WUDE

In Chinese, martial morality is called Wude.

There are two aspects of wude:

1. Morality of deed

2. Morality of mind.

Morality of deeds includes: humility, respect, righteousness, trust and loyalty

Morality of mind includes: will, endurance, perseverance, patience and courage.

Applications

If you seek the application of a posture you will miss the 10,000 or more application within it.

White Craine.
1. staning on right foot right hand above head left hand gaurding low (a block) ... well ok

a. how about as right had goes up a picking up a kick throwing the attacker.

b. right hand going up clearing an incoming punch, spreading or turning your attacker (depending on which hand threw the punch)

c. right hand comes up and body turns right preparing to stop attacker coming from your rear right corner.

d. right hand drops circles rear right then back forward throwing attacker coming in from right rear corner. (brushkeen push, hip throw)

good ideas but there is something lacking this is not taiji only my right hand is in play and both hands work together and help each other, I have not address the left side or front, back up or down.

So see getting caught up in the application no matter how good it could be can be a trap. Thinking in this way creates a form of fighting postures and taiji is formless or not in a set pattern.

Point of Change

A great teacher said this the other night and it was insightful.

It is as follows:

When the sun reaches its height of the day then that minuscule moment it passes evening has started but it has yet not arrive in fullness but no longer is it day but a transformation of what it was into what it will become.

Seek this point in transitions while doing form and the gateway to the miraculous will open.

Kindness

A drop of kindness can sweeten a bitter day

A good teacher is a good teacher

What a unique environment is created when a student enters a martial arts school with an accomplished teacher. The student will be in awe of the teachers ability; a student will even go to great length to try get the teacher to reveal his secret, what made him so good and so powerful in his art. Yet all along the teacher has done nothing more than what he asks his student to do and that is to follow in the steps he himself followed and assuring his students he will reach the same place with diligence and hard work.

Have the same student apprentice with master craftsmen like a master woodworker, gardener, builder and the student will not have this mindset of a secrets hiding some place but will know that it will take hard work and following his teachers instructions and he will also reach the same level. A good teacher is a good teacher treat your time with a marital arts teacher as an apprenticeship working to a goal of becoming the teacher that passes on the art completely.

Do not be in awe of your teachers ability this will set you back many years, instead be aware of certain truths, your teacher was just like you the day he/she started, he/she is still learning and exploring. Be content in your own accomplishments, listen to your teachers instructions and follow them closely, don’t doubt your ability to obtain what you are seeking, work hard. Follow these things and soon you will be on your way to being a peer to your instructor rather than forever the wide eyed in awe student, then you will gain a true closeness and respect that is mutual.

To quiet the mind

To quiet the mind does not mean to be void of thought, but to be filled with a positive thought/feeling that is both passive and active but not busy.

Busy thoughts are always thoughts about things that need to be done, events that had negative impacts on you as a person, relationship troubles. The mind races and the adrenaline is pumping from these thoughts the body is affected and the mind, the spirit dwindles as all this energy is taken up by the other two.

A positive thought has an opposite effect on the mind/body/spirit, the mind does not analyze positive thought it kicks into a feeling mode and the whole body experiences that wonderful feeling over and over, the endorphins are released in the exact same way they were when the event happened. The positive statement made you feel, an accomplishment made you feel, the body/mind/soul is whole in that experience and the mind is quiet not active just perceptive.

Mastering an art

Mastering an art requires

Perseverance
Study
The right system
The right teacher