's it.

If you have seen a judo match, you would have noticed how long it takes, even for a judo expert, to throw his opponent

Ridiculous, of course it may take some time to make a throw when two Judo experts are fighting each other, they know what's coming. I'm not sure guy this guy would find it so slow once he'd hit the pavement hard.

If the opponent just jabs two fingers into the expert's eyes, or, less brutally, kicks hard at his shin, he would have foiled the expert's throw.

HA, fool!!! No more comments needed.

[SifuAbel]

Next it will be just his shaolin that works.

[ravenzoom]

SifuAbel wrote:

Next it will be just his shaolin that works

This seems as the logical next step!!

[Traditional-Fist]

I believe that to make a fairer assessment of the link, some of you guys should go back re-read the interview.

I did not find the link funny nor offensive, not at all.

[SifuAbel]

What for? I read it and understood it. I formed an opinion of it. Any disagreement isn't due to me not comprehending the material.

[SifuAbel]

"Nevertheless, today an overwhelming majority of those who say they practise kungfu, in both the East and the West, either fight like children or use karate, taekwondo or kickboxing techniques to fight, but not the kungfu techniques that they may perform beautifully in solo practice."

This is the exact quote about "not fighting like kung fu".

It has nothing to do with bouncing. "karate, taekwondo or kickboxing techniques " Which means punching and kicking. This is garbage. So if I use a roundhouse kick I'm doing TKD or a punching combination I'm doing kickboxing? Rediculous.

"In contrast, Shaolin Kungfu were developed by Buddhist monks whose hallmark was compassion,"

In response to the violent world around them. Shaolin Kung fu is for hurting people. Period. Anything else is hogwash. You don't become " the deadliest fighting system" by being nice and soft on your opponent. That is contradictory.

"It is not easy to gather a group of young men (or women) ready to train hard everyday for three years."

Funny, MMA has no trouble doing this regularly. Again hogwash, there are plenty of Kung fu based fight teams.

"I must categorically clarify that this statement is not meant to belittle the other arts. In many ways, although I personally do not encourage my children and those who seek my advice to train in these arts, I generally have more respect for exponents of these arts than for those of kungfu. There are a few reasons. For example, these other exponents are true to what they seek, they can defend themselves with their arts, and they are prepared to undergo tough training, whereas those of kungfu do not know what they are doing or are deceiving themselves and others.'

Where the heck does he get off speaking for the entire KF community?!?!?! I know many people that would truely laugh at this statement and with confidence. Spare me the rhetoric. PLEASE!!!

"Nevertheless, this is a very delicate and sensitive issue. While I feel strongly about it, I have to be extremely careful in my expression because not only I do not want to have kungfu people continuously coming to challenge me to test if I can fight, I do not want to hurt the feelings of kungfu "masters" (many of whom are my friends) whom I know cannot fight."

He'd better wake up. There are plenty of "masters" I know that would put him in box. Talk about ego.

This is exactly what is wrong in the kung fu community. This whole mystical "super kung fu guy that doesn't fight but assures you he is invincible" stuff is a cancer that needs to be cut out.

[SifuAbel]

And as I read on, some good points are made into really large excuses. Yes there are not so good Kung fu schhols out there. And there are some that do fight like children but it falls down to that same old, "its not like kung fu" excuse. So even the good fighters aren't "doing kung fu".

Punching and kicking IS kung fu.

[Traditional-Fist]

I believe that to better understand the view point of this master one should read some of his books. There is also a lot of interesting material in his website.

The point of view and philosophy that he expresses in his interview is no different to what I have been taught myself and hence my own philosophy.