When you come to the dojo, it is a recognition
the teacher there has something you want. He will give it to you in his own
way. You must accept that. If you do not, you are free to leave. The dojo,
however, is never run by consensus.
(Dave Lowry)
Sensei/sifu?
A martial arts class is not the same as a
night school course at college.
The situation is quite different, and so is the teacher:
The image, the reality
(i) The image
We mix the avuncular Mr Miyagi of the Karate Kid
fame with a smattering of the late actor Toshiro Mifune's phlegmatic and
taciturn personality. Then add a dollop of the quirky, diminutive Jedi Master
Yoda. Season well with the aphoristic wisdom of the Shaolin masters of the old
Kung Fu TV series. And distilled, we might have a result: the perfect sensei -
at least as envisioned by those who have scant exposure to the real thing.
In reality, the true sensei has perhaps a smattering of those stereotypical
images. More likely, he is distinguished more by his ordinariness than anything
else. He tends, when not actually teaching, to blend in. And even when teaching,
his manner is more apt to be understated than dramatic, gently guiding; always
subtle rather than nakedly charismatic.
(Dave Lowry)
Dave Lowry's book In The Dojo is an excellent read for
anyone wanting more information concerning martial arts etiquette, the role of
the teacher and the duties of the student.
(ii) The reality
The role of the teacher in a martial arts class is crucial.
In addition to teaching the class, they often write the syllabus, run the school
and decide how to approach the art.
Their personality is imprinted on everything they do.
Unlike a school teacher - who implements someone else's curriculum and follows
someone else's rules - a martial arts teacher is more like the captain of a
ship.
▲
Definition
The term 'sifu' is similar in some ways to the Japanese title 'sensei'.
A sensei is a black belt exponent of at least 3rd
dan (sandan).
Sensei teaches the class.
Sifu is pronounced 'seefoo' in Cantonese
and 'shihfu' in Mandarin.
It means teacher/master/chief instructor.
Sifu is the correct form of address when talking to the founder of a
tai chi school.
What sifu is not...
A martial arts teacher is unlike a school teacher or a university
lecturer.
Your tai chi
sifu is not:
a celebrity
a coach
a counsellor
a guru
a keep fit instructor
a medical practitioner
a monk/priest
an on-line chatroom buddy
your parent
a performance artist
a personal trainer
a therapist
It is important to be clear about
the role played by the martial arts teacher.
If you need counselling, please see a counsellor.
If you have medical problems, you should see a doctor.
Be clear about what your martial arts teacher is offering.
It will help you to make the most of the class.
Authority in martial arts
(i) Business
Martial arts have always been taught
for money.
The teacher needs a certain income to sustain the school, pay hall rental
and their own fees.
Some people teach part-time whilst others teach professionally.
Typically a teacher founds a school or is appointed by a governing body or
a chief instructor.
The teacher has a lot of responsibilities.
It is important to respect that the teacher is running a small business.
(ii) Hierarchy
In terms of the class and all things pertaining to the class, the teacher
must have absolute authority.
You cannot run a martial arts class by consensus.
Despite this, you (the student) must decide to what extent you are prepared
to accept this authority.
If you wish to remain in the class, then you must accept it unconditionally.
If you are unwilling to acknowledge the worth of the teacher, then you
should leave.
▲
Responsibility
Being sifu is all about responsibility.
The role of teacher demands a very serious dedication to the art and an ongoing
commitment to the students.
A martial arts class needs to have clear boundaries
and a code of conduct.
Sifu is the person who ensures that these are adhered to.
They are also responsible for delivering the syllabus.
In some cases, sifu may have written much of the syllabus themselves.
▲
Practical
A sifu must be capable of doing/applying all aspects of the art taught in the
classes.
Their skills must transcend those of every student in the school.
Theoretic knowledge is not acceptable.
▲
The challenge
It is not easy to teach something as complex as tai chi.
The classes are in flux.
Students are changing constantly.
People make progress or they struggle.
Unfamiliar material must be introduced and explored.
Different approaches and considerations need to be practiced.
Everything being taught is provisional.
As students grow and change, their understanding and ability to comprehend
alters too.
The budo,
practiced correctly as they were meant to be, will never have an enormous
following. They require a commitment and a willingness to endure boredom,
repetition, and a constant criticism that are not in tune with modern life.
(Dave Lowry)
Students
Everyone is different.
Everyone has their own agenda.
Some people are easy to work with, whilst others are not.
One student may try hard but continually fail.
Another might be totally lazy but have a knack for the art.
Occasionally, a student neglects their training and blames the teacher for their lack of
progress.
A teacher must find a way to help everyone fulfil their potential.
▲
Sifu
Being sifu is about helping students to access the art.
It is not an ego-trip. It is not always fun.
But it is something worth doing.
When a student 'gets it' and their face lights up with wonder, the effort is
rewarded.
▲
Read some Lowry
We highly recommend Dave Lowry's marvellous books: Brush and
Sword, Traditions, In the Dojo and Moving Towards Stillness.
He discusses the role of sensei (the Japanese equivalent of sifu) in depth:
The sensei is not a therapist. The goal of the dojo
is to make healthy people healthier, physically and psychologically and
spiritually. It cannot be expected to repair badly damaged human beings. And so
if a member exhibits serious personal problems, the sensei's job is to get rid
of him, gracefully if possible, forcefully and definitively if necessary.
(Dave Lowry)
Like any intricate or complicated art, budo has so many subtleties, so many
individualised manifestations, that there is no way it can be taught through
books or video or through a teacher standing at the front of a big hall and
counting movements like a drill sergeant. The relationship must be immediate, at
least for those practitioners seeking to move further along the way than just
the first steps.
(Dave Lowry)
There have always been individuals in Japan's budo willing to undertake this
task, no matter how arduous and often thankless it is.
(Dave Lowry)
My own thinking is that a sensei is very much like another kind of person who is
responsible for important matters. A person who, like the sensei seems to be
from another age, a person of rare and unique gifts. The sensei, it seems to me,
is very much like a vintner.
A vintner is the person who produces wine. He is the one who is responsible for
it, from the planting of the grape vines, all the way until the raw wine is
poured into casks to age. The vintner is the talented individual who can look at
a particular hillside or a handful of soil and can tell you which kinds of
grapes will grow best there, what kind of yield you can expect. He knows when
the grapes need to be pruned. He makes vital decisions throughout the growing
season, to fertilize, to spray for bugs. He must decide when to pick them in the
fall, to wait for a few more days to let them fully ripen or to pick now and
beat out the rain that can adversely affect the whole harvest.
The vintner is responsible for the blend of grapes that go into fermentation
tanks. He must add the sugars if they're needed, to begin the fermentation
process. In short, he is the guy responsible for the wine from the time the
grape vines are planted or bud out, until the moment the wine is on its own, so
to speak, when it has been put in casks and must now age and develop according
to the qualities inherent in it.
Doesn't this sound very much like the sensei's task? He is the person
responsible for a student, from the time that student enters the training hall
until the crucial period of the training process has been completed. The sensei
is a person, then, in my estimation, who can take a person of raw and unknown
potential and turn out a complete and worthwhile product. He can oversee the
process from beginning to end.
(Dave Lowry)
Page created 16 April 1999