From: carney@rocky.rational.com (Mike Carney)
Subject: Re: Badass Karate (-Do?)
Organization: Rational, Santa Clara, CA
	<25507@sybase.sybase.com> <74160@apple.apple.COM>
	<CARNEY.92Nov10162131@rocky.rational.com>
Date: Wed, 11 Nov 1992 16:59:14 GMT

In article <CARNEY.92Nov10162131@rocky.rational.com> carney@rocky.rational.com (Mike Carney) writes:

> In article <74160@apple.apple.COM> mikel@Apple.COM (Mikel Evins) writes:
> > In article <25507@sybase.sybase.com> thorick@sybase.com (Thorick Chow) writes:
> > >I've sometimes wondered why he didn't try full-time teaching of MA
> > >for a living.  One thing that comes to mind is that by NOT depending
> > >on it for a living, he could do and teach exactly as he saw fit
> > >without worrying about getting or retaining the number of students
> > >necessary to make a living at it (though I think he usually had
> > >enough students that he could have gotten by)..   i.e. he didn't
> > >have to 'sell out' or commercialize (read 'cheapen' to the purist)...
> > 
> > There are bad people both in and out of commercial schools,
> > and there are good people both in and out of commercial schools.
> > 
> > One can argue that, if a person is teaching without a fee,
> > or is not running a commercial school, that he or she must
> > be teaching from noble motives, but that is a specious
> > argument. After all, greed is not the only ignoble motivation
> > that people might have for doing something.
> 
> On the other hand...
> 
> I'm kind of new to martial arts (been studying for about 2 years now).
> I study a style called Cuong Nhu (vietnamese for Hard/Soft). The style
> was founded around 1965 by Master Ngo Dong, and is based on techniques
> from seven other styles that he mastered:
                                  ^^^^^^^^ 
>         Shotokan
>         Vovinam
>         Boxing
>         Wing Chun
>         Judo
>         Aikido
>         Tai Chi
> etc.

Well, I'm the original poster of this, and I received a piece of mail
reminding me how difficult it is to *master* any art, let alone 7 of
them. So, before I get flamed (which I imagine is quite likely), let
me relate the story as it comes out of the _Cuong Nhu Instruction
Manual_:

"Master Dong's history as a martial artist goes back to his youth,
where he learned how to defend himself against small-time hustlers and
professional street fighters. Early in school, Master Dong learned and
practiced Vovinam, the Vietnamese martial art, as did most of his
contemporaries. His childhood background in Vovinam was supplemented
by training in Wing Chun prior to moving to Hue in 1956. There he
began intensive training under a Japanese military captain, Choji
Suzuki, who had remained in Viet Nam following World War II.

"After years of hard training and earning a fourth degree balck belt
in Shotokan karate, Master Dong discovered aikido. He learned the
newest of martial arts from Ernie Cates, and American lieutenant
stationed in Viet Nam who had been a member of the U.S. Olympic judo
team in 1960. In aikido, he found that the spiritual emphasis on Ki
and its application of inner sources of universal strength enabled
even the smallest person to overcome the brute force of the most
formidable opponent. He also found the instruction to be geared toward
building the students' moral character. During this time he earned a
black belt in Judo. He did not abandon Shototkan, however, but
modified and combined its techniques with the soft styles he had
learned and named his new martial art Cuong Nhu."

I'm sorry if I offended any practitioners of the arts I listed in my
original posting.

Anyway, the purpose of the original post was to show that it is
possible to find good martial arts training outside of a commercial
school, not to show that "my art is better than your art", or "my
master is better than your master". IMHO, there is no best
art, or worst art. To quote again from the _Cuong Nhu Instruction
Manual_:

"I respect other styles and use martial arts only to defend myself and
help others. Have harmony with others in the martial arts. If you like
some styles but reject others, you cannot keep a balance in your
attitude toward, and application of, the Code of Ethics [described
earlier in the manual]."

I hope this clears things up. And thanks to whoever it was that
pointed out the flaws in my original posting (I forget his/her name).
--
 ____________________________________________
|                        _   _   _+          |
|   Michael D. Carney   /_`-'_`-'_|  \+/     |
|   carney@rational.com \_`M'_`C'_| _<=>_    |                      
|                         `-' `-' 0/ .[\ ]   |
|   "Remember...                  \/[.[\\]   |
|    no matter where you          | /_\_\/   |
|    go, there you are" -B.B      | [] []    |
|_________________________________|_d]_[b____|