How to Be a Da' Shifu?

For those who have had the privilege of learning from Da' Shifu when he was alive, they'll never forget it. The word I hear most often in describing the way he moved and the way he taught is magic. His touch could feel like a steel blade or sometimes like a sledgehammer. But when you tried to retaliate it felt as if he wasn't there. Even the strongest, fittest, most highly skilled Shifu's were reduced to nothing by his skill. It was nothing short of awesome in the true sense of the word.

I was the last to ever receive a lesson from him, not even a month before his death, and even though I outweighed him by over a hundred pounds and he was in a weakened state, he threw me around like I was nothing. One felt totally defenseless in his grip. Yet his control was as skillful as his power. He never hurt anyone he didn't intend to. He never slipped up. He always knew exactly what a student could take and dealt out no more. When Demonstrating Chin Na he always knew exactly how far to take a joint lock. Although you felt as if your bones were going to break, when he let loose you knew he had full knowledge of what would hurt your body and what wouldn't. There was always a sigh of relief afterwards as you knew he had taken it exactly to the point but no more.

Even more impressive was his teaching skills. On numerous occasions I saw him correct a student with only a few words and that student was then able to master the skill which he had been frustrated with for hours. Even skilled instructors, when working with a student, couldn't achieve in hours what he could achieve in only a moment. It was if he transferred the knowledge with some other form of communication than words. As if it was somehow magically beamed into a students mind.

So how does a man become so incredibly skillful. Well there's not one distinct answer but a combination of things. Possibly things I'm not even aware of yet, give me another 30 years. But I do know to some degree. First, he was a very intelligent man. He had the type of mind that liked to solve a problem. He liked to be challenged. Secondly, I could assume he had very skillful teachers. His teachers were very old and had studied for many years. From the stories he told it is a fair assumption that his teachers had these seemingly magical skills also. Thirdly he was a humble man. Humility is one of the most important aspects of a martial artists personality. Without it one ceases to learn. The importance of humility cannot be overstated. I received many of my lessons with Da' Shifu wearing an old pair of jeans and a greasy shirt between sessions of working on a tractor or digging a ditch. He did not put on airs and he considered this of utmost importance. Most people would guess that the fourth reason was that he practiced a lot. But this is not true, he did not. He taught.

When a person first starts training to become a teacher they must get beyond the fears associated with becoming a great teacher. Worrying about getting it wrong or messing up a student is the first stage. But when that person gets beyond those fears they start to really enjoy the activity of teaching. Once this stage is reached a teacher starts to understand how different people learn yet starts to see a commonality between the paths that a student follows. With time the instructor can predict with a high level of certainty what mistakes a student will make. As time goes on the instructor will actually try to circumvent the predicted mistakes of the student. In other words they'll try to devise shortcuts for the student. Trying to find a delivery method that will fix the mistake before it is made. He'll pick up methodologies from senior instructors and generally hone his teaching skills with tricks devised and picked up here and there. When a student is having a problem and hasn't understood the skill the way it has been explained the instructor will find another way. This process finely hones the skill of the instructor. This is how master instructors are made. This is how master martial artists are made. With each new explanation the instructor comes up with, with each new trick, comes a better understanding of the skill. The teacher, when teaching in this way can actually be learning more than the student, from is own teaching. Presuming he stays humble. So, over time, as the instructor develops new understandings of the material through his own realizations, the help of his superiors, and the realizations and sharing of information of the instructors immediately around him, he becomes a master himself. This is the path. This is how it happens.

This is remarkable when you think about it. A person can only truly become a master by helping others. There is no other path to the higher levels of understanding. Learning Shou' Shu' mimics true success in life. The skill set to achieve one is the same as the other.

So now take this knowledge and apply the tools of our modern times. Recent technology brings us all closer. Everyone is connected. Information is transferred instantly around the world and collaboration that once took time consuming meetings of like minds can now take place from the comfort of one's living room. Ideas can be shared in real time. The gaining of knowledge itself is accelerated by this connectivity. Could this possibly be applied to the learning of Shou' Shu'? I think maybe it can. Could students and instructors get better faster? What if we had a medium for the sharing of realizations and ideas. What if we had a place where ideas and new understandings could be presented and discussed. Well we do, www.shoushu.org

Every day I see instructors come up with ways of teaching I had never thought of. Each one seems to constantly come up with creative methodologies never discovered by others. Unfortunately most of the time these instructors don't realize how useful the new technique can be. They don't realizethey've come up with anything worthy of sharing. For example, a few days ago several Shifu's were trying to get across an understanding of the over center drive in Striking Mace. As this is a difficult motion to understand it can be frustrating to pass down or receive. As the Shifu's struggled to explain the motion a green belt who was assisting offered his own explanation. He said “OK everyone pretend your a pirate with a peg leg, now your going to round this corner and push off with your peg leg”. He went on to imitate a pirate limping around on his peg leg and the students imitated him. They all got it. Now the green belt was embarrassed. He figured he had come up with a silly useless explanation. The Shifu's were all laughing and the students were laughing also. But they weren't laughing at the green belt. They were laughing because they were getting it and having fun at getting it. It was brilliant.

So think of the advantages we would have as a system if this sort of knowledge was shared and discussed. The aggregate knowledge would grow immensely. We'd all grow faster as martial artists. The rule of success, “the best way to get what you want is to help others get what they want”, would be multiplied. This is all possible with the new ISSA website, www.shoushu.org. Instructors can add drills they've used and explanations that have worked. Others can comment back and make suggestions or give approbations where deserved. And all of this is neatly organized by the site itself. Information is automatically categorized as it is entered. Everything can be easily referenced with the proper permissions. Once we have a fair amount of shared knowledge we'll then make videos of the best suggestions and upload them to the site. Using this methodology we, as a system, can create a wealth of knowledge never before seen in the martial arts. Pretty neat huh.

So become a part of the next evolution in martial arts. Get involved. Post your ideas, your comments, your whatever. Just like getting past the fear when becoming a great instructor, get past the fear of contributing in an open web 2.0 environment. You can't hurt it and I doubt anyone will critique you to hard. Have fun.