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Old 01-04-2011, 03:31 PM   #14
Mike Sigman
Location: Durango, CO
Join Date: Feb 2005
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Re: Kung Fu for Philosophers

Quote:
Thomas Campbell wrote: View Post
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.
Yeah, like I said, it's a good anecdote. Problem is, I am neutrally wary of doing much more than reading a lot of Hong's stuff because I'm not sure how true it is, how accurate, and so forth. Chen FaKe had a number of students in Beijing that all claimed to be (for various reasons) the only true vessel of real Taiji left on the face of the earth after FaKe Lao died. The two big-name players of that game are Hong JunSheng and Feng ZhiQiang. There are some pretty big holes in their claims that I'm aware of, but I just see it as politics that there is no need for me to be involved in and I let it go. I.e., I take stories from Hong and Feng about Chen FaKe with a neutral grain of salt. It's still a great anecdote, though, true, embellished, or not.

Mike Sigman
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