THE WING CHUN CHEAT CODE, AND BARE KNUCKLE PUNCHING.

As frustrating as I found that answer back then, I now realise that it was pretty much a ‘CHEAT CODE’.

‘Forms’ training can seem unrelated to real-world violence, and as such it can take a while to get fully involved in studying them, and difficult to prioritise the time to do so.

But there is a way to learn all there is to learn from Forms in just 5 minutes a day.

It is almost as if there is a “CHEAT CODE”.

There is a pretty huge paradox at the heart of Wing Chun.

As large as this paradox is, it is not difficult to grasp, but it can be difficult to accept.

This is how it was explained to me by my teacher, {Jim} Fung Chuen Kung, 1944 – 2007. 

“In Wing Chun, there is only one IDEA {move or shape}.

This IDEA is an amalgamation of the 324 IDEAS {moves or shapes} introduced by the 3 Forms”.

This is the paradox, only once we understand all of the IDEAS {moves or shapes} as described by S.L.T. Chum Kiu, and Biu Gee, do we come to a realisation that there is and always was only one IDEA {move or shape}.

This more than likely sounds as vague and misty to you now as it did to me back then.

I have spent much of my 30+ years of studying Wing Chun engaged in trying to find easier to understand language or make a clearer explanation, but there is no other explanation that I can come up with that improves upon what my teacher taught me.

He once jokingly told me that we… ‘take all of our IDEAS and make them smaller, and that is how it becomes “the Little Idea”.

All joking aside, he was right.

On one occasion I asked him…  “If there is only one move, which move is it”?

He answered me… “Take your pick”.

As frustrating as I found that answer back then, I now realise that it was pretty much a ‘CHEAT CODE’.

One that we can use to cut years off the time it takes to become competent at Wing Chun, but for a full understanding, something that is not 100% needed for fighting but is absolutely essential if we wish to go on and teach.

To become a Master level practitioner we need to understand all of the IDEAS.

Another seed thought he gave me was that.. “When we study any of the Forms we should regard each IDEA {move or shape} as a stand-alone Form in its own right”.

Which, depending on how your brain works, leads us to see any Form not just as one IDEA, but as a collection of ‘Little Ideas’.

As I was writing this I was chatting with Frank, via the WhatsApp group, about the comparison between Wing Chun and Bare Knuckle Boxing, so I added about 10 minutes onto the end of the video to explore this.

As a result of this addition the video is now quite lengthy, 18 minutes, the first 7 minutes are about the Cheat Code and processing the Forms while from 7 minutes on I talk about Bare Knuckle punching.