Purity in Arts?

[shesulsa]

There is a lot of discussion about the purity of a martial art and lineage, especially in the Korean arts and in Ed Parker Kenpo.

So, I'd like to hear your opinions on what purity of art means and if it can truly be acheivable. If so, by what means exactly? Doesn't art change, even minutely, once given to another human? If effectiveness and honor of lineage and style is instilled, can't the art survive?

Do we need to be more stringent in Martial Arts and, instead of making money from it as a business, go back to teaching only those who can truly preserve it's artistic and scientific nature?

What if the art is improved? What if it's not?

Let's discuss.

 

[TigerWoman]

Purity in the arts. Martial arts, at least the one I know, was handed down by the masters who created the style, the forms, worked it all out. Who is to say that they knew everything. Who is to say that man evolves and has no additional knowledge to add. I would think so. But I can also understand the reason that it has survived as an art is that the traditions, the form as it was taught originally is still as it is today. I speaking about the traditional TKD forms. Then it changed and splintered into the modern forms, Taeguek. When I learned the older ones, I appreciated them more and found them to be more diverse and difficult. The word "art" means that it is creative yet it stays the same, the only creative part is in how the practioner interprets it, his/her own personal style. I would think an art such as TKD could be improved, but by an panel of masters sanctioned by WTF, and ITF. How they can agree on something without ego getting in the way, is another thing. But if one master develops a style, I'm talking 6th-10th dans then another can and we have splintered styles and not much continuity. I don't have the knowledge at my level, there are others on this board who have alot more experience but those are just my initial thoughts.

 

[MichiganTKD]

In my opinion, purity means maintaining the tradition, foundation, and etiquette of the art as taught to you. There is nothing wrong with interpreting a technique a certain way as you see it or thinking of new ways to use a technique. This is how styles evolve, and beneficial adaptations will survive.
However, there is a difference between experimenting with your style and creating your own rules to satisfy your ego and make the students happy. You are not there to make students happy, you are there to teach them and guide them through training and life. You dad's job wasn't to make you happy and be your buddy. Your dad's job was to provide you with a solid foundation in life that you carried with you to your own life. To do that, he relied on the wisdom he learned from his own dad and others of that era.
My job is to impart to my students the wisdom I have learned from my Instructor and his senior students. There is addtional wisdom I may have learned after 20+ years in TKD, but overall I am not in a position to make up my own rules and discard what has been shown to me. By definition, 4th Dan means I have more to learn.
By discarding Tae Kwon Do tradition and making up my own rules, I am pretty much saying " I have learned all I need to learn. I don't need any more."