FURTHER DOWN THE RABBIT HOLE.

‘Wing Chun is not based on any particular “Small Idea”, but on the WAY of a small idea’.

I had a very long conversation with my teacher ‘Jim’ Fung Chuen Keung about the heart of Wing Chun, the Sil Lim Dao, long as in short individual discussions over many years and not one marathon conflab.

One thing that came up time and again was his view that the difference between the ‘Chinese Collective Consciousness’ and the ‘European Collective Consciousness’ was so vast that translations became impossible.

When trying to explain/translate nuanced concepts, he would say ‘there are things that we Chinese people know that we are not aware we know’ but we know we cannot explain them in any other way than Chinese.

European and Chinese cultures stem from a different root.

Even though he was not a Daoist, Daoism influenced his and all Chinese peoples thinking and values, just as Judeo – Christian thinking influences European thinking and values, even when like me, one is an atheist.

As is the way with these type of conversations, ideas would lay dormant for months sometimes years and then bubble up unexpectedly to be rehashed, revisited.

In one exchange he said ‘Wing Chun is not based on any particular “Small Idea”, but on the WAY of a small idea’.

To my surprise, this made a lot of sense to me then and still does today.

The continuous practice of Wing Chun is about resolving everything down to its smallest and simplest possible state.

The work now becomes how do we reconcile this concept/idea/practice with 6 Forms and Chi Sau.

WORK ON YOUR WEAKNESS. – PLAY TO YOUR STRENGTH.