Tan Sau is to A, as Siu Lim Tau is to Cow

by Si-hing Willie Wilson

My Sifu once shared with me one of the greatest compliments he ever received from his Sifu, Grandmaster Ip Chun. He was told, as I recall the story, that when visiting his school in Leeds, UK, he remarked about how all the students played Chi Sau differently.

Now, when I say differently, I am not saying that...

• Some played strong

• Some played tense

• Some played passive

• Some played (fill in the blank).

When I talk about how they all play differently, this is not to address where students were playing wrong or not understanding the purpose of Chi Sau as a tool.

It means simply that that they played in a way that is congruent with their own learning and personality.

This is a tremendous compliment for anyone who truly understands Chi Sau.

First, it is very common among schools, all schools that is, not just Wing Chun schools, to simply be taught one way to do things. This is great of course, as a starting point. However, eventually the goal in Wing Chun must be to move past the basics toward maturity with those basics.

In this case, to do so means that once you learn how a technique works, you make it work for you. Since none of us are the same, not in biology nor physiology, there is always going to be an identifiable nuance specific to each individual.

-and-

Second, when you see individuality empowered to explore and learn how Wing Chun can work for the individual, those lessons then overflow into relationships and life.

In this compliment, Sigung noticed that students were not being training to look like Sifu but rather discover and become the best version of themselves.

Naturally, this is something I value as well.

As Sifu has told me, "Ask questions, but don't question." 

This means, please put your hands to the task of learning how things work and then make those things work for you.

This article is birthed from just this mindset. It is shared from an older brother (Sihing) here at the Lancaster Wing Chun AssociationIn his reflection, he contributes to another perspective shared several weeks ago.

Here is the link to the original article for some context.

https://www.lancasterwingchun.com/post/are-your-forms-perfect

I hope you enjoy his insights as much as I have!

A few weeks ago, Sifu wrote an intriguing analogy comparing our forms to the alphabet.  I found this analogy interesting and very thought provoking, and it led me to constructing my own alphabet analogy.

I see the alphabet as being our basic shapes.

In my mind, “A” is tan sau, the first shape we learn, and it appears in so much of what we do.  Maybe “N” is our simple punch, but not because it is the 14th shape we learn, but because it combines so well with “A”:

And

Ant

Answer

And not just at the beginning, but anywhere:

Can

Stand

Handstand

Similarly, the tan sau and punch combination can be found at the beginning, middle, end, or repeated in a sequence.

The letters also often can have many ways to be pronounced. The “A” in “cat” sounds different from the “A” in “caught”, which is different from the one in “cane”. And in Siu Lim Tau we see 3 different types of tan sau.

We don’t stop at just learning the alphabet. We need to learn how to use each letter and the sounds it can make.

–

If our basic shapes are our alphabet, then our forms are the songs we use to learn them.

(Practicing the sounds found in the alphabet)

Just like each form has a “right” way to do it, each song may have a right way to sing it. While there may be a right way to do each, there's also lots of room for interpretation, and lots of room for errors.

Each song may be designed to practice something different. SLT could be the alphabet song, all of the letters are there.  Ask a little kid if they know their ABCs, and they can sing you this song… though they might not yet be able to carry a full conversation with you. 

Other songs don’t just use individual letters, but they use those letters and sounds to teach you something else. For example, “Old MacDonald” teaches kids about animals and the sounds they make. 

Similarly, Chum Kiu uses the basic shapes to teach movement and stepping.

Notice how these many children’s songs also have a lot of repetition, which is used to make the song easier to learn while facilitating practice. Similarly, we see repetition in our forms, and not just in the balance of left and right. In Chum Kiu we have 3 Double Lans, 3 Tuk Sau, 3 Dai bongs, 3 bongs, and more. This is like the “quack quack here, quack quack there, everywhere a quack quack”. Repetition builds practices.

These songs can do more than help us learn; they can also help show what we have learned. As I said earlier, ask a kid about their ABCs, they can sing you the alphabet song. Ask a kid if they know the sounds animals make, and they can sing you Old MacDonald.

–

We keep practicing these songs, keep learning the language through other exercises, and we learn to have a conversation.  A conversation is much more than knowing letters and words.  It’s more than being able to string a bunch of words together into a coherent pattern.  Because a conversation isn’t just about what you can say, but about what you can hear. 

Can you hear the “a”, “cat”, or the "oo" in the “moo”? 

How well can you listen? Can you understand the unsaid meaning in what is being said?

Learning to have a conversation – an act of speaking, listening, and coalescing – is like learning to do Chi Sau. Knowing how to do techniques or forms (like saying letters and words) is not enough. We need to sense them too. Just like in Dan Chi Sau, we feel our partner move, and we learn to respond.

My son is beginning to speak and listen. He can ask and answer simple questions, and he can respond to what I say. But I still can’t have much of a conversation with him. He is still learning to tie together multiple rounds of speaking and listening into a smooth conversation. Similarly, as we learn Chi Sau, we are learning to tie together our senses and responses into an ongoing and fluid back and forth.

Lastly, I’ll leave you with a few questions. 

What happens when one doesn’t listen well? 

What happens when one overreacts? 

Or when one speaks too much or too little?

I’ll let you as the reader complete this part of the analogy for yourself.😃

"The Lancaster Wing Chun Association exists

to build people through learning traditional Ip Man Wing Chun

in a safe and supportive environment."