The idea of Wu De is of the most profound meaning in Martial Arts training. Without Wu De, a person cannot be said to be the highest representative of a traditional Chinese Art. Meaning "Martial Morality", the concept is often interwoven into the Master-student relationship in China, and is rare to find anywhere. Because the testing of a student's character can be a long, arduous journey, few Teachers attempt it nowadays. Students are often impatient, wanting fast results and if they are not raised to believe Wu De is the most worthwhile aspect of training-they will run off to the next thing. This has lead to some watering down of the arts, or fast teaching for the sake of keeping a student happy. Finally, and perhaps the worst difficulty of all, is that the modern day Teachers themselves were not taught Wu De. The Teachers themselves do not truly practice discipline inside their hearts, so there is no ability to pass it on. And so slowly, the traditional arts are dying.
THE HEART OF WU DE
Humbleness -This means to work on the ego,and use the teachings to free yourself of arrogance and self doubt. If you think you know better than your Teacher, why do you have a Teacher? If you think you don't need a Teacher, why are you so special?
Respect - To genuinely respect does not mean to fake the etiquette-but to have respect in your heart. If you don't have it, learn what it truly is and practice it inside yourself. One of the fastest ways to learn respect is to practice GRATITUDE for even the smallest things. And it is important to respect oneself, otherwise you cannot understand how to respect others.
Patience - the true test of patience is years down the road, can you still apply the teachings? Can you still keep improving?
Diligence - This means to apply vigor, not to get lazy and self satisfied. Even when you know your Teacher and school well, do you just lay back and coast? Each meeting, each class, each day Wu De teaches us to renew our commitment and to truly pay attention.
Personal Responsibility - Don't blame others. Work on yourself. Don't say "I can't do better because..." You can do better, you can change your life, you can work toward making improvements. Don't blame your life or your environment or other people for your shortcomings. This is a true Martial Artist.
Honor - We know what honor is. But to behave, think and speak honorably. This is the way of Wu De.
Loyalty - Loyalty not only to emotional love, but to propriety. Set aside your personal fears, desires and ignorance to be loyal to doing what is right. No matter how difficult.
Personal discipline & Virtue - This means to cultivate good habits. Wu De, means Martial Morality. You cannot have Martial Morality if you are good in class, but outside you have all sorts of bad habits. Work hard to change them. Your teacher should be able to help you with that. Personal discipline is about using the truth of the teachings in your daily life. From washing your own dishes, to paying your bills, to being polite and self aware-its all self discipline. Purifying your mind, speech and body is an even higher level of Virtue.
Righteousness - Learning what is right firstly, then understanding what is right, then DOING what is right is the way to practice righteousness.
Courage - Without courage, to practice the tenants of Wu De would be next to impossible. Practicing correctly brings honor, respect and happiness to your life. But at first, to overcome the difficulties of practice will take much courage.
Respect - To genuinely respect does not mean to fake the etiquette-but to have respect in your heart. If you don't have it, learn what it truly is and practice it inside yourself. One of the fastest ways to learn respect is to practice GRATITUDE for even the smallest things. And it is important to respect oneself, otherwise you cannot understand how to respect others.
Patience - the true test of patience is years down the road, can you still apply the teachings? Can you still keep improving?
Diligence - This means to apply vigor, not to get lazy and self satisfied. Even when you know your Teacher and school well, do you just lay back and coast? Each meeting, each class, each day Wu De teaches us to renew our commitment and to truly pay attention.
Personal Responsibility - Don't blame others. Work on yourself. Don't say "I can't do better because..." You can do better, you can change your life, you can work toward making improvements. Don't blame your life or your environment or other people for your shortcomings. This is a true Martial Artist.
Honor - We know what honor is. But to behave, think and speak honorably. This is the way of Wu De.
Loyalty - Loyalty not only to emotional love, but to propriety. Set aside your personal fears, desires and ignorance to be loyal to doing what is right. No matter how difficult.
Personal discipline & Virtue - This means to cultivate good habits. Wu De, means Martial Morality. You cannot have Martial Morality if you are good in class, but outside you have all sorts of bad habits. Work hard to change them. Your teacher should be able to help you with that. Personal discipline is about using the truth of the teachings in your daily life. From washing your own dishes, to paying your bills, to being polite and self aware-its all self discipline. Purifying your mind, speech and body is an even higher level of Virtue.
Righteousness - Learning what is right firstly, then understanding what is right, then DOING what is right is the way to practice righteousness.
Courage - Without courage, to practice the tenants of Wu De would be next to impossible. Practicing correctly brings honor, respect and happiness to your life. But at first, to overcome the difficulties of practice will take much courage.
WHERE TO START LEARNING HOW TO PRACTICE WU DE?
At Gold Summit, we have a CODE OF CONDUCT for the Institute for everyone who is a member. This is the starting point for a little bit of discipline. Aspects such as clean uniform, saying hello to the Instructors and good effort in class are included. Before Wu De can be understood, learning the etiquette is truly important.
Wu De is taught as part of the fundamental training. The philosophy of training the mind, correcting the habits and the ways of communicating are part of the training. HOW TO BE A GOOD STUDENT, is something that a lot of westerners have to actually learn, as not all of us were taught this in our lives. Teachers are not people that we truly value in American society, especially. So we teach this aspect in order to help preserve the sacred relationship between Teacher and Student, which has gone so awry in modern day.
One step further, is the CODE OF DISCIPLINE that is a guide to serious minded practitioners and to those who are learning beyond the fundamentals. This is the depth of Wu De and using the Code of Discipline teaches the way in which to PRACTICE Wu De. Gold Summit Assistant Instructors and Instructors are expected to follow and practice the Code of Discipline in their lives, as we are mentors to the community. No one is perfect, but we should be ever striving to correct ourselves and raise ourselves up. Any student who wishes to learn deeply, would practice the Code of Discipline.
Wu De is taught as part of the fundamental training. The philosophy of training the mind, correcting the habits and the ways of communicating are part of the training. HOW TO BE A GOOD STUDENT, is something that a lot of westerners have to actually learn, as not all of us were taught this in our lives. Teachers are not people that we truly value in American society, especially. So we teach this aspect in order to help preserve the sacred relationship between Teacher and Student, which has gone so awry in modern day.
One step further, is the CODE OF DISCIPLINE that is a guide to serious minded practitioners and to those who are learning beyond the fundamentals. This is the depth of Wu De and using the Code of Discipline teaches the way in which to PRACTICE Wu De. Gold Summit Assistant Instructors and Instructors are expected to follow and practice the Code of Discipline in their lives, as we are mentors to the community. No one is perfect, but we should be ever striving to correct ourselves and raise ourselves up. Any student who wishes to learn deeply, would practice the Code of Discipline.
