The working of time in combat

Si Fu Julio Camacho preparing the old Nucleus "Jacareapaguá", in 2013

There is a common agreement that one punch was prepared in the past in direction of future. It's not uncommon for this statement to generate consensus among unsuspecting listeners. In a past we planned to punch something in future, can this something be a person or an object.

The popular perspective that sees a punch how a unfolding of a "planning" (ponding) into a "result" (hit) contains several problems. These have been little valued in the world of martial arts.

The past time (to prepare the punch) that drains towards future time (hit or miss) suposes a especific view of a subject who is thinking about time.

The time viewed by a subject who places it in a flow that unfolds, creates a perspective of what we call "time flow" (past -> present -> future flow). We can compare this point o view over time with the view of a river that originated from a glacier before turning into water.

However, if the subject places the time of a hit on the perspective of "time flow", this subject will hit something that no longer exists, taking into account that he idealized a future that at the time of the coup ceased to exist. The blow will always be given in the present. It is a double mistake to guess a "time flor": (1) that it is possible to divine the future, (2) that the present moment in which it is planned the sucess will be waiting for the realization of the idea in the future if it was good planned.

The planning of the coup moves away from the moment in which the combat happens to in the combat to be lost. Planning will only will only be a successful blow in an opponent in a random chance generated by an opponent who is also planning (also giving himself up to random). It's a hazard! The target can never be hit, at least not by random, as long as we want to hit the target, unless if it to be a static object.

Mohamed Ali diverting from a punch

To hit the target is necessary a fusion between the subject striking and what is stuck in a single and unique moment, where the deferred hit will be a deployment of potential of the situation. The combatant must intervene in the potential and be attached to the relationship between the combatants.

Therefore, the moment that the hit meets the target is only effective if generated from the relationship with the other subject who will be beaten. The Chi Sau (手 手) is the practice of Ving Tsun which teaches through the body to establish a relation of unity with the other. "黐" refers to something sticky, while "手", to come into relationship, and can be translated by me as "clinging sticky" or "entering into a relationship of adhesion."

Bruce Lee and Ip Man practicing Chi Sau

The Kung Fu Life, 心法 (Sam Faat), is the opportunity we have to experience various adherence relationships with other practitioners of Ving Tsun in everyday life. The Si Fu is the central element most capable of acting in the potential of the situations of adhesion in a school of Ving Tsun, being the one who has committed in a lifelong way in providing Kung Fu life for his disciples.

An exemple, among many others, of Kung Fu Life