chimerical tortoise wrote:You used to post like an enthusiast rather than someone who is evidently only on RSF now to pump up internet traffic for your products... I might not agree with you very often but I respected that enthusiast for his idealism and eagerness to learn. Now you only post to self-advertise.
Please refrain from not telling the truth.
During the past few weeks I have created three threads on this forum.
One of which, pertains to my book, and is before you.
Another, details the joyous occasion of two large martial arts organizations and systems coming together and my support of it.
http://rumsoakedfist.org/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=26547&sid=5949bbda87d4106acbf3241ad6bf012c
A third, is a positive review I have written for another teacher's DVD.
http://rumsoakedfist.org/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=26546&sid=5949bbda87d4106acbf3241ad6bf012c
Only the first one I mentioned among these directly promotes the sale of my written materials. The rest are in fact my appreciation of other people's work, from which I yield absolutely no benefits. I make no money from shifu Joshua Viney's DVD sales. I have never even spoken with shifu Viney, but have corresponded with a student of his. I have no direct financial or official affiliation with either master Sam Chin or master Keith Kernspecht. The first among these two gentlemen I have never even met, and the second one is a friend of mine - no more. I never practiced any of their martial arts or studied under them. Likewise, on my book's facebook page, I have for years now been posting mostly videos and articles by other people, most of whom I have never spoken with or relate to. I simply appreciate what they do.
Confucius said: "When you see a virtuous person (Junzi), aspire to be like him. When you see he who is not virtuous, examine yourself".
This thread here has been occupied with much criticism. Not only do I lack any criticism towards anyone here, but I have actively engaged in showing appreciation towards others instead in other recent threads. We shall all have a better community at large if we focused more on the positive.
Let me tell you friends, about one thing I observed in master Kernspecht while I spent time with him. He always showed appreciation for the people he liked. He was consumed with helping others. The majority of his time was spent on projects or actions which were intended to benefit other people. I was humbled by this. A man with an organization numbering dozens of thousands, and he still finds time for this. It is a pity that you cannot see, how highly he speaks of master Sam, whom he considers as family. How much praise he has for him and for other people. It then struck me, you see, that this is a big part of his great success in life, which is undeniable - his appreciation of others. All the while, I have never experienced benefits or opportunities jumping at my direction by doing the opposite - criticizing people.
My book concerns these moral issues, and others too. As a teacher I have not the privilege of waging opinion wars with strangers and publicly proclaiming others to not know what they are talking about. What will my students think or say, if they see that their teacher goes about telling others publicly, that their DVDs are worthless or that they should not be teaching this or that? Is this something I want my students to learn from me? A way for them to behave? Or do I wish for them to be more respectful of other people's honest attempts to make a living?
These notions are at the core of my new book, The Martial Arts Teacher. A good teacher has to lead by example. This means that you cannot live by ordinary standards, but rise above what others might consider 'reasonable'. Thus, I return to the previous quote by Confucius: "When you see a virtuous person (Junzi), aspire to be like him. When you see he who is not virtuous, examine yourself". When I see a person such as master Kernspecht, I aspire to imitate his moral integrity and manner of teaching and handling his schools. When I see people who are impolite towards me and disrespect my work, I examine myself. Rather than simply 'not be like them', I see in me the times and place when I did act like them. Which I did in the past, regrettably. Therefore, there is no reason for me to be angry, but rather show understanding. We cannot all appreciate. Sometimes we feel an urge to lash out and attack, even when unprovoked, because we have an inner desire to express something. That is alright. I understand everyone who have written on this thread. I forgive everyone who may have been unkind towards me, as I had to forgive myself for acting in similar ways in the past and having had to ask of forgiveness from others whom I treated badly.
We are all biased, yes? I have my opinions of other people, their writing and their gongfu as well. Sometimes, my opinions are rather harsh. But, I nowadays refrain from using the public sphere in order to express such opinions. Especially as teachers, criticizing others in the public sphere is:
- Bad Karma.
- Lack of Wu De.
- Usually without provocation, so unnecessary.
- An invitation for another to act in the same manner in the future.
- A act possibly hurting another person's income (and you never know another's financial situation).
I remember, some 5 years ago I had been critical towards master Chen Zhonghua on this forum. Master Chen was interviewed for my first book, Research of Martial Arts. Nonetheless, I wrote on this forum that I thought of some claim of his concerning a practice method, that "while I respect him a lot, I believe this specific claim is bullshit". Later I received an email from him explaining politely why he believes I was mistaken, with proof to his claim. I felt deeply ashamed. Not only was I wrong about what I had written, it was an ungrateful and dishonorable thing to do in the public sphere. Immediately recognizing my lack of personal integrity in this particular matter, I hurried to publish a public apology to master Chen on the forum. It was well-received. Master Chen, a very kind gentleman, was appreciative of my public apology and my willingness to admit my wrongdoings. He in turn return a favour, by inviting me to spend two and a half weeks with him at his school in China, which is located at the mountaintop of Da Qing Shan in the Shandong region. In so doing we struck a friendship, and master Chen opened my eyes and gongfu to a whole new world of possibilities. I was eternally thankful to him for his kindness and have since gone out of my way to demonstrate my appreciation of his teachings. This too had taught me, that there is far more to gain in life by appreciating other people, than criticizing them.
Another person who has been an inspiration to me in that respect is my friend, Dr. Gary Stier. I know for a fact that he has suffered far worse difficulties and challenges in life than most people will ever have to deal with. Nonetheless, I have witnessed him for years speaking only praises of others and the world at large, always conveying a positive spirit and attitude. Those among you who have him as a facebook friend can attest to the fact that he is working every day and has done much spread this cheerfulness and happiness among others.
I call once discussing another teacher with Dr. Stier privately. I was skeptical of some of the things the other teacher has been claiming and expressed my frustration of it, for I thought that teacher might be using false arguments to promote himself. Wise Dr. Stier then helped me see that there was no reason to be upset. Said teacher was successful, did good for other people, and what he was teaching was effective and useful. Then why did it matter whether I agreed or disagreed perhaps with some of his claims, when in fact that teacher was doing very good things in the world? That conversation, too, helped me change my perspective. As Dr. Stier always tells me: "It's all good".
Look around you at the martial arts community at large, and you too will notice that the most successful people (subjectively speaking) - those who have achieved through their martial arts careers all that they wanted - were most commonly the people who knew how to appreciate others and refrain from criticizing others necessarily. That is not a coincidence.