"Biu Jee" Mentality

[wingchun100]

The other day I remembered a conversation I had with Sifu about the biu jee form. He watched me go through it, and he said I didn't have the right "mentality" for it...that all or nothing, desperate, "do what you have to" attitude. Then he told me to not think of it as something that should come out only during the biu jee form. The way he sees it, the form names can also determine what "level" you are at. Sil lum tao (although not a "beginner" form, because we all still practice it) can be viewed as the beginner level, which of course means chum kiu is intermediate, and biu jee is advanced.

Now I am not saying this is gospel. I am not saying anyone on here should agree with me. What I AM saying is that remembering this conversation has resulted in improvements in my forms that even I can notice, and I am my own worst critic when it comes to determining if I am getting any better. Things can only go up from here!

 

[yak sao]

One thing I noticed about Biu Tze training is that it started freeing up my movement and it started to look more natural and less contrived. Before, it was like I was trying to fit into some sort of mold.

 

[mook jong man]

I'm not sure an "attitude" is required for any of the forms.
It is more of a mental state , what we call in our lineage "The Sil Lum Tao State" , which we try to carry over through all the forms.
In short , it means setting up your structure by drawing up through your spine , Tei Gung (internal contraction) , relaxation , and focus.

This results in a relaxed type of intense concentration , there is simply no room for any type of emotion in what we are trying to do.
I remember somebody asking our Sigung if you should imagine an opponent in front of you when doing the form , he said "No , you should not be thinking about fighting at all".

In regards to Biu Jee , we are trying to maintain the "SLT State" through out some very rapid movements
Because to get the maximum benefit from Biu Jee it should be performed in a rather speedy fashion , this requires a high level of concentration as you are also trying to mentally project force out to the ends of your fingers , added to that you are also trying to stay relaxed and balanced as the body rotates rapidly.

Once you start doing the forms with some type of emotional content , then you start crossing over into the realms of what other martial arts do , animal styles , karate etc.
That is fine for them , but it is not our way.

In our lineage we believe Wing Chun to be an internal system , and we practice it as such.
So we are a lot more concerned with controlling the inner processes and how they react under external force , than we are with the actual external force itself.

In a nutshell we are just doing the form , whether the opponent is there or not.

 

[Danny T]

No emotion, no pre-planned action, just intercept and respond to what is given. SLT/SNT is the beginning form for beginners, it plants the seed both mentally for training and the basic foundations are set internally. The other forms are in addition to not just something more or different. They build upon and reinforce within movement and with weapons what beginners learn (or should have learned) in SLT. Once one goes through the system (and understands what the forms are providing) we return to SLT knowing now that it is the most advanced form for all of the Wing Chun System is referenced within SLT. Your mentality should have been learned in SLT to have no thought, to feel, to receive, to yield, to attack into the core only when there is nothing stopping you. WC is not about fighting, it is about controlling and hitting at the proper time. It is about blending; my opponent's movement is my movement and he tells me when and where to hit. I don't hit the opponent simply is hit.

 

[wingchun100]

The great beauty of wing chun: just about everyone interprets it differently.

 

[geezer]

The great beauty of wing chun: just about everyone interprets it differently.

I'm a "big tent" sort of guy myself. Differences of opinion and approach can be very enlightening.

 

[wingchun100]

I'm glad you appreciate it, my friend.

 

[Thunder Foot]

Good posts,
My group interprets Biu Jee differently. For starters, in our lineage of Ip Man style we believe that WC is a balanced art... meaning it exists outside of internal and external, thus able to exemplify both interchangeably at the highest level of skill.
In regards to the form, attitude is rightfully placed... we call it intention, which is kind of like guided emotion. One of the basic core principles that Biu Jee teaches us is how to recover center when compromised. So speed in the form is justified because of the need to regain center effectively. In my eyes, to not envision the application of the techniques (i.e. an attack), is to remove the practical aspect of the form. If Biu is teaching us to recover among other things, then recovery from what?

Another tenet of Biu Jee form is the application of Biu Sao, and it's application outside of Biu Jee. Again if we are not practicing this form with intention, then no differentiation is made, and people blindly assume and may not discover it's application.
Then there's telescoping, yu ma, chiu ying, chum jang, push pull, swallow spit, among others... which we believe can't be done effectively without some level of visualization and intention. The consistency remains the same from SLT to BT, and onwards in LDBG and BCD.