The problem with Xingyiquan – Series 2 – Part 3

Posted by Tadzio Goldgewicht on Aug 15, 2011 in Xingyiquan | 0 comments

Truth is that almost no Chinese person in Shanxi at this moment is willing to put the hours needed for training. The hours I am talking about are not the regular hobbyist 2 or 3 times a week classes kind of hours. Let me make it clear that I have no prejudice whatsoever against people that train only a few hours a week. We all have our different goals and realities, and not everyone is willing to put on the hours, to become a proficient fighter and become the recipient of a certain kind of culture and this is fine. However, when 99% of the practitioners are not willing to train, as they should, to really become proficient to the point where they might be able to carry on a rich tradition, then we can clearly see that something is wrong.

Usually when a serious practitioner points out this problem people will use the “society has changed” argument. This argument only works for people that do not truly understand the nature of Xingyiquan. Odd enough I have heard it from more than one very famous master in the Shanxi area. Still, the argument clearly shows a lack of understanding of the many faces and nuances of the art, because by using this argument a person clearly shows they have only but scratched the surface of what the art really has to offer. The argument defends the idea that in the ancient times society was more violent and unstable, thus martial skills were a necessary tool for self-protection, but in our modern society there is no real need for the skill anymore for we live in a stable non-violent society where martial skills are not essential. One doesn’t have to go very deep (in martial knowledge) to demonstrate how weak this argument is and it’s enough to argue that the day human race lives in a biblical paradise where violence is nonexistent, that will be the day a person will not need to know how to defend and protect himself and his loved ones. Until that day comes, if it comes at all, I will stay with my martial art thank you very much. To say that a person doesn’t need to know how to defend himself shows, in a most basic level, a complete lack of understanding and a great deal of denial about what goes on in our modern society, where, at times, we have a fake sense of safeness. One does not need to know how to defend himself and his loved ones until the day he does. Then it will probably be too late and we can easily learn of the consequences of such kind of denial by randomly opening the local newspaper in almost any given day. Watching the news on T.V. will also do the trick. Reality does hurt and when it hits it cares not if one is ready for it. Then of course there are all the other arguments against the “society has changed” idea that will deal with higher levels of the art, but honestly depending on whom you are talking too it could be useless to use them because the other part might not even understand them neither recognize them as valid. Xunzi, one of the most important representatives of Confucianism and one of China’s greatest educators, used to say that there is no use in antagonizing with people that are unable to understand or recognize the value of a certain argument. Therefore, at times, it might be better to keep the discussion in a more common level and only talk about what the other part actually can understand. Besides, people with deep knowledge might not be interested in educating people other than their own students.

Once a practitioner understands that, like the classical disciplines from ancient China, Xingyiquan is related to everything you do in life, then he might naturally put the necessary hours in. Nevertheless, to be able to reach this kind of understanding a person needs to receive instruction for a very qualified teacher and those are very, very hard to come across. The will to put the necessary hours in comes with the understanding of how can XYQ be used in every little aspect of your life, be it fighting, business, health, relationships and so on. Once a person truly realizes the art is a tool that can be used in so many different ways, in different aspects of your life, than the usage of what you learn becomes much broader than fighting this or that person, even though fighting is the main point here. At this point, a student realizes that he is not only learning how to fight, but is also learning and practicing a very old and deep kind of culture: the Chinese martial culture. How is Xingyiquan a culture, how does it appear in different aspects of one’s life, how do you use it? If you are lucky enough you will, like me, find a teacher who is willing to share this with you.