The Arts
What Wu Gong Teaches in a Person
Morality
To understand Wu Gong, one must understand the moral teachings that underlie it. Students of Wu Gong, especially Martial Arts of all styles, must take time to contemplate and understand the great responsibility it is to have such knowledge.
Since Wu Gong is so powerful, personal conduct and good character are of great importance. There are strict rules for students to follow. The most important is: Never hit anyone, never start a fight and avoid fighting to the best of your ability. (If someone wants to fight you, invite them for a cup of tea or coffee.) Always have control over one’s personal anger. Never practice Wu Gong in anger. Instead, relax and do something else that is calming until the anger subsides, then when the emotions have calmed down and you have a peace of mind, it is time to practice again.
Humans are unique. We have marvelous achievements we attribute to our moral understanding. And at the same time, many of the great evils that plague us we attribute to the breakdown of morality. Books have been written to teach morality. Books have been written to teach us how to live. Throughout history, there have been wars and mass killings because of different ideas different books teach and mob intolerance. But the strangest thing is, these books basically teach the same lessons: a meaning of morality and how to conduct oneself in society. In a broad sense, they are not all that different from one other. It is important to stick to the overall idea that will always remain the same: be a good person, which Wu Gong teaches.
A martial artist must realize the importance of leading a moral life. Immoral martial artists (hateful people who learn how to fight and enjoy harming others) do not really practice Wu Gong. They are simply violent. These people do not live according to what Wu Gong teaches. Wu Gong is meant to be a sacred teaching and must not be taken for granted. The Martial Arts are not simply fighting skills; they are a way of thinking and a way of living a life. This is why Masters have to choose students who are morally grounded.
Humility
Humility is an essential part of moral living. In the world of Wu Gong, there will always be someone better. One will find very powerful and knowledgeable Masters, but there will always be someone better. I am not suggesting that we look ceaselessly for the best, but to remember to remain humble. Humility is as important as being powerful.
Arrogance opposes humility, and is always harmful not only to other people, but also to oneself. “The higher you are, the harder you fall.” When a person starts to think too highly of him or her self, there will be more desire to be the best, to be superior. This attitude is not what a master should seek in a student. A student should be confident, but not arrogant. Confidence will take you far, but arrogance will drag you down and prevent improvement.
A person must be humble to know there is always more to learn. One can always find others who are more powerful, or more knowledgeable, or wiser. Being humble always allows one to learn from everyone, everything and every experience. We can learn from the smartest of people, from the less gifted, and even the purposeful stupid (smart people doing stupid things for the sake of doing something stupid). Everybody sees the world in a different light. This open mindedness allows for one’s perspective of life to grow. Practicing Wu Gong is one road to meet the goal of a better life for yourself and everyone else.
Life is full of beauty, and when a beauty dies, we all lose, and for the generations to come will never understand what that beauty meant because the people of today destroyed it. We want to be moral and humble because we ought not to challenge the beauty of life. We do not challenge certain things because there is no need to. To get closer means to cherish it, and naturally our goals will be met.
Virtue
Morality and humility is only part of how to be a person. Strength of mind is the key element to teach someone to how to be a person. These combine to make virtue. However, virtue has its complexities. There is black and white with perfection, and the big grey area in which the rest of humanity lives. Virtue is the gift of learning how to navigate through the confusing world.
The Daoist sage, Lao Zi, said it right in the “Dao De Jing” Chapter 38: “Shang de bu de, shi yi you de; xia de bu shi de, shi yi wu de.” The highest virtue is of no virtue, but in fact has virtue; the lowest virtue isn’t lost virtue, it is without virtue. I translate that to mean: when a person understands, or is of the highest virtue, he or she seems to have no virtue, so therefore has virtue. When a person has low (acts as if he or she has) virtue hasn’t lost virtue, the person never had virtue in the first place. Simply put, don’t try to be virtuous, just be virtuous. A person who understands virtue just needs to follow his or her heart. No one has to teach him or her how to act. This kind of virtue is the purest in form. Yoda said “do or do not; there is no try”. 'Trying' to be virtuous means that the logic side of the brain is solving a problem when following your heart is the right way. People trying to be virtuous become self-righteous. The truly virtuous person does not need to study virtue and its principles because it is in his or her heart. The rules that guide people into understanding virtue are general guidelines that can change with every situation.
Confident
There are two words I get upset at when my students say it: “I can’t.” I read a quote that I truly enjoy, but I’m not sure who said it, “Never tell me the sky is the limit when there are footprints on the moon.” Confidence is being self-assured. This means that a person believes in him or her self. I cannot explain completely what it truly means because everyone sees this concept differently. However, this is what it means to me: Confidence means rising above challenges. Confidence means knowing that obstacles, difficulty, and hardship are only things that get in the way, but there is always many ways around them and success is at their footsteps. Confidence is being positive in the worst of times. Confidence means determination, yet knowing when to quit and try something else and not becoming depressed. Confidence means staying cool-headed in any situation. Confidence is having a healthy mind and body. Confidence is keeping poise. Confidence is loyalty to oneself. Confidence is the means to success. There is a healthy level of confidence. If people are not careful, too much of it may lead to arrogance. In the philosophy of yin/yang, when one goes to the extreme, the other begins. So too much confidence, or arrogance, often leads to when there is a failure, it breaks the person. Therefore in every confident person, there is a healthy amount of humility.
Focus
Focus and or concentration are actually one of the greatest challenges a person faces. Learning Wu Gong teaches how to focus, calm the mind, and allows a person to become aware of what is happening by quieting the chit chatting brain of ours. It takes a while to learn, but what we are doing is learning to basically break an old habit and create a new one. We are learning to leave a comfort zone, even though it creates problems for us, and go to a new one. Children need to learn how to focus, and then they will take it with them for the rest of their lives. Adults may think that they are too old to learn new things. “Can’t teach old dogs new tricks” is an attitude that holds back progress. Anyone at any age can learn new things, only by doing it will one learn.
There are some amazing things that can happen when people focus. Some may even seem impossible, but again, “never tell me the sky is the limit when there are footprints on the moon”.
Unable to focus makes us in some ways miserable. “I can’t think strait!” “I know the answer but I can’t think of it now!” “I can’t focus because I am too stressed out!” This leads me to relaxing.
Relaxation
If everyone were to learn how to relax, I personally believe that 80% of all illnesses will go away and we could die at a ripe old age. We are supposed to live to 120 years old. But with the amount of stress we put on our minds and on our bodies degrade us faster than we should. Stress is a pressure cooker and if we don’t learn to keep the flame low or even off, we will either hurt other people that we love, or destroy ourselves. Relaxing also allow for the light in our mind to shine bright. With a cluttered mind, it is like a really cloudy day and we can see some, but the true light that we can have of intelligence, peace, health, wisdom, and harmony is always clouded. Without relaxing we make life hard for ourselves and for everyone around us. This is not fair to ourselves and the people we love.