MY OWN STYLE
All kungfu patterns, including those which appear flowery, have combative functions. This Shaolin pattern, called “Double Dragons Carry Pearl”, for example, is a deadly technique in the hands of a genuine kungfu exponent
Question
I have been developing my own style for quite some time now. It is not really a style in the traditional sense, but a compilation of techniques, strategies and tactics that I have found useful that I have picked up over time sparring with others and learning with others.
-- Phil, USA
Answer
You do so because you have not experienced any art to any depth. You merely scratch its surface but think that is all the art can offer.
A traditional art has been developed by masters over many centuries. No matter how smart you are, you would not be smarter than generations of masters put together. Most probably you are not even half as good as an average student of the art.
For example, no matter how smart you are, it is most unlikely for you to discover from your own and your friends' experiences that by remaining stationary at one poise you can develop internal force, by performing certain movements you can generate an internal energy flow, or by regulating your breathing you can spar for a few hours without being tired. Yet, students at my intensive courses not only learn these abilities but actually are able to do them within a few days.
Was I that smart to discover these methods myself? No, I am not so unwise to imagine myself smarter than generations of past masters put together. I am very lucky to inherit their methods and generous enough to impart them to my students.
Question
I've tried schools, but I've always felt limited by them. However, I'm also convinced that most styles contain a lot of material that does not work very well in real life situations, and that learning these excessive “flowery fists and embroidered legs” only leads to trouble in the real world.
Answer
If you are referring to kungfu or wushu schools, most schools today teach “flowery fists and embroidered legs”, which are external kungfu forms meant to please spectators but cannot be used for fighting.
If your objective were to learn beautiful forms for demonstration, you would not be able to attain a small fraction of the elegance and beauty students of these schools could perform if you experimented on your own. If your objective is fighting, you are right to say that developing your own style from your own fighting or sparring experiences, is more effective than learning from these schools.
But if students of these schools also learn to fight, although what they use in sparring is not kungfu or wushu forms but usually techniques borrowed or stolen from other martial systems, then whether your self-created style is more effective or not, depends on various factors. These factors include the amount and quality of sparring practice, experience in real-life fighting, as well as how much combatants are willing to punish themselves in taking blows.
The fault with “flowery fists and embroidered legs” is not their forms, but the inability of the practitioners to use them for combat. All traditional kungfu forms, including those that appear highly flowery, have combative functions. It is when practitioners do not know how to use them for combat but use them for demonstration, that they become “flowery fists and embroidered legs”.
The above is taken from Questions 1 and 2 of July 2003 Part 1 of the Selection of Questions and Answers.
Sifu Wong applies the pattern “Double Dragons Carry Pearl” on Mogan
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