Traditional Mindset – “Old School”

[Benny Meng]

Old School Mindset

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I was impressed with the discussion that Grandmaster Gee had with us over the course of last weekend's workshop about the "Old School Mindset" that I wanted to share my notes on that subject here:

Traditional Mindset – “Old School”

There are various aspects of the "Old School" mindset. YThe first is that you are a soldier not a Boy Scout. A soldier doesn’t accept disrespect and doesn’t denounce his or her family in public. Also, a soldier does what he is told without question based on his ability to survive in the real world. He doesn’t ask “Why?” based on his preferences. You don’t always like all aspects of your life. But reality exists according to nature, not your preferences. Your spiritual being is peaceful and understands, but your physical being gets drawn into likes, dislikes, wants, emotions, and worries.

The senior members of a martial arts family have responsibilities beyond their own learning and development. GM Gee used the expression “Maybe the grandson can worry only about training, but the grandfather cannot.”

The old school way of engaging with an outside challenge involves a Yat Dam (yat = ‘one’; dam = ‘bravery’), one person with the skill to take action and the intelligence to know what to say. From the perspective of a physical challenge, his response is made with no hesitation and demonstrates skill. If someone crosses the Yat Dam’s bridge, he slaps the other person’s face as a warning. If it happens a second time, the Yat Dam punches him. From the perspective of a verbal interaction, you must understand that we live in a very “law suit” oriented society. You typically cannot just fight when you need to so a real fight is often impractical. Therefore you should not say what you cannot do. If someone who is not qualified or recognized in the world of martial arts challenges GM Gee, he may not even give them the respect of a response. Or he might talk down to them and reply, “Who the heck are you to challenge me?” A truly qualified enemy deserves your respect. These people do not. At a public martial arts gathering, GM Gee saw a Bak Mei person approached by someone asking to do chi sau with him. The Bak Mei person said, “I don’t play games. Bak Mei doesn’t do chi sau.” and kept on walking.

Andy K.