Pity the Grandmasters
In traditional martial arts, there are often lineage holders who represent the highest authority with each particular style. This may be particularly true within Confucian family traditions, but lineage holders can be found nearly everywhere. Think of them as martial art royalty, like the head of a religion, or perhaps even as a preeminent tenured professor.
I am immensely grateful for lineage holders. They are the gatekeepers and curators of ancient knowledge and traditions. They are the standard bearers who make it possible for the rest of us to learn from the past through their unbroken succession. I am grateful to have learned something from several of them. But I sometime pity them.
I ask that we take a moment to consider the great burden that the lineage holders carry, and the prison it creates for many of them. Their responsibility is far greater than that of the founder of their style, and is something that the rest of us, as unencumbered explorers of the martial arts, will never understand.
Lineage holders cannot be regular martial artists like other people. They have to be curators of their style and protectors of their school’s reputation. They cannot have a friendly match witnessed by the public, or appear to be anything but the most respected person in the room. They cannot deviate from tradition. They cannot appear to learn from other schools.
Some lineage holders are is such an important position that they cannot even attend a friendly match. Because they represent the leading authority, inviting them to a friendly match is like inviting a medieval pope to discuss the merits and inconsistencies of their religion. It ceases to be a dialogue and, instead, becomes a debate that they cannot afford to lose. Any demonstration they are part of must be a demonstration of their superiority. It is not just that they cannot afford to lose. They cannot afford to be seen as having any vulnerability. They cannot afford to be seen as human.
Etiquette may be very important to them, but it is not as important to them as the survival of their school’s reputation. This is the way that authoritarianism becomes a constant threat to every culture. It infects the masculine dynamic in particular. As men, we get a testosterone high every time we win. It is like an addictive drug, with all the negative side effects.
Some martial artists become this way because they are pressured by their obligation to their school. Some become this way because of the chemical high they get from winning.
This is why, whether in tuishou, sparring, or in debate, there are some people to whom I will alway lose. Usually I lose to superior skill, but sometimes I lose out of respect. Sometimes out of pity. Some people will never know if their victory was because of their skill or because of their reputation. They will never know the joy that comes from not needing to be the best all the time.
I’m sure it eats away at them, and I suspect it can be a challenge to their personal wellbeing.
A functional society is one in which leaders can comfortably surround themselves with smart people who disagree with them, and do not need to be the superior person at anything. They welcome discussion. They tolerate debate and dissent.
That is the line between authority and Authoritarianism. The later is a weakness, that masquerades as strength.
I know some lineage holders who seem to have avoided the trap of authoritarianism. They remain humble, and don’t mind appearing to lose to their students. Perhaps, some lineage holders find a way to be human behind closed doors, and are able to mix it up honestly with other “royalty.” I don’t know. I hope they do, and that they are able to get the help they need.
I am grateful that I have no reputation to squander but my own, and that my role as a teacher is not dependent on me being able to defeat my students. Many of my students are better than I am at most things. I have taught seminars where most, if not all, of the students could beat me in a fight. I have never needed to find out.