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Attitude & etiquette questionnaire
Lower grade students are required to complete an
attitude & etiquette questionnaire each time
they want to pass a grade.
The reason why is simple: people forget
where they are and what they are studying.
And who with.
Bow
Students bow when at 7:00 PM - this serves as a reminder. Bowing is discordant with how you normally interact with people, isn't it?
The bow serves to wake you up - you are in Sifu
Waller's tai chi school - not at home, at work or the pub. Behave accordingly.
The bow serves as a reminder that the behaviours you
exhibit in your everyday life may not be considered
appropriate when handling weaponry
and learning dangerous skills.
I have seen schools where some of the students show disrespect to the
teacher by not paying him on time, by being frequently late to class, and by
not informing the teacher when a class must be missed.
(John Lash)
Questionnaire
The A & E questionnaire is just like the bow: a
refresher.
Students become comfortable and complacent.
They stop bowing to Sifu Waller and to one
another.
They forget how to address the instructor properly
when speaking with him.
We're all adults...
In a karate class such
transgressions would be met with actual in-you-face shouting and a harsh
physical punishment (which you either
endure without complaint or you leave).
Our expectations are pretty mild, really.
Experienced students
An experienced student would never make an attitude & etiquette faux pas.
They have been with the school for too long.
They respect Sifu Waller immensely and would not
seek to offend or insult him in any way.
Experienced students do not require an A & E questionnaire.
Website questionnaire
Sifu Waller spent decades writing this
website for students of our school to use.
Even if you read a page a day it would take years to read it all. Would you understand it?
All of it?
The purpose of the website questionnaire is to encourage students to use the
website more proactively as a resource; to
take responsibility for their own learning
experience.
Plagiary
Please do not plagiarise Sifu Waller.
Plagiary is gross misconduct and could result
in expulsion from our school.
900 pages...
It is quite common for students to answer Sifu Waller's assignments
using material and insights gleaned from other schools of tai chi. This is
really a no brainer.
Given that Sifu Waller has provided his students with 900 pages to read,
do you really think that he wants to hear that you think neigong is about
qi, spirit and inner light?
To understand an oriental discipline, one must understand the ideas and
world view upon which the discipline rests.
That is why the oriental disciplines can never merely be hobbies or
pastimes.
(John Lash)
The well-spring
The
reading requirements in our syllabus feature books written by spiritual
sages and martial artists.
Understanding the principles will enhance
your practice considerably.
Fellow martial artists
The martial books were written by people
who undertook the same journey as you.
Different time, different culture, maybe even a different martial art... but
still a fellow martial artist.
Read a small
amount daily
Buy a book and read just a
small amount every day.
Make a habit of it.
A page, a verse or a
chapter will slowly mount up and before you know it you will have read
the entire book.
Since the Taoist concepts are rooted in the most
distant past with the most
ancient beliefs of the
Chinese, it is difficult for the
Western mind to
understand them. Therefore, before you can investigate the
internal martial arts, you must first
back to the very origins of thought in ancient
China.
(Howard Reid)
It doesn't make sense...
Why do you expect
it to? This is what learning means.
You are being exposed to the unfamiliar.
Challenged by the unknown.
Persevere. Read it again. And again. And
again.
Make reference to the website, to class, to other books, to your own
experiences and insights.
Make notes
Jotting down notes can help you to enjoy
the book more, and eventually understand it.
Use sticky tabs to mark passages that strike a chord/relevance/parts you
liked.
Learn to interact with the text.
Consider the question
Read the assignment
questions carefully. What is being asked of you? When answering, refer to the text and make quotations.
Look for themes, principles, lessons.
Make lists of ideas. Do not cheat yourself.
Purpose
With the questions, there are right and wrong answers.
But the main purpose of questions is to encourage students to
organise their thoughts regarding the art.
It is quite easy to have some sense of what is taking place/required
- yet clarity and understanding are often lacking.
Questions train the student to think more clearly and concisely.
These words are easy to
understand, and these teachings are easy to follow.
But no one understands the words, and no one follows the teachings.
These words follow a principle, and the world has an order.
But no one understands the principle.
Because no one recognises the inner wisdom of things, the sage is mistaken
for the fool.
(Lao Tzu)
Tourist?
Some students spend years with our school and never read a single book
from the reading list.
This is not the way to make progress in tai chi.
Enthusiasm alone should drive the seeker to learn more about the art.
Page created 18
April 2007
Last updated
16 June 2023
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