What would you attribute the success of this teacher to reach this point.
I would say that it is very easy to convince people who havnt regularly experienced real violence or the pressures of competition that fighting skill is found in the domain of 'applications'. We see it constantly ... How many 'teachers' are regularly testing themselves with anyone but their own adoring disciples? not many ... and there in lies the biggest problem. Losing face, hierachy, traditional boundaries etc all contribute to the loss of fighting ability IMO, but they also Add the effectiveness of tricks and the illusions of skills when someone is embedded within them.
and yet everyone knows people who can make what they do work.
Work in what respect though. For those of us that have tasted the bitter of both worlds it is very hard to accept the views that the envrionent of a controlled challenge match against a skilled opponent should some how inhibit anyones skill to fight ... especially someone considered an adept. Working the doors you know the most common things i saw? Flurries of furious punching, grabbing of clothes and ground and pound. If you cant defend them in a controlled environemnt like the challenge we saw, you have little hope when you are reeling from the pre-fight build up, the adrenalin dump, the multple aggressive people in your face ...
We can talk about how such and such a master used to have challenge matches just like this one ... and beat the opponents up, but how do we really know? many here have talked of GMs who used to have a lot of fights. Yet it seems in the modern world the ability to fight with Internal Arts is extremely rare, so rare that we can never find good examples of it, so rare in fact as to make the arts dead to all but those very select few who still have 'It' (of which i know there are a few at least)
The problem here of course is that the thousands upon thousands that are still practicing these arts for fighting are convinced by the stories of the old masters besting everyone. They use those very stories to create houses of cards, concinving themselves that, outside of the limited environment of a duel, challenge or sport fight they would have the upper hand. They will not want that house of cards blown down by visiting those who test things in a free way, no matter how limited by rules. They will reject evidence presented in challenge matches like that seen here, saying its a pathetic sight with one breath ... then in the next breath quote their great GM's early challenges as reasons why their own practice is so very deadly ...
It is a very interesting phenom to observe from the outside with no fixed agenda or dog in the fight.
Really it all comes down to what are YOU (general you) doing to make your own methods as good as they can be for the goals you set for yourself. Is the preservation of tradition at the top of the list? Or fighting ability? both have a very different approach.
This guy now has the opportunity to grow dramatically from his experiance. He can take what happened to him and use it to fuel innovation and new approaches in his personal approach to Tai chi. There is no tai chi outside of the individuals practicing it, so if he makes it his own, and his goal is fighting, then more power to the guy. The nay sayers will shout "thats not Tai Chi" while he KO's them with his new found focus.
thanks.