A modest Proposal

By Bill Dowding

Due to the situation here in China many students have ask me for some way to know a real Sifu. This of course is hard to do, and cheaters will always cheat, liars always lie, and students who don’t – in fact cannot – know how to tell good from bad will get suckered and spend hard earned cash on training that at worst might get them hurt or killed if they ever are in the unfortunate situation where they need to use it, and at best is simply useless crap and a waste of time and money even if they never actually need it.

Similar situations occur in the west as well, so I had a think about it. As a result, I have a modest proposal on how to start to tell if someone is really worth learning from. It might help.

One Year of Training Days:

This is the truth:

It’s not the number of years you train: It’s the number of hours.

“It takes 10,000 hours of deep practice in any skill to master it.” Attributed to Daniel Coyle, but originally proven scientifically in the 1800’s. This could theoretically be done in about two years if you train all day every day, with only just enough time for 8 hours sleep and hurried food. This is the kind of training that WSL and Barry Lee did. But most of us normal humans cannot achieve or hope to achieve that. OK, so we won’t talk about world class master, but instead, let us accept that half that good is good enough to be a teacher. One year of serious training.

Therefore I think it is reasonable to say that a person can’t even begin to claim that they know any particular VTK system (or any other martial art, or any other skill for that matter) enough to teach it unless they have spent at least one year of serious

1 With sincere apologies to Jonathan Swift, or the Irish, as necessary.

2 billdowding@msn.com 11/11/2013

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training. Minimum. I can’t think how it would be possible to do less than this and have a genuine claim.

One year is not very much, so should be easy to qualify.

One year is 365 days. Of training days. Face to face with a Sifu every day of that period. Let us think about this. Call it 350 so people can have up to 2 weeks off for holidays, illness, bad luck, and so on.

Now, feedback is the key issue. A student needs input during practice even after they have learned the actual moves or forms to ensure that what they are doing is correct. First learn, then do it a lot of times, then get it fixed, then do it lots of times again, then get that fixed as well, and so on. By going off on their own for too long or too soon means that a student will forget or do not ever learn some things, and errors accumulate. Therefore a student will need a Sifu right there in front of them yelling at them to get it right for the formative period of each section of training. So Sifu Face Time is the answer.

Sifu Face Time:

One training day for Sifu Face Time is as least 2 hours face to face with Sifu in class, plus you need to do at least one hour own training on top to consolidate anything you have learned. Any day where a person did not do BOTH 2 hours with Sifu plus one more hour on their own, doesn’t count. Being able to do it on their own is a requirement for being a Sifu, I feel. A potential Sifu is self-starting in order to be a leader. But you don’t need to be out of the class, so perhaps 3 hours in class minimum, so a 4 hour class with Sifu there at least 2 hours counts. But 4 hours or more still is only ONE day of Sifu Face Time, not two hours = one day so therefore 6 hours of training with Sifu is not equal to 3 days, but one. One day at a time. The other is bonus towards quality of the student, but not to the minimum standard I am trying to explain.

Missed days per week is a multiplier. If a person was to train 5 days a week, then the multiplier is two. A person would need about three years of training to catch up. 365 days x2 multiplier/ 5 sessions per week x 50 weeks a year = about 3 years. For 3 days a week you can see it is 365 x 4/3x50 or about 10 years. That’s if they don’t miss any classes. It’s a fair system of measurement.

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So, if someone trains 3 days a week, they would have to train for four times as long as someone who trains 7 days, not double. This is due to the speed at which people forget.

If a person trains 3 days a week, that will be about 3-4 years before the minimum 365 days of training is reached, without missing any classes. One day a week of training would take about 70 years – but any week with less than 3 days training in it doesn’t count (see below). So, take a lot off for missing days or weeks.

If a person was to go to some Sifu for example in Foshan or Hong Kong for a fortnight or month for holidays, then that counts as however many days was actually trained. Time trained back home doesn’t count. It isn’t Sifu face time. It does count towards training time, but not Sifu Face Time. One month a year will take 12 years if a person trained every day of that month.

Some so-called Sifus here where I live in China have trained for 3 months total then go and open a school in their home city. Some are like that in the city in which I live, Nanning. One school the Sifu has mostly learned VTK from videos, with a few lessons only with a Sifu in Foshan. He did, to be fair, apparently learn another kung fu style supposedly quite well, and mostly teaches San Da to people wanted to box. He is respected. But the VTK is absolute crap.

Going home after the holidays once a person has learned some new forms etc., and training for a year, counts as the extra ‘own time’ training, but not as length of time under a Sifu. The issue here is that while a person learned under the Sifu, the Sifu didn’t have time to fill in all the necessary details, nor did the student spend enough time getting it right, unless he spent many hours a day, and not just a normal 2-3 hour session. The whole process is only just begun, not finished.

The only exceptions I can think of to the above are these:

1. If, when the student goes back home, he is directly under a Sifu who is a representative of the HK Sifu, so the teacher can continue to observe, fix and eventually complete the training.

2. If the student spent a ridiculous number of hours a day training, enough so that each stage is completed as they go along, before going to the next stage of training.

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3. Some people obsess about VTK and try to learn everything about it. They go over and over the details in their heads every day, every moment of every day. To and from training, at work, on the bus or train, etc., their minds are on VTK every moment. They are hypercritical of their own training, and focus a lot on getting it right, breaking it down etc. (See my article on Deep Training). Doing this keeps much of the knowledge fresh in their minds, almost like being with a Sifu. This cuts the time down considerably for being a Sifu, but it probably doesn’t help you get a promotion at work, or even keep a job at all, and stuffs around with family life. I know both sides of this from personal experience, and the experience of others close to me.

What Doesn’t Count:

Any week without at least 3 training days loses all the days in that week. Doesn’t count. I would personally have wanted to say 5 days, but that makes it hard for most people. But I think 5 is right. The reason is that if a person waits longer than about 3-4 days before refreshing, they forget as much as they learn, and the body cannot learn the reflexes and deep knowledge. Plus coming to class so rarely means they miss too much theory spread over the course of the week. So, training too rarely doesn’t count at all, not to being a Sifu. As a student, maybe, but not to someone you want to learn from.

Time taken off from the Sifu doesn’t add onto the time learned. Learning for 6 months then taking a year off from Sifu then going back for 6 months means a person learned for 12 months, not 24 months, even if they trained every hour of every day they were away. Those days do count as own training time, though.

Changing a Sifu doesn’t count. If someone changes Sifus, then start counting again from the very beginning, time zero. Especially if upgrading to a better Sifu or system. Old habits need to be broken which actually takes longer than learning the first time, and although some knowledge will be transferable, the extra time correcting errors makes up for it. Previous experience doesn’t accumulate unless the new Sifu is EXACTLY the same system, and is even less important if upgrading to a ‘better’ system. E.g. going from one branch to another within an organization would count, but not a new organization - unless both Sifu agree (and their own Sifu should also agree if he is alive) that it is the same system. Going from say, my school to another one of

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Barry’s recognized instructors’ school counts, but going from one of WSL’s guys to another probably doesn’t count, unless they agree that it is the same. This is not due to WSL’s system, but to the nature of students and teachers. The issue is “Do all the people involved actually recognize it as being the same system?” You can tell for yourself: The Sifu will tell you that you have to start again from the beginning. So if you start learning from SLT again, then you also restart the counting of days. The people do not recognize it as being the same. No matter what they say publically. This is because no matter who the ‘grandmaster’ of a system is, the students of the system all have different ideas of the system, with varying levels of completion. Just because someone knows all the forms does not mean they know the system, no matter who they learned it from. Time spent in other systems does, however, count towards own training time and experience, naturally. And eventually.

Leaving off learning from one system to learn the next stage in another is obviously a bad idea, and a student who does this negates a lot of what a Sifu should be, what they should be once they are a Sifu themselves. While it doesn’t necessarily hurt the advanced student who has spent many years learning one system if they upgrade to a similar system, it certainly does for those people who have not spent a long time on the requisite practice. And it means they do not have a complete system in their minds to teach students of their own, but a jigsaw puzzle that might – indeed probably – leave out important parts of the picture. It does largely preclude being a good Sifu.

Anyone who is supposed to be a Sifu should be in regular contact with his own Sifu UNLESS he has been teaching and recognized as a Sifu for over at least ten years, preferably 20. And/or his own Sifu is dead or similar. Total training time should be more than ten years, without breaks, training at least 3 or preferably 5 days a week, measured weekly not by year. One day a year is not a year, it is not even a week. For this total time, self-training counts. It is experience that matters here, as well as Sifu Face Time.

Seminars and workshops count as ONE day each, as long as they are the same Sifu and/or system. Another Sifu, and they DON’T count towards the total. While it is desirable to learn from as many different perspectives as we can, we can’t mix and match. New perspectives are good. In VTK we all learn from each other. But this time doesn’t count towards Sifu Face Time. It is our own training, the same as when

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someone in the class corrected us when we were a student. So it counts towards own training.

So, for a Sifu, one year of Sifu Face Time (counted daily) plus 9 or 10 years of own training time (counted weekly) and other experience would be a pretty good ballpark as to minimum acceptable standard.

As I said this is a “Minimum” and should be easy to qualify for.

Anything over the minimums doesn’t accumulate to make up for missed training, but does add quality and experience.

Disqualifying Actions:

Learning ANYTHING from video or YouTube then proposing to teach it, immediately and in my opinion forever excludes the person from being a true Sifu. While it is acceptable to check your own knowledge and compare, especially with people more senior (Checking WSL foot placement on dummy or pole etc. is acceptable, learning something such as new levels of formal training, like forms or chi sau moves that you do not already know, certainly is not acceptable). This is because a Sifu face to face will tell you in person what he is doing wrong and what you are doing is right, and a video always lies and has no feedback. Perspective makes a hash of things. Theory is ok, though, but we are talking about what we want in a true Sifu. This is all too common in China, but fortunately less so in the West, but even a little is just wrong.

Learning new things from books so you can teach it is also just wrong, except theory, in a Sifu. A Sifu needs to have learned it from someone who can fix it, and you need to feel it.

Video courses, online training etc. are all not suitable for someone who wants to be a Sifu.

In Conclusion:

While any and all the above may be satisfactory for a student to learn, I do not think they can possibly count towards being a Sifu. While many a Sifu has probably done all the above, the point is that this is not the foundation of what they are. The foundation is the real substance of VTK.

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And if you, as a person, should want to learn from a Sifu, think how qualified you will want him to be. After all, you will depend on what he has taught you. Effectively, you are going to trust your life into his hands, should you get into a serious fight.

Being Suspicious:

If the so called Sifu is under about 30 years old, he probably does not have the time necessary to be a Sifu. Usually, anyway. Experience in life does count, and some people have had experience at a young age. E.g. My own Sifu Barry Lee had many challenges while still in his twenties, as did WSL or Yip Man. Most normal people do not.

Lineage that is not immediately obvious and proudly displayed and explained is suspicious. Clear lineages without lots of lines and branches are good, but learning from someone who tries to claim multiple lineages probably didn’t spend enough time with one Sifu to learn properly.

Anyone who in all seriousness says they learned “Secrets” that only he learned from some master who is now dead should be suspect.

Be suspicious of anyone who cannot demonstrate easily that they learned face to face with their Sifu. If they learned over a period of years, then there should be random pics with them in it during training time.

Note Well: Single pictures with famous people don’t count unless they are genuine training pics and not simply standing with them for a photo opportunity. Photo ops are de rigueur in China. For example I have a pic with a Red Army General who was a survivor of the Long March with Mao, and Mao’s friend, and a genuine spy during various conflicts with Kuomintang, Vietnam vs. the West, Vietnam vs. China, and Japan. This certainly doesn’t mean I am a loyal CP member, or that I learned from him how to be a spy.3 He was my landlord, and a nice guy, who is very old and confused about this weird foreigner who wanted a pic with him. And there are several hundred young girls, over the years, who wanted pics with the crazy foreign teacher, who have pics of me with them. Doesn’t mean I even know who they are. Nor does it prove I taught them English or that their English is any good. Nor that I have amazing luck

3 Doesn’t mean I didn’t either. I can’t tell you or I would have to kill you.

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with beautiful young Asian girls, although I usually pretend I did when drinking and use the pics as evidence.

Sifus are usually fairly nice guys. Although some really good ones can be a little scary but usually in a good way or have tangible power radiating from them, most are just ordinary guys. Go with gut feeling. Look at the other students. Do they know progressively what the Sifu knows? They should be on the path, visibly so. Do you like them? Do you feel happy or suspicious? Worried about them? If the students are not doing well, and there are no senior people who are well on the way, finding out why might be a good idea. Might be a new school. Might be a particular day when by chance the senior guys are off. Might simply be only for beginners that night. But it might be that no one stays very long when they find out the school is crap.

Any outrageous claims should be backed away from carefully. Claims of special training, part of special secret organizations or Special Forces, CIA, other mysterious pasts, etc. are very suspect. Some very very few may be possibly true, but that should be easily checked, and my default position is that it is a fake. Real spies will not tell you. If you can’t find any reference, then it is overwhelmingly likely it is a lie. I never met one, in more than 40 years of martial arts. I only know a small few, 3-4, who are genuine ex-military Special Forces and one Special Forces cop in all that time and only one from VTK. The rest were from other martial arts, and none from other weirder claims.

I have met a few claiming special origins or training, but virtually all were full of crap.

Some examples include being Secret Taoist masters or learning from Tibetan or Shaolin Temples in China, but they can’t speak Putonghua, the language of the Chinese people, let alone Tibetan. I find such claims embarrassing actually, because they are so obviously fake. Especially when my awful Chinese is better than theirs. While you can go and learn in Shaolin Town, only monks learn in Shaolin Temple, and they pray a lot, not mostly do kung fu. I have met ONE genuine Kung Fu Monk in all my life.

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It’s the guy in yellow. He is the genuine article. Before I met him, I thought there were none left. And I have lived in China for over eight years and travelled extensively here and even before this, came once or twice a year ever since the late nineties. I had never met a real one before, and not since. I have met the circus troupe going around the world claiming to be Shaolin monks, but talented as they are, they are just a bunch of performers. It is just entertainment. I have even supported their act in my hometown.

Any claims at all of any kind should be easily verified, even simply using the internet. If they are a genuine Sifu then there should be tracks all over the place. However, don’t go to their own homepage, but go to some other sites or look up or search their names etc. See what other people say about them. Especially in their hometown.

I plan to write more on this subject later. It will be a series of short articles aiming at keeping the bastards honest, or at least, those that are dishonest might be called into question by those whom I hope I have made less gullible and more suspicious. I have already written some appropriate pieces, which I will cobble together to make a more coherent whole.

Proposed articles in this series:

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1. Role of the Sifu in the 21st Century (written already, sent last month)

2. A Modest Proposal – How long should a Sifu learn before teaching?

3. How to choose a school and teacher (Written already, unsent).

4. Real Training – what it looks like. Planned out but not written yet.

5. How can I tell? An observer’s guide to the prospective Sifu. Not even sure how I will do this one.

Suggestions, ideas, contributions, things I left out or said badly etc. would be appreciated. Especially suspicious claims. And more ways to objectively tell a Sifu would be appreciated.