My Shifu, end of an era

[Xue Sheng]

talked with my Shifu at a wake yesterday, my taiji bother, and his student passed away.

I discovered my Shifu, now in his 90s, is no longer teaching, just getting together with some of his older students (all came after me) once a week and does taijiquan with them. Still does taijiquan everyday on his own, but he no longer teaches

He does not mind if I stop by to say hello, but I don't think he wants me to show up regularly to class. My focus is different than the current group. I was the last of his martial Taijiquan students. And they are only doing form......

 

[_Simon_]

talked with my Shifu at a wake yesterday, my taiji bother, and his student passed away.

I discovered my Shifu, now in his 90s, is no longer teaching, just getting together with some of his older students (all came after me) once a week and does taijiquan with them. Still does taijiquan everyday on his own, but he no longer teaches

He does not mind if I stop by to say hello, but I don't think he wants me to show up regularly to class. My focus is different than the current group. I was the last of his martial Taijiquan students. And they are only doing form......

So sorry for the loss of your taiji brother. And yes indeed the end of an era, hoping you can find some like-minded to train with

 

[Xue Sheng]

Theses teachers, like my shifu are fading away, and that is a sad thing for Yang taijiquan
he’s 5th generation Yang style and a student of Tung Ying Chieh

 

[CrushingFist]

Sorry about your loss

 

[isshinryuronin]

It's a great loss, losing a strand of the rope that binds the past to the present. While there are still dedicated martial artists carrying on the traditions of the old masters, the passage of time takes a toll in loss of knowledge, methodology and, forgive the sentimentality, of the soul of the art.

Every generation faces dilemmas. Funakoshi saw his karate transform into something different to his dismay. But in this modern age things move faster, and change occurs at an accelerating pace. It has always been the role of the elders to restrain this acceleration less it spins out of control and to provide guidance into the future. Without knowing and understanding the past, how can we evaluate the present? This is the value of tradition.

This is why the loss of a great shifu or sensei is something to be lamented in the TMA world. They are the links to Wang Faodeng and "Toude" Sakugawa who helped set the path millions of practitioners now journey on.