I came across this letter posted by Grandmaster Keith Kernspecht, head of the European WingTsun Organization (EWTO), and thought I would share it with you. He has very insightful thoughts that may help us all to improve our unique skill sets and understanding:
Is it Permissible to Change WingTsun Techniques?
By virtue of my practical and scientific work in recent years, there have been a number of changes to the teaching programme. This opened up a few questions: When is it permissible to change WingTsun? What may be changed in WingTsun verändern? What must not be changed? And what must be changed?
WHEN is it permissible to make changes to WingTsun?
Only a Grand Master who is familiar with the entire strategy and tactics of WingTsun and Chinese philosophy may make changes, and he must not do so lightly. It was not until I was awarded the 10th Master level by my Sifu Leung Ting that I permitted myself to start making lasting changes.
WHAT may be changed in WingTsun?
As we see it WingTsun is an inner combat system, or to put it differently a system based on principles. If it were based on techniques like the outer styles (Karate, Tae-kwon-do, Shaolin etc.), then WingTsun would merely be the sum of its techniques (chain-punches, BongSao etc.) and all the techniques would be sacred and untouchable.
However, it is only for the beginner that our WingTsun consists of fixed techniques. For the advanced student, the techniques that can be derived from the forms are only random examples whose purpose is to help the student understand and absorb the superordinate concept and the principles. Principles are not absorbed by learning rules by heart, but rather from as many different examples as possible. These are to be found in the solo and partner forms, and this is one of their valuable aspects.
Naturally a Grand Master may or must change the examples if the circumstances have changed. If there were such a thing as an attacker with three arms and a second head on his back, it would be a matter of urgency to change the examples accordingly.
What must NOT be changed in WingTsun?
We must not change the overall concept and the principles, as therein lies the ingenious fighting logic of WingTsun, and it cannot be improved upon. It is from the definitive principles and sub-principles that "movements of the moment" are created during interaction with the opponent. These movements are not "performed", planned or executed. They "happen" (Wu Wei). Strictly speaking, it is the opponent who "creates" and determines our movements in WingTsun. To allow WingTsun to develop its full effect, and so that we can develop effortless effectiveness without actually wanting to achieve it, we must never change the principles. It is the WingTsun principles that make it WingTsun. It is only for laymen and beginners that WingTsun is synonymous with a BongSao or wooden dummy training.
Somebody trying to cobble something together from e.g. WingTsun, Escrima and Jiu-Jitsu may certainly arrive at a combination that works for him personally, but it is not WingTsun! It is only WingTsun if the WingTsun principles give rise to every movement.
What MUST be changed in WingTsun now?
1. While potential attackers have not yet managed to grow a third arm, they more and more often do even worse by carrying and using a knife. Many a person no longer alive initially thought it was a punch that hit him in the abdomen. It was only when bleeding to death that he realised he had been stabbed.
From now on we must respond to the changed nature of the threat, and treat every ostensible punch as a knife attack. Our body posture will necessarily have to change owing to the change in the fighting distance: we will need to lean forward and backwards more often. But this is nothing new. We learn it as part of the 3rd form in WingTsun, and of course when working with the classic WT double knives.
2. Since the early 1980s it has no longer been possible to expect fairness on the street.
Nowadays we are often confronted with more than one attacker in railway stations, car parks, buses and subway trains. This means that one hand must be able to cope with one attacker, because the other is needed for the second attacker. We must also put a stop to the excessive use of turns/weight-shifting, otherwise we are exposing our back to the second attacker.
We must devote more effort to avoiding the kicks of attackers if we find ourselves on the ground. Apart from knife attacks, this is the mortal danger for which we must prepare ourselves and our students nowadays.
As long as 30 years ago, I wrote that WingTsun has a tradition of being untraditional. WingTsun is firstly philosophy in motion and secondly applied science. And the magic word in WT is "adaptation". So let us adapt ourselves to the new dangers. There is no need to change the eternal principles of WT to do this!
Your
Sifu Keith R. Kernspecht
Is it Permissible to Change WingTsun Techniques?
By virtue of my practical and scientific work in recent years, there have been a number of changes to the teaching programme. This opened up a few questions: When is it permissible to change WingTsun? What may be changed in WingTsun verändern? What must not be changed? And what must be changed?
WHEN is it permissible to make changes to WingTsun?
Only a Grand Master who is familiar with the entire strategy and tactics of WingTsun and Chinese philosophy may make changes, and he must not do so lightly. It was not until I was awarded the 10th Master level by my Sifu Leung Ting that I permitted myself to start making lasting changes.
WHAT may be changed in WingTsun?
As we see it WingTsun is an inner combat system, or to put it differently a system based on principles. If it were based on techniques like the outer styles (Karate, Tae-kwon-do, Shaolin etc.), then WingTsun would merely be the sum of its techniques (chain-punches, BongSao etc.) and all the techniques would be sacred and untouchable.
However, it is only for the beginner that our WingTsun consists of fixed techniques. For the advanced student, the techniques that can be derived from the forms are only random examples whose purpose is to help the student understand and absorb the superordinate concept and the principles. Principles are not absorbed by learning rules by heart, but rather from as many different examples as possible. These are to be found in the solo and partner forms, and this is one of their valuable aspects.
Naturally a Grand Master may or must change the examples if the circumstances have changed. If there were such a thing as an attacker with three arms and a second head on his back, it would be a matter of urgency to change the examples accordingly.
What must NOT be changed in WingTsun?
We must not change the overall concept and the principles, as therein lies the ingenious fighting logic of WingTsun, and it cannot be improved upon. It is from the definitive principles and sub-principles that "movements of the moment" are created during interaction with the opponent. These movements are not "performed", planned or executed. They "happen" (Wu Wei). Strictly speaking, it is the opponent who "creates" and determines our movements in WingTsun. To allow WingTsun to develop its full effect, and so that we can develop effortless effectiveness without actually wanting to achieve it, we must never change the principles. It is the WingTsun principles that make it WingTsun. It is only for laymen and beginners that WingTsun is synonymous with a BongSao or wooden dummy training.
Somebody trying to cobble something together from e.g. WingTsun, Escrima and Jiu-Jitsu may certainly arrive at a combination that works for him personally, but it is not WingTsun! It is only WingTsun if the WingTsun principles give rise to every movement.
What MUST be changed in WingTsun now?
1. While potential attackers have not yet managed to grow a third arm, they more and more often do even worse by carrying and using a knife. Many a person no longer alive initially thought it was a punch that hit him in the abdomen. It was only when bleeding to death that he realised he had been stabbed.
From now on we must respond to the changed nature of the threat, and treat every ostensible punch as a knife attack. Our body posture will necessarily have to change owing to the change in the fighting distance: we will need to lean forward and backwards more often. But this is nothing new. We learn it as part of the 3rd form in WingTsun, and of course when working with the classic WT double knives.
2. Since the early 1980s it has no longer been possible to expect fairness on the street.
Nowadays we are often confronted with more than one attacker in railway stations, car parks, buses and subway trains. This means that one hand must be able to cope with one attacker, because the other is needed for the second attacker. We must also put a stop to the excessive use of turns/weight-shifting, otherwise we are exposing our back to the second attacker.
We must devote more effort to avoiding the kicks of attackers if we find ourselves on the ground. Apart from knife attacks, this is the mortal danger for which we must prepare ourselves and our students nowadays.
As long as 30 years ago, I wrote that WingTsun has a tradition of being untraditional. WingTsun is firstly philosophy in motion and secondly applied science. And the magic word in WT is "adaptation". So let us adapt ourselves to the new dangers. There is no need to change the eternal principles of WT to do this!
Your
Sifu Keith R. Kernspecht
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