A PROCESS OF ‘PERSONAL’ GROWTH
Martial Art is first and foremost a process of self-education.
Of course, it is important, especially at the beginning, to have a good teacher to direct the student in the right direction; but the path to be faced is based on personal commitment.
The student can never be ‘forced’, rather he is ‘guided’ by the teacher in the growth process.
This is why in China there is a traditional saying that says:
“The teacher points to the door, but it is the student who must enter.”
This principle was also expressed by Wong FeiHung Sijo, father of modern Hung Kuen, with words that highlight how martial learning (but not only that), to be indelible, must pass through ‘personal discovery’. To ‘truly understand’ it is therefore not enough for the student to see or hear, and not even what is ‘explained’ to him is sufficient; true learning is based on personal experience, on one’s own perceptions, on what the body and mind learn by themselves.
For this reason, master Wong maintained that:
«What you have learned from others, listening to their words, will soon be forgotten.
What you have learned from yourself, with your whole body, you will not be able to forget for the rest of your life.’
(In the photo GM Chi Ling Chiu Sifu with his disciple Giuseppe Cucci.)
