Martial arts contradictions

[mook jong man]

OK, just for fun, heres another apparent contradiction I've run into teaching Ving Tsun. Over the years, many members of our group (including instructors) originally had training in "hard styles" such as Shotokan Karate, TKD and the like. Our Ving Tsun is generally thought to be more of a "soft" or yielding style. Sometimes we discussed the following sayings or mottos:


Shotokan: Ikken hissatsu or "One punch kill" --i.e. your punch should have 100% focus, power, and commitment with intent to finish the fight in one blow.

Ving Tsun: Mo kuen yat fat or "No one-punch technique" --i.e. never use just one punch or punch with overcommitment, and always follow up immediately with more punches.



An example of ikken hissatsu would be Shotokan's oizuki --a powerful lunge punch. One technique coordinating a lunging step into a deep stance with the energy of the whole body focused into a single punch.

Basic Karate Punches: Oizuki - Front punch/Lunge punch - YouTube


An example of mo kuen yat fat would be Ving Tsun's lin wan kuen -- a rapid fire barrage of short, fast punches that are not individually coordinated with steps or breathing and are designed to overwhelm an opponent collectively rather than individually.

How to Do Lin Wan Kuen aka Chain Punch | Wing Chun - YouTube

On the surface these approaches seem absolutely contradictory. On the other hand, if you look at them more broadly, they seem like two sides of the same coin. Every attack needs total mental and physical commitment to succeed. Yet any attack can fail, so you must be able to instantly follow up and continue without hesitation. So you need both the attitude of "one punch kill" combined with "never depend on just one punch". Like others have pointed out, it's kind of a yin-yang thing. Which one you favor is up to you.

...And never under-estimate the other guy. So for example just because a guy is known as a WC/VT/WT stylist don't think he can't put real force and commitment into a single punch (ikken hissatsu). If like me, you've ever been hit by the guy demonstrating below, you'd know otherwise!

Emin Boztepe punching - YouTube

From watching that Emin video there , he wouldn't even have to punch you.
His stepping is so explosive , his movement of his body mass so well coordinated.
He could just step into the center of most people , like he did to the guy on the video and put them through a wall.