Dog Brothers Public Forum

I would recommend ajarn Pedro Villalobos in Chiang Mai.? ?www.ancientmuaythai.com

He teaches Muay Boran (old school) , regular competitive Muay Thai, and Krabbi Krabong (8th degree gold sash).

Chiang Mai is a much more pleasant city than Bangkok, especially for a long-term stay (you can renew your visa easily by taking a 5hr bus ride to the Myanmar border).?

It is said that one man's terrorist is another's freedom fighter. Is taking up arms spiritual? Depends which side of that equation you are on. Does it make you a better person? Anything that engages us completely is a transformative experience, which is why the samurai took so readily to Zen, understanding the power of having "one mind." Most modern FMA is taught in a niche of "practicality" but anyone who undertakes a process of change experiences it inwardly as well. The old manongs would sometimes hold their hand over the head of a prospective student to see if they were too "hot-headed" to be trusted with deadly knowledge. They were concerned with the character of their students just as many of us are today.

 Thankyou for broaching the subject of ethics.

 Is measuring the character of the student still a necessity? 

 What ethical considerations are there for teaching (or as Bapak remarked, "selling")  techniques via DVDs?

 The samurai, I understand, practiced zen in the pursuit of dissipating fear and hesitation: In their minds, life and death were one. This world is only transitory and to die in service of their lord was the noblest thing. The kamikaze pilots of WWII carried on this tradition and it is also the tradition (martydom) of our current enemies in the Middle East.

 These mental/spiritual themes are seldom expressed or explored openly in the u.s.  ... are they a necessary component ... if nothing eslse, as a cultural footnote?   

 
 
 

 

 



   
 

? "Absorb what is useful, disregard that which is useless"
? "Smuggling concepts across the frontiers of style."

 In this thread I would like to address the impact of the above statements on traditionalism in the martial arts. In particular:
 
How do practicioners/teachers (i'm just a student) reconcile the statements above in regards to the culture they are 'borrowing' , 'adapting' , and 'smuggling' ( ) from. ex. I find culture facinating and though i am a big fan of NHB/MMA style martial arts and i want to train in a proven and effective martial art, I find myself bored with NHB/MMA because it's very one-dimensional (just technique and sparring). On the other hand, i find myself recently drawn to traditional martial arts (pencak silat)? because they have a have a history, they come from exotic places, and have many different aspects (self defense, dance/performance/music, spirituality) i can explore. In addition i feel like an anthropologist in that i'm preserving valuable information that's in danger of going extinct. Now I'm living in Indonesia and studying silat here....It's a real adventure


? *Does anyone study the culture from where (insert martial art) comes from? or.... Is culture useless?

 * If you profit from the knowledge of a certain culture (financially as in operating a m.a. school)? do you feel you owe something to the country of origin and it's people (and your instructors)??

? *How much of the native culture (predominantly South East Asian i presume for this forum) do you include in your class? (terminology, salutations, jurus, music, art, spirituality, unique weapons, etc..). Do you consider these aspects important to your class?

 * For those who have had training in the country of origin,? do you teach/ train in the same way you were instructed? What do you do differently?

? * The goal of the JKD and Dog Brothers is growth and evolution. But what are we leaving behind? I mean, if a certain style of silat has 12 jurus and I decide only jurus 6-12 are useful so I discard the rest, what are the consequences? What if my teacher is the last representative of that particular style and i am his only student.. will jurus 1-5 will be gone forever? Just because i don't see application in those movements doesn't mean it isnt' there; it might be useful to someone else...... is there something you regret leaving out?

? These questions came up as i was discussing pencak silat with a very well travelled and well spoken silat teacher here in Indonesia. He's not very happy with the "commercialization" of p.s. in America:? ?he feels that we Americans are just "selling techniques" and in the worst cases using patents to "steal" a martial art (smuggle?) and keep it for ourselves.

 I apologize in advance for touching any nerves, I wish i could have organized my thoughts better before posting this thread. Look forward to replies,
thx