PROTECTORS OF VARIOUS ARTS
The Shaolin Monastery
When I was teaching at Shaolin Wahnam Association, the forerunner of our school, I had 3 levels of attainment, which were the levels of practitioners, of researchers, and of protectors, which are known in Chinese (Cantonese) as “harng che”, “chun sau” and “wu fatt”. They correspond to the attainment of bachelor, master and doctor degrees at universities. At the Shaolin Monastery in the past, there were “wu fatt” or protectors of various arts, like Lohan Kungfu, tiger claw and dim mark.
At the recent UK Summer Camp 2017, this topic was discussed again with Tim and Angel. I believe we can have these three levels of attainment in our school.
A practitioner is one who has successfully completed the 12 levels of our arts. Please see Shaolin Kungfu Training Programme and Wahnam Taijiquan Training Programme for details. The attaiinmentt of any one of these two training programmes fulfills the basic requirement of being called a practitioner. In other words, to be worthy to be called a Shaolin or Taijiquan practitioner, one must be able to accomplish the requirement in one of these two programmes. Practitioners are automatically promoted for those who have successfully completed our basic training programmes.
Many of our instructors, unfortunately, have not completed the requirements of the basic level, though they may be accomplished in other fields. In 2009 I conducted a course to fill the gaps of these requirements, with special emphasis on single unarmed against multiple unarmed, and single unarmed against multiple armed. As the response was not particularly overwhelming, I discontinued offering the course. But I may offer the course again, hopefully in 2018, so that we can start appointing protectors for our various arts.
A researcher is a practitioner who has successfully researched into a chosen art, like Five-Animal Set, no-shadow kicks, and chin-na. He should publish, like on the internet, at least one paper, or a series of papers, on his chosen topic, and must reach a reasonably high standard. Researchers are confirmed by me.
A protector must be of honorable character, has reached a high level of kungfu performance and be knowledgeable in his (or her) chosen art. He is an authority of his art, and protects it for posterity. All students of our school, and hopefully of other schools, will refer to him if they have any question or doubt concerning the art. A master in our school will be a protector for only one art. All protectors of various arts will be appointed by me.
Grandmaster Wong Kiew Kit
Sungai Petani, 23rd June 2017.