By "Jo Gau" Matthew Spaulding

           Freedom. The greatest desire and fondest possession of any rational being is to be able to create his own destiny, to live and act according to his own will, and to strive toward his own goals. The right to be free is a principle that is inherent in every human being born into this world. It can only be impaired or destroyed by one’s own free will or by the acts of tyrants who attempt to increase their relative freedom by usurping the freedom of others. Wing Chun, due to the principles of which it is composed, is a vessel which guards that inherent freedom. It can also help to return freedom lost through poor use of agency, or through the usurpation of agency by others. In this article we will discuss how Wing Chun Kung Fu teaches its students how to gain and protect their freedom.

            Freedom can accurately be defined as: one’s ability to pursue his goals and aspirations according to his own agency and conscience, while not breaching the right of others to do the same. With that in mind, we must now examine the pillars upon which freedom relies for existence. There are four elements of freedom, without which it’s exercise becomes impossible. These elements are:

   1)      Life
    2)      Liberty
    3)      Knowledge
    4)      Property

            By simple examination, it can be seen that without any one of these elements freedom cannot be exercised. Without Life, of course one could not exercise his agency, because …well, he’s dead! Without Liberty, one is under the physical control of others, and therefore forced to bend his will to theirs instead of exercising his own. Without a working Knowledge of the principles by which the world functions, one is unable to push his desires into reality, therefore stunting his freedom. Lastly, the term Property must be understood as referring to food, water, clothing, and money, as well as other conveniences. Without any one of these elements, it is of course plainly apparent that freedom, or one’s ability to realize his goals, would not exist in any significant quantity.

            Wing Chun enhances and protects freedom in basically three ways: physically, mentally and spiritually/ morally. Firstly, Wing Chun gives its student the ability to protect his life, liberty, knowledge, and property from the physical usurpation of others. It also teaches the student the correct principles necessary to preserve and actually enhance these elements in all realms of life. 

The way in which Wing Chun enhances and protects one’s mental freedom can be explained by use of a simple analogy. Let’s say that you receive a new piano as a gift. It is a beautiful piano, and has a wonderful sound to it. There is only one problem. You don’t know how to play the piano at all, even though it may suddenly be your greatest desire. You are bound by your inability to play the piano because of your lack of knowledge and skill, while a learned musician is free to play what he wishes and satisfy his desires. Thus, by learning how to play the piano, this musician has literally broadened his freedom, or his ability to realize his desires.

This same principle can also be applied to a combat situation. Suppose that a person finds himself face to face with an attacker seeking to usurp his freedom, be it life, liberty, knowledge, or property. If he does not wield the skills necessary to protect these elements, his attacker will inevitably strip them from him. He has virtually no choice in the matter. If, however, this same person does possess the knowledge and ability to fight, he can choose whether or not to do so. It becomes, then, an exercise of his agency, rather than the usurpation thereof.

            Lastly, yet perhaps most important and sobering is the way in which Wing Chun frees a person morally. Since true and traditional Wing Chun as taught by the Wing Chun Kung Fu Council is a combat art, it has absolutely no sporting application. The warrior is taught how to kill, with the philosophy that if attacked, he must assume that the attacker is trying to kill him. Faced with such a grave concept, the fighter is forced to seriously contemplate and concretely decide what he is willing to kill or be killed for. Imaginably, this creates a very important moral dilemma. The choice between life and death is perhaps the most significant moral decision that a person can make, forcing all other decisions into the backlight. As the warrior solidifies in his mind the reasons for which he is willing to kill or be killed, he gains a greater “moral character”, or a sense of what is truly important to him. By gaining this moral character, the warrior actually becomes more powerful in combat, able to employ absolutely everything at his disposal, withholding nothing. He gains this great power because he has freed himself from all double-mindedness, knowing without a shadow of a doubt that he entered the conflict for a worthy cause, a cause worth dying for. By making these most important decisions ahead of time, and firmly fixing them in his mind, the master also gains great freedom in all other choices that he will be called upon to make in life. Every other decision in life then seems easier to make, and can be seen in a more perfect light.

            By these means, Wing Chun frees the dedicated practitioner physically, mentally and morally. Only one thing does Wing Chun require of its practitioners in order to set them on this road: humility, the desire to learn and the realization that there is still much to be learned.

About the Author:

Matthew Spalding is a certified Wing Chun instructor of the Ip Ching Linage.
He teaches Wing Chun in Orem Utah.

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