Quote:
Mike Sigman wrote:
I've posted the same anecdote before on AikiWeb... maybe twice... but I'm not sure it's particulalry relevant, although it's a great anecdote.
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Sorry, I ran out of time before to post why I included that story. I only meant to refer to the student observer (Hong Junsheng) not being able to understand the nature of what had transpired between his teacher Chen Fake and the wrestler Shen San. Hong seems to have been expecting the "exchange of skill" to be a dramatic match with throws, etc. This in turn was in reference to my (self-)admonition for an observer/interpreter of such a martial exchange (whether push-hands, demonstration of application or specific moment in a fight) to be aware of his/her own limitations to understand/interpret/judge what is observed.
Clinicism applied to the observer as well as to the observed.
The anecdote has been online for at least 8 or 10 years. Chen Zhonghua seems to have included the translation in order to illustrate the "moral virtue" of Chen Fake, his grandteacher.