In this series of articles I shall explore the current state of martial arts and put forward ideas and observations that hopefully will lead to positive discussions.

The Master Martial arts have always had this aura surrounding it. Maybe you are old enough to remember the TV show Kung Fu, for those of you reading this who are to young to remember it was a story about a monk who left his temple somewhere in Asia and came to good old USA. He travelled around searching for some type of truth or maybe coming to terms with who he was. Anyway this made for a great excuse to have a few cowboy's attacking him every episode. There was always a scene within each episode depicting his Master who always had a pearl of wisdom that would help him get out of the situation he was in. This image has driven the martial arts in the west, we all want that wise teacher giving us life lessons as we walk down a leafy path but is it realistic?

There is no shortage of Masters, and they come in all shapes and sizes. Some ask their students for complete devotion to the point of worship others will make you feel as if their teachings are the true path of life. Some use the term to place you in awe of them others use it without any true understanding of the term master. A very few who normally do not see themselves as masters have those special qualities, which put them on a higher level of teaching The strange thing is we follow them like sheep, lost souls trying to find the meaning of life. Are these people just playing on the Kung Fu legacy or are they really masters.

Lets first discuss the term Master, in the English dictionary Master is described as "a man having control or authority" it is also seen as "a person who has control over a slave". The other meaning which has a variety of uses is a "teacher". Basically a master is someone with a deep knowledge and understanding. This gives him or her the basis to teach and cultivate students. The problem arises when although an individual has the great knowledge they have not developed other aspects of their personality, namely people skills, teaching skills and many other attributes needed to become a rounded teacher. I have been close to a Master who would openly talk about how he sees western students as inferior to his Asian counter parts but when times where tough would use them to achieve his goals. I have seen a master holding back knowledge because he feared students would take it away and develop their own system. I have seen master hold back knowledge because they simply do not have any more to give. I have trained with a master who without even talking gave you a sense of depth in his perception and understanding.

Being a Master is therefor about mastering oneself, being centred, being in control of ones emotions. I am not saying you can not learn from everyone, what is being put forward here is that many teachers within the martial arts field have had no formal teacher training, they mostly learn to teach by watching their teachers teach. Any mistakes made therefor are passed on to the students, and over time becomes normal teaching practice.

This brings me on to the other aspect of a master based system. The oriental way is to follow your Master around observing their every move. This way of learning has its roots deep in Asian culture. One of the main problems is the Master will control the information being passed to the student and will not allow the freedom for the student to develop the art as this in turn becomes an insult to the Master. The end result from this is a stagnation of the system, which over many years is called "The Traditional Way". You may have heard your teacher say when questioned about a technique's application or practicality not to worry this is how my teacher showed me and therefore its practical application will be shown further down the line or it is not your place to question or master's teachings.

There are a number of Martial art systems whose title is the name of the master, the students walk around with T-shirts that say on the back "the ultimate martial art", what does this say about that art and the people within it. How many Masters will not teach but parade them selves around at testing time in a sharp suit giving the students a feeling of their superior presence. I remember one Master who walked into the Girls changing room just prior to a testing, he walked up to a wall then punched it once then gave this look to the women to say how tough he was then walked out. The women who told me this whilst waiting for the testing to take place felt disappointed and once that master spell had been broken stopped training martial arts. The reason many teachers need a master behind them is not because the Master teaches them anything useful but either they do not have the self belief in there knowledge or they find it useful as a marketing tool.

To those of you out there teaching, how many of you get direct feedback from your master. To the students of these teachers ask yourself this are you training with the master or one of his students which gets very little access to him and therefor is indirectly interpreting the syllabus. In reality most of you are learning from your teacher who does not have direct contact with the Master, they may do seminars but this is normally with a number of other teachers and the information given is kept to the discretion of the master.

When an instructor decides to go it alone the organisation backing the master will say you can not learn the true art from this teacher but remember this was the same person teaching you the week before. What is the difference, nothing but politics and ultimately money. Yes money, I believe an instructor has every right to earn a living from teaching a full time martial arts class. The question is not about does the master deserve part of the school and organisation's income but what does he put back into it. Does he just sit back and count the money or does he use the earnings to sustain his life and also develop his students and art.

Do not be fooled by the master paying your country a visit every so often or the odd phone call, look at the substance i.e. what is being taught how far has the art developed etc. Ask yourself why do so many masters loose there instructors as much as they gain instructors maybe when you get to a certain level the truth is clearer. A master I worked with in the past would change the syllabus every time a senior teacher would leave. He would justify it by saying he was developing the art but in truth he just wanted to say to the other instructors look what he is missing by leaving us. This same master would then open a school next door to that instructor and try even if he was loosing money (which he did) to close the other school down. Tell me this "is this a true Master".

A question I ask myself when training with a Master or any martial arts teacher, is very simple one "can I learn from this person". In almost every case the answer is yes mainly due to the fact that with a good teacher you will learn to develop your techniques and comprehension. With a poor teacher you can observe and try to understand why this teacher is failing and try not to make the same mistakes.

In conclusion let me say this, there are very few if any true masters out there, what there is are some very good and some very bad teachers. Do not join a class based on the name of a master join a class because you feel the person standing in front of you has something to offer.

Gideon Hajioff 5th Degree
Chairman Dynamic Self Defence Association