Masterless
Embrace
nothing:
If you meet the Buddha, kill the Buddha.
If you meet your father, kill your father.
Only live your life as it is,
Not bound to anything.
(Siddhartha)
Masterless
When you read a zen koan advising you to kill the Buddha, it may
initially seem alarming.
The meaning is simple; you do not need a master or guru.
A tai chi chuan student needs tuition but you must not imbue the teacher with
undue significance.
They are merely a vessel for the transmission of the art.
It is the art that matters, not the teacher.
Authority in martial arts
Martial arts have always been taught for money.
The teacher needs a certain income to sustain the school, pay hall rental and
their own fees.
Typically a teacher founds a school or is appointed by a governing body or the
chief instructor.
They have a lot of responsibilities.
In terms of the class and all things pertaining to the class, the teacher must
have absolute authority.
You cannot run a martial arts class by consensus.
Despite this, you (the student) must decide to what extent you are prepared to
accept this authority.
If you wish to remain in the class, then you must accept it unconditionally.
If you are unwilling to acknowledge the worth of the teacher, then you should
leave.
Confused?
The zen koan (see above) suggests that you should not accept authority, yet
martial arts classes involve unconditional authority.
There seems to be a contradiction at work here...
Clarity is found by recognising that the role of the teacher is to guide you, to
help you to uncover what is within you.
It is not to own or control you.
A teacher needs authority because the teacher is responsible for the safety and
wellbeing of the students.
They must also finance the class and write/deliver the curriculum.
A student lacks the understanding and knowledge to teach themselves.
You must not kowtow to the teacher or revere them. Simply respect their role in
the class.
This is what the koan is about.
Do not bow before statues and authority figures. Keep things in perspective.
Gurus & masters
The most insidious thing about gurus and masters is that they claim to be
the holders of the truth.
And if you want the knowledge, you must go through them.
Taoism encourages the teacher to be a background figure, not the star of the
show.
Their role is to assist you. Nothing more.
Sometimes they should help, other times hamper.
Ultimately the teacher must expand your awareness, creativity, understanding and
insight.
They must change your perception.
Gurus and masters often become greedy and vain. Pretty soon, it is all about
them.
This is not the way.
Learning tai chi
Learning tai chi is an experiential process: tai chi is physical and
cannot be understood by simply reading books or watching somebody else.
Unfortunately, when a student sets out to learn tai chi they cannot
realistically assess the quality of what they are being taught.
To do so would require existing high-level tai chi skill.
This presents a dilemma: how do you know that you are learning good quality tai
chi?
Many people have a ready answer - lineage.
Lineage
'Lineage' means a direct line of decent.
In tai chi it suggests an unbroken chain of teaching from the creation of
tai chi to the present day.
For many people, lineage is a critical concern: who taught your teacher and who
taught their teacher?
And is the tai chi 'authentic'?
Lineage depicts the tai chi system as a jewel passed reverently from
master to master, unchanged by time or temperament.
Barry was
telling us a story about the woman who always cut the end of the ham and
somebody asked her why she did it. She said, "Well I don't know, my mother
always did it that way." And they asked her mother and she said, "I don't know,
my mother always did it." And they asked grandma, and she said, "Well, I did it
because otherwise it wouldn't fit into my biggest pot."
(Chungliang Al Huang)
Fixity
There is nothing fluid and adaptive about lineage. What about new
influences?
If somebody finds a better way of doing something, is it simply ignored?
Without scope for innovation and development, how does the system improve?
This is not an invitation to invent your own form...
Whilst you should adhere to the traditional sequence of movements, remember that
you have a great deal of latitude concerning how you perform and apply those
movements.
Finding the real
'Authenticity' means genuine, verified, trusted... but how do you
measure authenticity?
Is authenticity to be found in the heritage or the actual substance of the tai
chi?
Without the correct principles, tai chi isn't actually tai chi - irrespective of
who taught who.
Pride alone is not enough to make it authentic - Tao Te Ching teaches us to eat
the fruit, not the flower.
I
have several friends who studied in the Cheng Man Ching tradition of tai chi
chuan.
These people have as the foundation and trademark of their art the tai chi set
that was modified and shortened by Cheng Man Ching.
They are very meticulous concerning the choreography of that set:
fingertips level with the eye, just so far away from the body,
the weight exactly seventy percent on one foot, thirty percent on the other.
Typically there is no deviation.
There is also a pride and certain arrogance in having studied with the man who
many consider the authority, the lineage holder (although the Yang family
disagrees) of Yang Cheng Fu's style of tai chi chuan.
Yet none of the disciples come close to what Cheng Man Ching could do,
and all seem unwilling to explore outside the dogma of their teacher's teaching.
(Ron Sieh)
Authority
Chuang Tzu told a story about Lao Tzu's funeral in which the students of
the master were devastated by his death.
The story reminds us that the teacher is nothing more than a conduit of
knowledge and experience.
Your tai chi lessons are about tai chi, not the teacher; the teacher must never
become more important than the subject.
Follow the tai chi, not the teacher.
Every instructor changes what they learn, either subtly or greatly.
This can be through a lack of understanding, inaccurate practice, or a
deliberate alteration intended to emphasise one aspect of the tai chi; such as
health.
Lineage cannot prevent this change - each person adds or removes something from
the tai chi.
Every school has its own version (or interpretation) of somebody else's
version...
What really matters is whether or not your school encourages you to explore the
system for yourself.
Are you restricted by the limitations of your teachers knowledge and
preferences?
What about your own contribution?
Is there the opportunity to exceed your teacher, to take their skills and go yet
further?
Edward De Bono:
That some way of doing things has survived over time does not mean that it is the best way or the simplest way. It may only mean that no one has yet tried to find a better way.
Evolution
Tai chi has been deliberately changed on many occasions: Yang
Lu-chan adapted Chen style, Yang Cheng Fu changed the Yang style and later Cheng
Man Ching did the same.
What lesson was Yang Cheng Fu articulating when he developed his own system?
What can lineage mean to a Cheng Man Ching student when their own master broke
tradition?
Perhaps the only response to his example would be to do the same yourself.
The actions of Bruce Lee in the 1960's and 1970's have led many people to
question the validity of tradition and lineage.
Bruce Lee encouraged students to figure out what worked for themselves, rather
than copy the teacher and continue the tradition of that school.
With so much tai chi information available to us nowadays, can we afford to
follow any one person?
Asking a different question
Lineage is not the only path to tai chi.
We could forget about who taught who and focus on the matter in question: tai
chi.
What is tai chi?
What principles make it work?
How can we uncover and explore the system?
Can you afford to work on the premise that the only real tai chi skill lies
in the past?
Is the modern age incapable of innovation?
Look at the 20th Century for your answer.
Tai chi practitioners may well consider a more scientific approach to their art;
dismantle the system, find out how it works, then make it your own.
More...
Page created 5 August 1999