Chinese Martial Arts

[Red Rum]

Actually I did do wing chun, and one day this guy beat the living blank on my arms and hands with a rolled up daily newspaper and I realized that which chun, didn't much work until you learned the weapon side of wing chun, and against the weapon my teachers didn't really know it. Life is hard, practice like you mean it.

Hahaha are you joking? The weapon side of wing chun is just a training tool. You aren't going to be carrying butterfly knives in your back pocket or an 8 foot wing chun pole up your ass!!!

I have done wing chun for a relative short space of time (compared to many practitioners) and it has always held up in fights.

If a bloke beat you with a newspaper you really have to consider whether you are suited for the martial arts world

[kingoftheforest]

I have to say that the classics of CMA's states that

If you can not beat an opponent with the body you were born with. Used your whole life AND trained with, then a foreign object in your hand will only hinder you.

[MasterKaliSilat]

Actually I did do wing chun, and one day this guy beat the living blank on my arms and hands with a rolled up daily newspaper and I realized that which chun, didn't much work until you learned the weapon side of wing chun, and against the weapon my teachers didn't really know it. Life is hard, practice like you mean it.

[Red Rum]

What on earth are you on about?

Please tell me that you don't do wing chun as it already has a bad rap around here

[MasterKaliSilat]

There's only one purpose in the drills of every martial art and in Kali Silat and Pencak Silat all have a single purpose that I've found in my last 35 years of practice that mose people just waste their time on them.

Ever wonder why we do the drills? For what purpose? Speed, accuracy, and most important of them all, learning how to stop my opponent. Killing them is not an option, unless your life is threatened. As Grand Master Dionisio 'Juni' Canete once said, (circa June 1977 in Cebu City), "Greg, we have a drill for everything." Everything!? I thought, there must be some purpose, and my teacher Turhon Gaje, Jr. shared that with me in private. And I know that little was shared with others in Pekiti Tirsia, as is evident from many players from our system I've worked with in the states and in Germany. Yet we all knew how to hit, as most do in Kali Silat. We have learned this no matter what system of Kali Silat or art you study.

Recently I watched a video where the exchange in espada y daga, using long and short stick so no one really got hurt, and the purpose was of course to stop your opponent, but in this video with experienced players both had to maintain a distance until a strike was accomplished and one opponent was stunned, and we know that Turhon rarely shares this material so just hitting your opponent was enough. But, and I mean but! If I'm not going to share with you the final stroke, you will only learn how to hit, and not learn how NOT to be hit and to stop your opponent so you'll just be doing the drills and never really know why.

Of course the purpose is to finish your opponent, and I've witnessed through the years that many players in kali and silat are 'just doing the drills', have no understanding as to how to stop their opponent. Yeah, speed is important, and so is accuracy, but stopping your opponent is equally, if not more important, as learning how not to be hit. I worked with a few gentlemen from California and elsewhere in the west recently, I won't mention names, and their punyo sombrada (sp) was really fast, yet I insured they were not hitting me, and still they could not stop me from stopping them. I found they wasted many years in practice for not knowing WHY.

Why, the key in Kali Silat, like in every art is: First, protect yourself, and Second, how to stop your opponent, AND IF YOUR LIFE IS AT STAKE, FINISH is Third. These are the rules in real life. No matter what! Have you examined how to stop your opponent in any and every tapi-tapi drill. And, from every point of the drill. Last year we had some highly experienced gentlemen sharing their knowledge in the knife skills that originated from Kali, yet I did not witness any stopping ability, maiming or killing was the purpose. Keep in mind if you have skill and hurt someone, even if they attack you first, you may be liable if you injure, maim or kill your opponent. Be prepared, get a good lawyer, because killing or severely injuring someone will put you in jail.

In the methods of Palit-Palit, we learn how to protect ourself, AND HOW TO STOP OUR OPPONENT. It's the reason for doing the drills. Remember it's too easy to hit someone, and really difficult not to be hit especially by someone who knows how to hit too. Only if your life is threatened, then and only then, can you justify killing or using destructive force. Unfortunately it's the law. We may not like it, but remember it's the law. There's a purpose in Kali Silat like many other arts, protection skill is the real deal, killing is never justified in any martial art, unless your life is threatened and then it certainly is the WAY.

As a matter of fact I show one drill of Espada Y Daga on you tube, where my purpose was only to protect myself as I explained to everyone. My student had 8 years of practice with me, and it was more difficult because I stressed not hitting my opponent during this part of the seminar which you see in the video. I was only protecting myself as I allowed. Of course my student, Master Dennis, could find a way to make the finish. And yes if you work on this skill, you have a greater capacity to protect yourself, and maybe stay out of jail. Here's the link if you like to see it. http://youtube.com/watch?v=8kGC6ai8vXU Please do visit us at KaliSilat.org we'll be doing our five day program now in our 5th year this September 7 to 11th, 2007 and again in March 24 to 28, 2008. Find out for yourself, why helping others is more rewarding then just training or teaching some skills. I've experienced what Dr. Wayne Dyer talks about in his tapes, that "sharing knowledge will give you an abundance" of knowledge the italics are my addition.